Preston Journal Issue 6

Sunny spells

Profile: Champion ice dancer Louise Walden

Road rage at speed limits

Preston’s only newspaper

Managerless Coventry face North End on the back of win

prestonjournal.co.ukFriday 18 March 2011

65p

Sport: page 10

News: page three

Jobless total up as recruiter shuts

Thrashing of fellow strugglers reignites survival hopes

Police cuts: ‘Criminals will return to the streets’

UNEMPLOYMENT has risen yet again, reaching its highest level since 1994.

One in four adults are jobless in Lan-cashire, but despite this a major service is closing.

Preston Employment Partnership is to shut at the end of the month even though it helped 400 people into work last year.

“The government stopped the grant supporting us, and there was no other way to fund it so we’re closing,” said

manager Angela Callagher. She says it’s ironic that despite being

successful over the past five years, they are now being closed.

“The council’s hands are tied, because they haven’t got the money. But it’s crazy, because in that time we’ve helped 1,500 people.”

The latest figures show 2.53 million people are unemployed nationwide.

Nearly 1.5 million also claim jobseek-er’s allowance.

Jobless youth rates are also up, and have reached a 20-year high.

Experts fear these numbers are evi-

dence of the economy slowing down. Employment minister Chris Gray-

ling was philosophical about the situ-ation.

“There is good news and bad news in these figures. There’s been a wel-come drop in the number of people on benefits, and the increase in full-time private sector jobs is a step in the right direction,” he said.

“But the rise in overall unemploy-ment is a real concern.”The latest figures for Lancashire show 37,700 people are chasing around 4,000 jobs.

By Nicholas Clapp

TURN TO PAGE 2

Big match preview: Sky Blues come to town

Photo: Zimbio.com

COMIC DISBELIEFPublic hit out at Fearne Cotton and the BBC: “If money solved Africa’s problems, their problems would belong-gone” Spaven Speaks Page nine

PNE grab first win in 15 attempts

By David Stubbings

PLANS to slow Lancashire’s roads to 20mph have been branded ‘ludicrous’ by a city councillor.\

Councillor Drew Gale made the comment after deaths and serious injuries in the county hit a 30 year low.

Last year was the fifth consecutive year the number of casualties have fallen with 798 people killed or seri-ously injured compared to 1,139 in 2006 and down from an average of 1,704 between 1981 and 1985.

However Lancashire County Council is planning to impose 20mph speed limits on all residential roads within the next two years.

“I would be in favour of the limit in appropriate plac-es but having it everywhere is ludicrous,” he said. “The cost to enforce it would be astronomical.”

The change in speed limit will cost the council £9m and Cllr Gale says the money should be spent elsewhere.

“The council should be protecting jobs, it’s an ab-solute scandal. They should be protecting people not places.

“I don’t think it is a good use of money and it will be unenforceable. You can’t have the police everywhere.”

Under the scheme, money will be spent on new signs, a publicity campaign and public consultations.

‘Community road watch’ volunteers will be asked to use speed guns with anyone caught speeding to be sent a letter warning them about their speed.

Last year the county council piloted 20mph in three areas, including the Larches Estate, Preston.

Across Lancashire there were 105 accidents in resi-dential areas between January 2005 and May 2010 which resulted in 131 casualties. Ten of these involved children.

Japan: How Prestonians were caught in the eye of the storm News: page four

2

Friday

Max: 10 °CMin: 8 °C


Your weekly weather round-up:Saturday Sunday


Monday


Tuesday

Max: 12 °CMin: 3°C

Wednesday


Thursday

Max: 10°CMin: 6 °C

What’s inside this week’s

News

Features

Sport

Petrol crisis fuelled by pricesFilling up? Be prepared to pay more on tax than ever before

The Journal investigates pro-posed plans to curb Britain’s bad habits

New laws on cigs and booze

High Court ruling paves way for £32m redevelopment of Old Trafford cricket ground

Test cricket heading back to Lancashire

Continued from page one...

City councillor Tom Burns is also un-convinced that the plan will work and says that some form of enforcement is needed for it to be effective.

“Tests done by the Department for Transport show that in a speed limit without enforcements, cars slow down by one and half miles per hour,” he said. “When using enforcement traffic slows by seven to nine miles per hour, on av-erage.

“But it’s impossible without traffic calming measures. I’m not opposed to 20 mph limits but they have got limited value.”

However Martin Hammond, from solicitors Driving Defences said that the new limit is important to further im-prove road safety within the county but called for further improvements to road policy.

He said: “I am a great advocate of decreasing the speed limit in residential areas and I believe that the more money spent on speed cameras and other traf-fic calming measures on these roads the better. I do think it is overkill to reduce it on all streets.

“However at the other end of the scale I think that with the developments in car braking systems the 70 mph motorway speed limit should be increased.

“When you think what vehicles were capable of when the speed limit was in-troduced compared with today it makes no sense to have such a low limit. I think it should be increased to 90mph and then a stricter punishment placed on people who break that limit.”

Councillors fight back as County proposes ‘unenforcable’ plans

Lewis Balyckyi, a promising cyclist killed on Preston’s roads

PH

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: Blo

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Have you been affected by this story? Let us know by commenting online:www.prestonjournal.co.uk

The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011

Longton hound is top dog

CANINE fans gathered at the annual Crufts competition to see a Preston pooch scoop an award.

Eric, a Bichon Frise, took it in his stride, beating off 21,000 dogs to reach the final.

He won the toy group, for smaller dogs. This put him through to the best in show event.

Eric’s owner, Michael Coad, from Longton, was shocked by the triumph.

He said: “To win is always a surprise, because you never really know what’s going to happen.

“All you can do is make sure your dog looks the best and is shown off well.”

