A DARWEN firefighter was scheduled to hand over his moving tribute to September 11 victims at the New York Fire Department's headquarters today. Kevin Birtwell, a retained firefighter, of Sudell Close, was due to present a woven piece of art to Daniel A Nigro, the chief of NYFD this afternoon.

He started making the 3ft-high copy of the NYFD's badge several weeks after the terrorist atrocities. It took him 300 hours of free time, 4,000 pins and many yards of thread to weave the piece.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph readers donated £500 to Kevin's travel costs after he appealed for help to send him to New York in March. The fire service made up the rest of the money needed for the trip.