DARWEN'S church war memorials will be on display at the library next month as part of a joint project between the Imperial War Museum and Darwen Camera Club.

The photographs will be on display in the exhibition room from November 3 to November 21.

The project has been funded through the Lloyds Trust and all the photographs will be made available on CD-Roms for sale, with any proceeds going to the Darwen Royal British Legion.

Once the exhibition has ended, the mounted photographs will eventually be given to Darwen as a permanent memorial to the hundreds of soldiers who are mentioned on the war memorials at Darwen's churches. People will also be able to view the photographs on the Cotton Town archive section of the Blackburn with Darwen Council web site.

This will be developed during the next few years and an educational spin-off will be created so that local children can research and find out about the great sacrifices made by the townsmen and women. John East, Darwen co-ordinator of the war memorial exhibition, said: "The Imperial War Museum was looking for records of church memorials and there was no photographic record of the heritage of local church memorials.

"They asked various volunteers around the country if they could take photographs of the various memorials."