Full Steam Ahead as festival organisers look to the future

Supporters of the Blackburn Heritage Festival event are being invited to have their say in how it goes forward as the organisers stage an impressive display of steam engines in the town centre on Sunday, October 18.

“Steam Sunday” will welcome a convoy of eight vintage engines from across the UK which will be travelling from Darwen to Blackburn, arriving outside Blackburn Town Hall at around noon.

The event has been organised by Heritage Painting who have recently relocated their specialist business to the borough.

There will also be a display of clog dancing, street food and a fairground organ.

Organisers of the Blackburn Heritage Festival, which attracts record visitors to the town centre, will be at Steam Sunday to invite people to have their say. They are looking for volunteers to get involved in the development of the event which has previously been funded by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and also the Blackburn BID as a means of attracting newcomers to the town.

Heritage Festival Organiser, Harriet Roberts, who co-founded the event as a volunteer three years ago, said:

Blackburn’s heritage is rich and deserves to be preserved, protected and promoted. Now that we have had two large scale annual events which have been well supported there are a number of decisions to be made as to how we continue to organise and fund the festival.

We are hoping that local people will want to get on board in order for the festival to be able to support a wider number of venues, events and activities throughout the year and to look at the feasibility of setting up as an independent charity so that we can attract more ideas and funding.

Steam Sunday takes place on Sunday, October 18, between 12pm – 4pm on King William Street.