*NOVEMBER 2023 UPDATE*
Our Other Collections section is growing, with the Burnley Youth Theatre Collection just published and others in the pipeline.
We will soon have Upcoming Events to raise awareness of the collection and our project, but the 'Lancashire Archives at Burnley' display of Burnley Football Club images is still at Burnley Central Library basement rooms.
We are now operating without the benefit of Heritage Lottery Funding and to help us continue would welcome donations. Please contact us for details about how to make a donation or donate online by visiting our page at JUSTGIVING
Or scan our Just Giving account QR Code
There are now over 13,541 images on the website. Our archive rooms are now fully operational although we continue to take a cautious approach. We WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS and have vacancies on our Thursday afternoon sessions. If you can spare a couple of hours why not contact us and arrange a visit to the archive. All that is needed are some basic computer skills and an interest in local history.
PENDLE AND WEST CRAVEN images in the Surrounding Districts pages will also now include images from 1963 to 1970 which are scanned from negatives (in addition to those scanned from photographs). These image stories are being transcribed from Nelson Library newspaper film rolls.
We have produced a short history about the project which you can download.
Two streakers providing an unexpected shock for Saturday shoppers in the Market Square.
Two students and a policeman were the competitors in one of the most bizarre quarter-mile races ever staged in Burnley. As a new craze streaks across Great Britain, two Burnley students decided to join in. It was shortly before three o'clock when a crowd started to gather in the square, most of them on the upper level, hoping to catch a glimpse of the streakers. Faces were beginning to drop and hopes to fade when two figures emerged from the gent's toilet near the ground floor entrance to the Broadsword Inn. And then the chase was on. A policeman who had noticed the crowd gathering earlier had stayed in the vicinity. The two streakers had gone less than 100 yards when the officer joined in the run. The students crossed the crowded Market Square to cheers, screams and applause from the onlookers.
The chase was interrupted for a brief moment when one of the streakers dropped a bunch of keys, which the ever helpful policeman stopped to pick up. The whole event, from the start to when they were taken away by the police, lasted less than five minutes.
An article from Winifred Bose's Women's Page:
Members of the Burnley branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, are a friendly group of women, as I discovered a few days ago when I gave a talk at one of their monthly dinners. The dinner I attended was at West Lynn Hotel, Colne, where I was given a very friendly reception by the chairman, Mrs K. M. Mackrell. The group recently made forty pounds with a bring-and-buy sale, and hold regular events to raise money, for what I believe is a very worthy cause indeed.
This year, the institution celebrates 150 years of service by life-boats manned by voluntary personnel. The local branch is having a special service to mark this occasion, at St Matthew's Church on March 10th, which is Lifeboat Sunday.