GO for green next week at Blackburn with Darwen's eighth annual GreenWeek festival.

The week of more than 40 special events starts on Saturday with the aim of raising awareness of environmental issues. Activities include woodland walks, a clean-up of the River Darwen, a bug hunt in Sunnyhurst Woods, litter picks and the creation of a mural at Roman Road Community Centre.

The official launch will be on Saturday at 11am, in Victoria Court, Blackburn Shopping Centre, by the Mayor of Blackburn and Darwen, Coun Peter Greenwood.

From 10am to 4pm on Saturday there will be an environmental fair in the shopping centre with exhibitors including the Environment Agency, the Mersey Basin Campaign and the Cycling Project for the North West.

Later in the year, trees will be planted for every baby born in the borough during GreenWeek '98. The name of each baby will be engraved on the GreenWeek commemorative plaque at the tree-planting ceremony in December. The event has been organised by Blackburn with Darwen Council in partnership with local organisations and voluntary groups.

Schools will also be involved in the festival and will help spread the message that helping the environment can be fun.

One of the organisers, Steve Lee, said: "We are delighted to see that GreenWeek has grown each year as more and more people realise that they do have the power to do something about their environment.

"One of the council's guiding principles is caring for the environment and the council has taken the lead in many projects.

"We are pleased to respond to the interest of local people by helping to stage the festival and giving local groups and individuals support for their work.

"This is not just during GreenWeek, but throughout the whole year."

GreenWeek programmes are available from Blackburn and Darwen town halls.

Details of all GreenWeek events are available by telephoning 01254 697946.

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