Archive Search Page

Winner Catherine with proud boss Mr. David Cottam
Come rain or shine, hail and snow or torrential everything most people in Burnley and Pendle can pick up their newspapers and magazines from behind their front door each and every day. And it’s all thanks to hundreds of young boys and girls who go out day in day out, often in the dark and usually before the streets are warm to deliver for our local newsagents. But the cold wet streets were far from everyone’s minds on Monday night when Ritzy’s Nightclub in Burnley was the venue for the 1990 News deliverer of the Year competition. More than 200 newspaper boys and girls had entered the competition and each filled in a questionnaire about themselves and their jobs. Newsagents also filled in questionnaires in praise of their young staff and a committee of representatives from the competition sponsors the Burnley Express and Nelson Leader Series, Burnley and Pendle Newsagents, Surridge Dawson Ltd., the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Sunday wholesaler A.R. Levett and Ritzy’s nightclub itself then whittled the list down to 11 and eight of these were interviewed before a packed audience at Ritzy’s on Monday night. The panel of judges had a hard task but the eventual winner was 16 year old Catherine Whitaker who works for D. Cottam newsagents in Colne Road, Burnley who took home a cheque for £150. The very close second and winning himself £100 was Mark Jones aged 15 who works for Greenwood’s in Church Street, Padiham. The six other finalists who each received £50 were Darren Branigan, 15, who works for Bond Newsagents, Railway Street Nelson, Mark Chadwick 13, Seddon, Walter Street, Brierfield,Gary Dugdale, 15, Adern Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, Claire O’Hara, 14, Phillips, Padiham Rd., Burnley, Shaun Makin, 15, Robinson, Leeds Road, Nelson, Jason Tattersall, 15, Fell, Brunshaw Avenue Burnley.
The Ritzy’s event was open free to all newspaper boys and girls in Burnley and Pendle and not only did they have the chance to cheer on the finalists but there were £200 worth of raffle prizes on offer as well as all the best disco music typical of Ritzy any night of the week. The raffle prizes were provided by the competition sponsors and there were dozens of them, including gift vouchers, personal stereos, radios and free tickets to Ritzy. Judges were Graham White of Colne Dynamoes, Mr Peter Fowke of Surridge Dawson Ltd., Barry Greenwood of the local Newsagents’ Federation, Keith Fort, assistant editor of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and Rita Lloyd of the Burney Express. The event was a huge success and could become an annual one. It is seen as one of the best possible ways to pay tribute to our hard-working news deliverers. Here is what Catherine’s boss Mr. David Cottam had to say about her: “Catherine helps in the shop and she is capable of doing all the rounds and does so if needed. During the three and a half years she has been with me, she has been a credit to herself, her parents and the shop.” Mr. Cottam also said that Catherine was very punctual, extremely reliable, always polite and smartly dressed, the ideal newspaper deliverer in fact, and the judges agreed with him. After receiving her cheque, Catherine said she was very surprised to have won but very pleased. She intends to spend most of her winnings on clothes.