A GIN and beer festival is heading to Darwen as part of a weekend of festivities for the late August Bank Holiday.

Darwen Cricket Club will host its first gin and ale festival on Friday, August 24 through to Sunday, August 26.

Ales will be provided by Darwen brewers Three Bees and Hopstar Brewery as well as the Bowland Brewery amongst others. The gin bar will be run by the owners of local nightspot Cin Cin.

Chairman Graham Ainslie said: “This is our inaugural festival and we’re really looking forward too it.

“We have seen cricket clubs around the county hold similar events and they have proved really popular.

“We wanted to do something different and we hope we can get good weather and people will come out.

“There’s lots of activities going on and it’s very much focused on family entertainment, so there will be lots for children to do.

“We’ve sourced beers from all over the county but we have two very good local brewers in the town, so we have got them on board to make it a real celebration of the town.”

On the Friday night, there is a ladies' prosecco cricket competition, with several teams taking part, with a DJ and music in the clubhouse.

On Saturday, the Towers’ second XI are in action but as well as the action on the field, there will be plenty to do around the Birch Hall ground with a bouncy castle and rodeo bull, drinks stalls and Marcus Andrews providing a live show after the game.

The Undercovers are the star turn on the Sunday after Darwen’s first team game against Milnrow to round off the weekend.

Tickets are £10, which can be exchanged for selected drinks tokens.

Visit darwencricketclub.com for more.