. ■ E ■: ecOS.b'rflS riatsM.vshawfIT .asmiTiR isgi)i9'.rti<V9on‘3rflil3 2 Clitheroe Advertiser &Times, Thursday, March 23rd, 2006


INSIDE^URCtlTHERU MERTl^R^NDJiMlii


a Valley Mailers ...........................6 and 7 a Village News . . . . . . . . .; .ill, 12 and 13


H Letters___'...................'.................... 16 0 Weekendpliis . .. . . . . . . . . . .46 and 47 I Weekend T V . . . ; . , . r. . . . . . . .24 and 25 I Family Notices . . . . ! ; . ; . . . .22 and 23 0 Readersplus . . . . . . . . . I Propertyplus ;


. . .


. . . . . . . . . . .20 ;


. .29 to 44


I Motors Today ...................'___ 56 to 68 I Sport''.___; ......................•.'... .69 to 72


' ’ AT A GLANCE Old boy’s DaVinci link'Tr page 5^


^^'I ^


£500 reward for stolen bike ^ page 15: Farmer dies at 102- page 17.;


Writer scoops Tim’s award - page 21


•Ai.o;>.VBbo}soia/1fils.vvAiw www.ciitheroetoday.co.uk


■ " (boiti3?si;>) teetEh V9'ti\u(ll(pniabv9vbAieS£i2b>(lGiiotib3)ASii:SS!xsoi3i-tfiio . Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified).


Post office pensions fiasco


PENSIONERS in Mellor had been unable to with­ draw any cash for over a week at their local post office following a computer failure. . • Computers operating the


Direct Payments system at Mellor Post Office and Vil-


■ lage Store in Church Lane, crashed last Monday. ... - It is not yet known what


• caused the error, but pen- ;sioners faced a mile-long uphill hike to Mellor: Brook. - As we went to press, it


was reported that enpneers had partially solved the problem, but sub-post- misti^, Mrs Kirsten Heys says the computer failure has had a big impact on her business. She said: “It’s just ridicu-, lous. I have lost trade in the


Duly chemist: Buckleys Chemist, 4 Railway View Road, Clitheroe: Sunday, noon to 1 p.m. : . Police: 01200 443344. - Fire: In emergency 999 and ask for fire service. Electricity: 08001954141. Gas: 0800111999. Water: 0845 462200. ' Councils: Ribble Valley Borough Council, Clitheroe 425111. Clitheroe Town Council, 424722. Hospitals: Blackburn Royal Infirmary: 01254 263555. Queen's Park Hospital, Blackburn: 01254 263555. Airedale General Hospital, Steeton: 01535 652511. Clitheroe Community Hospital: 427311. • Alcohol Information Centre: 01282 416655. Aidslinc: 01282831101 (7 p.m. to 9p.m.). Domestic Violence Helpline: 01282 422024. . Cruse Bereavement Care: Ribble Valley 01200 429346.' Environmental Agency: Emergencies - 0800 807060. Drugs: Local confidential advice and information line: 01200 444484. National: 0800 776600. v Ribble Valley Talking Newspaper: 01200 428604. ' Samaritans: 01254 662424. Monthly Volunteer Helpline: 01200 422721. Lancashire Rural Stress Network: 01200 427771. QUEST (specialist smoking cessation service): 01254 358095. Ribble Valley Citizens’ Advice Bureau: 01200 428966.


CONTACT US! News: 01200 422324


Advertising: 01200 422323 Classified: 01282 422331 Family Notices and Photo Orders: 01282 426161, ext. 410 Fax: 01200 443167 editor e-mail: vivicn.mcatIi@castIancsnews.co.uk news cditor.c-mail: dtincan.smith@castIancsncw.s.co.uk sport c-mail: cdv'ard.lcc@castlancsncws.co.uk


Council strike on Tuesday


By Julie Magee


COUNCIL employees are gearing up for a one day strike on Tuesday in protest at what they call “unfair and unjust cuts” to their pension scheme. “At the moment i t would appear that a


number of front line services will be affect­ ed by the action,” said Linda Jones, Unison branch secretary at Ribble Valley Borough Council. “I’ve never known staff to feel so strongly about an issue before.” Ribble Valley Borough Council chief


- executive David Morris confirmed it was likely the council offices would be open, but would probably be staffed by senior man­ agement providing a skeleton service. ; He said: “For services such as housing


repairs; planning applications and building control, we might only be able to give advice and pass messages on. “Street cleansing, refuse collection, pay­


ment of housing benefit are likely to be affected for one day and we apologise for that.” Ribble Valley Borough Council street


