Local people are being invited to take part in a competition to suggest the 10 best things to be placed in a time capsule that will be buried at the new Darwen Leisure Centre that’s due to open in December.
Councillor Michael Law-Riding, executive member for leisure and culture for the Council said: "I am sure this competition will create a lot of interest among local people.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to use your imagination and give future generations an insight into life at the beginning of this century.”
Winners of the competition will be invited to join the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen at an event to bury the time capsule later in the year.
Send your suggestions to Freepost RRHYZKBRBSLA, Communications and Marketing, Town Hall, Blackburn, BB1 7DY before the closing date of July 31, 2009.
The judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Full competition rules can be found on the Council website: www.blackburn.gov.uk/competitions
Friday, May 29, 2009
Are you tired of being contacted by telesales people?
If you are sick and tired of receiving telesales calls who just won't take NO for an answer then you may be interested in this website: http://www.phonespamfilter.co.uk/.
According to the site PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk is the only service explicitly designed to provide users with scoring algorithms so they can automatically block phone solicitor calls.
The site has been designed to offer a free service to assist the general public in identifying annoying telemarketers. The site's content is user generated, meaning everyone can contribute to the growing database of numbers and associated comments.
You can search for telephone numbers to read what others have to say about them, browse by area code to see who is operating in your local area and log your own complaints.
The site could be particularly useful if you have caller ID. If you're having problems with annoying & persistent telesales calls visit PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk today to make a complaint and read what others have to say.
According to the site PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk is the only service explicitly designed to provide users with scoring algorithms so they can automatically block phone solicitor calls.
The site has been designed to offer a free service to assist the general public in identifying annoying telemarketers. The site's content is user generated, meaning everyone can contribute to the growing database of numbers and associated comments.
You can search for telephone numbers to read what others have to say about them, browse by area code to see who is operating in your local area and log your own complaints.
The site could be particularly useful if you have caller ID. If you're having problems with annoying & persistent telesales calls visit PhoneSpamFilter.co.uk today to make a complaint and read what others have to say.
Richard Smalley Blog - Our time in France
Darwen Online contributor Richard Smalley left Darwen in 2001 to travel the world. He has now agreed to share some of his experiences with people back home through regular blogs.
Richard writes:
We have all heard that French people are either rude or ignorant towards us on our holidays. But, I have to say after my week here in the Dordogne region in south - east France they have been fantastic towards us and blew all myths about French people out of the window for me.
The last time I drove through France we broke down on the way back from the football championships in Portugal 2004. We were stranded on a roundabout just outside of La Rochelle on a Sunday night. To our surprise a polite French family in a camper van pulled up and helped us by taking my friend to the nearest garage for some diesel. The family later returned and fixed the engine for us and then left as if it was au naturel. It was either that or somebody was looking down on us.
So, after two trips to France I really haven’t got anything but praise for the French. I have met up with 16 family members for a once in a lifetime gift from my parents to stay in a seven bedroom mansion in the French countryside. My family travelled from Australia, Bulgaria, myself from Sweden, Leeds, Cumbria and the majority drove from Darwen.
We visited the quaint town of Duras for the Monday market and had a lot of fun tasting the local cheese, bread and wine at the stalls. There are also four wine making areas in this region so if you like wine, this is certainly a place for you. The scenery, towns, villages and more importantly for me the food and wine have been wonderful. We also went for an excellent five course meal for only €19 each. I have been very impressed with France and I am sure you wouldn’t be disappointed either. Magnifique.
Richard writes:
We have all heard that French people are either rude or ignorant towards us on our holidays. But, I have to say after my week here in the Dordogne region in south - east France they have been fantastic towards us and blew all myths about French people out of the window for me.
