THE sun put his hat on for the University of Central Lancashire's colourful Freedom of the Borough ceremony.

Dignitaries from the university and the council made for a spectacular sight as they paraded from St George's Church, in Lune Street, up Friargate and into Harris Street.

The procession's arrival at the Town Hall was greeted by a trumpet fanfare.

The university is the first organisation to receive the honour this century.

It has been granted because "the university has, in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent service to the Borough of Preston".

The acknowledgement was marked by a meeting of the council when Mayor Coun Geoff Chadwick presented an illuminated Freedom scroll to Sir Francis Kennedy, chancellor of the university. In the return, the university has commissioned David Clarke to create a sculptor for the town, a silver rose.