A NEW book Memories of Darwen with pictures of the town old and new will be launched this month.

The 120-page publication includes 260 images from a century of history and 10,000 words explaining how the areas featured have changed.

It is the work of the ‘Darwen Days’ community history project and digital photographic website.

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Included in it are paintings such as Darwen artist James H Morton’s watercolour of ‘Bury Fold’ 100 years ago, pictures of Darwen Tower, historic mills, the town centre, the war memorial, and the India Mill chimney.

The words explain how the ancient East Lancashire community has evolved between the ‘before’ and after’ pictures, It will be available at the third annual book launch organised by the Friends of Darwen Library on Saturday November 28, starting at 10am.

Darwen Ladies Choir will perform in the foyer.

Darwen Days founder Dave Owen, 45, said: “We have put in a lot of time on this new book and I’m sure it will prove to be popular.

“It will make an excellent Christmas present, especially for Darwen folk now living abroad.

“ It will bring back a lot of memories and show how well the town is holding up in difficult, financial times.

“We are distributing copies to schools and care homes for the elderly.

“It will make an excellent introduction to Darwen’s history for the young people and a memory jogger for older residents.

“When I set up Darwen Days with just 150 photographs I wanted to put something back in the town where I was born.

“We now have more than 30,00 images and this book is a result of that work and all the help we have got from residents and local groups in the town.”

The book is sponsored by local engineering firmWEC and edited by local historian and journalist Harold Heys, Photographer Matt Donnelly, who contributed several modern photos of Darwen to the book, said: “Darwen is lucky to have historians who are keen to preserve the town’s history and local companies and charities ready to support their work.”

Previous book launches were, 2013 ‘James H Morton’, a short life of the artist killed in the closing days of the Great War, and last year Darwen and its Characters.