-


i


Clltheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) =THERESA ROBSON REPORTS:


f iv e r e a d y to do BATTLE FOR SEAT


PARLIAMENTARY candi­ dates in the Ribble Valley


the forthcoming General Election.


(Lab) and Mr Julian Parkinson


are flexing their political muscles for a fierce fight in


yesterday and, as we went to press, there were five candidates. Surprise last-minute entry Miss


Nominations closed at 4 p.m.


Nicola Holmes, of the Natural Law Party, will contest the seat alongside recent sitting Mr Nigel Evans'(Cons), Mr Michael Carr (Lib. Dem.), Mr Marcus Johnstone


(Ref.). The Natural Law Party caused


a flurry of bemusement in the 1992 General Election after the sudden appearance of its manifesto and pictures of its 120candidates in


every national newspaper. Miss Holmes, of Skelmersdale,


who was the local candidate,


polled only 112votes, far short of her expectations, but said she hoped to do better this time. The other candidates have been


out and about on the campaign trail, visiting hospitals, nursing


homes and leisure centres. They also took part in a lively public debate hosted by the Whalley Christian Action Group.


visited the area, although it is rumoured that an appearance by Sir James Goldsmith, founder of the Referendum Party, is on the


No political big guns have


■ cards. The Clitheroe Advertiser and


Times will continue to bring you unrivalled coverage of the Ribble Valley election scene over the coming weeks.


MICHAEL CARR (Lib. Dem.) is a for­ mer Ribble Valley MP


Meet the candidates’ Michael Carr (Lib. Dem)


a n d b o r o u g h , councillor. He was born in Preston


. gency, before training as a teacher, a t Margaret


, He worked in engi­ neering, local government and his family newsa-


in 1946 and grew up in the Fulwood, Blackpool and Preston areas.


, McMillan Memorial Col­ lege of Education, in Bradford..


: Bacup. Since 1987 he has "worked with primary and ’ secondary schoolchildren


1 He taught geography in ! Middlesbrough for two ' years, before returning to Lancashire, where he taught in Darwen and


/ with emotional and beha-


N I GE L E V A N S • (Cons) has established


MP in 1992. He was b o rn n e a r


i active trade unionist, hold­


vioural difficulties. Mr Carr has been an


National Association of Schoolteachers/Union of Women Teachers, includ­ ing that of Lancashire Press secretary. He was a Ribble Valley


ng various posts with the


politics include hillwalk- mg, cooking and football, and he is a life-long fol­ lower of Preston North


His interests outside


End. He also enjoys contem­


councillor and a Sabden parish councillor from 1979 to 1983. In the 1983 and 1987 General Elections he fought the Ribble Valley seat as the SDP/Liberal Alliance candidate. In March, 1991, he won the Ribble Valley by-election, o v e r tu rn in g a Tory majority of 19,500 to become the constituency’s first Liberal Democrat MP.


, the Manic Street Preach­ ers, the Levellers, New Model Army, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Doors and Bob Marley. Mr C a r r has been involved in pro­


porary alternative rock and folk music and his favourite bands include


moting and encouraging live music in East Lanca­ shire, including several events at Clitheroe Castle. He has five sons and


actively ■


three daughters and lives in Weir, near Bacup.


Nigel Evans (Conservative)


himself as an up-and- coming young politi­ c ian s in c e be ing elected Ribble Valley


Swansea in 1957 and attended the city’s Univer­ sity College, where he graduated with'an honours degree in politics. He contested Swansea


, Valley, in 1989 and 1991 ; respectively. He is chairman of the All-Party Music Group and


Pontypridd and the Ribble


l t h eM a n u f a c tu r in g i Industry Parliamentary


’ secretary to the North- i West Members Group, the ! All-Party Tourism Group,


* Group and the All-Party j Drug Misuse Group.


