DARWEN will delve into its history with 20 locations hosting events for a heritage festival.

Darwen Town Council is organising a four-day event, from Thursday, September 10, until Sunday, September 13.

Visitors will be able to explore, go on guided tours and see a variety of local sites that celebrate the town’s heritage.

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Among the sites will be a visit to Darwen Town Hall and a celebration of Darwen Brass Band, which celebrates 150 years of making music in Darwen.

Tours of Darwen Cemetery will have the theme of Gallipoli, marking 100 years since volunteers from the Lancashire Fusiliers landed close to the southern tip of the narrow peninsula, near what is Gelibolu in modern Turkey. They started that April day with more than 1,000 officers and men; the following morning, a head count came up with barely 300.

It was a day in which the Fusiliers, which drew heavily from the Darwen area, made their mark in the history of the British Army, a day in which they famously won ‘six VCs before breakfast’.

Darwen Library will be open for people to bring in pictures for identification, family history, a tour of the library and exhibitions.

The Friends of Bold Venture Park is hosting a photographic contest, a nature trail and afternoon teas in the Ashton Kiosk.

Cllr John East, who is co-ordinating the heritage weekend, said: “With over 20 locations visitors will be impressed with the wide variety of places that can celebrate Darwen’s rich heritage.”

Dave Owen, of Darwen Days, said the group was taking over Darwen Library’s exhibition room and two display cases for six weeks from September 22.

He said: “Some of our items won’t have been seen for 100 years.

“These are postcards we have collected over the past four years and it has taken us two years to put the collection together.

“There will be 150 images and 70 items, including a jug from a brewery in Darwen called Crooks shut in the 1880s, and there will also be cups and shields.”

Several churches and schools will be open to look at archives and artifacts.