TO celebrate its 25th anniversary, Darwen Dashers Running Club is holding family events.

The first will be a litter pick around the Jubilee Tower and the second will be a family sports day where members and their families will take part in sack, egg and spoon and skipping races at Darwen Football Club.

The club began in 1990 and has grown immensely since.

President Brian Tull, who was one of the original members, is looking forward to celebrating the achievements of a club that has always stuck to its morals.

He said: “No-one ever gets left behind. It doesn’t matter how slow you think you run, there is a place for you.

“It has been great to see this club grow from strength to strength. At the beginning there were about ten people in it and there are well over 100 now.

“A lot of running clubs can be quite elite where people are competing against each other but we’re not like that. There is no snobbery and that’s something we should celebrate and be proud of.”

The family sports day is something that will reflect the club’s fun nature. As chairman Chris Cash said the world needs more classic sports days that are not so serious.

He said: “A lot of schools now have sports days that are taken very seriously and are intense and so that’s why we’ve decided to organise classics like the sack race.

“I hope both events are successful and I hope for good weather and that everyone enjoys themselves.”

The club now has more females running than males which Mr Tull said was another thing that reflected the group’s friendly nature.

The family litter pick will take place on September 5. People will be meeting at Sunnyhurst Pub at 2pm and the sports day will be on September 19.