THE Rossendale village of Stacksteads now has an official stone to mark the millennium.

Coun Michael McShea, a ward councillor for eight years, had the idea for the stone when he was talking to Stacksteads businessman Brian Boys who asked what the village was doing for the new millennium.

The next thing, Mr Boys had bought a large piece of locally quarried stone and was asking what Coun McShea wanted inscribed.

Monumental mason Colin Hacking, from Stacksteads, then carved the village name, Rossendale and the year 2000.

Local children helped dig out the foundation for the stone, which has been placed on a piece of Rossendale Council land next to Toll Bar. And senior citizens, some in their 90s, were invited to the official opening ceremony. Coun McShea, 56, was born and raised in Stacksteads and has many relatives in the village.

He said: "The stone is about 5ft high with a couple of feet in the ground secured in concrete. We are a long linear Valley and a lot of Rossendale just merges but people here are very parochial and proud of their identity.

"They may be part of Bacup but they come from Stacksteads and now we have a stone for the new millennium to tell people just where they are and reaffirm the identity of the village.

"It looks absolutely wonderful and I am really grateful to the generosity of Brian Boys who, as a Stacksteads resident, provided it for the village."

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