Eric, whose competition name is Bring Me Sunshine, was one of only seven pooches in the final. It was won by a Flat-coated Retriever called Jet.

Despite losing out on top prize though, Mr Coad was de-lighted with the performance.

“It’s so much to take in really, and I just take it one step at a time. Obviously you still hope you win,” he said.

The contest took place over four days at Birmingham’s NEC arena. It was the dog show’s 120th anniversary.

“This year has been a great final and we wish Eric the best for his future shows,” said Kennel Club director Caroline Kisko.

(L-R) Dog handler Michael Corish, Eric the winning pooch and owner Michael Coad from Longton

PHOTO: quitnowinfo.com

PHOTO: M.E.N.

PH

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: Cou

rtesy

of C

rufts

See video footage of Eric’s win online:

www.prestonjournal.co.uk

3The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011

On your bike for charityAS PEOPLE gear up to raise mon-ey for Comic Relief, two businesses are going the extra mile.

Staff from the car dealership Perrys, on Blackpool Road, have spent the last six weeks fundraising and now have £900 in their charity kitty.

Five of them grabbed their bikes and set off on an 18.2 mile ride from Burnley to Preston, making their way through the picturesque villages of Lancashire.

The two hour slog bagged them £350 sponsorship money.

Organiser, Mike Mansfield-Clark said: “The hills were a bit of a challenge for all the team but the stunning views gave them the inspiration to keep going.

“I’m extremely proud, it was a

great achievement by all involved.”Other events held by the team in-

clude a car wash and bake sale. They have also been taking a new

Kia Venga out on the road as part of a ‘guess the red noses competi-tion’.

The team hope to raise their grand total to £1200 by the end of today (Friday) with fancy dress.

Places for People, a housing firm on Craven Drive, are also raising money by putting their managers in the stocks.

Organiser, Hazel Edwards, said: “This is the first time we have done any fundraising for Comic Relief but everyone is excited.”

“We are hoping to raise a couple of hundred pounds. That would be fantastic.”

By Cara Woodley

How are you fundraising for Comic Relief?Let us know online, at:


Local businesses’ have wheely good fun as first-time fundraising goes to plan

Criminals will ‘return to streets’

CHAIRMAN of Lancashire Po-lice Federation, John O’Reilly, has hit out over redundancies and job cuts to the force.

In total, 800 people will face redundancy including 550 of-ficers, 160 of which will be from the front line.

Mr O’Reilly, said: “If they think that it’s not going to af-fect crime in this area, then they’re dreaming.

“You cannot take police of-ficers off the street and expect criminals not to return to them.”

Economics expert, Tom Win-sor, who was asked to carry out an independent review into police pay, has ignored Mr O’Reilly’s comments.

He concluded that 28,000 po-

lice officers across the country should be made redundant and the rest need to have their pay frozen.

But Lancashire police say they are protecting front line services to keep crime rates as low as possible.

Rates in the county have dropped by 25 per cent in the past five years and the force is confident they will not rise.

While 29 per cent is being cut from back office IT and phone departments, only 9 per cent will be cut from the front line’s finances.

Lancashire Chief Constable, Steve Finnigan, said: “We are being pretty tough in our de-cision making which gives us more flexibility to take less from the front line.”


AN ESSENTIAL service for vic-tims of sexual assault and rape has been saved from closure.

The Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) centre based at Royal Preston Hospital sup-ports 500 people from Lancashire every year.

It provides support for victims as well as collecting evidence for police investigations.

Dr Alyson Jones, clinical direc-tor, said: “We’re pleased an agree-ment has been reached regarding the future funding of the centre.

“The service we provide is of-ten vital to any possible prosecu-tions and central to the victim’s rehabilitation.”

Much of the £1.2 million need-ed to fund the centre was previ-ously provided by the police

force. They recently announced they will be looking to save mil-lions over the next four years.

It has now been agreed five county health trusts will hand over the money needed to cover care costs. Police will continue to pay for forensic work.

A spokesperson for Lancashire’s five trusts said: “The SAFE centre is a really important service and we are happy to fund it.”

Each of the trusts will pay a per-centage of costs, based on where people using the centre are from.

SAFE centre escapes closureBy Cara Woodley

Chief constable Steve Finnigan

Clockwise: Peter Ogden, Mark Miller and Phil Waring preparing for their gruelling bike ride; Mark Mansfield-Clark and son Matt at the ‘guess the red noses’ competition; and Lisa Smith helping with a cake sale

Comment on this story and others, online at:


160 frontline officers to be sacked as ‘savings’ are felt across the police forceBy Andrew Smith

4 The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011

JAPAN

Sea of Japan

“The shaking started and it seemed to last forever”Teacher Amanda Horton works in a school in Shinjo, 60 miles north-west of Sendai. In an exclusive interview she tells The Journal about her ordeal:

A UNIVERSITY graduate has spoken about how people in Japan are in fear of an impending nu-clear crisis.

Martyn Terpilowski, 33, who graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in 1998 and currently lives in Tokyo, said the potential release of radiation into the air from a nuclear power plant is a major concern.

He said: “We are still getting regular tremors and round the clock news on the situation at the nuclear plants.

“Further earthquakes have also been predicted, so many people are very worried and the atmos-phere is one of fear.”

The crisis was caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck the country and resulted in a deadly tsunami.

It is estimated up to 10,000 people could have died as a result of the disaster.

Damage from this is what has sparked fears of a nuclear meltdown at Fuku-shima Power Plant.

Yukio Edano, Ja-pan’s chief cabinet secretary, has told anyone within a 12 to 18 mile ra-dius of the plant,

which lies north of the capital, to stay indoors.The radiation has reached a level which is

harmful to human health which, according to Martyn, has caused a state of panic buying.

