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Lancashire Evening Post •

'It feels surreal someone could choose me', says Make a Difference Award hairdresser

“I started with a lot of diarrhoea, then I had blood and mucus. But it’s not the sort of thing you really want to talk about, especially when you’re young, so I just ignored it and hoped it would go away. It didn’t.“It got to the point where it was just taking over my life. I was really struggling to maintain my career because I was on the toilet all the time, and also just with the anxiety that it caused. Over the past nine years, Victoria has provided a lifeline to dozens of people across Lanc...
Lancashire Evening Post •

'I want to change how care is perceived in Preston'

“He was walking and stuff, so it was all quite sudden. The nurses were arranging for him to come home, and then a day later the doctors called me and my mum into a side room and said he’s not well enough to go home, and that he could pass away at any time.“My care knowledge at the time wasn’t great. Even basic things like shaving my dad, I’d never done that before, and it was just a bit upsetting that my dad would soil himself and I’d have no idea what to do. He got unwell quite quickly.“I’d be...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Wallace and Gromit and a bear in a bath: Inside Lancashire Conservation Studios

“When something is too far gone, you will take what you can from it. I have lots of cupboards just full of feathers and stuff, just whatever I can find. But goat skin is really good because it’s something I can readily get, and I can also dye it and stain it. “We’re not very on it in the UK, in comparison to America, who will throw money at things like this a little bit more. We have a lot of guidelines that say we’re not allowed to use a lot of [pesticides], so we just watch bad things happen i...
Lancashire Evening Post •

A rare look into the depths of the Lancashire Archives

“We have a really good system where we’re able to to find an individual item within a box on a shelf within a certain stack, and we’re able to locate every single sheet within every single box within every single strongroom.”“The temperature also changes when you’re in here. We have to keep our rooms not just at a controlled temperature, but at controlled humidity levels as well, just to keep each item protected.”“The letter states that a vault was found filled with 36 full barrels, two firkins,...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Historic 300 year anniversary for Preston Church

Previously living in Oxford, he moved to Preston to study under current vicar Fr David Craven, and will next year depart from Preston to become vicar of his very own church. “Once upon a time, the church was built upon the canal, so there would have been fields and we would have been on the edge of town.“Even the beautiful murals are very unusual in an English church. The person who painted them had links to the Romanian Orthodox Church, so they’ve got a slightly Eastern Orthodox style to them....
Lancashire Evening Post •

Brave Liam, 9, ' just wanted to get better, and wanted to do it for everyone else'

“Liam’s treatment at the beginning was very intense, he was in and out of hospital every other week, and that was running concurrently for nine months. We’d have 12 days in, and so many days off, and then we’d go back.“He was just so grown up and mature and understanding of his illness,” Lucie said. “That was the hardest part for us as a family: to watch him be so brave when he was going through so much.“As his mum and as an adult, I couldn’t have gone through what Liam went through. It was just...
Lancashire Evening Post •

LGBTQ+ community 'has to come together', Preston Pride organiser says

The senior organiser of Preston Pride says she has enough tales to last a lifetime - but half a decade on, the story of the boy who stopped her in the street is the one she’ll still tell to everyone who will listen.“I went to Manchester Pride this year, and there was a lot of stuff going on in the parade and the protests were a lot more prominent this year, but what stuck out to me was, ‘Why is the bar bigger than the stage?’.Over the past 13 years, Deb says she has seen a “huge rise” in the num...
Lancashire Evening Post •

'More space' for LGBT sports inclusion, Preston rugby club says

“I think society has gotten better as the years have gone by, and it’s arguably better than it was. But I still think there is a massive place for a safe space for queer people to play sports and feel included in a team.”Eight years after launching from “just a handful of members”, Preston’s only LGBTQ+ rugby club now say they are more popular than they have ever been - and are keener than ever to see more LGBTQ+ people get involved in team sports. “My best friend once said that when he was ques...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Preston Playhouse pulls back the curtain

”They’ve had ghost hunters in here and all sorts. He married a local girl, went to war, came back, and his wife had done what a lot of war brides did and went off and married someone else, and took the kids with her.

”They’ve had ghost hunters in here and all sorts. He married a local girl, went to war, came back, and his wife had done what a lot of war brides did and went off and married someone else, and took the kids with her.

”They’ve had ghost hunters in here and all sorts. He married a l...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Folk, diversity, and radio news: Life as Preston's town crier

“Town criers became much more predominant during medieval times,” John told the Lancashire Evening Post. “We didn’t have newspapers, we didn’t have TV, we didn’t have radio, and we didn’t have the internet, so that was the way that news would be spread to the townsfolk.“I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but a society that doesn’t know where it and its traditions have come from has kind of lost itself in some respects. We need to know where we’ve come from in order to keep moving forward.”As well as...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Woman celebrates 25 years at Preston care charity

“We look at what hobbies they have and try to sculpt it around them, so it’s very person-centred. It’s a vibrant place, and it really is an extension of our family. “The youngest now is 19, and the eldest is 64. And he won’t retire because he loves it here, he’s like the patriarch. The average age is around mid-30s, and the few that are arriving right now are all youngsters. They’ve left six form and left further education, and they’re now coming to us and we’ll be with them for the next part of...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Real ale expert speaks ahead of Preston pub fest

“It all started in the early seventies, and it was very different to how it is now,” Adrian said. “Four guys were away on holiday somewhere and they were all sat around a table complaining about how bad the beer was. “In the seventies, there were six major brewing companies in Britain brewing 95 per cent of the beer that was drunk. If you lived in certain parts of the county, it was difficult to get decent beer; big breweries didn’t brew very much, and cask beer was thrown onto the bar without m...
Lancashire Evening Post •

