YOUNG singers from across the world travelled to Blackburn for a weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Kathleen Ferrier.

Around 350 people packed into Blackburn Cathedral on Saturday night for a concert to honour the life of the Blackburn contralto.

Two former winners of the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers, 2001 winner 22-year-old Fflur Wyn, from Brynaman in Wales, and last year's winner 20-year-old Nicky Spence, from Dumfries, Scotland, performed songs.

Other young hopefuls, vying to follow in their footsteps and win the 2003 bursary, sang before a panel of judges on Sunday at King George's Hall.

Sixteen singers from England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden and South Africa were whittled down to five finalists who then performed at King George's Hall in the evening.

Each year, a £3,000 three-year bursary is awarded to the winner but this year, to mark the 50th anniversary of Kathleen Ferrier's death, the society also offered a second prize of £900 and a third prize of £600.

Co-founder and chairman of the society, Sylvia Alexander, said she was amazed by the response to the anniversary weekend.

She added: "We formed the society 10 years ago and we had two main objectives. They were to preserve Kathleen Ferrier's memory and to establish this bursary.

"It took only two years to get the bursary going and we have now become a charity. The best two singers at the end of their first year at their music college are put forward by their tutors. Hopefully, one day we might have a Blackburn singer winning the bursary.

"As far as preserving her memory goes, we now know only too well how much she is still loved.

"The reaction from the whole country has been amazing. I was hardly able to do the preparations for this weekend because I was getting so many emails and letters, even after 50 years.

"It has been a fantastic weekend and I felt really proud of the previous bursary winners who sang at the cathedral."

Kathleen Ferrier died on October 8, 1953, after a two-year battle against cancer. Despite the 41-year-old's short-lived career of ten years, her name is still revered by music lovers throughout the world.