HUNDREDS took to the hills 68 years ago this month to watch this event, the maiden flight of Darwener Ronald Finch's home-made glider... a magnificent 20ft climb into the air that lasted just a few seconds.

That was Ron's reward for the nine months he had spent cobbling the flimsy craft together at his home at Marsh House Cottages.

But, yes, it flew even if, in the words of the Northern Daily Telegraph which reported the August 18, 1935, episode, "it would be more correct to say that Mr Finch momentarily left the ground."

Ron was so elevated, he applauded the feat himself and the crowd of up to 300 who had trekked up to the moors above Hoddlesden responded loudly, too.

They had waited hours for the event while the glider, which arrived in pieces on a lorry, was assembled -- and had to endure a long postponement of the big event when a part was found to be missing and someone had to tramp all the way back to Darwen to get it.

"Grown-ups sunned themselves, children played tig and the inevitable collection of dogs chased each other in circles while Mr Finch supervised the fixing of numerous control wires," said the NDT.

At last the big moment arrived. Daring Ron perched himself on a seat not much bigger than a bicycle saddle on the glider's nose. Eager helpers, the NDT added, strained like tug o' war teams at the two ends of the elastic rope which was to catapult the craft into space. Then, the rope flew off its hook on the glider and sent the two launching teams sprawling.

But then came success. And Ron wanted more. A second try saw him fly a distance of some 50 yards. Encouraged, he had the glider hauled to a higher level for his third attempt. "This time, he made an excellent take-off," said the NDT.

"The machine -- like most aircraft, an ungainly object on the ground -- sped through the air just sufficiently long to be imbued with the grace and beauty of flight. And then -- disaster!

"Striving to gain height, Mr Finch manipulated the controls with more enthusiasm than discretion. His handling of the joystick was reminiscent of a motorist 'going through' the gears of a car.

'The nose of the glider won a brief duel with the tail and hit the ground. A gentler handling of the joystick would have enabled Mr Finch to soar over Hoddlesden and alight in the field near his home."

So ended the brief episode in Darwen's aviation history, with, as the NDT observed, "a triumphant if dishevelled figure emerging from the crumpled wood and canvas framework, with a crowd running towards him from all directions."

Ron's fleeting flight into the headlines is recalled in a new edition of a book of more than 200 old photographs of Darwen.

Buy 'Images of England -- Darwen' on-line now...

Author Martin Baggoley also shows a photograph of the pool being built two years earlier -- by the voluntary efforts of four local men, Ellis Gibson, Christopher Fish, Robert Preston and Joseph P. Walmsley, whose endeavours were commemorated on an inscribed stone which can still be seen at the spot.