Look back with our review of 2017
In this final Observer of the year, we look back at some of the stories and images that made the headlines in the first half of 2017. Our look back at July to December will feature in next week’s paper.
JANUARY
THERE was a tragic start to the year with the death of Megan Lee due to an apparent allergic reaction after eating a takeaway meal.
Megan, 15, from Oswaldtwistle, passed away on New Year’s Day after she ate food from an Indian takeaway.
Her parents Adam and Gemma Lee described her as ‘our princess’ after her death.
Later in the year nearly 300 people of all ages took part in a fun run in her memory, raising around £3,000 for the Anaphylaxis Campaign. Two men have been charged with manslaughter.
A RECORD number of people laced up their running shoes to take part in the charity Great Harwood 10k race.
Parents, children and running clubs from across the region gathered in the town for the annual event in aid of East Lancashire Hospice, with youngsters also joining in a 2km fun run.
More than 470 runners completed the main race, won by Danny Collinge of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers with a time of 34 minutes 36 seconds.
A FORMER police officer went from hunting down Britain’s most notorious football hooligans to the Great British Bark Off.
Diane Murphy opened up a bakery for dogs in Great Harwood selling doughnuts, cupcakes, muffins, biscuits and beer.
Hundreds of people were just pawing to get at the baked goods when the shop opened and many brought along their pets for a taste of doggy heaven.
FEBRUARY
TRIBUTES were paid to two popular teachers who died after battles with cancer.
Former Spring Hill primary teacher Janice Trickett, from Clayton-leMoors, worked at the Accrington primary for over 20 years and passed away aged 59.
Mary Nolan, who taught at St Mary’s RC Primary in Clayton-le-Moors for 26 years, died just two months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was 63.
PARENTS and children were left ‘shocked and angry’ after a popular play area was removed ‘without warning’.
The swings and climbing frame in the field off Station Road in Huncoat were ripped up by council staff with residents saying it looked like a ‘disaster area’.
Hyndburn council said the 20-year-old play area has ‘poor access and drainage problems’ and ‘needed to be removed before it became hazardous without any further investment’.
MARCH
YOUNGSTERS and fitness fans were jumping for joy after a long-awaited £1 million trampoline park opened its doors.
The Jump Works, off Sydney Street in Accrington includes climbing walls, battle beams, inflatable total wipeout, foam pits, dodgeball courts and Olympic trampolines.
RUNNING club members, young children and wheelchair users helped make the annual Ron Hill 10k race a ‘runaway success’.
More than 460 people took part in the race from the town centre through to Baxenden and Rising Bridge and back.
People of all ages and sizes also gathered in Mercer Park in Clayton-leMoors for a ‘Couch to 5K’ run.
It was a culmination of 10 weeks of hard training which saw runners leaving the comfort of their sofas behind and getting healthy and active.
APRIL
ACCRINGTON was rocked by the sudden death of Warner Street trader and community champion Evonne Harwood.
The co-owner of the Pink Magpie Vintage Emporium was found collapsed upstairs in her shop and passed away aged 55.
Evonne was very well known for organising the Christmas Dickensian events in Accrington and the 1960s-themed Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside.
THE arrival of chocolate eggs on shop shelves was the signal for one fundraiser to dig out her knitting needles.
Anita Knagg, from Rishton, created hundreds of little woollen Easter chicks which hold Cadbury’s creme eggs to raise money for East Lancashire Hospice.
MAY
MORE than 350 enthusiastic walkers took part in the annual rotary charity walk around the borough raising £24,000 for good causes.
Favourable weather helped make the 12th charity walk organised by the Rotary club of Church and Oswaldtwistle a successful grand day out.
A WOMEN’S only team was formed for the first time at a 152-year-old cricket club.
Rishton Cricket Club bosses developed the idea following the ‘brilliant’ success of a ladies fun day last year.
JUNE
THE Observer joined forces with a coroner to highlight the devastating toll that cocaine is taking on our communities.
Michael Singleton said the ‘silent killer’ was
responsible for the deaths of at least 17 young people in the Hyndburn area over a nine-month period.
The Observer’s campaign over several months revealing how the cocaine trade has led to a surge in drug-related violence on the streets of the borough, and how many of the area’s pubs are being flooded with the drug, was praised for saving lives.
Courageous Oswaldtwistle mum Andrea Adamson spoke out after the inquest into the death of her son Adam Cowell from a cocaine overdose.
THOUSANDS of people flocked to the borough to enjoy the Accrington Food Festival, the 150th anniversary of the Great Harwood Agricultural Show, and the Globe MCC Bike Show.