A GROUP of artists who were left 'homeless' for their annual exhibition still enjoyed a good show - thanks to the Citizen.

Plans to refurbish the town's Lewis Textile Museum, the Blackburn Artists' Society's usual venue, meant they had to find an alternative for the show.

Instead, the 144-strong group exhibited 75 paintings in watercolour, pastel and oils at St Gabriel's Church in Brownhill Drive, Blackburn.

Society secretary Mavis Pye said: "Our latest exhibition at St Gabriel's Church has been a real success, thanks to all the publicity, particularly from the Citizen.

"We sold quite a lot of paintings and approximately 600 people visited the exhibition in two weeks, which is equivalent to the number of people who visited the Lewis Textile Museum in a month. She added: "There were a lot of favourable comments in our visitors book. People were pleased to see lovely work in pleasant surroundings. We had a very very good response and we are grateful for the support."

The society has another exhibition planned at the Sunnyhurst Woods Centre in Darwen from June 27 to August 16.

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