New Residents Association for Clearwater Village

Residents of Clearwater Village, a housing development in the Marsh House area of Darwen, have recently set-up their own residents association to help unite the local community.

According to the first of their monthly newsletters there has been a distict lack of communication between residents since dwellings in Clearwater Village were first occupied in 2003. The intention of the residents association is to develop a better community spirit and hope their regular newsletter will help achieve this by keeping residents informed of any local developments.

Clearwater Village was completed in 2005 and contains 88 houses and 38 apartments and residents first investigated the idea of setting up their own residents association in September 2008. An initial meeting was arranged on 26th September to see if there was sufficient support for the idea. A representative of Blackburn with Darwen borough coucncil was in attendance at the initial meeting which confirmed a high level of interest in the formation of a residents association.


Less than 2 months have passed since their first meeting but Clearwater Village now have everything in place to form an official residents association with full recognition from the local council. A number of residents have volunteered themselves to fill the various roles of the association which plans to get to work straight away by addressing the adoption of highways and drains.

In addition to persuing adoption of the highways by Blackburn with Darwen they also hope to encourage the developer to address the defective lighting in the Village. It is hoped that the highways and drains will be adopted by the end of the year.

NEW! Free Darwen Newspaper

A new FREE newspaper aimed at the Darwen community is being delivered to homes throughout the town. The Darwen Independent first appeared on the door mats of Darwen homes in September 2008.

The paper is free from political bias and that has no hidden agenda. It is edited by local people who care about the area. The Darwen Independent also provides affordable and effective advertising, with prices starting from just £25 per month. Paul Vaughan, Editor, said ‘The paper is brought to the reader by the advertisers as the paper receives no funding from elsewhere. We hope that readers appreciate that the advertisers make the paper possible; it is their way of putting something back into the community.’

After the first edition the Darwen Independent received a call from a resident who was concerned that the engine outside India Mills had not been repainted for some time. The Independent contacted Blackburn with Darwen Council and was told that the machinery would be ‘Painted before the end of the year’

The Darwen Independent is always on the look out for local news stories. If you know of any event or news of any kind please email or if you would like further information about advertising contact The Darwen Independent on info@bburnindy.co.uk. The paper will be working closely with the Darwen Online website to bring you local news both offline and online.

Local businesses can advertise in the paper or purchase banner advert sing on Darwen Online by contacting The Darwen Independent. Businesses interested in having their own premium business listing in our online directory can sign up online or contact Darwen Online for more information.

New Road Gritters Launched

The Highways Agency will be deploying a fleet of new gritters this winter to help combat winter weather on the countries roads and motorways.

The new vehicles will eventually replace the old yellow 'gritters' with a £45 million investment to help battle snow & ice. The news comes after a report warned that 50% of people would still travel despite severe weather warnings.

The introduction of the new fleet represents a move towards using pre-wet salt and onboard state of the art monitoring technology. The pre-wet salt is more friendly to other vehicles, is less affected by wind and gets to work faster on roads to prevent ice formation.

159 of the vehicles were launched today (Monday 10 November) and with the North West amongst the areas to receive the new vehicles first it might not be too long before you see one of them on th M65. In total 438 new gritters will be in use throughout the country by 2010.

Meanwhile The Weather Outlook's Christmas forecast has suggested there is an increased chance of a White Christmas for northern regions of the UK with upto a 50% chance in some areas. Their Christmas weather forecast is updated regularly so be sure to check their website for up to date information:

The Weather Outlook

Football Result: Atherton LR 2 Darwen 1 (08/11/08)

10 man Atherton came from behind to knock in-form Darwen out of the Vodkat League Cup. Darwen took the lead when Ed O'Neill slotted home a 35th minute penalty.

The Salmoners failed to double their lead before half time when they were awarded a second penalty which O'Neill sent wide of the left post.

Even though Premier Division Atherton decided to rest some of their first team regulars few expected the home side would be trailing at half time. After the break both sides had good chances to score but nobody was able to find the back of the net until the final 10 minutes of the game.

When Atherton LR were reduced to 10 men when Jonathan Bullough was sent off following a seond bookable offence it seemed like Darwen were odds on for continuing their fine form. However, an unmarked Paul Crompton drew the home side level on 81 minutes when he connected with a Dominic Smalley cross.

With extra time drawing ever closer Atherton secured the win with a controversial winner when Daniel Smith squared the ball to Howard despite appeals from the Darwen defence for offside.

Darwen may feel unlucky not to have knocked their Premier League rivals out of the cup in this second round tie but they can be pleased with their performance.

Their next game is an away league fixture against AFC Blackpool on Tuesday 18th November followed by a home game versus Wigan Robin Park on Saturday 22 November.

Darwen Deli's Just Desserts!

