Special anniversary marking 40 years of celebrating town's rich heritage
Forty years of celebrating, preserving and promoting a town's rich heritage will be marked this weekend.
Horwich Heritage will celebrate four decades of existence on Saturday, May 24 from 10am to 1pm, with the opening of a special anniversary exhibition, which will run until July 31.
Both the Mayor of Bolton and Mayor of Horwich will be there, with faces past and present who have been involved with the group also attending.
The society was formed in 1985, in the wake of the closure of the Loco Works.
Starting from nothing, it has grown to the stage where it has its own heritage centre on Beaumont Road and 300 members.Stuart Whittle and Geoff Waine, the group's 'founding fathers' (Image: Horwich Heritage)
Chairman, Stuart Whittle, has been with the group from the start.
He said: "It is quite an achievement. You can feel both proud and pleased with the way things have progressed over the years, coming from no money and no home to where we are now.
"We are a fully-fledged heritage centre, we have over 300 members and have a lot of activities. We have every right to feel pleased with that."
Speaking about Saturday, he said: "It will be a tribute to everyone who has been involved over the years. Unfortunately some of those are not with us anymore.
A 'Wartime' theme at Horwich Carnival, 1992 (Image: Horwich Heritage)Read more: Fascinating insight into ancient history at exhibition - including Bronze Age dig
Read more: 'There were wild celebrations when news of German surrender was announced'
Read more: Celebrating Bolton's rich heritage at centre
"But our members have been able to energise us and we have a good community. We want to keep it going in this way for as long as possible.
"We have managed to recruit younger committee members and the membership is growing, so there is every hope and belief that this society can keep going for many years to come."
A visit to Horwich Loco Works in 2018 (Image: Horwich Heritage) The group will also be running events to celebrate its anniversary over the coming year, including walks, talks at the centre and a celebratory party at its AGM on June 10.
To keep up to date with goings on, visit their website here: https://www.horwichheritage.co.uk/
He added: "The success of Horwich Heritage has been built on 'many shoulders' over the past 40 years and in particular we should remember the outstanding service given by Geoff Waine, Norman Pendlebury, Terry Almond, Geoff Pollitt and committee members Jean & Ken Webster and Betty Ainsworth. Sadly only Betty is still with us.
"None of this success could have been achieved without the exceptional efforts of the society's committee and volunteers who ensure that the centre is open 6 days a week and that a steady stream of new speakers, events, exhibitions, displays and archive material is produced."
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