A LASTING tribute has been paid to a committed environmental campaigner in Darwen after a visitors’ centre was dedicated to him.

What was known as the Woodman’s Cottage, in Sunnyhurst Wood, has been named after Dennis Gillibrand, who set up a friends group there in 2000.

The newly-relaunched friends organisation was behind the move for Dennis, of Earndsale Drive, who died aged 82 after a long illness last August.

His wife Doris, 80, son Stuart, 60, and dozens of family and friends witnessed the dedication ceremony on Saturday.

Two plaques, one a nameplate and the other a heritage-style blue sign, were unveiled.

Stuart said: “It is a tremendous privilege and I’m sure that my dad would be honoured, looking down on this, if not a little humbled too.

“He used to know every dog walker and every blade of grass in this part of Darwen.”

Doris added: “While it was something he worked very hard on, he also really enjoyed spending time here.”

Cllr Brian Taylor, Mayor of Darwen, who represents Sunnyhurst ward, said: “Everyone really appreciated how much he loved the woods and how much time he devoted to the area, often doing the little jobs no-one really saw.”

Consideration is being given to a new masterplan for the wood, which was first established as an entity in 1903.

Hayley Kilpatrick, the new friends group chairman, said while she had never met Dennis, she knew what high regard he had been held in.

“One of the first things the new committee wanted to do was to rename the cottage in his honour,” she said.

An art competition was staged by the friends, entitled ‘Spring In The Woods’, securing dozens of entrants from St Edward’s, Avondale and St Peter’s primary schools, which were displayed in the centre.

The 85-acre wood was named a Biological Heritage Site in 1993, gained local nature reserve status in 2005 and has been a Green Flag Award winner.