He said: “There is little food in shops as people stock up and there are no fresh food deliveries and queues at petrol stations.

“With all the talk of the nuclear power stations, the streets are very quiet and many people are not at work.”

Japan has called on international assistance, particularly from the US to prevent the nuclear disaster. Officials are currently pumping sea wa-ter into the power plants in an attempt to cool down the nuclear reactors but it is still likely that radiation will be leaked.

Martyn said that despite this people are try-i n g to come together in the

face of tragedy. “I have lived here for 10 years and the Japanese are great peo-ple, so there

has been a real sense of bring-

ing people to-gether and g e t t i n g through the situation.”

Former Preston student speaks of nuclear fears

I was in the staffroom at school. It was a mark-ing day for the admis-

sions exams, so there were no students around. There were only three other teachers with me at the time.

Before the q u a k e , a l a r m s w e n t o f f . Mos t

phones in Japan are equipped with an earthquake alarm system which sends

a warning of any large earth-quakes. My phone alarm

went, but it was only a minute be-

fore the shaking start-ed.

At first I wasn’t too concerned; there had been an earthquake on Wednesday and no one

was bothered by it. So, on Friday I

just sat in my chair,

waiting. When it got stronger and didn’t stop, I became a little concerned. The power went out and teachers were moving to the door so I fol-lowed suit.

The shaking started and it seemed to last forever. It went on for at least two minutes. Nothing big fell over but a few folders and small items did.

When it stopped, the vice-principal came to the staff-room and told us to evacu-ate. The teachers were great, they made sure I was safe and started to fill me in. It was a very confusing time as people

were trying to find out what had happened. Everyone was on their mobiles, trying to contact family, but the net-work was down.

Aftershocks kept coming, and after about five minutes of confusion, the principal told us to go home. I gathered my stuff and went home to choruses of “be careful”.

The drive home was terri-fying; aftershocks came and it was snowing heavily. The entire city was trying to get somewhere.

Primary school children were being escorted home by teachers and the bad weather

did not make things easy. I was told the Earthquake was mag-nitude 5.1 when it hit Shinjo.

That first night I was ter-rified. It is still very cold in Yamagata, with snow still piled high on the ground. I had three blankets on me as I tried to call everyone and any-one, desperate for news, but I couldn’t get through. I ended up making a sandwich by torchlight, since everything in my flat runs off electricity.

I was too scared to undress in case we had to evacuate again, so I went to sleep fully clothed, clutching my mobile.

At 5.30pm Saturday, my

Clockwise: A baby is tested for radiation levels, relief workers help victims to safety and below, schoolteacher Amanda Horton just a few days before disaster struck

Medics help a grief stricken child (PHOTO: AP)

How the earthquake shook Japan

PHOTO: NBCPHOTO: Boston pictures


SPECIALIST members of Lancashire’s fire and rescue services have joined the relief ef-fort in Japan.

As details of the disaster unfold, trained teams have been sent from countries world-wide.

Seven members from the region’s fire serv-ices, pictured, have been sent to the stricken nation. They include Andy Hayes and Mark Noblet from Preston.

Fire service officer, Richard Edney, praised the group for their courage.

“Obviously they’re brave, because it’s a dif-

ficult situation to go into. But they’re trained for this,” he said.

“They went to the Haiti earthquake and they’re experienced in searching for people.”

They could be there for up to three weeks. Peter Holland, chief Lancashire fire officer, hailed the team’s professionalism.

“Our highly trained international response team has again been called upon to provide as-sistance,” he said.

Other members from the county include Andy Barnes, Mark Monkhouse, Graham Mos-sop, Jim Davison and Darren Kyle.

Sendai

Otsuchi

Fukushima

Tokyo

Shinjo

JAPAN

PACIFIC OCEAN

Fukushima

Iwate

Miyagi

In Otsuchi, the Red Cross estimate that more than half of the town’s 17,000 people were killed

Sixty miles North-West of Sendai, Amanda Horton was teaching when the ‘terrifying’ quake struck

The first pictures of destruction came from Sendai, where more than 300 people are feared dead

Fukushima nuclear plant is on the verge of meltdown after the plant’s cooling system shut down during the quake

Radiation is a major concern according to ex-Preston student, Martyn Terpilowski, who lives in Tokyo

PHOTOS: Courtesy of the BBC

Fearless firemen join relief effort

“The shaking started and it seemed to last forever”

Former Preston student speaks of nuclear fears

did not make things easy. I was told the Earthquake was mag-nitude 5.1 when it hit Shinjo.

That first night I was ter-rified. It is still very cold in Yamagata, with snow still piled high on the ground. I had three blankets on me as I tried to call everyone and any-one, desperate for news, but I couldn’t get through. I ended up making a sandwich by torchlight, since everything in my flat runs off electricity.

I was too scared to undress in case we had to evacuate again, so I went to sleep fully clothed, clutching my mobile.

At 5.30pm Saturday, my

friend in Kaminoyama man-aged to call me. After reassur-ing each other that we were ok, she told me she now had power, so she posted on my Facebook wall that I was safe. I was still desperate to call home, but at least now people knew I was alive. At the mo-ment, I can receive calls but not make them.

I have a couple of friends who live in Sendai, I have heard from one of them and he is fine. The other I haven’t heard from, but I am praying and wishing. I don’t know exactly where they were since communication is still

difficult. Facebook has been invaluable for gathering in-formation about people. I also have a friend in Fukushima, but she is safe.

I have three friends missing, a boy and a girl in Sedai and a girl in Fukushima. The girls are both from Britain. The boy is French and works at Sendai University. I’m very worried. The foreign community in Yamagata are currently pre-paring to take in any foreign-ers made homeless from Miy-agi or Fukushima. People are trying to get back to normal, but there is an atmosphere of concern and grief.

