Sunshine and smiles at the Blackburn Heritage Festival

The second Blackburn Heritage Festival has been hailed as another huge success for putting the town on the map.

Over 30 events and activities took place across the town centre including free walks, talks and tours, a vintage fairground and free hop-on, hop-off buses.  Highlights included the launch of the new Cotton to Gold exhibition at Blackburn Museum, a display of clog dancing and screening of early Mitchell and Kenyon Screen Footings.

Venues staging Heritage Open Day activities included the Town Hall and Mayor’s Parlour, Blackburn Cathedral, Ainsworths Jewellers, Holy Trinity, the Bureau (St John’s Centre) and Eanam Wharf.

Fans of the Great British Sewing Bee programme queued at Hobkirk on Darwen Street to meet celebrity judge,Patrick Grant who opened a museum of sewing.

Organisers of from the Blackburn BID (Business Improvement District) were delighted with the number of visitors attracted with footfall monitors reporting the highest footfall to the town centre at a weekend since June.

Harriet Roberts, Blackburn BID Manager, said:

We welcomed a large number of people to the town who had never been to Blackburn before and came especially for the Heritage Open Day event.”

Councillor Phil Riley, Executive Member for Regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:

Despite the sudden and unfortunate change in the weather on Saturday, the Blackburn Heritage Festival in the town centre was very successful with a large number of visitors enjoying the activities over the weekend. The success of the event is a great tribute to the organisers and the volunteers who did a sterling job.”