LADS and lasses across the historic county of Lancashire celebrated their roots in a series of special red rose events today.

Lancashire Day is held on 27 November every year to commemorate the day in 1295 when Lancashire sent its first representatives to Parliament.

Curated by the Friends of Real Lancashire, Lancashire Day was first observed in 1996 with the loyal toast to "The Queen, Duke of Lancaster".

Bolton

The Mayor of Bolton Cllr Norman Critchley, and the Mayoress, his wife Delyse, were presented with a Lancashire rose by Cllr John Walsh after Blackpool town crier Barry McQueen made the Lancashire Day proclamation.

Cllr Critchley said: “I think it is vitally important that we continue to celebrate Lancashire Day. Personally, I want to see us keep all of our traditions.”

On Thursday night, the Mayor was the guest of honour at a Lancashire Day dinner at the Smithills Coaching House, where he was treated to poetry reading and clog dancing.

Clitheroe

Visitors at Clitheroe Castle were asked to guess the meanings of Lancashire dialect words, with the winner receiving a CD of people reminiscing about the county.

Darwen

A host of activities began when councillor Anthony Meleady stepped in as town crier to read aloud the proclamation on the Market Square.

The occasion was even more historic as for the first time in over 100 years, he used the original bellmans bell, which is usually on display in Blackburn Museum.

Darwen Local History Society (DLHS), which organised the events in the town, also launched their own commemorative beef and ale sauage, the Darwen Banger, which is available for one month at Turner’s butchers in Darwen Market.

Jayne Waring of DLHS said: “It’s been an absolutely superb day.

“Everyone really got into the event and thought it was brilliant.

“The town crier did very, very well and the sausage sold out!”

Longridge

A talk on myths and legends of Old Lancashire took place at Alston Hall.

Nelson

Town crier Coun Tony Beckett led the day’s events by reading the Lancashire Charter every hour between 11am and 3pm, in full Lanky dialect.

Nelson hosts Pendle’s annual celebrations every year, and this year included performances from local school children, doing traditional dancing and acting out plays about Lancashire.

Coun Beckett said he was proud to play a part in the day’s festivities.

He said: "I look forward to this event every year. I think it's really important for us to celebrate our heritage, and I'm pleased I can get involved as the town crier.

“It has been a fantastic day and we have had a really good crowd, everyone seems to have had a lot of fun.

“With Lancashire Day being on a Saturday next year I am sure the celebrations will be bigger and better than ever.”

A Lancashire market was also in the town during the day, selling produce made in the county from black puddings to Lancashire cheese.

The event, funded by Pendle Council and Nelson Town Council, concluded with the town’s Christmas lights being switched-on.

Coun George Adam, chair of the town council, said: “I'm proud that Nelson hosts the borough's Lancashire Day celebrations every year, and the town council is more than happy to support the event.”