DARWEN has suffered another jobs blow with the announcement that 55 will go when Quilty Supercover Limited closes in September.

The company, which makes baby accessories such as pram rain covers and bedding, will close after losing its two major customers to firms in the Far East.

Operations manager Geoff Garner said: "We originally had 75 employees but when they heard jobs could be under threat, 20 found other jobs.

"Unfortunately we will be closing the premises in mid-September although we cannot give an exact date yet.

"What makes it more sad is that as a company, we have probably had our best year ever.

"The manufacturing industry has been very hard hit during the last 10 years, especially in Darwen. We had two major customers and one went overseas and took their business from us some time ago.

"Unfortunately, when you're just relying on one company and they decide to go abroad, too, there's not a lot you can do. We don't owe any money and we haven't gone bust.

"As much as we looked for other work to make it a viable concern, we have not been able to find enough, so the manufacturing side of the business in Darwen can not go on."

The announcement follows on from redundancies at Crown's Belgrave Mill site last year, at Vernon Carus in Hoddlesden and Akzo Nobel, in Darwen.

Darwen MP Janet Anderson said: "It's another sad day for Darwen to see these jobs disappear.

"Let's just hope as we have very low unemployment at the moment these people will be able to get alternative jobs soon."

A struggling Quilty, based in Lorne Street, was taken over by Bolton-based Supercover in 1996.

Its fortunes were turned round and despite Supercover's Bolton site closing last year with business moving to the Far East, the Darwen site managed to hang on for a further year.

When Quilty closes in September, Supercover's overseas workforce will continue to supply major UK stores.

Mr Garner said: "We have done extremely well to keep going as long as we have, with more and more manufacturing disappearing. But we have gradually down-sized the manufacturing side.

"We went into consultation with employees a couple of months ago. It's very sad because these manufacturing skills are lost and don't come back.

"I think most people will probably get fixed up with other jobs and we will assist them in this. We have had people in to discuss benefits with them, to help them write CVs and get them in touch with other businesses.

"We have also had an inquiry from a Darwen company looking for workers, so hopefully that will lead to more jobs."