Clockwise: A baby is tested for radiation levels, relief workers help victims to safety and below, schoolteacher Amanda Horton just a few days before disaster struck

How the earthquake shook Japan

PHOTO: NBC

PHOTO: Lancs Fire & Rescue


News in briefDrug dealer jailed

A HEROIN pusher has been jailed for two years.

Anita Walton, 38, of Edmund Street, pleaded guilty to supply-ing drugs after she was arrested las November.

The arrest was part of Opera-tion Nimrod, a crackdown on drug crime, which has already led to convictions in the Preston.

Van thefts

VAN owners need to be wary after a spate of thefts in South Ribble.

Copper pipes and catalytic con-vertors have been stolen from vans parked on the Walton Summit in-dustrial estate.

Police are telling motorists to park in a secure place and make sure valuables including copper are not on show.

Frogspawn

TO MARK the start of spring, park rangers are offering a guided walk around Fishwick Nature Reserve on Monday for visitors to look for new frog-spawn and other amphibian ac-tivity.

The walk is free. For information contact

01772 906471 or e-mail [email protected].

Charity dance

THE Mayor is hosting a char-ity barn dance tonight at the Guild Hall.

Between 7pm and 11pm there will be a three course buffet, a raf-fle and music played by the Hot Punch Barn Dance Band.

All money will be donated to Cancer Help Preston and the Alzheimer’s Society. For more de-tails call 01772 906113.

School budget

LANCASHIRE County Council is helping schools beat the squeeze.

Despite receiving less fund-ing the council wants to increase school’s budgets by one per cent per pupil.

County councillor Susie Charles said: “We know that schools are facing some financial constraints and we have done our best to max-imise the funding that’s available to them.”

Kite Khaos

FANCY making and flying your own kite this weekend?

Kite Khaos is taking over Avenham Park on Sunday between 10am and 3pm.

For £2 you can make and decorate your own kite before competing against others. Alternatively, take your own kite or just sit back and watch it all unfold.

For more information ring 01772 906471 or e-mail [email protected].

Emergency s-s-servicesLucy Spaven

REPTILES and snakes may give some people the heebie jeebies but for one teenager, it’s all in a day’s work.

Kate Mercer, 16, devotes every second of spare time volunteering with Lancashire Animal Ambu-lance.

The self-funded charity offers round the clock rescue services for injured creatures. Working day and night, the group saves and rehabilitates all kinds of critters across the county.

Kate, who started working as an apprentice last June, admits it’s not always plain sailing.

“On my very first job, we were called to rescue an owl that got trapped in someone’s chimney.

“Eventually, we coaxed the bird out but it was flapping all around their front room. As I swung the net to catch it, I accidentally smashed their lamp-shade,” she said.

The group, based at Longton, Little Hoole, has nine voluntees. They also offer a pet taxi service for people who find it difficult to get to vet appoint-ments.

Kate, who fits her volunteer work around her col-lege timetable, is not sure what she’ll do as a future career but said it will definitely involve animals.

“The experience I get through doing this job is invaluable. While I can’t always save every animal, I always try my best in every situation,” she added.

Cats and dogs that live on-site are looking for new homes. For details, contact Lancashire Animal Ambulance on: 07508094914

Above: Kate with Tai, a rescued Taiwanese Beauty snake

DRIVERS are forced to pay ‘ludi-crous’ amounts of tax on petrol, it has been claimed.

Austin Finley, an instructor at Preston’s Green Light driving school, says costs are too high.

“I was in Dubai last week and they pay 40 pence for a litre. What we pay is ludicrous with how much tax is added.”

On Wednesday it was revealed

motorists pay five pence more for a litre now than this time last year.

This is because of VAT increas-es, which have raised more than £1billion for the government.

Labour councillor Drew Gale is angry about the amount people have to pay.

“It’s an absolute disgrace that fuel prices have continued to rise. If only the public knew about 65 per cent of what they’re paying goes directly to the government.”

Petrol costs 23 pence more

now per gallon because of the in-creased tax. Diesel was shown to be even more expensive after ris-ing by six pence per litre, or 27 pence per gallon.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls is highly critical of George Osborne.

Balls said: “He can act now. In the budget he has got a choice to make about fuel duty. When we were in government we often didn’t go ahead with fuel rises.”

The average price for a litre of petrol is now £1.31. This could

rise even higher as global oil prices rocket.

Mr Finley fears his own job could be affected as people are put off driving.

“If it doesn’t change it will cer-tainly have an effect on lessons because fewer people will be able to learn.”

Fuel tax rise ‘disgrace’Councillor disputes increase in costs for drivers

Photo: Lucy Spaven

Nicholas Clapp

Photo: Motorfetish

Scammers targetfundraising appealsCHARITIES need to be wary of fraudsters, warns a North West organisation.

A new report has announced that £1.3 billion a year is spent on combating fraud carried out by employees, volunteers and fraudulent appli-cations for grants.

The North West Air Ambulance charity is one that has experienced this first hand.

A spokeswoman said: “Household appeals are an important part of our community fun-draising initiatives and are vital for income generation.

“Bogus collectors take bags that have been left out in good faith by our supporters and members of the public.”

On one occasion this resulted in thousands of pounds worth of donations being stolen.

“We urge the public to contact charities di-rectly if they want to make donations securely and not give to thieves,” she added.

It is not just on a local level that this warn-ing is being stressed, national charities can be hit too.

Although last week’s earthquake in Japan encouraged people to donate generously, it may also allow scammers to take advantage.

Sam Younger, chief executive of the Char-ity Commission said: “While no system can guarantee that any charity or business will be totally protected against loss, charity trustees must make sure that they have strong financial controls in place to protect their charities.”

