CORONAVIRUS stopped thousands of visitors packing Blackburn town centre for The Festival of Making this summer – so its organisers are sending the fun to them instead.

Already 300 East Lancashire families are being sent their own ‘Do It Yourself' package of creativity. The Festival in a Box, which builds into a home making table, has been devised by the creatives behind the annual celebration of manufacturing which draws up to 40,000 visitors a year.

The ‘Let’s Make’ packs, aim to keep creativity alive until the festival, the brainchild of Blackburn design guru Wayne Hemingway, returns next year.

They were devised by five, specially-commissioned artists, including recent Blackburn College graduate Sana Patel.

Each had been looking forward to presenting lively, have-a-go activities at the event, scheduled to happen in June.

Festival bosses hope to see 25,000 Festival in a Box packs being distributed across the country through Arts Council England’s Bridge organisations and their local partners.

Full of fun, science, technology, arts and maths, they have been produced by Accrington manufacturers, the Cardboard Box Company, with an innovative, easy-build pattern showing children how to turn the pack into a small making table.

Lauren Zawadzki, the Festival of Making’s director, said: “Festivals are important for a sense of communal experience and gathering, which have been made impossible this year by Covid-19.

“We can’t change that, but we can’t let creativity and the opportunity for young people, regardless of the limitations of their background, to put their potential to the test completely disappear for a whole year - if not longer.

“The ‘Let’s Make’ boxes are an ideal, short-term solution in ensuring the act of making doesn’t disappear from either Blackburn families’ lives, or our valued artists, until we can return with the full festival.”

Activities contained in each box range from creating pixel art to setting up a portrait-drawing workshop right at home.

Local schools, Youth Action, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Creative Connections have been recruited to help the initiative.

Darren Henley, chief executive of Arts Council England said: “These art boxes will help more children from every background get the chance to flourish despite the challenges they’re facing right now.”