MOSCOW's famous Red Square could be ringing out with the toe-tapping sound of Lancashire clogs if a planned visit to Russia by the Ossy Cloggers goes ahead.

The famous East Lancashire dancers are currently finalising an exchange trip with a group of Russian dancers who they met by chance two years ago.

The friendship between the two folk dancing groups was sparked after the holidaying Russians met members of the Cloggers in the summer of 1997.

The Russian group, led by Moscow-based English teacher Ludmila Jones, joined in a public performance in Oswaldtwistle that year and invited the Cloggers to visit them in Moscow.

Dancer Sharon Curran said: "A couple of years ago the Russian group were over in this country, I think they were staying somewhere near Bury. They met up with people from the Ossy Cloggers and they have kept in touch.

"We are finalising the details of the exchange to Russia and it looks like they are coming over here in May or June.

"They want to come and dance and improve their English, and we want to go over there and see if we can't learn a little Russian!"

Last year the toe-tapping Cloggers went Stateside and gave the people of Florida a soft shoe shuffle to remember.

The dancer group hold their annual prizegiving at the parish centre in Lock Street, Oswaldtwistle, at 7.30pm today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.