One driving instructor fears for his job as the cost of petrol reaches new levels

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Wedding industryditched at the altarWill and Kate’s royal engagement provided businesses with the perfect money-spinner. But are wedding companies benefitting as much from the hype? Nicholas Clapp investigates.

It seems everybody wants to cash in on the Royal Wedding.

From knitted souvenirs to tours of where Kate Middle-ton lives, new money-making schemes pop up daily.

However, a trade not benefitting is the wedding industry. Surprisingly, despite the endless coverage, such busi-nesses have not seen an increase in cus-tomers.

“I don’t think the fact it’s hap-pening makes a difference. It’s not going to inspire couples to marry,” said wedding photog-rapher Andrea Johnson.

She thinks people are less interested now than in 1981 when Charles and Diana mar-ried.

“Young people wouldn’t just fork out cash on a whim. They’ve got other things to think about.”

Hype surrounding the big event has grown dramatically since it was an-nounced last November.

But unlike previous Royal Weddings, it seems the thrill of getting married in the same year has diminished.

Evidence of this is the rise in holidays booked around April, 29. As people try

to get away, travel agent Thomas Cook put 100,000 breaks on sale to meet de-

mands.“I think they will be more

pleased by the fact they’re getting a day off than a n y t h i n g e l s e , ” said Mrs J o h n -son.

Owner of Dreamcatcher Bridal Wear in Kirkham, Gill Surneff, thinks it has had a positive effect. She said: “It creates a feel good atmosphere, and uplifts people. I think everyone’s excited about it.

“Maybe when it’s come and gone, more couples will feel like they want to get mar-

ried.”Elsewhere, businesses are profiting

thanks to the wedding. Knitter Fiona Goble has released

a craft book which buyers can use to stitch their own Royals (right).

Cambridgeshire brewery Elgood and Son are even flogging a commem-orative beer called Windsor Knot.

And savvy homeowners in London are making fortunes by renting out hous-

es with some charging £4,000 per week.Despite the wedding industry in Preston

being unable to cash in, Mrs Surneff feels they’re still in a strong position.

“We may not be making a lot of money from the event itself, but at least we’re doing ok,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Wedding Magazine went further, saying the industry as a whole has done well since the announcement.

“From what we’ve seen it looks like it’s taken everyone by storm. There’s a bit of a buzz now.”

Photo: clareellenguesthouse

Making a mint: Souvenirs released for the big day

Photo: The S

un

Some London home-owners are charging as much as £4,000 rent.

Commemorative plates and china are being sold for upwards of £40.

Official Royal Wedding collector coins costs more than £50.

Limited edition Crown Jewel Condoms urge users to “think of England.”

Elgood and Son, a Cambridge brewery, are releasing this special beer to celebrate the wedding.

Photo: perezfox

Photo: royalw

eddingsouvenirs

Pho

to: B

BC

Photo: Motorfetish

Photo: Daily Mail

Smoking: will the changes make a difference?


Government faces storm over booze and cigarette ‘betrayal’

Kat Warburton has smoked for 13 years. She says noth-ing will change that, despite

latest government plans to discour-age addicts.

“There are loads of reasons why people smoke, and I can’t see changes having a huge effect. I started because they were around all the time,” said Mrs Warburton, from Plungington.

Stories like hers will worry Health Minister Andrew Lansley. He spear-headed government plans to tackle the smoking culture by banning packets being displayed in shops.

The ruling has been backed by Lancashire NHS services, despite its poor reception elsewhere.

“The government has proved its commitment to putting children’s health before tobacco industry prof-its and should be congratulated,”

said a spokes-man.

S m o k i n g kills more peo-

ple than a l c o h o l , o b e s -

ity and r o a d acci-

dents combined, say the NHS. This makes it the biggest cause of preventable early deaths.

Last week’s major decision is the latest in a long line of similar measures. In 2007, the Labour gov-ernment banned smoking in public places. Cigarette advertising was also stopped.

Last year almost 13,000 people died in the North West from tobac-co-related diseases. This costs the NHS more than £2.7 billion each year.

Some smokers think the ruling could work though. Damon Robin-son works at Best One on Friargate. He says it will benefit children, but not adults.

“I think it’s a good thing for kids, but if you’re already doing it as an adult you’re going to carry on any-way.

“If people want cigarettes they will buy them whether they’re in view or not,” he said.

Packets must be hidden from next year in larger shops, and from 2015 in smaller ones. Mr Lansley’s aim is to reduce smoking rates by 3.7 per-cent by then.

The Association of Convenience stores slammed the decision. They argue it will cost stores nationwide millions to replace displays and counters.

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents agreed, calling it a “be-trayal of our nation of shopkeepers.”

Lesley Threlfall knows more than most people about help-ing alcoholics. After all, she

has worked with them for 10 years.So when someone with her expe-

rience criticises the government’s alcohol policy, it’s worth listening.

“On paper the strategy seems good. When you see it in more detail it doesn’t look as great,” she said.

Mrs Threlfall says more effort is needed to change drinking attitudes. This is what she aims to do at the newly opened Lifeline Centre on Lune Street.

“Society plays a massive part. It’s one of the main issues. There’s a ter-rible drinking culture here.”

But it’s not just her who is critical of the government’s strategy. Other health organisations, including Al-cohol Concern and the British Medi-cal Association, have been scathing.

They called the coalition’s ‘re-sponsibility deal’ too weak.

Under proposals outlined this week, alcohol companies would have to promote safe drinking and label products clearly.

Chief executive of Alcohol Con-cern Don Shenker said: “This is the worst possible deal for everyone who wants to see alcohol harm re-duced.”

Mrs Threlfall believes they are all making mistakes. She says it’s not regulation or harm which are main issues.

“We need to be helping people re-cover and look at the bigger picture. It’s about changing attitudes and practices.”

