French villages' 'merci'

It formed part of an article from the now defunct Blackburn Times published in May of that year and celebrated a visit by a delegation from Blackburn to a reception in London given by the President of the French Republic.

The occasion was a thank you to those British towns which had adopted villages in France devasted during the First World War.

The Borough of Blackburn had adopted the villages of Peronne and Maricourt and had helped in rebuilding and revitalising these small townships.

The area was at the centre of heavy fighting on the Western Front during March 1917.

The Blackburn party travelled to London where they stayed over night before going on to Dover and crossing the Channel to visit the villages they had supported.

The delegation was led by Mr Joseph Fielding JP, chairman of the Blackburn Villages Adoption Committee during his time as the borough's mayor.

He was accompanied by Alderman Sir William Forrest, the deputy mayor; Richard Haworth JP, the honorary secretary of the Blackburn French Villages Fund; Mr and Mrs F Fielding and Mr C Hodson, the chief constable of the Blackburn Borough police force.

Mr Fielding had previously been awarded the prestigious Knighthood of the Legion of Honour by the French government and a report of the visit states that he wore his decoration together with a replica of his Mayoral badge of office to the reception.

Peronne Crescent and Maricourt Avenue at Intack, Blackburn, are named after the villages in France.

The cutting was sent to us by Mr Ian Cruickshanks from Kirriemuir in Scotland who is Mr Fielding's great grandson.

Mr Cruickshanks also got in touch to inform us of the death of his aunt Mrs Barbara Russell (nee Fielding) who was the last of the prominent Fielding family to be born and brought up in Blackburn.

Mrs Russell, who died in July in Swansea aged 82, was the daughter of Mr Frederick Fielding, the managing director of Joseph Fielding Limited in Blackburn.