A group of adult learners from Holytown has successfully completed a six-week Digital Skills for Life course the course was designed to equip participants with essential digital skills to navigate and thrive in today's technology-driven world Participants engaged in interactive activities The course was led by our Community Learning Development team who provided personalised support and insights The participants' digital skills improved significantly and another unexpected and pleasant benefit was the spirit of teamwork that the group developed supporting one another throughout their learning journey This project aligns with the digital priorities outlined in the Bellshill Local Outcome Improvement Plan and was a partnership between the council's Driving Digital Locally initiative aimed at enhancing the digital skills of residents in Holytown visited the participants on the final day of the course and said: “It was great to meet the participants they not only enhanced their technical abilities but also gained the confidence to tackle new challenges and opportunities in the digital age I look forward to seeing the positive impact of these newly acquired skills.” We're sorry this page didn't meet your expectations this time Please let us know if you have any feedback to help us improve the content If you have a question or comment about a council service or would like a reply, please contact us Sign up to our monthly newsletter to keep you updated with whats new in North Lanarkshire Stay in touch with council news and services with regular email updates Officers raided a property in Holytown (stock image)(Image: Getty Images/EyeEm)Cocaine worth an estimated £37,000 was discovered in a police raid in North Lanarkshire. Officers acting under warrant searched a premises on Dornoch Road Police Scotland say cocaine with an estimated street value of £37,000 was seized from the address The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now Get all the news from your area – as well as features sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android A 35-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident A police spokesperson said: "Over £37,000 worth of drugs have been recovered in North Lanarkshire by officers "Around 7pm on Thursday March 27 officers searched a premises under warrant on Dornoch Road in Holytown "Cocaine with an estimated street value of around £37,000 was seized from within "A 35-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with the recovery "He will appear at court on a later date." *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here And did you know Lanarkshire Live has its own app? Download yours for free here Click here for more news and sport from Lanarkshire. School pupils and residents of Holytown have welcomed the official unveiling of new heritage boards on Main Street marking a community-driven effort to enhance the area led by the Holytown Environmental Group in partnership with the council’s Community Partnership Team included input from local pupils at Holytown Primary School and Christ the King Primary School and a pupil’s artwork serving as a welcome sign the boards provide a fresh focal point for the community said: “These eye-catching new boards help celebrate the rich history of Holytown and bring a bit of pride back to the Main Street showing what can be achieved when we work together.  “The project was inspired by community concerns over the deteriorating fencing and derelict land and reflects the power of collaboration and community spirit I hope residents and visitors enjoy looking at these glimpses into the history of the town.”   Funding was provided through our Local Development Programme (Image: Contributed/Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser)Labour retained the two seats on North Lanarkshire Council vacated when two of its members were elected as MPs earlier this year The administration party won yesterday’s by-elections in the Fortissat and Mossend & Holytown wards which saw fewer than one in five voters turn out in either constituency to cast their ballots Clare Quigley will now return to the council chamber representing Fortissat having previously represented the area after winning a 2017 by-election; while party colleague Helena Gray is the new councillor for Mossend & Holytown Councillor Quigley polled 807 first-preference votes to retain the seat previously held by Kenneth Stevenson, now the MP for Airdrie & Shotts Progressive Change North Lanarkshire candidate Mary McIntosh came second ahead of SNP representative Brendan McAleese with the pair respectively receiving 529 and 447 votes Billy Acheson of the British Unionists came fourth ahead of Conservative candidate Sheila Cameron who polled 124 votes while Liberal Democrat Leigh Butler earned 57 Reform candidate Duncan MacMillan came third with 263 ahead of Conservative candidate Aimee Alexander with 127; while John Cole of the Liberal Democrats and Neil Wilson of UKIP respectively received 83 and 11 Turnout in the ward was just 15.8 per cent while in Fortissat it had been 17.9 per cent Returning officer Des Murray said: “I would like to congratulate Clare Quigley and Helena Gray on their election and I look forward to seeing them at the next council meeting.” * Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share! Linda and Janet are worried about the rise in youth violence(Image: DAILY RECORD)A Lanarkshire mum whose teenage son was stabbed to death in a vicious attack by Scotland’s youngest female killer says she is relieved she has no other kids she could lose to knife crime Conner Cowper was 18 when he was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack by Jolene Doherty She was later jailed for life for the crime who has previously spoken out about knife crime has appeared on a programme about the rise in youth gang violence The Daily Record reported her saying: “To be honest with you that wouldn’t even cross your head at certain ages Conner was mercilessly knifed in the neck in April 2018 by Doherty - who had previous for carrying blades and was well known to the authorities She was pregnant and high on cocaine and booze when she unleashed the attack on Conner She was sentenced to at least 16 years in custody for the “deliberate Doherty was granted anonymity by law throughout her trial at the High Court in Glasgow but was unmasked on her 18th birthday, when she was also identified as a schoolgirl filmed bullying a vulnerable pupil outside a school in Wishaw in 2013 Conner Cowper was murdered in 2018(Image: Facebook)‌Jailing her Lord Arthurson said: “Your attack upon him was deliberate and this murder was committed by you at the age of 17 when you were still a child while you were under the influence of cocaine and alcohol “I have been told that not only do you feel regret but you also expressed empathy towards the victim as the presiding judge at your trial I saw nothing of that Your demeanour was flat and disinterested and you didn’t give out any significant appearance of empathy “You are a highly dangerous and unstable individual entirely unprovoked and entirely murderous.” Linda, from Airdrie penned a harrowing letter to Scotland ‘s Justice Secretary over the brutality continuing to plague communities across Scotland saying she felt like “nothing has changed” since losing her only child and said the streets have become a “war zone” for many young people (Image: Pressteam