Accrington is famed for its exceptionally hard Accrington bricks and for the Tiffany glass collection at the Haworth Art Gallery, and Accrington Stanley fly the flag for the town in football. Oswaldtwistle was home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the spinning jenny. Over the hills, the Rossendale valley takes in Rawtenstall, where the East Lancashire Railway begins, Haslingden, Baxenden and Bacup, home of the Britannia Coconut Dancers. Follow this page for good news from these proud mill towns.
Accrington Stanley Community Trust is investing £600,000 in two covered, floodlit padel courts at the Stanley Sports Hub, giving the town its first dedicated home for the fast-growing sport.
From a Haslingden confectioner's shop opened by John Whittaker in 1851 to a bakery in Baxenden, Holland's Pies is one of the oldest names in British pie making.
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