fj 4 Advertiser an imes C l i th e r o e .The’pnper that champions tho Ribble Valley Thursday, August i2lh, 1999 No. 5,901 Price 47p -f 3.SS3I


PUPILS' OLD MACDONALD TREAT p a i s


A farmer pays a hefty fine as a court decides he is not a fit and proper per­ son to look after animals.


......... page 3


A state-of-the-art skatepark is set to open next month.


I...... .— page 9


A go-ahead Clith­ eroe company is in the running for a top national award.


Taxi drivers claim that a sign to pin­ point their town centre rank is a sight for sore eyes.


A company with a remarkable pain


relief machine is to leave Clitheroe tor a new Blackburn


base.


..... .— r'*r° to Another full page of letters provides liv^ ly reading on a vari­ ety of subjects.


..... .......Him pnr"


FOGGITT’S WEEKEND


WEATHER: A settled weekend of sunny periods, kept cool by blus­ tery winds.


CALLUS


News: 01200 422324 Advertising: 01200 422323 Classified: 01282 422331 Fax: 01200 4434G7


E.mail: Editorial.casllancs news@btintcrnet.com


by Ben Carlish ENTHUSIASTIC eclipse


crowds flocked to Pendle Hill yesterday to gain a van­ tage point from which to observe the rare phenome­


non. Hundreds scrambled up the


grassy slopes to catch a glimpse


of the much-hyped event. Cars were parked along the


roadside all the way over the Nick and B's Bar Cafe enjoyed a


brisk trade. While a large crowd gathered on


the summit, people were dotted around all over the place with cam­ corders, cameras and protective


visors. Sabden PC Paul Worswick was


surprised by the sheer volume of the


eclipse traffic going up the hill. "I didn't realise just how many


M CLASSIFIED SECTION PLAYS K QTORIND IN OUR


people were going to come. There have been no problems; everyone seems to be enjoying themselves," he


commented. Despite patchy cloud, most people


on the hillside were of the opinion that Pendle afforded one of the best views of the solar sensation around. "I was on my way to Cornwall yes­


terday, but I was told there was a big black cloud heading that way and it was clearer in Clitheroe today than in Cornwall. I headed back and it's much better up here than down south," said Mr Simon Bates, of


Clitheroe. “It’s so romantic: it makes you


of Ormskirk. One 82-year-old lady travelled


think about life, love and your own mortality,” said Mr Mike Cummings,


from her home in Church to Pendle Hill to see her second eclipse of the century, having seen her first from Whinney Hill, Clayton-le-Moors.


Although not as spectacular as the first, Mrs Gladys Blackburn said it was impressive nevertheless." Her friend, Mrs Pat Wild, of Read, said it was a real honour to be with some­ one who had seen it last time round. As near totality came, just after 10


minutes past 11, an eerie hush descended on the area as birds, sheep and people fell silent in the half-light. Two minutes later, the sun emerged from behind the moon. While some felt it was a littie anti-climatic, most people appeared quietly awestruck


by what they had seen. Meanwhile, in Clitheroe, although ,


it was the quietest day of the week, pedestrians were joined by town cen­ tre shop, bank and office workers, as people shared special sun viewers and clouds of varying thickness scudded across the sun, allowing the nearest thing to a safe view of what, at times, looked like a nearly-new moon. (110899/6/al6)


Picture by Dave Harwood


Cattle crisis as calves plunge to shock £2.50


FARMING in the Ribble Valley was plunged into further crisis this week when a record low of just £2.50 was offered for bull calves bemg


’’ D S™ ld ° i™ S « n d ln g Giabun, Auction Mart hung their heads at the p n « h a S n S e a d y paid out £2 to have each animal identity tagged, a new legal req


___________________1 ment, prior to entermg the


auction ring. Now auctioneers, officials from the National Farmers'


Gallery


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Union and animal welfare organisations are fearful of the implications this may have for the safety and care of young bulls, the lives of which are now "worthless". Explained Mr Stephen


abroad. This South-West."


is 1 I paid in the region of £40 for


Fawcett, the Clitheroe- based secretary of the NFU's East Lancashire Group: "We are witnessing the worse agricultural reces­ sion in living memory. This is the main calf breeding season and, until the end of July, under the Govern­ ment's Calf Processing Scheme, which was designed to compensate farmers hit by the bans on British beef, farmers were


each bull calf culled at the abattoir. "Now this scheme has


"Farmers have to consider economics, and the econom­ ic reality suggests it is not worth rearing bull calves and taking them to market, where farmers are also sub­ ject to paying auctioneers a commission on all sales. The whole agricultural industry is in severe depression. It is a national and not just a Ribble Valley problem." A spokesman for Sawley


Added Mr Fawcett:


All of a flutter - as budgie flies in with coveted prize


WHO'S a pretty boy then? Retired aerospace worker Mr Ken Whaites has no doubts that he knows the


