JAMES H. MORTON, Darwen's foremost artist in the years before the Great War, was the first to benefit from the generosity of townsfolk in his formative years.

A promising artist, he won a local scholarship to the prestigious Royal College of Art. His four older sisters who worked in the mills paid for him to spend four years there and helped him during his early career as a teacher. They must have doted on him.

Now, some 120 years on, another talented young Darwen artist is being helped at the start of their career by local charities set up to help young talent.

Khushna Sulaman-Butt, a Darwen girl who went to Oxford from Darwen Academy (DACA), has recently had some of her work displayed at the Saatchi Gallery in London. She has a big future ahead of her.

Khushna has praised the financial assistance she has received from both the Darwen Rotary education fund and the WM and BW Lloyd Trust.

The education fund was set up exactly 60 years ago with money raised from a homes and trade exhibition staged by Rotary in the baths halls. More than £1,400 (over £30,000 today) was raised and invested.

The exhibition marked 25 years since the Darwen club was formed and it was opened by the colourful Liverpool MP Bessie Braddock.

Other guests during the next ten days included Salesbury's Valerie Martin, Miss Great Britain, soccer star Ronnie Clayton and TV personalities such as Fabian of the Yard, Bill Grundy and comedian Jimmy Clitheroe.

Since then grants have been given out regularly "for the benefit of scholars attending, or who have attended, schools in Darwen."

Further donations to the trust fund have kept it moving briskly. In 2002 there was a £40,000 legacy from the estate of schoolteacher and historian Howard Peters, a former Rotary president.

In 2004 the estate of Jim Clarke, who had been Darwen Director of Education, left over £300,000 to be divided between the fund and another trust which he had inaugurated in the name of his wife Hilda who had died after a tragic accident.

It is separate from the Rotary trust but is administered by mainly Rotary trustees.

Over the years Darwen youngsters have been well-served by the various charities which have distributed many thousands to a wide variety of educational causes.

The smallest grants from the Rotary trust, back in the early days, were a fiver (£50) which helped sixth form students with short courses and examination fees.

Over the last 20 years more than £150,000 has been donated with an average grant being £666.

Khushna, 24, is one of a handful of students to have received considerably more.

John Jacklin, of Darwen Rotary, says: "We have been able to make quite a difference to the lives of a lot of young people. Here's to the next 60 years!"

Captions:

Miss Great Britain, local lass Valerie Martin, was a guest at the exhibition. On the left is Rotary president Harry Ivinson and his wife and on the right the mayor, Miss Maud Broughton and her mayoress, Mrs Philip Clear.

Talented artist Khushna Sulaman-Butt

Brochure for the Darwen homes and trades exhibition of 60 years ago