AS Britain has been basking in warm weather of late it only felt appropriate to look back at East Lancashire’s picturesque villages during dramatic bouts of weather.

As shown in the pictures, throughout the decades the region has seen scorching summers and bitterly cold winters with snow several feet high.

Harsh winters in the 1950s and 60s led to people being trapped in their homes as mountains of snow covered the streets and hills.

As shown in the above right picture, the snow would often make tasks, such as fixing a petrol station in Baxenden, very difficult.

However the summer months have shown the weather could not be more contrasting, as the photos show youngsters playing in the river near Downham and taking advantage of the warm weather.

Unlike recent weeks, lots of rainfall hit East Lancashire in 1967 and caused wide-spread flooding.

Reverend Walker Allen, the vicar of Downham, was pictured wading through the water in 1967 to visit his church.

A more recent flood led to thousands of people without electricity and hundreds temporarily homeless when rivers burst their banks on Boxing Day in 2015.