MORE than 100 people attended a special celebration of volunteering at Blackburn's King George's Hall.

The event was to thank you to the 2,000 'unsung heroes' who give their time for free to support the community in Blackburn with Darwen

The Mayor Cllr Suleman Khonat, joined Cllr Phil Riley, the leader of the council, and chief executive Denise Park to take the opportunity to give personal thanks to all the volunteers.

The event was opened by Kalise Nicholson, a talented young singer from Blackburn Youth Zone.

Cllr Riley said: "I just want to say thank you to all the volunteers for everything that they add to our borough. They do wonderful pieces of work that, listening to some of the stories, obviously enrich the volunteers themselves, but it also makes the borough a much better place and a much stronger place.

"Collectively we can do so much more together than we can do on our own."

Sammy, a Darwen Valley Community Centre Volunteer, said: "Volunteering is not just volunteering it’s a community of people who go out of their way each day to make their communities a better place to live."

Rizwana Zaahid, manager of volunteering for the council added: "A huge thank you to all the volunteers who came to the event, there was a great energy in the room and everyone got the chance to meet someone new!"