HUNDREDS of people visited the official Remembrance service at Towneley Hall in 1966.
It marked 48 years since the end of the First World War but the date of November 11 in that year would be remembered most in Burnley for a "breakaway" service held at Grimshaw Street.
A 90-year-old lady, Miss Annie Ratcliffe, watched as the first wreaths were laid at Burnley's new war memorial - four years ahead of schedule.
She had donated £1,000 towards the building of the massive granite block memorial in the Grimshaw Street civic garden.
Miss Ratcliffe stood with Commander J. E. Bates, commandant of the local sea cadets, on the steps of the law courts to take the salute.
Earlier in the year Burnley and District Ex-Servicemen's Association opened a fund for the building of a war memorial because, they said, the official cenotaph at Towneley Hall was both inconvenient on Armistice Day and forgotten for the rest of the year.
Cllr Sidney Blackston, chairman of the association, expected to have collected the money in five years but Miss Ratcliffe's donation ensured that the memorial was ready for the service ahead of schedule.
A crowd of 500 watched in steady rain as 150 ex-servicemen marched along Grimshaw Street.
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