A CHAPEL is preparing for its first ever wedding - 161 years after it was built!

Pickup Bank Old Chapel was built in 1835 but, until recent years, held only three Sunday services a year as well as village funerals.

Never in its history has the chapel in the hills above Darwen been the venue for couples tying the knot.

Now villagers Michael Bradshaw, 55, and 33-year-old Margaret Catterall of Long Hey Lane, Pickup Bank, are to become the first couple to wed at the tiny chapel, which is still lit by oil lamps and candles and devoid of any form of central heating.

Margaret's family have traditionally used the chapel and a funeral service for her father, Bill, was held there exactly a year ago to the day of the marriage ceremony.

The bride, a general practice manager, will be given away by her mother on Saturday when she marries Michael, a self-employed carpet fitter.

The couple's two daughters Emma, eight, and Hannah, five, will be bridesmaids along with the bride's sister, Jackie, 24.

Sixty guests are expected to pack the tiny chapel as the Rev Howell Roberts, Margaret's former school teacher, conducts the service, accompanied by a registrar from Blackburn.

Alan Cooper, chairman of the trustees at the church said: "We've never had a licence to hold marriage services before, but there has never really been a call for it.

"The church has had quite a lot of work done on it recently and we are looking forward to the day."

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