SLAIDBURN Women's Institute members are researching and recording farm boundaries and field names in the upper Hodder Valley.

The project is a community study which is linked with the National WI celebration 'Pathway to the 21st Century,' to mark the Millennium.

To fund the first year of the project the WI received £400 from Shell Better Britain. The next two years of the study were funded by a Local Heritage Initiative Grant, awarded by the Countryside Agency. This was for the recording of the last 100-year history at local farms.

In 2002-2003 the WI will look at farming conditions and future trends such as amalgamation, diversification and regeneration.

An open evening and exhibition showing results of research will take place in Newton Village Hall on Friday, June 7 from 5pm until 7.30pm.