“We apologise for the inconvenience and


hope people will bear with us. We will be there to collect the waste the following


. week,” he said. He urged people to tell neighbours who


might not be aware of the changes to the Tuesday collection. Ribblesdale Swimming Pool on Edisford


Road, Clitheroe, will also be closed during the strike. However, the industrial action will not effect Clitheroe’s Tuesday market, which will go ahead. -;The management team were due to meet yesterday to discuss the council’s continu-


: ity plan. . • . - Employees will be picketing outside Rib­


ble Valley Borough Council’s offices on Church Walk and the Salthill depot on


' Tuesday morning. . Miss Jones said: .“Our present retire­ ment age is 65. but some of us with long service can retire from 60 onwards. Their changes would remove this right for anyone now under 53.”


• She added: Some papers say we get a free pension and retire to a life of luxury. Our


scene manager Graham Jagger said th e . strike would affect all refuse collections on) Tuesday, including the first week of th e ; new wheelie bins. • ■ ‘


DUNSOP BRIDGED


CHIPPING I CLITI


LANGHC , BLACKBURN ■ BSLAIDBURN I GISBURN < CHATBURN


WHALLEYi'S B READ^


DBURNLEY ACCRINGTON


tVEEKEND WEATHER: Forcasters predict the weath­ er will remain dry and cloudy on Saturday with some sunny spells on Sunday. BRITISH SUMMERTIME: Starts on Sunday morning


.when clocks should go forward one hour. - " SUNRISE: 6-10 a.m. SUNSET: 6-24 p.m LIGHTING UP TIME: 6-2'lp.m.


'


; average pension is only £3,800 and just .• £1.600 for women!”


. ■ .


’ : “All we want is equal treatment to every ,i other public sector pension scheme mem- •-ber.”


Boy’s (Experience should be a lesson to, other teenagers : Continued from.d’age I)


;, "He apologises for his behaviour.- most importantly to the people who were responsible for placing these


. benches but also those who use the cemetery for their own quiet contem­ plation,'! saidMrBlacklidge."He now fully understands’the sort of emotions this has aroused."


: He .said the boy's adoptive parents were very supportive of him. ■ , - "They are as distressed as anyone


living in Clitheroe about the things' he has done and would welcome the involvement of the Youth Offending Team and a referral order."


past 10 days. Customers were unable to withdraw


■ their pensions, pay for goods by debit cards and top-up their mobile phones. “It is not fair on them. They rely heavily on this ■ seiwice.”


The situation,outraged


. Mayor, Mellor resident Coun. Charles Warkman. : He said: “I am concerned


about the viability of the post office in the .village.


' There are a lot of older res­ idents in the area, who have.


. no transport to get to the office in Mellor Brook. “Fortunately, I can wait


: to draw my pension, but what about the senior citi­ zens that can’t. They also rely on the money to buy goods from the store. ' “It is no wonder people


wanted to hang on to their' pension books for this very


- reason. I t was a system that you could rely on and


one that worked!” A Royal Mail i


. ■ - ■ ■ former Ribble Valley :


spokesman said: “Unfortu-1 nately the branch has been


- experiencing computer ' problems. Engineers are '■ working to resolve the ' problem as quickly as pos­ sible.


“The post office is pro- ‘


viding a limited service at > the moment and we apolo-' gise for any inconvenience. , • . “As an alternative, cus-'


tomers can use either New Bank Road post office or Blackburn branch office.” ; ;; - Our picture shows an angry Coun.'Warkman -


t


and sub-postmistress Mrs Heys, fed-up with the cur-. - rent situation. (G210306/2)


Abduction witness plea


A “GOOD SAMARITAN”.woman driver who came to the aid of a teenage girl dumped by the side of a rural Ribble Valley road is being urged to come for­


ward. , Detectives are appealing for the driver to come for-'


ward after the Asian girl was abducted by a motorist before being dumped by the side of the A682 Nelson to Gisbum road in freezing weather. It is understood that ^ the mystery woman helped her by driving her to Gis- ■; burn at about 3-15 p.m. on Friday, March 3rd. Detective Constable Gary Williams, of Burnley


CID, said: “We are investigating an allegation that she was taken against her will. “The weather was bad as it was snowing and the


female driver very kindly agreed to give her a lift and dropped her off in Gisburn.” He added that the girl, from the Burnley area, had allegedly been driven to the scene in a small blue car. ;


. The mystery woman was driving a black Ford Focus. • ■ Anyone with information is asked to call 01282 425001 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.