Strip away the fancy box and its Italian origins and it's basically a rather luxurious type of bread. But it seems panettone is giving the traditional Christmas cake a run for its money!

Long a staple on the festive table in the Italian city of Milan, where it originated, the dome-shaped dessert is fast become the pudding of choice in homes across the country while grandma's fruit cake sits in the cupboard.

Sales of the dessert have soared at Darwen based online deli www.melodiafood.co.uk, a leading UK importer, reporting customers flocking to taste a slice of Christmas Italian-style.

Like the traditional fruit-laden Christmas cake, panettone comes laced with candied fruits and raisins. But in its favour for all those who secretly loath peel, it also comes in varieties laden with chocolate chips.

Because it comes in a beautifully presented box, panettone - unlike its richer British cousin - is also a popular gift choice.

Traditionally, it is served as a dessert, accompanied by sweet wine and is also eaten toasted and spread with butter, or used in place of bread in a bread and butter pudding.

At Melodia Food, sales of panettone are up by 75 per cent on two years ago and at Deli Carlo on Darwen Market, sales of the cake - which are stocked in several sizes - have soared by 50 per cent since Christmas last year.

Carlo Ricioppo who owns Deli Carlo on Darwen Market said "Panettone is becoming increasingly popular as customers search for products that have a story to tell, especially at Christmas time.

"People are looking for genuine food with a genuine taste, and we have seen fantastic sales of panettone already this year.

"All our panettones are made in Italy, with recipes handed down through generations of the same families. The traditional method is to make the panettone with a 'mother yeast', before slow baking and leaving to cool naturally upside down for 10 hours to retain moisture and texture.

"Because of this traditional method, one way to spot an authentic panettone is to look for pin pricks on its base, where it has been hung."

As popular as panettone has become in Britain it may be a while before consumption matches the Italians, who get through an average of two and a half for each family each year. ...

Cadets to help British Legion sell poppys

Blackburn Cadets are to help the Royal British Legion by selling remembrance poppys in Darwen town centre this year.

The help comes after fears the Darwen branch may have to close because its members were getting too old and dwindling volunteers threatened to adversely affect the towns poppy campaigns.

Darwen branch treasurer Bryan Thompson warned the town in August that without additional volunteers the group may have to discontinue despite being in existence since 1921. However, ex-president Raymond Taylor told us things are starting to improve now.

"The cadets are going to help with this years poppy campaign" he told us.

"We still need as much help as we can get but we're still going despite facing hard times. Members are getting older and although I still help out I can't do quite as much as I used to"

They are still looking to recruit volunteers and Mr Taylor added "We need to keep the Darwen branch going"

Last year they raised over £10,000 through the town's poppy appeal and they are hoping to have a permanent war memorial built in Darwen town centre.

How do you support the poppy appeal?

LloydsTSB & Halifax workers facing job cuts?

Lloyds TSB believes it can save more money than originally expected following the take over of rivals HBOS. They now expect to save approximately £1.5bn by the end of 2011 prompting fear that they may be planning job cuts once the deal goes through.

Banking experts have suggested that job cuts are inevitable with bosses choosing to make the most of any possible savings and without closures banks may find themselves with two or three branches in the same vicinity.

There are currently 140,000 people employed by the two banks in the UK and Darwen itself has both Lloyds TSB and Halifax (HBOS) branches. It is worried that upto 40,000 people could lose their jobs if the takeover goes ahead.

After the Government dismissed competition concerns raised by the Office of Fair Trading it is now up to shareholders to approve the takeover. It has been revealed that the company would be called "Lloyds Banking Group" following the proposed merger.

What are your thoughts on the merger?

re:fresh comes to the Regency

From November 1, as part of the re:fresh your health and wellbeing campaign, more sessions at the Council run Regency gyms will be free of charge.

Saturday and Sunday sessions at the gyms, located in Waves Water Fun Centre and at Darwen Vale, will be free for people aged 16 -24 and those 50 and over, who fit the re:fresh criteria.

The scheme, costing £6m over the next three years, is an innovative plan to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Blackburn with Darwen after the Council and NHS revealed ‘killer facts’ about the borough’s poor health earlier this year.

Councillor Michael Law-Riding, executive member for leisure and culture said: “The people of Darwen told us they are unhappy at the limited amount of free physical activities they can take part in as part of re:fresh. We listened to their concerns and have now arranged for free sessions at all our Regency gyms.”

Nick Kennedy, chair of NHS Blackburn with Darwen added: "re:fresh has so far been a great success with record numbers of people signing up to take exercise and therefore get healthier. As the campaign continues to develop we will be looking at what we are getting right and also where we can make improvements.
“It is really good to see that we have been able to get more opportunities for these important health benefits for everyone in Darwen."

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