The last time I drove through France we broke down on the way back from the football championships in Portugal 2004. We were stranded on a roundabout just outside of La Rochelle on a Sunday night. To our surprise a polite French family in a camper van pulled up and helped us by taking my friend to the nearest garage for some diesel. The family later returned and fixed the engine for us and then left as if it was au naturel. It was either that or somebody was looking down on us.So, after two trips to France I really haven’t got anything but praise for the French. I have met up with 16 family members for a once in a lifetime gift from my parents to stay in a seven bedroom mansion in the French countryside. My family travelled from Australia, Bulgaria, myself from Sweden, Leeds, Cumbria and the majority drove from Darwen.
We visited the quaint town of Duras for the Monday market and had a lot of fun tasting the local cheese, bread and wine at the stalls. There are also four wine making areas in this region so if you like wine, this is certainly a place for you. The scenery, towns, villages and more importantly for me the food and wine have been wonderful. We also went for an excellent five course meal for only €19 each. I have been very impressed with France and I am sure you wouldn’t be disappointed either. Magnifique.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Calls for Janet Anderson MP to vountarily publish all her expenses
Janet Anderson has been challenged to publish her expenses in full, ahead of the July deadline. The call, by her Conservative opponent, Jake Berry, follows repeated attempts to obtain details of the Labour MPs expense claims since July 2008.
In response to a further request from Jake Berry, Ms Anderson failed to justify why she had voted against the reform of MPs expenses and a Freedom Of Information Act request he submitted, asking for the full details of Ms Anderson's second home expense claims, was rejected.
As the Daily Mail has recently revealed Ms Anderson's sky-high travel expenses – enough to allow her to drive around the globe almost twice in a year – Mr Berry said such claims must be published in detail.
Since 2001, Janet Anderson has claimed almost £139,000 to maintain her end terraced house in Darwen which she designated as her second home.
Mr Berry said: "As far as I am concerned my main home will always be here in Rossendale and Darwen. I will never change the designation of my second home purely in an attempt to maximise the amount of expenses I could claim as it appears some MPs have done."
“The voters of Rossendale and Darwen deserve to have confidence in the person who represents them", he added. "I have always believed in openness and transparency regarding MPs expenses. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
"I call on Ms Anderson to voluntarily publish all of her expenses. I have been seeking this information for over a year and I cannot make sense of the mileage or second home allowance claimed," Mr Berry said.
He said that a chain of events has led him to speak out about why he thinks the people of Rossendale and Darwen deserve better, and as a taxpayer first and foremost, he was "disgusted" by the treatment of residents.
For the third year running she has racked up the biggest mileage claim in Parliament with 41,984 miles to her name at a cost of almost £12,000.
"I will always seek to be transparent and honest with my travel expenses. I believe change is required to clean up politics," Mr Berry stated.
"Only an immediate General Election can clear out the old system and bring in a new transparent and open system of MPs' expenses."
Links
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187122/The-6-2m-Scandal-MPs-taking-taxpayers-ride-extortionate-travel-expenses.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/5078358/Labour-MPs-twice-round-the-globe-mileage-claim.html
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2009/05/26/labour-mp-janet-anderson-feels-expenses-heat-61634-23711350/
In response to a further request from Jake Berry, Ms Anderson failed to justify why she had voted against the reform of MPs expenses and a Freedom Of Information Act request he submitted, asking for the full details of Ms Anderson's second home expense claims, was rejected.
As the Daily Mail has recently revealed Ms Anderson's sky-high travel expenses – enough to allow her to drive around the globe almost twice in a year – Mr Berry said such claims must be published in detail.
Since 2001, Janet Anderson has claimed almost £139,000 to maintain her end terraced house in Darwen which she designated as her second home.
Mr Berry said: "As far as I am concerned my main home will always be here in Rossendale and Darwen. I will never change the designation of my second home purely in an attempt to maximise the amount of expenses I could claim as it appears some MPs have done."
“The voters of Rossendale and Darwen deserve to have confidence in the person who represents them", he added. "I have always believed in openness and transparency regarding MPs expenses. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
"I call on Ms Anderson to voluntarily publish all of her expenses. I have been seeking this information for over a year and I cannot make sense of the mileage or second home allowance claimed," Mr Berry said.
