ALL is fair in love and war -- at least it was in Ramsbottom and Bury over the weekend.

Both towns stepped back 60 years to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day, with a mock 1940s wedding and a spectacularly recreated Second World War battle.

The events, which aimed to bring the war years to life at the East Lancashire Railway, were to culminate today in a D-Day parade through Bury town centre.

Hundreds of people gathered to watch the "marriage" of Ian Foster and Lorna Spurin, two members of the World War Two Historical Society, at Ramsbottom's St Paul's Church, in Bridge Street.

They donned full period costume, and were joined by other members of the society from across the UK, decked out in military uniform, railway workers' clothes and civilian dress, complete with props such as shopping baskets full of products available in shops in the 1940s.

The ceremony was conducted by Minister Robert Airy, of Rossendale, who started the ceremony: "My brethren, it is good to see you at this time of war when our nation is in trouble."

He went on to join the pair in holy matrimony, before the bride laid a wreath at the church's war memorial, and they were driven by camouflage military Jeep to their reception -- a tea dance at nearby Ramsbottom Civic Hall.

Later in the afternoon, about 20 actors from the group took part in a fierce recreation of a French battle between the Germans and the Allies.

In full uniform, complete with replica weapons and military vehicles, they fought for a foothold in Hitler's European Fortress of Falaise -- on a mocked-up platform of Ramsbottom train station. The 20-minute battle -- complete with sirens and the sound of gunfire -- was a tribute to the Northern French town of Falaise, which was obliterated in the onslaught of the Allies during the war.

Conscripts dressed in authentic uniform congregated at the station throughout the weekend with piles of suitcases as if they were heading of to war.

Bunting, war-time posters and 1940s swing music helped set the scene across the town centre with jitterbug and wartime dance held in the evenings, and stalls selling militaria, and a display of military vehicles across the town. Organiser Neil Parkington, of the East Lancashire Railway, said: "The whole aim is to keep alive the memories and the history of this enormous event which shaped everyone's lives. It is extra special this year because of the 60th anniversary of D-day."

Modern-day Army service men and women will be joined on the military parade outside Bury Town Hall today by US veterans who were stationed at the Burtonwood Air Force base in Warrington during the war. It is the sixth year the event has taken place since the first war-time weekend was held in 1998.

"It is wonderful to see the whole town transformed to how it would have looked in the 1940s."

"It is fantastic that people have got into the spirit to enjoy it."