A NEW date has been set for a popular East Lancashire children's festival.

The third annual Blackburn Children’s Literature Festival that was due to take place from April 22 to April 25 but as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and has now been shifted to run from September 17 to September 19.

It comes as the festival's founder and Blackburn-born author Christina Gabbitas has announced that she has released a series of storytelling videos on her website to entertain children stuck at home as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ms Gabbitas said “We are experiencing measures that we are all going to struggle with both emotionally and financially, I just wanted to try and help in some way and if making these stories available can go some way to help engage children then my mission is accomplished. I am currently working on presenting more videos that will enable children to turn the page and read along.

All of the books read by Ms Gabbitas on the website were written by herself and there are also sing-along videos for children to follow.

Meanwhile, a series of events linked to the literature festival have also been

The families and communities day event, which is free to attend, is set to be held in Blackburn Library on September 19 with National Poetry Day ambassador poet Matt Goodfellow, poet Dom Conlon, Ms Gabbitas, author Stuart Reid, author and Bollywood dance teacher Salma Zaman, illustrator Ursula Hurst and author Nigel Womack all in attendance.

The schools fest will be held on September 17 and September 18, and on September 17 Ms Gabbitas will be at Blackburn Library from 6.30pm to 8.30pm talking about her partnership with the police & crime commissioners office and creating a story about a group of friends who are groomed into the world of county lines crime.

Ms Gabbitas, who is a founder and Trustee of the charity and festival, said “Due to the Corona Virus outbreak we thought it was important that we reschedule but ensure that we could dedicate a date for later in the year. This will be the third festival for Blackburn and want to help keep the momentum that we have built over the past few years. I’m very grateful to charity Newground Together, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackburn BID for their support in this years festival."