(NICOLA HOLMES , (Nat. Law) was born i in Suffolk in 1955 and (has lived in Skelmers- ; dale for 15 years,


of the Transport Select Committee and a current member of the Public Ser­ vice and Environment Select Committees. He is also vice-chairman of the Small Business Bureau


He is a former member


in the 1987 General Elec­ tion and by-elections in


post with Welsh Secretary Mr William Hague. His local campaigns


and the all-party parlia­ mentary group, N et­ working for Industry, as well as president of the anti-wind farm group, Country Guardians. From 1993 to 1995 Mr


was parliamentary private ■ secretary'to'Agriculture


David Hunt MP, while he was Employment Secre­ tary and Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster. From 1995 to 1996 he


Evans was parliamentary private secretary to Mr


Minister Mr Tony Baldry and now holds the same


have included controver­ sial redevelopment plans for the Calderstones Hospital site; a £5 TV licence for pensioners; plume-grounding at Castle Cement, about which he has hosted three public meetings; more bobbies on the beat and closed-circuit television for Clitheroe, about which he has also h o s te d th r e e public meetings. He said he has defended


• ftame' in its bid to use a former Government build­ ing fo r s to ra g e and distribution.


attacks and has success­ fully supported Ultra-


British Aerospace from L ab o u r and L ib e ra l


Nicola Holmes (Natural Law)


f She graduated from Lei- • cester University in 1977 with an honours degree in history, before working in the Economics and Polities Faculty library at Cam­ bridge University. Nicola began practising


Ayurved medicine in Hol­ land and India and worked for several years at the Maharishi Ayurved Health Centre in Skelmersdale, which specialises in holis­ tic, natural treatments for the prevention and cure of dlS63S6t Between 1988 and 1990


She studied Maharishi


transcendental meditation 25 years ago, after listen­ ing to an introductory talk on it at school.


A FORMER journal­ i s t , 3 7 - y e a r - o ld Marcus Johnstone now works in fur the r


r education.


, He is head of the history t department at De la Salle ? R(5 Sixth Form College in


.


t •; Salford. . He lives in Burnley with t h i s p a r t n e r , J u l i e } Humphrey, and has been a \ Burnley borough council- t lor since 1986, when he won the marginal Trinity ward from the Conserva­


tives.


the safest Labour seats in Burnley and, when last elected, Mr Johnstone took more than 75 per cent


The ward is now one ot . ,


a COMPANY p e n ­ s io n s a dm in is t r a to r


- with a la rge bunding Avenue


throughout Lancashire, including some from the Ribble Valley. She is cur­ rently employed as an administrator of transcen­ dental meditation courses. Miss Holmes, who is


she trained as a teacher of transcendental meditation and has subsequently ta u g h t i t to people


“A R o v e r 200 f o r £ 9 9 9 5 ? *


single, counts among her hobbies travelling, eating out, cooking, gardening and walking. She loves music, particularly the classical music of India and early western church


music. Marcus Johnstone (Labour)


of the vote. He chairs the Burnley


Council’s key Economic and Property Committee,


which is responsible for creating jobs.


R i& V ^ # the last 12 months has been out and about meet­ ing local people.


Johnstone is an enthusias­ tic football supporter and can be found at either Turf Moor, Burnley, or at Everton’s Goodison Park. . Bom and brought up on Merseyside, he graduated


Away from politics, Mr


from Bristol University with an honours degree in history.


Party while at university and was leader of the Uni­ versity Labour Club.


He joined the Labour * hI


worked as a journalist for weekly newspapers in Bristol,the Home Counties and Eas t Lancashire, before entering the teach­ ing profession, in 1992.


After university, he in


and Colne College, Bum- ley College and Accrington and Rossendale College.


He has taught at Nelson m


Julian Parkinson (Referendum) ---------------------------------------------------


' so c ie ty , d l-y e a r -u iu Mr parkjnson believes with economic and mone- T u l ia n P a r k i n s o n the peopie 0f the Ribble tary union, the treaty is i w a s b o rn in. Valley must grasp the undoubtedly designed to


home affair s . Together


1 Ti'ipv and brought opportunity to reassert bring about a single coun- w n au ey *


, up m Wacicimgi .


and reinforce democratic try — called Europe! controls over law-makers, „This


B r a d f o r d CE Prima y was ' North Staffordshire P°Jy- tries, before graduating say,


His campaign manag not j ; is his mother, Waddmgt


• parish councillor Mu 1 Parkinson, ot ueeu.