He said that a chain of events has led him to speak out about why he thinks the people of Rossendale and Darwen deserve better, and as a taxpayer first and foremost, he was "disgusted" by the treatment of residents.
For the third year running she has racked up the biggest mileage claim in Parliament with 41,984 miles to her name at a cost of almost £12,000.
"I will always seek to be transparent and honest with my travel expenses. I believe change is required to clean up politics," Mr Berry stated.
"Only an immediate General Election can clear out the old system and bring in a new transparent and open system of MPs' expenses."
Links
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187122/The-6-2m-Scandal-MPs-taking-taxpayers-ride-extortionate-travel-expenses.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/5078358/Labour-MPs-twice-round-the-globe-mileage-claim.html
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2009/05/26/labour-mp-janet-anderson-feels-expenses-heat-61634-23711350/
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Error on For Darwen party leaflets
Promotional leaflets have been arriving on our doormats in the run up to the town council elections in June. However, leaflets distributed by the For Darwen party have caused some confusion by listing the election day as Thursday 6th June.
As many of you will already know, the elections are being held on Thursday 4th June, although most will no doubt have already noticed this was a printing error.
Darwen Online contacted For Darwen to enquire about the error but when we rang the number printed on the leaflets we were put through to Darwen Timber on Queen Street?
An email has been sent and we await the response to confirm whether the date was wrong on every leaflet or whether the problem was isolated to one area of the town.
Did you receive the leaflets with the incorrect date on? Don't forget to vote on THURSDAY 4TH JUNE.
As many of you will already know, the elections are being held on Thursday 4th June, although most will no doubt have already noticed this was a printing error.
Darwen Online contacted For Darwen to enquire about the error but when we rang the number printed on the leaflets we were put through to Darwen Timber on Queen Street?
An email has been sent and we await the response to confirm whether the date was wrong on every leaflet or whether the problem was isolated to one area of the town.
Did you receive the leaflets with the incorrect date on? Don't forget to vote on THURSDAY 4TH JUNE.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Local band Kreuz talk to Darwen Online
Local band, Kreuz, who are playing on the main stage (amonst other venues) at this years' Darwen Live will be updating readers of Darwen Online with regular updates.The band, who have seen a lot of success despite being together less than a year, say that they have gained local popularity through word of mouth, dedication and commitment. If you want to read more about the band please read our original article: Darwen Live: One to watch or visit their myspace page.
The band have agreed to write regular articles to keep Darwen Online visitors updated on their progress throgh the music world. No doubt there will be some ups and downs along the way, but I for one, really enjoy the music they produce and feel confident they will see huge success. Below is their first contribution:
"Wednesday the 20th May saw yet another success for the Darwen hot shots Kreuz, the venue was ' The Studio ' Manchester and the task in hand was to qualify through an even tougher 'Stage 2 ' of the biggest national competition for un-signed bands.
The event organisers Surface unsigned had already moved Kreuz' set date for Stage 2 from Monday the 18th to Wednesday the 20th May making ticket sales and final arrangements somewhat difficult.
Kreuz guitarist Glenn Evans recalls "We had to pay £20 per car to park in Manchester city centre, and whilst we were there our bass player Simon Pickup came face to face with one of the actors in Hollyoaks. Simon said hello only to be ignored in a true celeb fashion!"
Just to participate in this kind of event is difficult, the point scoring system during the early stages is made up of text votes, points for tickets sold by bands and musicians get to vote for each other, so in theory technically poor bands can qualify at the expense of a more talented band.
Later in the competition there will be an industry vote which is basically a judging system and makes more of bands and there individual talents. The band will now compete in the regional semi final at Manchester Academy mid July, a coach trip is being planned so if you are interested in supporting the band please call Cindy on 07930759471 tickets will include entry to the venue and return coach fare from Darwen.
