IT was once the highlight of the village calender and now young people are working to bring back Little Lever Carnival.

Primary schools in the village have been given £52,000 for a new heritage project focusing on the "Lost Carnival of Little Lever" in which they will document the community event.

The origins of the village carnival can be traced back to 1911 and was a huge community affair for many years, running until the late 1980s.

One of the highlights of the project will be children putting on their own carnival next summer in the hope it may inspire the village to revive the carnival in the future.

And as part of the project, children are appealing for people who have been involved in the carnival over the years to share their memories so they can create records for the archives at Bolton Library.

Schools taking part are Mytham Primary, Ladywood School, St Matthew's CE Primary, Bowness Primary, St Teresa's Primary and Masefield Primary

A spokesman for the project said: "Children in all schools will look back in time at the well-remembered annual carnival, exploring the common themes and how the carnival changed over the years.

"The schools have been working together for a number of years examining issues that lead to anti- social behaviour and exploring what it means to be part of a community. As part of this they interviewed community members who reminisced about the local carnival and what happy memories they had of these times. This created lots of discussion and sparked the idea to delve into the history of Little Lever Carnival to provide opportunities for pupils to explore their local heritage.

"This is a unique opportunity for these young pupils to learn about the heritage of their local area through working with local history experts, artists and members of the community. They will record the memories of Little Lever residents and use these to recreate a living exhibition where all the schools will hold a carnival. The carnival parade will involve each school and their families, they will celebrate carnival traditions of past and present day. We hope that this will inspire members of the community reviving Little Lever in future years."

Anybody wishing to get involved in the project by sharing their memories should contact any of the schools involved.