OCTOBER

LECTURERS and management at Accrington and Rossendale Collegecompromised to end a three-year battle over new contracts.

Staff received £100 as a "goodwill gesture" and a NATFE spokesman said they would enjoy the best working conditions in the area.

Police launched a manhunt after a 22-year-old woman was brutally raped in broad daylight as she walked her dog through Billinge Wood, Blackburn.

The incident featured on BBC's Crimewatch programme and someone claiming to be the rapist wrote to Blackburn police.

The Red Brick Theatre in Blackburn received £25,000 from the Arts Council's Lottery Fund, while Action Factory Community Arts got £7,200.

Darwen MP Janet Anderson and Hyndburn MP Greg Pope were both promoted to the Labour Party's whips office as part of Tony Blair's junior reshuffle. Jack Straw was reappointed as Shadow Home Secretary.

NOVEMBER

NINE uniformed community safety wardens took to the streets of Accrington in a £71,000 project to cut town centre crime.

The Bishop of Blackburn, The Right Rev Alan Chesters, criticised Church of England churches for wasting time on minor issues.

Blackburn Rovers enjoyed the highlight of their season so far with a seven-goal hammering of Nottingham Forest at Ewood Park.

Unfortunately Rovers couldn't repeat the performance when they travelled to Moscow to play Spartak Moscow in the European Champions League, where they lost 3-0.

Reed Regional Newspapers, publishers of the Citizen, were bought by an RRN management team, backed by New York-based investment institution, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co, from Reed Elsevier.

DECEMBER

A QUARTER-of-a-mile long oil spillage in the Broad Oak area of Warmden Brook, Accrington, sparked a frantic clean-up to prevent the pollutant getting into the River Hyndburn.

Hospital managers reported staffing levels in Blackburn Infirmary's casualty department would hit crisis level in the new year, with only four out of seven junior doctor vacancies filled.

Accrington's £230,000, 14-camera closed circuit television system was switched on by Lancashire's Chief Constable, Pauline Clare, and the Mayor of Hyndburn, Councillor Jean Battle.

Darweners won their fight to keep the police station manned round the clock. Blackburn's new Chief Superintendent Eddie Walsh announced his decision.

The Local Government Commission gave Blackburn Council the best Christmas present they could have hoped for by recommending the borough get unitary status in the new year.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.