MEMORIES of a wartime visit to Blackburn by the world-famous Ballet Rambert and its star Walter Gore have been sparked by a Bygones contributor's rummaging in a bag of memorabilia which once belonged to one of the town's leading dancing teachers.

Local history enthusiast Barbara Ryding found a programme for the performance at the Community Theatre in 1945 and realised she had been there as a schoolgirl.

She tells Bygones: "Last year I was given a carrier bag full of memorabilia which has once belonged to a well known dancing teacher Peggy Wilson.

"All the contents were to do with ballet. There were programmes, press cuttings, correspondence and photographs.

"One programme was of great interest to me, because I had been there in March 1945.

"It was for a performance given by the Ballet Rambert at the Community Theatre.

" I was one of a party of 16 year-old-girlsfrom Blackburn High School who were taken to the venue on Troy Street off Whalley Range to experience something different - a ballet.

"I loved it, the music, the dancing, the costumes and being introduced to a performance of Swan Lake and Les Sylphides.

"The chief male dancer was Walter Gore, from whom at a later date I received an autographed photograph.

"Sadly, there were some girls who disgraced Blackburn High School by laughing!

"They had never seen men dressed like that or behaving like that before, and they were severely reprimanded when we returned to school.

"Behind the presentation by the Ballet Rambert was the Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts.

"It was set up in 1940 to give people the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from music, art and culture.

"On Troy Street at that time there was a Presbyterian Church no longer in use, so it was decided to convert it into the Community Theatre.

"The Gilbert and Sullivan Society performed there, the Arts Club, the Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society, the Light Operatic Society and many others.

"It was used for the Blackburn Musical and Drama Festival each year, and I even trod the boards myself when Blackburn High School entered a play.

As the years went by complaints were received about the condition of the theatre. It was deteriorating and woodwork was splintering.

"In 1978, the Recreation Department reluctantly closed down the Community Theatre but honoured the shows already booked."