Later in the competition there will be an industry vote which is basically a judging system and makes more of bands and there individual talents. The band will now compete in the regional semi final at Manchester Academy mid July, a coach trip is being planned so if you are interested in supporting the band please call Cindy on 07930759471 tickets will include entry to the venue and return coach fare from Darwen.
For an insight into what you will be in for on the night go to -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtpQntn6DGM"
Be sure to show your support for the band at Darwen Live this weekend. They will be playing on the main stage, Franky's Bar and Millstone. For a full line-up, including times click here.
Be sure to show your support for the band at Darwen Live this weekend. They will be playing on the main stage, Franky's Bar and Millstone. For a full line-up, including times click here.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
UltimateHandyman.co.uk. A popular DIY forum
Popular online forum ultimatehandyman.co.uk has been providing millions of visitors with valuable free information on DIY hints and tips. Maybe you've used the website yourself, but did you know it was run by a Darwener?
The site, which was started as a hobby, has been voted website of the month by magazine WebUser and now boasts over 500 static pages and regularly receives over 50,000 page views per day.
Here is what owner, Chez Rossi, had to say to Darwen Online:
"Ultimatehandyman.co.uk was started in December 2004, I remember waking up one morning and just decided to make a DIY website. I had always had a keen interest in DIY and have previously renovated a couple of properties."
"One of the major obstacles of house renovating was unreliable tradesmen and on several occasions I had been let down by tradesmen that did not even show up or have the decency to call to say that they were not coming."
"The tradesmen that did turn up, often were unreliable or expensive and sometimes their workmanship left a lot to be desired, this was my motivation for making one of the countries largest DIY websites as I was determined to help people increase their DIY skills and knowledge."
"The website has over 14,000 pages indexed on Google and is now hosted on it's own dedicated server because the site gets too many hits for shared hosting to cope with!"
"I have lived in Darwen all of my life and was born in Queens park hospital in 1971. I attended Sudell primary school and Moorland high school. I never really liked school and would do anything to get out of going and so my school sickness record was appalling."
"After leaving school I had a couple of jobs before getting a job as a process operator, working continental shifts for ICI acrylics in 1991, the company has now changed it’s name to Lucite international and I now work for them on the maintenance side, rather than production."
If you would like to visit the website to ask DIY questions please visit http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk.
At the time of writing Chez is now the latest person to register on the Darwen Online forum. Please extend your warm welcome to him and congratulate him on a successful website if you get chance!
The site, which was started as a hobby, has been voted website of the month by magazine WebUser and now boasts over 500 static pages and regularly receives over 50,000 page views per day.
Here is what owner, Chez Rossi, had to say to Darwen Online:
"Ultimatehandyman.co.uk was started in December 2004, I remember waking up one morning and just decided to make a DIY website. I had always had a keen interest in DIY and have previously renovated a couple of properties."
"One of the major obstacles of house renovating was unreliable tradesmen and on several occasions I had been let down by tradesmen that did not even show up or have the decency to call to say that they were not coming."
"The tradesmen that did turn up, often were unreliable or expensive and sometimes their workmanship left a lot to be desired, this was my motivation for making one of the countries largest DIY websites as I was determined to help people increase their DIY skills and knowledge."
"The website has over 14,000 pages indexed on Google and is now hosted on it's own dedicated server because the site gets too many hits for shared hosting to cope with!"
"I have lived in Darwen all of my life and was born in Queens park hospital in 1971. I attended Sudell primary school and Moorland high school. I never really liked school and would do anything to get out of going and so my school sickness record was appalling."
"After leaving school I had a couple of jobs before getting a job as a process operator, working continental shifts for ICI acrylics in 1991, the company has now changed it’s name to Lucite international and I now work for them on the maintenance side, rather than production."
If you would like to visit the website to ask DIY questions please visit http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk.
