A HERITAGE centre has rescued a civic gift presented to a local politician and founder of a town’s most popular beauty spot a century ago.

The silver casket given to Alderman John Tomlinson when he was awarded with the Freedom of the Borough of Darwen in 1919 has been returned to the town after being bought at a Lytham auction.

It will now be professionally cleaned and then displayed at Darwen Heritage Centre to commemorate the man behind the acquisition of Sunnyhurst Wood for the public of the borough by the council in 1902 to mark the coronation of King Edward VII.

Alderman Tomlinson served on Darwen Council for 35 years. He owned a colliery and was a director of a cotton mill.

The heritage centre was alerted to the sale of the casket by Dave Owen of the Darwen Days website and its trustees quickly organised a recovery operation.

Its chairman Tony Foster said: “It was flagged at £250 but we had to go to three times that plus commission. It was a lot of money when we are living from hand to mouth, but it’s an important piece.”

The casket, topped by a figurine of ‘Peace’, had been put up for sale by a family member.

Included in the lot was the official presentation scroll and some newspaper cuttings about Alderman Tomlinson and a silver key from the 1914 official opening of Spring Bank Council School which became a hospital during the Spanish flu outbreak towards the end of the Great War.

The book Pictorial Darwen was effusive in its praise for Alderman Tomlinson: “When future generations go into ecstasies over Sunnyhurst Wood they will, at the same time, regard the memory of Alderman John Tomlinson with grateful feelings, for it is to this gentleman’s business foresight and undaunted perseverance that the wood has become one of the town’s possessions.

“One is amazed and filled with admiration at the intrepidity which sought to acquire such a noble expanse of woodland, measuring 80 acres, for the town.”

Professionally cleaning the casket will cost between £100 and £200.

One nearby resident has become concerned at the declining state of Sunnyhurst Wood.

Dave Horsfield said: “John Tomlinson would be appalled if he saw what had become of the lovely tree-lined paths which he knew as a young man. The wood, once one of the finest public spaces in East Lancashire has become dilapidated and overgrown.”

Last year The Friends of Sunnyhurst Woods launched an eight step ‘masterplan’.