A BURNLEY woman is hoping to take a taste of Burnley's history to the Indian subcontinent next month.

Barbara Baldwin, 51, of Coal Clough Lane, will be visiting charity projects in deprived areas of India as part of a delegation from Oxfam.

The manager of the charity shop in St James Street, Burnley, is appealing for local memorabilia to take with her to give the people she meets an idea of what life is like in East Lancashire.

And she will be taking a copy of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph with her for people in the villages she stays in to read about events over here.

One of the projects Barbara will visit is in an area where many people work as cotton weavers, so she hopes to take photographs and historical accounts of the trade in Burnley to help forge links.

Barbara, who has managed the Burnley shop for five years and worked as a volunteer assistant before that, is hoping to raise awareness throughout Britain and abroad of all the positive things to come out of Burnley.

She will be taking photographs of the shop in Burnley and its 18 volunteers to give people in India an idea of where money raised by Oxfam comes from.

She is one of four Oxfam staff nationwide to take part in the trip to various parts of India, including Bangalore, Nagpur and Bombay, which will be the first time she has left Europe.

Barbara, who is married and has two grown-up children, said: "It's a really exciting opportunity and will help us to see the innovative projects the charity is supporting.

"I'm not expecting it to be all good fun because we will be visiting areas of extreme poverty and I think it will be a real eye-opener, though there's a hopeful side to it.

"One of the things I really want to do is show people the shop because they aren't always sure where the money comes from. They don't realise that it is raised by ordinary people.

"I have all sorts of ideas for things to take with me from Burnley. I want to take some information and photographs showing the town was built on a cotton boom, because I will be going to see organic cotton weaving.

"I might also speak to Burnley Football Club about some items and I will certainly be taking a Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

"When I come back I will be giving talks in various places and I also hope to use this opportunity to show people that there is a lot more to Burnley than what they see in the news sometimes."

Anyone with ideas for items to take can call Barbara on 01282 450224.