A GREEN fair heralded a golden day as the sun shone on Padiham's May Day festival.

The Environmental Agency event saw the crowds flocking into town for a host of attractions, many with a conservation theme, celebrating so much that Padiham has to offer.

Gawthorpe Hall was the focus of a green fair, pressing home the message of recycling, conservation, and protection of he environment.

There were many fun events too, including performances by environmentally-friendly band Urban Strawberry Lunch, playing instruments created out of recycled junk.

Youngsters flocked to Burnley FC's Gawthorpe training ground for a free two-hour soccer coaching session and they earlier packed the Park Road baths for canoe coaching.

Car parks at Gawthorpe were full by mid-day as streams of visitors arrived for the fair and gala.

Elsewhere brass and a funfair were on offer at the Memorial Park and Padiham Cloggers and Maypole dancers entertained visitors at the Hand and Shuttle car park.

A craft fair and cream teas were on offer at the Unitarian Church and the educational Envirobus was in the centre all day.

Padiham fire crews gave demonstrations and Burnley Park rangers led guided walks along the new woodland/river trail to Gawthorpe. MP Peter Pike was on hand to meet the Environmental Agency's Sally the Salmon and Oscar the Otter, to release trout into the River Calder -- underlining the great improvement in river quality which has seen both trout and salmon re-colonising the Padiham waterways.

The green fair at Gawthorpe saw visitors dropping in to contribute to the town's oral history, and enjoy working displays of traditional arts and crafts.

The Padiham celebration was made possible after the Environmental Agency secured Heritage Lottery funding to host a series of millennium festivals throughout the country.

Organiser Nick Hepworth said the agency had linked with many local organisations to forge a partnership to press home the conservation message.

Padiham had been chosen, he said, because of the great environmental improvements in the town and the demand by the town to highlight its own identity.

"The superb weather has been the key to bringing out the crowds enabling us to get our message across. We are delighted with the response," he added.

Pictured are Padiham's Panache Clog Step Dancers (from the left) Margaret Hargreaves, Stephanie Andrews, Dawn Dickens, Brenda Andrews, Robynne Parker, Carol Nutter and Gordon Dickens.