Emily helped her team win A WRONG name appeared in our article on page four


.of last,week’s edition about the “flying mudlark” r cross-country runners from Gisburn Primary School. In the school’s press release, one of the winning girls.


was named as Emily Watson, when in fact it was Emily Stubbs who helped the Gisbum team to win the -. i Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Primary Schools Cross- Country Tournament. -


: Date for blood donors


BLOOD donor sessions will be held a t West Bradford - Parish Hall, in Grindleton Road, on Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m;. and 5-30 to 7-30 p.m. Existing and new blood donors are encouraged to support the sessions.


- - The boy told the magistrates; "I just want to say. I'm sorry for what I


.'have done and it won't happen - again."


■ . .Ribble Valley Mayor Coun. Mary


), Robinson; who lives in one of the V


Clitheroe areas which has been a reg­ ular, target for car crime, said yester-


. day: !‘I hope the message is getting • through that this sort of vandalism will not be tolerated. Perhaps this young lad will learn his lesson and others who think about doing this sort of thing will know that they will


' get caught and punished. The major- ' ity of young people do not do this: sort of thing and there are many; good youngsters out there.”


Truck previously serviced Mr Bradley was rushed to


; Blackburn Royal Infirmary, but was pronounced dead on


. a crush-injury. ' During the one-day inquest,


; before, revealed no faults and Mr Bradley had successfully


•passed a refresher training course a fortnight prior to the •accident.


• Although he had passed the


.;,t'est-pnia different forklift! truck, it was stressed that the


: arrival. A post-mortem exami­ nation carried out by consult­ ant pathologist, Dr Joanne Wilkinson, revealed he died of


, it emerged-a full mechanical: inspection of the truck, which had passed a service six days


•


Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) t


r-i* k'-'» • “


Former head’s church honour


A CLITHEROE church­ man has been made a Honorary Canon. On Sunday, the Rev. Dr


Peter Shepherd was for­ mally installed in his new position a t Manchester Cathedral. . The honour was


bestowed on Mr Shepherd by the Bishop of Man­ chester, the Rt Rev. Nigel McCulloch, for the contri- bution he has made to Canon Slade School in Bolton as its headteacher and to Church of England schools in general.: Since 1982 Mr Shepherd


has been the.Honorary Assistant Priest of Clitheroe Parish Church, most recently assisting Canon Philip Dearden, his thirdvicar. ■. Although he has been


ordained, Mr Shepherd is a non-stipendiary minister and as such is not employed as a parish priest and has earned his living first as a teacher and more recently as headteacher of the school in Bolton.


: He was notified of his


award by the Bishop about a month ago, to coincide with his retire­ ment from the school he has led for the pas t 17 years.


; Pre'viously he had been


headteacher at Archbish­ op Temple in Preston. • As an Honorary Canon


Mr Shepherd has gained membership to the Cathe­ dral Chapter - the equiva­ lent of its governing body. Speaking about the


award he said: “My main initial reaction was com­ plete and utter surprise. Somethings happen in your life that you had not idea were going to happen. “I got a letter out of the


blue from the Bishop of Manchester. . ■ “He said he wanted to


honour me for my contri­ bution towards the school and church schools in gen­ eral. “I t was quite a surprise


safety principles remained the same.


. Speaking after the inquest, Castle Cement general manag- er.Mr Gai-eth Price said: “First and foremost, out thoughts are ^ with Ian Bradley’s family and friends. “Following the.accident .in .


November 2005,'we immedi- . ately.instigated a review of


-■ V, Mr Bradley,-:of-Lingfield


.procedures.' The Health and Safety Executive has carried out an inquiry, and, following the results of the inquest, we will implement any. necessary > recommendations.”


. Avenue, Clitheroe,’viras a sports coach for Clitheroe Wolves jun- < ior football club, (s)


. that I did not expect. It is a great.honour and lam delighted th a t Rodney Nicholson is also being honoured.” Special celebrations will


continue over the coming months' for Mr Shepherd. 'With five degrees


already to his credit, Mr Shepherd will receive his latest academic award in two -weeks when he will travel to Harrogate to col­ lect his well-deserved doc­ torate. . In July Mr Shepherd will celebrate his 25th year in the priesthood with a special commemorative service taking place on the 5th.


.


THE Ribble Valley district heat of this year’s Lancashire Mathematics Chal­ lenge was won by Clitheroe Royal


: Grammar School. Teams of four Year 7 pupils from local


secondary schools competed for a place in the county final to be held in June. All Lancashire’s 88 secondary schools


take part annually in the mathematics challenge which is organised by Lan­ cashire County Council’s Mathematics Team and sponsored by Lancashire County Developments Ltd, the County Council’s economic development department. : Pupils were given a murder mystery, scenario and asked to solve clues based on mathematical problems to identify the murder scene, weapon and culprit. .Steve Dean, managing director of ■Lancashire County Developments, was


„%. f .\. r •> s < ■


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; www.ciitheroetoday.co.uk.