She, and an experienced team of counsellors, will work closely with addicts at the new centre. Her pas-sion for the job is stronger than ever.

“I started off counselling, and it’s just amazing. It sounds stupid, but it’s great when you help make a dif-ference.”

The government is also being criticised for not cracking down on supermarkets. Cheap alcohol prices are seen as a major contribution to the problem.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he wants to avoid “intrusive” regulation of the industry.

Andrew Opie, food director for the British Retail Consortium, de-fended the government’s decisions.

“Supermarkets are the most responsi-ble sellers of alco-hol. They enforce Challenge 25 to prevent u n d e r - a g e sales, display ‘Know Your Limits’ unit l a b e l l i n g and provide funding for the Drink Aware cam-paign.”

Plans announced this week to regulate cigarette and alcohol sales have been called weak by experts. But are they? James Roche and Nicholas Clapp examine the facts.

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Changes: Cigarette packets (below) and alcohol (above) will be less easy to buy soon

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Tim Durham, Fulwood“It might discourage younger people but exist-ing smokers are already hooked so it’s not a prob-lem for them.

Making alcohol more expensive would help put people off.”

“Moving cigarettes won’t have an impact. Everyone still knows they’re there and will still buy them.

I don’t think they need to do anything about alco-hol though, as long as peo-ple are responsible.”

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Helen Dudie, Plungington

Zsofia Quinn, Bamber Bridge

Phil Owen, Sharoe Green

“It won’t make any difference, whether they’re under the counter or not. Smoking is everywhere.”

“I think it will have an effect. People will do it less because packets aren’t in front of them.”

“To smokers who are doing it now it won’t change anything. Changing the packets though is not going to make a difference.”

Donna Finn, Avenham


Spaven Speaks

A nation of tightwads and moaning skinflints

Road safety driven to the max (of 20mph)

PEOPLE are up in arms about the speed limit reduction due to be brought in across the county by 2013.

In principle, it seems ridiculous to reduce the limit to 20mph but if you think about it, the impact will be minimal.

On average I spend around a third of my day stuck in traffic, edging along at 3.2mph, stopped every 50 metres by a set of traffic lights. Really, it makes no difference.

Also, while it may seem an annoyance to some, it could

save lives, particularly on streets near our

schools.Of course there’s

always a flipside. Perhaps we’ll see a sudden influx of speed cameras coinci-

dentally popping up around the

city once the limit is reduced.

It will be interesting to see how much more money can be raked in through speeding fines.

Comment on this article, and any other, online:www.prestonjournal.co.uk

Red faced: Have we all become too cynical and corporate? Photo:Metro

Well, this is pretty tragic. Read on and prepare to be

ashamed.This week, a bizarre back-

lash erupted to the BBC’s su-perb Wonders of the Universe series.

Viewers complained the show, hosted by eager physics master Brian Cox, is ruined because the background music is too loud.

I know, I hadn’t noticed ei-ther. But this aspersion led me to question what other innocent programming the public could tarnish with futile observations.

This is the shameful part though.

The BBC’s Points of View website has an entire thread conjured up by people wanting to express hatred towards the tireless fundraising efforts of Comic Relief.

Here are some highlights:‘Patricia’ said: “No, no, no.

Rich television ‘personalities’ roughing it with the genuine poor of the world. Sickening.”

‘Astro’ said: “If money solved

Africa’s problems, Africa’s prob-lems would have ceased to exist

years ago.”‘Richard

Kellaway’ said: “My money will only go to this country and very, very selected charities where

someone has not got their hand in the till.”

And ‘doodle’ said: “To blindly give, without very good infor-mation is incredibly silly, and I think many are mesmerised by the ‘How much have we raised now?’ things during the shows.”

These comments are particu-larly scathing when you take the

current situation in Japan into account.

Whatever happened to pulling together in a crisis?

Admittedly, Comic Relief, which raised a total of £80 mil-lion last year, is cheesy. But people can still donate gener-ously even if they don’t want to watch it.

The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011Sport10

Breaking the ice withPreston’s skating hero

The revival of Torvill and Dean in 1994 had a big effect on one young Preston girl.

While Britain’s most famous skating duo took gold at that year’s British Ice Figure and Dance Championships, 11-year old Louise Walden was inspired to put on some skates and emulate her heroes.

Now 27, she has been honoured with the Senior Performance Achievement of the Year at Preston’s Sports Awards.

The achievement is a far cry from when Louise first took to the ice in Blackpool.

“My parents took me on an inset day to an ice rink because it’s something I always want-ed to do,” she said.

“On the way out we saw the coaches had their pictures up on the board and my mum said I could have a lesson. One lesson became two and it’s never really stopped to be hon-est.”

She started competing at 13, going on to en-ter the major competitions in 1999 and senior level two years later.

She entered competitions with a number of partners before meeting her current skat-ing partner Owen Edwards in Deeside, North Wales.

The two have skated together since 2006 and have gone from strength to strength, win-ning four championships in 2010 including the Ice Challenge in Graz, Lyon’s Internation-al Trophy and the British National Champion-ships in Sheffield.

Louise claims their partnership has been the foundation to her recent success.

“Owen and I are quite similar people,” she

said. “We wouldn’t confess to being the most talented of people but we work really hard, we have the same work ethic and the same ambi-tion.”

Their new training regime has seen them move permanently to Lyon, working under some of the world’s finest coaches includ-ing former World Champion Olivier Schoen-felder.

The move, despite its effect on her career, proved a tough decision.

She said: “It was heartbreaking to a point because you are leaving your friends, your family, the people you work with and our pre-vious coach I’d worked with for 13 years up until that point.

“So you’re skating and sport becomes your family so it was a real wrench for both of us.”

But while she owes much to her current set-up, Louise knows that none of her success would have come without her training in the UK.

