THE most exciting development to happen at Helmshore Textile Museums in 11 years will be unveiled to the public this weekend.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph was given a sneak preview of the new Revolution Made in Lancashire gallery at the busy Lancashire County Council-owned museum in Holcombe Road.

The displays combine new technology with interactive hands-on activities to bring the world of weaving really to life for visitors.

Visitor services officer Catherine Pearson said: "This is the most exciting thing to happen here since Prince Edward's visit 11 years ago.

"The gallery starts off with a weaver's cottage dating from the 1600s and goes through to the early 1900s through the rise and decline of the textile industry."

Visitors will first encounter an area with interactive displays, showing different types of fabric and cotton and safety fabrics, like uniforms.

There will also be a video microscope so visitors can view fabrics up close and there is the chance to try weaving on a special large frame.

Walking through the gallery, which can accommodate visitor numbers of 200 to 300 mine displays have been set up each with a video film to explain in two to three minutes the way the textile industry developed including Richard Arkwright's water frame and James Hargreaves' flying shuttle.

The displays also cover the power loom riots in Helmshore when the workers smashed up the looms in the early hours and the heydays when the mills 'made enough cotton for England before breakfast' and exported the rest of the day's work.

The gallery used to have didactic display boards which contained a lot of information about the history of the textile industry, but Catherine said they were no longer highly regarded in the museum world.

She said: "By 2000 people were tending to go through that section fairly quickly and not really stop to read the boards unless they were carrying out a project or were from the industry.

"The gallery has been closed since October 2000 and most of it will reopen this weekend. And we are planning to hold an official opening on May 8, in time for National Mills Weekend on May 11 and 12."

Helmshore has been designated a museum with a nationally important collection of textiles which enabled funding from a special challenge pot to be obtained to help fund the redevelopment of the gallery.

Catherine would not say how much the work had cost, but it was a substantial five figure sum.

And with the work the museums are now open seven days a week during the season from last Saturday to the end of October. The museum is open from noon to 5pm on weekends and from Monday to Friday from noon to 4pm.