Clitheroe Advertiser &Times, Thursday, March 23rd, 2006 • . 3 New role for Valley vicar


A CLITHEROE ■vicar will be stepping into a new role at Blackburn Cathedral in May. The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev. Nicholas Reade, has named the Rev. Rodney Nicholson as one of two new Honorary Canons. Mr Nicholson is no stranger to making the


headlines-in June last year, to coincide with his 60 th birthday, he walked 60 miles in two • days to raise money for Christian Aid. This was not the first time he had put his feet for­ ward for charity. Previously he raised £1,500 after completing a 41-mile walk from Sam- • lesbury to Settle and in 2003 raised £600 after completing a 12-hour 25-mile 'walk from Whitewell to Downham. As well as being vicar of St Paul’s, Low


Moor, Mr Nicholson is also priest-in-charge of Chatbum and Downham - a role he took on in 2003. Together with the Rev. Simon Bessant, the diocesan director of mission, Mr Nicholson will be officially “collated” in a service tak­ ing place on May 21st, when he will assume the title Canon Nicholson and become one of 21 Honorary Canons; Said Mr Nicholson: “I was surprised by


the Bishop’s invitation, but appreciate his kindness and that of other people at this ; time. Speaking about Mr Nicholson’s appoint­


ment, Bishop Reade, said: “Rodney has. spent all his ministry in the Blackburn Dio­ cese and made a significant contribution to . the life and work of the Church of England


in Lancashire through his quiet and sensitive work as a parish priest in very varied areas. “He is also a gifted communicator, editing


our diocesan magazine for 20 years without missing an edition, and being a valued mem­ ber of our diocesan Communications Com­ mittee.” . After graduating in 1968, Mr Nicholson


became ordained in 1972 after studying at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. . He was a curate at St Bartholomew’s in Colne until 1974 and then at St John’s' Church, Blackpool. He went on to become ■vicar of St Bartholomew’s, Blackburn, before coming to Clitheroe. ■When he took on the parishes of Chatbum.


and Downham, Mr Nicholson had to give up his role as editor of The See magazine. Dur­ ing his two decades in that job he travelled widely in the diocese carrying out interviews. As well as overseeing three parishes, Mr


Nicholson - who is married to Kathleen and has two children, Rachel and Richard - is chairman of the Bible Society Action Group in Clitheroe and the Children’s Society Com­ mittee.- A strong supporter of Christian Unity, he values greatly the work he does with Chatbum Methodist Church.. Mr Nicholson said he was very pleased


that Simon Bessant had also been appointed as an Honorary Canon: “I know him well, he: has done great work encouraging mission in the diocese and at national level. His is an excellent appointment.” Both men are mem­ bers of the Diocese Evangelical Fellowship. (S030605/1)


Pupils solve mtoder mystery Art d r iy e sa i


tieeii’s miiidr EVER wondered' what goes on in the mind of a 15- year-old boy? :: V ‘ I t may not be what you. think. James Wright is a 15 , year-old-boy described in his own words as an “art- driven teen”. A pupil of Oakhill College, 'Whalley, ; Jmnes was chosen to attend the Art Academy held at St Christopher’s School, Accrington, during the, summer, after which his and other students’work was exhibited a t The Haworth Art Galleiy. James, who lives: a t


Chaigley, has ; now branched out and is staging the first solo exhibition, entitled “This is Norm / THISISntNORMal”.He summarises it as “the ere-. ation of an art-driveii teen as his ideas and teenage emotions spread accros the canvas”. '■ James’work is on display


a t Silvertree Studios, in Burnley Road, Clajrton-le- Moprs, where an open evening with the artist will be held tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a teenage boy.


I


on hand to present the certificates and prizes. He said:


' “The Lancashire Maths Challenge is ;


a fantastic way of promoting maths a s ; afunand interesting subject. .; ;• ■ “All the pupils taking part in the dis-:


trict heats are -winners. This year’s mur-; - der mystery theme tests both individual; skills and how they work together as a; team, a real challenge! “ I must congratulate the team from Clitheroe Royal Grammar School who ,


• retained their title once again and look- forward to seeing them in the final in- June.”


•: . Pictured, from the left: Olivia-Lalude Haworth, Evangeline Atkinson, deputy' head of maths at Clitheroe Claire Bald- ^ win,


' .


■ Samuel Littley, Steve Dean managing director LCDL and Olivia Critchley. (s)


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