AN initiative originally launched by an East Lancashire man has earned a special distinction at this year’s ‘Homo Hero’ awards.

In the 50th anniversary year of The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), the organisation received the Alan Turing Memorial Award from the Lesbian and Gay Foundation.

Allan Horsfall, born in Laneshaw Bridge, near Colne, was instrumental in establishing the CHE’s forerunner, the North West Committee for Homosexual Law Reform. This helped to pave the way for decriminalisation in 1967 and he later became life president of the CHE.

A former Nelson Grammar student, he was elected as a Labour councillor in the borough in the late 50s and worked for the Coal Board as a clerk.

His attempts to establish a gay men’s club in Burnley in 1971 provoked national headlines, amid opposition from church leaders. Horsfall died in 2012 at the age of 84.