W 6 |; STAFF desi(rn has


: He was educated at, before Maastricht" Treaty been built by politicians Waddington and We


Technic with an honours „H e commentea. ine Eur „ Union. We. g e e in economy


■ _ d. „Th Britain’s relationship with wAvkinff har Valied tvo make sure that count goes to plan


security poiicy, justice and country today. __


. Council Offices, 1 ensure that ■


; possible. m°y Raoadsiteisthe


33 smoothly as . ,d on the same


, mentaiy candidates. Grammar S c S & u R


venue for the General Election count. This will start at 10 p.m. as the polling stations close and the ballot boxes begin to arrive. Up to 60 local bank clerks and shop assistants will have the mammoth task of separating the county and


.


neck-and-neck and a re-count is needed, the result is expected by 3 a.m.


Unless two of the candidates ar Unless two of the candidates are


parliamentary voting slips, an estimated 100,000, before the counting commences.


election will be counted on May 2nd at Clitheroe Parish Church Hall, with results expected in the afternoon.


Ballot papers for the county


g g t n J e ^ s i n g l l are the O&LY party offer- i t .is about a lng a choice on the most foreign and important issue facing this


R E L A X , W E ’R E R O V E R D E A L E R S . Primrose Garage (Clitheroe) Ltd


W h a l l e y R o a d , C l i t h e r o e , L a n c a s h i r e . T e l : ( 0 1 2 0 0 ) 4 2 3 8 8 3 .


•MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE. PRICE. ^ mB^R^PLATE^s*AND'l 2 AD*UCENCeT ^ ^ ^CLUDES DELIVERY TO DEALER,


J h bulldozed through and bureaucrats, with no without the input from the people,


School and Kibblesda g r a l public having their which is why the Referen- High School, in Clithe ^ gen P other coun_ dum Party is calling for a


full and fair referendum on « ' * ; * ■ - t h e n e w R o v e r 214. We can dispel the myth that Rover cars are expensive. While the


Rover 214, with its stylish good looks and fun to drive personality, is a fine example o f the car designer’s art, its price tag is a modest one.


It also comes with: • 5 speed gearbox • Power assisted steering • Driver’s


airbag • Side intrusion beams • Anti-theft alarm 8c engine immobiliser • Security coded radio/cassette with detachable keypad


Clearly, a Rover 200 isn’t out o f reach and neither is your local dealer. Call today to arrange a test drive. WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IN MY DAY!”


LABOUR’S parlia­ mentary bid for the Ribble Valley got off to a flying start when two top pol i t ical


figures came to town. Labour candidate Mr


M a rc u s J o h n s to n e launched his campaign with the help of recent sit­ ting Burnley MP Mr Peter Pike and Lancashire Euro MP Mr Mark Hendrick. Labour P a r ty sup­


Labour wheels in top


figures


porters worked day and night at their Eshton Ter­ race headquarters in read­ iness for the launch. Mr Johnstone said it


horse race. He said: “Labour is


was time for a change and described the Ribble Val­ ley- election as a three-


offering Government for the many, not the few. I


have been out and about in the Ribble Valley and have found a genuine desire for change. Mine is the most determined Labour campaign for years and as far as I am con­ cerned this election is a three-horse race. “I live in East Lanca­


shire and understand the area’s problems. I am not here as a career politician.


This is a genuine attempt to give local people some­ thing new and different.” Mr Johnstone said the


“evil of job insecurity” was high on the “concerned” list of local voters and vowed that his party would sign the Social Chapter of the Maastricht. Treaty. His bid for electoral suc­


cess in an area once con­ sidered the safest Tory seat in the country has seen the distribution of 20,000 glossy fliers and n ew s le t te r s to local homes. Mr Johnstone is pic­


Shock survey highlights school books problem


SCHOOLS in the Ribble Valley have to rely on fund-raising to buy books, a shock survey has


revealed. Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Michael Carr said


he was staggered by the .results of the survey, which was carried out by party workers at schools across the constituency.


tured (second from the le f t ) w i th Mr P ik e (centre), well-known Clitheroe Socialist Mr Ron Pickup (fourth from left) and party workers. (CAT


8260)


schools relied on funds raised by pupils and parents to buy books and computer equipment, and pay for edu­


He said the survey revealed that 86 per cent of local


cational trips. “The Liberal Democrats will use an extra penny in


equipment,’’ he commented.


income tax to deal with the backlog of repairs to schools and provide more resources for books and


1 ! ■In#*Britainf


^ in a i a a am a jm a f Jwlabour !-


‘ m l t ^ B r i t a i n


newLabour , .,—,| ,. —, , . ■ J£ *H


I


5 I J U x h ' i t


m 3 m


m m M .


I t i M


r~-


i


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32