• yesterday
A round-up of the top stories from across Lancashire.
Transcript
00:00Hello, my name is Luke Patrick. I'm a reporter for the Lancashire Post and the Blackpool Gazette.
00:05Here is a Daily Bulletin.
00:07Lancashire pensioner jailed for rape and sex assaults on children 50 years ago.
00:13A man has been jailed for rape and a string of indecent assaults on children that took place around 50 years ago.
00:21Alan Johnston, 71, of Holmeswood in Olmskirk was jailed at Norwich Crown Court for 13 years yesterday.
00:31He pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child and 11 counts of indecent assault on children at an earlier court hearing on November 26th, 2024.
00:42The offences took place over a period between 1975 and 1981 against two girls who were teenagers at the time in the Lofstoft area.
00:51Latest news at a shoe market branch in Cleveland after closed affairs.
00:56A shoe shop in Cleveland which was set to close is to stay open after all.
01:03Signs went up on the windows of the shoe market branch on Princess Road stating that it was to close down.
01:10However, the operators of the outlet have decided to keep it running for the time being but with reduced hours.
01:17Also, Shoe Market Limited said the original decision to close it was budget related but at this moment the plan is to try and keep things running and for it to remain open.
01:30We are reducing the hours there, meaning the shop will be closed on Wednesdays and Sundays.
01:38New Bispum Flourish shop picked makes move for niche market selling flowers that last for more than a year.
01:46A new Flourish shop with a difference has opened in Bispum.
01:52The flowers they sell at picked on Redbank Road tend to last a long time, in fact they survive for more than a year.
02:00Yet the plants are not artificial, they are real enough but an innovative new process preserves them far longer than they would normally last.
02:09Shop owner Lauren Thornton opened picked on February 1st with an assistant manager Emma Barber helping to run the shop.
02:19The pair have an already existing business as venue stylists under the trade name Above and Beyond which entails them creating floral centrepieces for weddings and other events.
02:32More than a dozen Lancashire schools are to expand under special needs plans.
02:38More than 250 extra places for children with special educational needs and disabilities are to be created in Lancashire.
02:47Six existing local authority special schools will be expanded, two in Preston, others in Lancaster, Carnforth, Poulton-le-Fylde and Skelmersdale.
02:56Meanwhile, eight mainstream schools, two in each of Leyland and Morecambe as well as sites in Preston, Fleetwood, Thornton, Cleveland and Skelmersdale will see centre units established within their existing facilities.
03:10The £11.6 million project is the latest phase of a Lancashire County Council strategy to ensure more SEND youngsters are educated closer to where they live and to reduce spiralling bills for home to school transport as well as home, the cost of placing children in privately run special schools.