Teen curler faces World Championships despite 'virtually impossible' industry

Having started in 2021 as the only girl at the Barton Grange Flower Bowl, Marianna now says she is “really pleased” to have come in first at the ECA Junior Mixed Doubles Championships on 30 August, and is now looking ahead to the world championships in the coming months. “It was quite difficult to balance it all with studying,” she told the Lancashire Evening Post. “I had three national championships in the run up to my A-Levels, and it was quite similar with my GCSEs. “In terms of behind the sc...
Lancashire Evening Post •

‘Endangered’ clog maker can't wait to show off his skills at Clitheroe's ClogFest

“Rivalry is endemic throughout anything people do,” he said. “There are all these little things: the step dancers might opt for something slightly plainer, because they’re doing flashy steps, but the Morris dancers are going for much more bling and much more show because they use their best clogs for dancing. “It’s difficult,” Phil said. “I’ve got a little box that I keep the brass plates in, that go on the tip of the clog for a little bit of bling. That firm started in 1765, and that firm close...
Saddleworth Independent •

Fifty years of folking for Lees musician

HE MAY not be a member of Gomez and he may not have tried to kill Princess Anne, but if there is one thing Ian F Ball has done over the years, it is give the people of Saddleworth a good tune. 
Born in Stockport and now living in Lees, it has been more than 50 years since the folk musician picked up his first guitar from Boots aged 14.  
In the decades since, Ian’s “off and on again” musical career has seen him go from stage to stage across the UK – while his songs have travelled across the worl...
Lancashire Evening Post •

'I was hospitalised with anorexia but got top grade GCSEs and want to be a baker'

Like many students, 16-year-old Lily’s glowing results came from months of intensive revision but it wasn’t long ago that she had been uncertain as to whether she would take them at all. “I was so ashamed of it. I was terrified of people knowing about it, because of that stigma around eating disorders. It was, and still is, a very sensitive topic for us because it was all so difficult.” “The school were also alright with it, and they were also understanding. They said they were prepared to help...
Saddleworth Independent •

Orchestra legend says ‘cello’ to Uppermill

“THE MUSIC industry is completely different because of the internet. It’s a whole new situation, and in some ways, that’s also dangerous. Students’ careers will be made or broken through social media.” 
That’s the verdict of Victoria Simonsen, internationally award-winning cellist and professor at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Her chamber music performances have been broadcast in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand, and her performances have taken her across the world – and to Saddleworth, f...
Saddleworth Independent •

‘Petrol heads’ pull together for Scouthead and Austerlands Motor Show

WHAT DO a Cadillac, an army tank, and the world’s only steam-powered Land Rover have in common? 
As it happens, not much – but that did not stop them from parking together on a field in Scouthead. 
150 cars, motorbikes, tractors, and other vehicles stood proudly on display across Dawson’s Field, painstakingly put together for the Scouthead and Austerlands Community Group Motor Show.  
Now on its second year, the number of entries had more than doubled since its launch last summer. The charity ev...
Saddleworth Independent •

Pianist Rose McLachlan: ‘Teaching gives you a bigger perspective of what’s important’

AN AWARD-WINNING pianist who has been a star since she was a teenager has brought her talents to Uppermill.
Rose McLachlan was only 13-years-old when she debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was 14 when she won the Scottish International Youth Prize at the Royal Conservatoire of Music, and she was 15 when she won the Yamaha Prize in the 2017 EPTA UK Piano Competition.
After turning 16, she won two awards with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra and at 17 she won the junior intercollegiate...
Saddleworth Independent •

Millgate Arts Centre gives audiences a backstage pass

“I’VE BEEN involved at the Lyceum and at the Playhouse 2 in Shaw – but this is the place which feels like home.” 
So says Pauline Walsh, theatre director and long-time member of the Millgate Arts Centre in Delph.
Strewn across the stage behind her sits a podium, balcony, and a large banner that reads ‘Degrees for Women’ – the leftovers of the theatre’s latest play, Blue Stockings.  
But on this one unusual evening, however, there is not a single cast member in sight. Rather, it is the visitors w...
Saddleworth Independent •

Uppermill Summer Music Festival is high note for opera star

“I ALWAYS think this could be my last performance. You never know when you’re going to get to sing something again or work with the same people again, but I also think it’s good: it makes you enjoy every minute of it.” 
A life in the spotlight was by no means a dream that came easily to Kathryn Rudge. Born in Liverpool to a family of non-musicians, the now multi-award winning opera singer could never have imagined she would one day be lighting up stages the world over.
Since graduating from the...
Saddleworth Independent •

British Empire Medal for Saddleworth environmentalist

A SADDLEWORTH woman who founded a community hydroelectricity project has been honoured  – and says she hopes her work will get more people talking about the environment.  
Alison Brittle was awarded a British Empire Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours list for her services to Saddleworth, thanks to her work on Saddleworth Community Hydro in Greenfield.
Based at Dove Stone Reservoir, the project uses a cross flow turbine to generate renewable electricity, and saves more than 170 tonnes of carbon...
Saddleworth Independent •

Walking football club kicks off ahead of new kit

WALKING football is a much faster game than its name might suggest. 
That is the key takeaway from a Friday match at the Saddleworth Walking Football Club, where more than 70 members are united by a common goal – seeing how fast they can go when the referee’s not looking.  
Twice a week, up to 20 men and women gather in the fields at Saddleworth Leisure Centre for a kickabout and cuppa.
Most are above the age of 60, though the club attracts members from all age groups. The eldest, Keith, is 75 –...
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