YOUNG eco-warriors are being recruited ahead to help save the planet – ahead of Blackburn’s first end-of-summer parade.

Supporters of the Festival of Light have devised an environmentally-friendly crusade to stir up the imagination over the six-week holidays.

And the culmination of their efforts for Our Precious Planet will see a colourful procession, complete with dancers, stilt walkers and giant puppets, wind its way around the town centre on September 1.

A Festival of Light spokesman, urging young people to join their cause, said: “The rainforests are under threat, and with them the creatures that live there.

“Trees are one of our best assets in combating climate change – providing oxygen and acting as carbon sinks, conserving water, preserving soil and supporting wildlife all over the world.”

Creative minds from the Bureau Centre for the Arts have begun staging a series of workshops, along three separate themes, to provide costumes for the extravaganza.

Extinct and endangered animals will be the focus of two drop-in workshops, at their new home in the former Thwaites training room on Penny Street, on Sunday, August 18, and Friday, August 23.

Exploring the benefits of trees, plants and nature spirits is pencilled in for similar sessions on Tuesday, August 20, and Saturday, August 24.

And the important job of who can be the guardians and protectors of our natural world has been lined up for this Saturday, the following Wednesday, and Sunday, August 25.

Further workshops have also been set up to encourage dancers, with Gil Burns, on various dates through the month.

Circus skills and stilt walking training, which will require an adult to be in attendance initially, will also be staged. Opportunities to work with artists on crafting huge puppets for the parade are being given too.

For further details about the workshops and parade, which is being supported by the borough council, Blackburn BID, The People’s Projects initiative and Blackburn Hive, contact the arts centre on 07845 964802.

Organisers say that all places on the dancing, circus skills and puppet-making sessions will need to be booked beforehand.