“The route we had previously also contrib-uted. When we were in UK it gave us a great start and made us who we are.

“We are extremely grateful to all the people we work with now and in the past to help us win that title and hopefully there will be more to come.”

The pair are on the reserve list for this year’s World Championships and will be back in Sheffield this autumn for the British Cham-pionships.

Louise’s aim is simple.“We want to defend our title of course. Providing we skate well and progress like we did last year it’s certainly within our reach,” she said.

From a childhood trip to Blackpool’s ice rink to reigning British Champion, Louise Walden has become one of the country’s most promising ice skaters. She tells David Stubbings her story

Winning ways: Lousie and partner Owen Edwards at the British Championships

Winning teamSince moving to Lyon with her dance partner Owen Edwards in 2006, Louise has trained under some of the world’s greatest coaches. Mark Roberts looks at the team behind her success

Gwendal Peizerat: Lou-ise has enjoyed training sessions with the 2002 Olympic Champion (left, with partner Marina Anissina) and claimed his presence was a ‘huge morale boost’ for her and the team.

Olivier Schoenfelder: The Frennch ice dancer (left), won, with partner Isabelle Delobel, the 2008 World champion-ships, the 2007 European

championships and the 2008 Grand Prix Final. Louise described him as a

Romain Haguenauer: The former French ice dancer (left), is known as one of the world’s finest coaches

and was instrumental in the careers of Sch-oefelder and Peizerat and now Walden and Edwards.

PHOTO: LWP

The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011 Sport 11

Preston hammer out victory over ironsBy Andy Smith

Preston North End earned their first win under Phil Brown to boost their slim survival chances.

In a vital clash against fellow strugglers Scunthorpe PNE dominated from start to finish and fully deserved their win.

For half an hour it looked as though PNE would be frustrated as their countless efforts on goal missed the target.

But goals from Keith Treacy, Billy Jones and Iain Hume gave PNE their first win for 15 games.

The defeat spelled the end for Scunthorpe’s manager Ian Barraclough who was booed by the fans and sacked the next morning with his side four points from safety.

PNE welcomed Iain Turner back to the starting 11 while Barry Nicholson was fit enough to make the bench. For Scunthorpe Eddie Nolan played against his former club but Ben Gordon, on – loan from Chelsea, was out injured.

From the start Scunthorpe set out to defend with PNE on the front foot. Ricardo Gardner and Treacy were par-

ticularly threatening on the left hand side and caused the home side’s defence problems all night.

After 18 minutes Scunthorpe’s Andy Hughes was kicked in the face by Hume. It was unintentional but proved crucial as the defender went off for stitches, leaving the hosts a man short.

Hughes had been off the field for seven minutes when Hume crossed in for Treacy who drilled the ball into the back of the net to put North End one up.

Barraclough quickly realised his mistake and brought Wright on for Hughes but by then it was too little too late for Scunthorpe.

Five minutes later Treacy turned provider as Billy Jones scored from his corner to double the advantage.

PNE almost scored again when good work from Hume gave Eddie Johnson a golden chance to score. The American striker, who is still searching for his first PNE goal, could only manage to slice his shot wide.

It didn’t matter though as Hume got the goal he deserved when he headed the ball home after Chris Brown’s pass.

Scunthorpe made a couple of changes early in the sec-ond half, bringing Michael O’Connor and Chris Dagnall on for Paul Reid and Mark Duffy.

But it was to no avail as PNE controlled the second half and won comfortably.

This game leaves PNE 10 points off Crystal Palace with a game in hand and although they are still a long way from safety they at least have a positive result to build on.

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21 Crystal Palace 37 38 22 Scunthorpe 37 34 23 Sheffield United 37 32 24 Preston North End 36 28

NPower Championship PL PTS

By James Roche

PRESTON’S Women were left dis-appointed after suffering a 6-2 loss in the Lancashire County Cup final.

PNE were outclassed by a Black-burn Rovers side who had won the competition seven times in the past eight years.

Rovers went ahead after 12 minutes when North End’s Vicky Charnley controlled the ball poorly, allowing Rovers’ Danielle Sheen to pinch possession and slot calmly past the keeper.

This early setback thrust Preston into action but they suffered another blow when Sam Cadwallader was injured by a bad challenge and had to be replaced by Mel Sherwood.

From the resulting free kick wing-er Laura Walker drew North End level.

She swerved the 25 yard free kick around the wall and just inside the near post.

After a good first half perform-ance, the Lilywhites took the lead after 42 minutes when Walker con-verted a penalty.

Preston took their foot off the

pedal and Charnley was once again at fault as she lost possession allow-ing Rovers to counter attack and Danielle Sheen finished the move.

The equaliser clearly shook North End’s players, and it took just two minutes of the second half for the National Premier League side to go ahead.

Rovers teased down the wing and crossed from the byline. Jenny Wootton’s diving effort to block was mistimed and the ball bounced off the defender and into the back of the net.

Manager Burgess reacted by swapping Vicky Westermann for forward Kerry Nickson, but the change was in vain.

After good build up play Goodwin found the ball at her feet in the edge of her box, and was able to pick her place in the corner of the goal.

After Blackburn’s fourth, PNE struggled to find a way back into the match, and their only chance of note came after 76 minutes when Nick-son headed wide.

Two minutes from the end, Liz-zie Ince put the game totally be-yond Preston when she collected a

through ball, totally unmarked, and smashed a fifth past Gibbons.

There was still time for another Rovers goal. Sophie Lynch snatched the ball in midfield, took it down an empty left wing and placed the ball into the side of the net.

The result was a little harsh on North End, who at half time were firmly in contention.

The superior class of Blackburn eventually came through and the Lilywhites were unable to contain them in the second half.