Pictures <shardie@pressteam.co.uk>)The grieving family has spoken out as the number of crimes involving the use of weapons in Scotland increased by 20 per cent from September 2019 to September 2023 and the cost-of-living crisis being blamed for the rise Linda will feature on Scotland Tonight: Growing Up With Gangs which includes interviews with a range of young people *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here Robert Russell will be sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court next month(Image: Lanarkshire Live)A man caught with child abuse images on his phones had shared some photos with another paedophile was placed on the sex offenders' register when he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court this week He admitted possessing and distributing or sharing indecent images The court heard police went to his then home in Unitas Road said: "The accused and his partner were made aware of the nature of the enquiries "A systematic search was carried out and items seized included two phones." Nearly 1200 photos and videos showing children being abused were found on the phones These included 138 pictures and 33 videos in the most depraved category Police officers also discovered that Russell had sent five images to another person via a social media platform in January last year Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports and a risk assessment And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head over and give our page a share and a like. A further 167,000 Scottish homes and businesses will be able to access superfast speeds.Residents in five North Lanarkshire locations are to receive improved broadband services thanks to a £50 million upgrading project Coatbridge, Salsburgh, Cleland, Holytown and Uddingston are among the 25 Scottish locations to be included in the latest phase of work by Openreach to install full fibre broadband. It means 30,000 local households and businesses will have faster connection speeds once the new “ultrafast gigabit-capable” infrastructure is in place The latest North Lanarkshire locations are included in the latest tranche of upgrades as Openreach passes the halfway point of plans to make full fibre available to 25 million premises across the UK by the end of 2026 and then to a further five million by 2030 Full fibre is already in place in neighbouring towns including Motherwell with the company saying their network provides 1.8 million terabytes of data per week – “equivalent to every person in the country watching two full HD movies every day” Openreach Scotland partnership director Robert Thorburn said: “We’re focused on reaching our next million Scottish properties faster than ever; our investment unlocks huge benefits by supporting the economy he added: “We’re delivering engineering on an epic scale with another £50m investment across Scotland now going to reach 167,000 more homes “We’ve made this life-changing technology available to more than a million Scottish premises and we’re adding thousands more each week building further and faster than any other operator.” The puils from Holytown Primary and Nursery class(Image: Twitter)A group of Lanarkshire schoolchildren have been left disappointed after a rumour led them to believe they would see the magical Harry Potter train pass through their town today Pupils from Holytown Primary School and Nursery class turned up at the nearby Holytown Train Station on Tuesday morning to see the famous 'Hogwarts Express' tear along the railway line on its way to the Scottish Highlands But as the children patiently waited for a sight of the Jacobite steam train a tannoy announcement shattered their dreams by saying the infamous film train was not passing through afterall as cleared up online by Network Rail Scotland it was just a regular freight train that was on route from the North of England But the announcement came too late for the seven and eight-year-olds of Holytown who were left "upset" by the news they would not be seeing the renowned steam engine and carriages from their favourite film The kids had hoped to see the famous Hogwarts Express pass through Holytown(Image: Lennox Herald)In a Tweet to ScotRail a William Thomson posted: " @ScotRail there's a lot of upset school kids sitting at Holytown Station after hearing on a tannoy it's not coming "Unsure what you're referring to William They then cleared up the matter by re-Tweeting to William that the whole thing had indeed been an unfounded rumour Network Rail Scotland posted: "Out looking for a steam train today We're afraid the rumour going around isn't true - the 'magic' service heading north from Blyth to Fort William is in fact a regular scheduled freight service with a diesel locomotive." ScotRail re-Tweeted the post to avoid further disappointment and added: "If you know anyone that was planning to head out for this please let them know to save any disappointment." Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here The ad-free version is ready for purchase on iOS mobile app today we couldn't find that page";var n=e.querySelector("h2");return n&&n.remove(),{staticContent:e,title:t}},d=function(e){var t=document.createElement("button");return t.innerText=e,t.classList.add("error-page-button"),t},f=function(e){var t=document.createElement("div");t.id="recirculation-404",t.classList.add("brand-hint-bg");var n="\n \n \n Tick here if you would like us to send you the author’s response Tributes have been paid to much-loved football coach and Lanarkshire Live sales manager Tom Heffernan was known to many for his great work with successful boys club Holytown Colts He was also a central figure on the Scottish Mixed Martial Arts scene, writing about the sport in the Daily Record Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android who was 45 when he passed away last Friday left an indelible mark on the 2007 team that he had coached for ten years His wife Lesley said that she and the family was overwhelmed at the messages of support that she has received said: “We are very much in a state of shock but the amount of messages of support we have had has been unbelievable “I have had coaches from so many other teams getting in touch all telling me what a great person Tom was and what a commitment he made to his boys “He was a great dad and husband – the most committed family man you could imagine – and he really did go out of his way to inspire the young boys at the Colts “They were his ‘other boys’ and he was really Lesley, from Motherwell bravely decided go ahead with a grading for Taekwondo on Sunday “But he said that he wanted to do it for his dad and I know that Tom would have been so proud of him “That was the spirit that he instilled in his boys.” Tom decided to stay on as coach at Holytown despite his older son moving on to pro-youth football then signing for Stirling Albion Lesley explained: “He was totally committed and looked on the team as his other family “I know that the boys are really upset right now.” Lesley said that she had been gratified also that Tom was given a rousing minute’s applause at an MMA event in Stirling last weekend Tom worked for Lanarkshire Live publishers for more than 20 years and was a hugely popular colleague a spokesperson for Holytown Colts said: “Tom was a gentleman and an all-round good guy and we could all learn something from the way he coached.” Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.