A TEENAGER interested in fashion is leading a South Asian heritage project for a local charity.

One Voice Blackburn has received a National Lottery grant for an exciting heritage project, A Stitch in Time.

Alisha Iftikhar, 17, who is a member of One Voice Blackburn will lead a team of 40 volunteers who will be working on the project.

The project focuses on engaging young people in the history of South Asian fashion worn by ladies arriving in East Lancashire in the early 1970s, delivered by various groups of One Voice Blackburn.

Miss Iftikhar said: "I am really honoured to be leading this project.

"As someone who is relatively young I did not have any idea of the clothing items that our mothers and grandmothers wore in the 1960s and 1970s when they came to Blackburn and surrounding areas.

"This is a fun project, but it is also a huge learning exercise of our history."

Supported through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project will enable local young people to record the oral histories of the time, help with the design of the clothes, and purchase the materials.

Members of the group have collected images, interviewed designers and fashion houses, and are in the process of designing the outfits that were worn in the 1970s.

One Voice will organise local seamstresses to produce the items before they are displayed in local settings, as well as having a fashion shoot and fashion show.

One Voice is an organisation that aspires to create an inclusive, cohesive and vibrant community in Blackburn with Darwen and will help young participants from across the town to get involved in this project.

Working with heritage and fashion professionals from the local South Asian community One Voice participants will gain a deeper insight into this previously under-researched part of their history, as well as teaching them valuable new communication skills to use as they develop their careers.