ELEVEN days after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, people are still laying flowers at the steps of Burnley Town Hall.

The bouquets have been fastened to the railings stretching from the town hall to the Mechanics, creating a stunning floral tribute.

Council staff have removed posies that have withered and died, but no sooner are they removed and more arrive the next day. A spokeswoman said today that the flowers will only be removed once they have died.

All the cards with personal messages are being kept and will be sent, along with the books of condolence, to Buckingham Palace. Six books have been filled in Burnley with up to 600 names and messages in each. A further four are still open for signing and they will remain so for as long as people in the town are signing them.

In Pendle, more than 6,500 condolence messages have been written in the books at the town hall and they will remain open until Monday evening. The flowers outside Nelson and Colne town halls were removed on Monday. Dead flowers were sent for composting and fresh flowers were given to the hospital and old people's homes.

In Rossendale, the flowers decorating the town hall in Rawtenstall and the cenotaph in Bacup will be removed on Friday. Any fresh bunches will be given to old people's homes and all cards will be removed and sent to London.

At the town hall thousands of people have signed the books which are available until tomorrow evening. There have also been messages left in books at the Bacup and Haslingden neighbourhood offices and several old people's homes have sent in their condolences to be included in the books.

Almost 6,500 people in Pendle have paid tribute to the Princess, with flowers and messages of condolence.

Floral tributes left outside town halls across the borough have been collected. Those that are wilting will be turned into compost while the fresh ones are to be sent to local hospitals and nursing homes.

People have until 5.30pm on Monday to sign condolence books at Nelson, Colne and Brierfield town halls and Barnoldswick Council Shop. The messages will be sent to Buckingham Palace, and then passed on to the Spencer family.

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