A TRIBUTE to an East Lancashire soldier will be one of the centrepieces of an exhibition commemorating the Great War at a museum.

Emma Blackburn, artist in residence at the Helmshore Textile Museum, has been stitching together a hat to remember Lance Corporal Harry Tattersall.

Before enlisting with the East Lancashire Regiment, Harry worked for Whitaker Mill, home to part of the museum, as a beamer.

It was his job to watch over the warper’s beam, a long cylinder comprised of 400 to 600 threads, winding the material onto the roller before attaching it to the loom.

Emma said: “Huge numbers of mill men volunteered for war, many of who worked in the textile industry as spinners and piecers, “Sadly, many did not live to see the end of the Great War in 1918.

“The year also marked the decline in the cotton industry in Lancashire.”

Her second work will be a crown, testament to the ‘cotton queens’, voted for across the county, whose role it was to champion the struggling industry between the wars.

And her third creation will be a cotton moth, as she explores the theme of conservation and completes the collection ahead of its unveiling on August 4.

Last year Emma received the Lancashire Textile Artist award, with her prize including a 12-month residency at Helmshore.