PNE struggled against a superior Blackburn side

Final heartbreak for Preston’s ladies as Rovers show class

HockeyhangoverPRESTON suffered defeat at the hands of Chester on Saturday, on their first game after being promoted to the Eng-land Hockey League.

After a dominant start, Preston had their first goal ruled out, and then fol-lowed it up by a near miss by Rob Tay-lor who struck the post.

Preston’s chances quickly disap-peared, and Chester capitalised on the faltering Preston side.

Chester scored a penalty from a de-flection in the D, and then a breakaway by Chester allowed four of the Chester team to easily beat two Preston defend-ers.

After the break, Preston regained some of their lost form when Johnny Robinson scored Preston’s first goal.

Chester then went down to nine men after repeatedly obstructing play, allow-ing the full Preston team to score a pen-alty flick.

Despite the scores being level, Preston lost control of the match after Green-ough and Sinclair were sinbinned for fouls.

The frustrated Preston team then ran out of steam, and gave away another penalty which was deflected into the net.

Another mistake by Preston led to a fourth goal by Chester, after a mistake in the area, and thematch ended 4-2.

PHOTO: LWP

Photo: Action

By Andrew Smith

AFTER a long running court case Test cricket looks set to return to the North West.

Lancashire County Cricket Club have been given permission by Traf-ford Council to go ahead with the £32m redevelopment of their Old Trafford ground.

The plans had been previously approved but the decision was challenged by Derwent Holdings, who own a nearby retail park, who claimed the inclusion of a new Tes-co store in the plans was unfair.

Matt Colledge, the leader of Traf-ford council said: “By dismissing this action the Court has paved the

way for these ambitious regenera-tion plans to finally come to life.”

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said: “This is a historic moment for Old Trafford, as it will ultimately secure the future of inter-national cricket in the North West”.

Following the High Court rul-ing, the club are set to increase the ground’s capacity to 25,000. The stands and players’ area are also both set for a complete rehaul.

Mr Cumbes said the club are look-ing to attract international cricket back to Old Trafford as soon as pos-sible.

“We can now turn our attention to the work that needs doing to enable us to submit our bid for an Ashes

Test Match in 2013,” he said.Eight other grounds are all bid-

ding to host an Ashes Test match. Lord’s, the Oval and Riverside are all guaranteed one of the five match-es leaving Old Trafford with a slim chance of hosting one.

A return to Old Trafford would be the first Ashes test since the dramat-ic draw with Austalia in 2005.

Lancashire will be relying on money made from holding Test matches.

Mr Cumbes has described the club’s finances as ‘frightening’ and with a further £32 million to be spent, the Red Rose county need Test match cricket to return to Old Trafford.

The Preston Journal Friday 18 March 2011

PNE look for blue sky as Coventry come to town

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Test cricket coming back to Lancashire

Andrew Flintoff bowls Shane Warne at Old Trafford in 2005

By Andrew Smith

ON THE back of their first win of the year Preston North End face Coventry at home tomorrow looking for another positive result.

After 15 games without a win The Lilywhites thrashed Scunthorpe in midweek and now have a real chance of win-ning again against a struggling Coventry side.

The Sky Blues have won just once in their last 17 matches and the run spelled the end for manager Aidy Boothroyd who was sacked on Monday.

On December 11 Coventry were in fifth place and pushing for promotion.

Since then the Sky Blues have only won one game and dropped down to 19th while North End have failed to drag themselves off the bottom of the league.

Despite their poor form, Coventry also enjoyed a good night on Tuesday, having battled back to take a draw from high-fly-ing Burnley.

Manager Phil Brown was delighted with the performance in midweek. He said: “I thought that first half performance was probably our best of the season so far. We got that bit of quality in the final third which I’ve been asking for and we got that on numerous occasions in the first half.”

Brown claimed the win gives PNE a chance to start climbing up the table. “If you’re separate from the pack and adrift at the bottom nobody respects you. In two games we could get a little bit of respect and something from the games as well,” he said.

Caretaker managers Andy Thorn and Steve Harrison are expected to take charge of Coventry for the encounter while

former Premier League bosses Roberto Di Mat-t e o and Chris Hughton have been linked

with the post.One of the other

front runners is former North End manager

Alan Irvine who could well make a

return to Preston sooner than ex-pected.

Similar up-heaval has taken place at Deep-

dale, where Brown has shocked fans by terminating the con-tract of club captain Callum Davidson after seven years and 166 games for the club.

Goalkeeper Wayne Henderson, who only played nine games in four years, has also left Deepdale.

There is speculation that Wayne Brown could also leave the club in the near future.The centre back played under Phil Brown at Hull and was deemed surplus to requirements at the Tigers.

The Lilywhites do not have any fresh injury concerns but hope to welcome back David Gray as well as Barry Nicholson, who came off the bench against Scunthorpe. Leon Cort will face a late fitness test if he is to replace Craig Morgan.

Coventry have no new injury worries and will be looking to Aron Gunnarsson and Lee Carsley to control their midfield.

But Coventry’s main threat will probably come from their forwards. Gary McSheffrey and former Everton man Lukas Jutkiewicz both scored against Burnley and will look to trouble North End’s defence.

PNE will be looking for Keith Treacy and Iain Hume to threaten Coventry’s defence. Both of them scored against Scunthorpe and as they can both create and score goals North End will be relying on them tomorrow.

The Lilywhites need a run of good results if they are to have any chance of staying in the Championship and pulling off the great escape.PNE celebrate Hume’s goal

Smiles all round: Phil Brown gained his first win as North End boss against ScunthorpePhoto: Action

Photo: ANP Images

Preston Journal Issue 6

Documents

number of people

consecutive year

year high

year low

good use of money

speed limitsprestons

page threejobless

page ninepne