At the time of writing Chez is now the latest person to register on the Darwen Online forum. Please extend your warm welcome to him and congratulate him on a successful website if you get chance!
The Traveller Returns
Our new "columnist", Richard Smalley will be updating Darwen Online regularly with news about his travels. This is his first article:
Yet again, I woke up at sun rise at 3.42am this morning and tried getting back to sleep. It’s really some getting used to and it will soon be 24 hour daylight here in northern Sweden. This is where I am living at the moment with my Swedish girlfriend.
Firstly I would like to say a big hello to everyone in Darwen, a place I still visit after most of my travels, to see family and to have a pint in The Engineers with friends. I left Darwen Vale without any grades and started work at Octaveward in 1997.
I learnt the trade of fibreglass plastics over four years while living at Two Gates Drive and later at my own house on Alice Street. I slowly got bored with routine, paying the mortgage and not having any fun, so every Thursday I stared at overseas job adverts in the national newspapers just wishing.
Then in February 2001, I plucked up the courage and phoned one of the job adverts. It was a risky and very scary step and in a blink of an eye I was flown to The Netherlands and started work. I have never looked back and I have been travelling ever since.
From sleeping rough in Uruguay to watching England at the World Cup in Germany 2006. From being mugged in Rome to spending three weeks in the Atacama Desert. To be out drinking with Turkish gypsies to white water rafting in the Andes Mountains. Swimming in Thai jungles at midnight to talking to Prince Andrew in Southampton.
Eating with poor Laos families to lavish Argentinean steak and wine. To the heights of the Empire State building to the views of Darwen Tower and Bolivian train journeys to spotting moose in Sweden.
As I learn the language and culture in Sweden, it just shows nothing is really stereo-typed and you should take things as you see it. I will be travelling around Scandinavia soon enough and next week I will be seeing 18 of my family members in France for a special birthday celebration.
In future I wish to have plenty of enjoyment and discuss any kind of travel stories from where you or I have been. I think we can have a lot of fun on this column and I would love to read some of that true Darwen humour.
You can follow Richard Smalley via his blog: The Traveller Returns
Yet again, I woke up at sun rise at 3.42am this morning and tried getting back to sleep. It’s really some getting used to and it will soon be 24 hour daylight here in northern Sweden. This is where I am living at the moment with my Swedish girlfriend.
Firstly I would like to say a big hello to everyone in Darwen, a place I still visit after most of my travels, to see family and to have a pint in The Engineers with friends. I left Darwen Vale without any grades and started work at Octaveward in 1997.
I learnt the trade of fibreglass plastics over four years while living at Two Gates Drive and later at my own house on Alice Street. I slowly got bored with routine, paying the mortgage and not having any fun, so every Thursday I stared at overseas job adverts in the national newspapers just wishing.
Then in February 2001, I plucked up the courage and phoned one of the job adverts. It was a risky and very scary step and in a blink of an eye I was flown to The Netherlands and started work. I have never looked back and I have been travelling ever since.
From sleeping rough in Uruguay to watching England at the World Cup in Germany 2006. From being mugged in Rome to spending three weeks in the Atacama Desert. To be out drinking with Turkish gypsies to white water rafting in the Andes Mountains. Swimming in Thai jungles at midnight to talking to Prince Andrew in Southampton.
Eating with poor Laos families to lavish Argentinean steak and wine. To the heights of the Empire State building to the views of Darwen Tower and Bolivian train journeys to spotting moose in Sweden.
As I learn the language and culture in Sweden, it just shows nothing is really stereo-typed and you should take things as you see it. I will be travelling around Scandinavia soon enough and next week I will be seeing 18 of my family members in France for a special birthday celebration.
In future I wish to have plenty of enjoyment and discuss any kind of travel stories from where you or I have been. I think we can have a lot of fun on this column and I would love to read some of that true Darwen humour.
You can follow Richard Smalley via his blog: The Traveller Returns
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