A STUNNING dragon made in Burnley is set to be guest of honour at a Far East wedding chapel.

The 12ft-long hand-crafted mythical beast is to travel thousands of miles to become part of the decorations for the Japanese chapel.

Japanese visitors at a trade exhibition were so impressed with the work of skilled staff at B Rourke & Company they ordered a custom-made version of the legendary creature.

The steel fire-breathing dragon took weeks to manufacture at the wrought ironwork specialists based in Accrington Road.

Danny Flynn, sales manager of Pillar-Wedge Ltd who completed the galvanising work, said a lot of work went into ensuring the image of the well-loved dragon was perfected.

He said: "Our customer produces a lot of decorative forged ironwork, including gates and railings which we have galvanised in the past, but this dragon was really different from our usual work.

"We had to have a meeting to discuss the right way to get the very best result, because the sculpture has a lot of complicated shapes and profiles.

"In the end we were able to carry out the galvanising with a single dipping and the results were very impressive."

B Rourke & Company Ltd was set up 45 years ago and is one of the world's leading experts in its field.

Founder Brian Rourke said: "When we received the order, we decided to manufacture two, each weighing around 140kg. The second sculpture now stands proudly outside our site."