A FRIENDS group will be reporting on its work in Darwen Cemetery over the past year at a meeting next week.

The annual general meeting will take place at Darwen Heritage Centre in Railway Road on Wednesday, April 26, at 7pm.

Jennifer Ray will be a guest speaker at the event and will be talking about the role of women during the First World War.

At the moment the friends are encouraging people to adopt one of the 90 war graves in the cemetery as some are available for people to look after.

Cllr John East, member of the friends, said: “Volunteers have given us thousands of hours of their time and we are very proud of what we have achieved in the six years we have been in existence.

“We want to encourage people to come and look after their graves, make the place look nice and adopt war graves.”

On Saturday there will be a working party from 10am to 1pm and people will be meeting in the Western Cemetery.

There will also be clean-up events on Saturday, May 6, and Saturday, May 20.

Everyone is welcome at the meeting to offer their thoughts.