The archive is extensive and we aim to make many of these images available online.
*SEPTEMBER 2025 UPDATE*
There are now more than 17,553 images on the website including those on our Other Collections section. There are more images to see if you View our Articles section to read longer articles written by our volunteers on a range of historical subjects.
We have received a donation of Burco Dean archive material which has not yet been digitised for the website but you will find information about Burco Dean and a small selection of images on our Articles page.
We are now operating without the benefit of Heritage Lottery Funding and welcome donations to enable us to continue scanning negatives and making them available on the website. Donations can be made directly to us or via JUSTGIVING
Or scan our Just Giving account QR Code
We WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS and have vacancies on our Wednesday and 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 can be found in the Surrounding Districts pages and we would welcome volunteers from the Pendle area to digitise images and stories about this area as we have no volunteers working on this area at the moment.
We have produced a short history about the project which you can download.
50 Years Ago
The "Houses of Parliament" and white horse go up in a burst of flames.
Mystical figures in strange costumes and painted masks accompanied by weird chanting and music gave Welfare State's bonfire on Fulledge Recreation Ground an almost pagan atmosphere. A crowd that would have done Burnley Football Club proud watched one of the biggest spectacles the town has ever seen. The evening started with a "tribal" procession in which members of Welfare State carried over-sized effigies of Guy Fawkes and a white horse, the latter being a pagan symbol of pre-guy times. The procession finished with Guy Fawkes achieving his rightful position - in front of the bonfire shaped as the Houses of Parliament. Welfare State member Di Davies, wielding a torch about her head set fire to the bonfire and the Houses of Parliament became a roaring flame.
A 45-minute firework display provided an extra fillip to Padiham Round Table's second annual bonfire on Wednesday evening. And not even a heavy 30-minute downpour could dampen the enthusiasm of more than 2,000 people who flocked to St Leonard's CE school field to watch the event.