Brow auctioneers Richard Turner and Sons supported the NFU view, comment­ ing: "At this price, calves are worth less than 50p. This makes rearing calves worthless as their food and keep costs more than their market value, and who can afford to work all week for


been abolished, the prices paid for bull calves are sub­ ject to market forces and there is no market. The lift­ ing of the beef ban, which has been trumpeted as a government success, does not really mean anything in true market terms, as the export rules are so stringent and there is currently only one abattoir in the whole of England and Wales licensed to prepare and send meat


nothing? "Despite what people


may think of farmers, many are proud stockmen, who have worked the land and reared animals for genera­ tions. They do not want to be in this situation, but it may be that they are forced to shoot bull calves them­ selves, or hand them over to kennels for food as soon as they are born because they cannot afford to keep them any more


answer! His three-year-old budgie has just won


the “Best in Show” title in the Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales and Isle of Man Budgerigar Society's annual area show, ruf­ fling the feathers of more than 1,000 other


competitors. The grey-green upline cock's success


came as no surprise to Clitheroe's Mr Whaites (69), who, along with Derek, the eldest of his four sons, has been breeding and showing budgies for the past 40 years. The pair have achieved 4,000 show


championship firsts and 150 challenge cer­ tificates: and while their father-son part­


nership has proved a winning combination, Mr Whaites has high hopes for the year-old son of his current champion bird, with junior himself having achieved the top


perch in the budgerigar section of last weekend's Garstang Agricultural Show. Mr Whaites, who keeps 200 budgies.in a


special shed at the foot of his Chatburn Road home garden, said: "I originally bought a pair of budgies and a cage, which I saw advertised for sale in the Advertiser and Times, as a hobby for Derek when he was a boy, but I became just as hookedl'' Mr Whaites, a keen fell walker, is an offi­


cial Budgerigar Society of Great Britain judge. His birds have represented Lan­ cashire in various national and interna­


tional shows for the last 15 years. (090899/7/10)


Hi-tech boost for young jobs


BUSINESSES in the Ribble Valley are the target of a new "red rose"-themed direct mail campaign, aimed at securing


work for local young people. The brainwave of ELTEC (East Lan­ cashire Training and Enterprise Council), it involves employers being sent packets of


"seeds", with the message "mw the seeds of business success by investing in budding j talent".


« .. !i_L "orkur fho RPPds O The seeds are actually mmiature photos . . ^ i


of current trainees and apprentices on ELTEC's XTEND programme to Nation­ al Vocational Qualifications (NVQs).


Clitheroe is the top county town


1.2% is the eighth lowest in the country. Only the Lakeland towns of Keswick and Windermere as North-West neighbours have regis­ tered bigger drops in their jobless totals, according to figures com­


.......................... ...............A


piled by the GMB Union. With in-work rates more akin to


those of southern boom centres such as Guildford, Clitheroe is Lan­ cashire's beacon town, with a num­ ber of large employers, including Ultraframe, Castle Cement, ICI, Tesco and Sainsbury's. Clitheroe's proud Mayor, Coun. Alan Yearing, said: "This is very


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Clitheroe. It is pleasing to see that a traditionally low unemployment rate has been reduced even further, which is excellent for the future 1 prosperity of Clitheroe and its resi­


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W r i t te n details on reque st. Typical APR I 1.9% in the m LOCAL M EY PARI AN Moonstruck with exciting eclipse


IT might not be a record, but it must be a rare achievement for three members of the same fami­


ly to see two eclipses of the sun — 72 years apart. Three Twiston sisters say


they know of no other local family with a trio of siblings who made a conscious effort to witness the last one and then survive to see the sec­ ond eclipse. Retired teacher Mrs


by Sheila Nixon


home. The local area turned out


Ruth Leach, now 90, and her 82-year-old twin sisters, Betty and Mary Watson, have vivid memories of see­ ing "day turn into night" on June 29th, 1927. They lived at Hill Top


to be an ideal place to watch the blacking out of the sun, as the weather was clear and East Lancashire experi­ enced a 100% eclipse. I t took place around 6


Farm, Twiston, at the time and they now each live in a cottage within a stone's throw of their childhood


a.m. and the then 17-year- old Ruth was a student teacher at Chatbum School.


m 1 f P -.f


She recalls leaving home at 4 a.m. so that she could accompany her pupils to


Worsaw Hill, between Dow- nham andWorston, for the historic event. The twins were eight at


the time and watched the eclipse, through smoked glass, from a field near their home with their parents, Robert and Sarah Watson. "We didn't know any­


thing about an eclipse being dangerous to eyes in those days andwe used candles to blacken pieces of glass so that we could view the


eclipse," said Mary. "Our mother made break­


fast early so that we could all go together to watch it, but Ruth left much earlier for Chatbum School." Ruth, who had a bike for


'I


the three-mile journey along the twisting country lane, joined the headmaster well before the eclipse so that they could prepare for the pupils', early morning walk to "Wbrsaw Hill. Speaking of the eclipse,


Betty said: "It was very eerie. I t grew darker and darker and lasted two min­ utes. The birds were singing and then they suddenly went silent. When it ended,


- with pictures - on page 15.


the birds sang again." e More on the 1927 eclipse


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Power steering


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get into the lea ~| driver's airbag


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