IT rained on Blackburn's centenary parade, back in the summer of 1951.

It may have been a summer's day in the middle of August, but people had to hide under their umbrellas and raincoats as they lined the footpath to watch a massed procession.

The march, through the centre, included bands, the Army and St John's Ambulance, along with important bodies and groups associated with the town, councillors and officials.

There had been a whole series of events and activities to mark the hundred years since Blackburn had been granted a Charter of Incorporation from Queen Victoria, on August 28, 1851.

It consisted of three skins of ornamented parchment, affixed with a large seal of green wax; being under the Royal Great Seal of England, the Charter now hangs in the council chamber in the town hall.

Blackburn's first borough council was created that same year and was largely made up of the elite men of the town, such as cotton merchants and industrialists.

They, then, became responsible for the maintenance and improvement of the town and for the provision of sanitation, water, law and order, roads and markets.

Beforehand, this had been duty of Improvement Commissioners, but the rapid growth of the town and its population, as the cotton trade prospered, put it beyond their scope.