PENDLE'S waterways will come alive with music and entertainment next month at the borough's first ever canal festival.

The event - Our Canal, Our Heritage - is being held to celebrate Pendle's canal heritage and promote the work done to improve the environment around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Organisers hope it will also encourage more local people to use the canal area.

There will be live music and entertainment, stalls, fairground rides, guided walks and colourful canal boats at the festival, which is being held at the Swinden playing fields - by the canal near Nelson's Hodge House estate and canal bridge number 142 - on Saturday, September 11.

Art workshops, water safety sessions and canoeing lessons are also being planned and prizes will be given for the best dressed stall holder and the best illuminated boat.

The event coincides with Heritage Week which will see a range of other activities going on in Pendle, particular at St Mary's Church in Nelson and at the Pendle Heritage Centre in Barrowford.

Canal corridor co-ordinator Tricia Wilson said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for local people to find out more about the canal and get involved in loads of fun activities.

"We want people to realise what a great resource they have on their doorstep so that more people will start using the canal.

"Our Canal, Our Heritage will allow us to celebrate the canal's heritage in a way that we can enjoy."

She added: "Pendle's Canal Corridor initiative has already funded lots of great projects to clean up the canal corridor and get more people using it."

Pendle's Canal Corridor Initiative was launched in 2003 and is aimed at cleaning up and regenerating the canal surrounding area.

It is supported by Pendle Council, Pendle Partnership, Pendle Community Network, British Waterways, and several other organisations.

Funding for a range of projects, including the Canal Festival, has come through Pendle Partnership from the European Regional Development Fund and the North West Development Agency, and from the Big Lottery, one of the National Lottery charitable funds.

Anyone who would like more information about Our Canal, Our Heritage should telephone Tricia Wilson on 01282 661964 or email her at tricia.wilson@pendle.gov.

uk.