Unique 'lockdown calendar' proves to be an instant hit for Burnley Twinning Association

Chairman David Smith came up with the idea for the calendar after members sent him a selection of photographs they had taken of various places they had been able to visit during lockdown.

The images ranged from a carpet of garlic wild flowers in Towneley Park to shots of Hag Wood in Ightenhill Park Lane, Gawthorpe Hall and other beauty spots in the county. One talented member, Noreen Lobo, also sent a beautiful drawing of an Ethiopian grandmother she did while visiting the country last year.

And Joanne Whittaker sent a picture of a banner made by friends and colleagues to welcome her back to work after the first lockdown.

All these were collated and the calendar was born with the front cover quite fittingly being a depiction of love in lockdown from a famous street artist in Vitry-sur-Seine, just south of Paris which is Burnley's twin town.

The calendar was sold out in weeks and many of them will be opened as presents on Christmas Day in England and France.

The calendar has been a wonderful way for association members to keep in touch as they last saw each other in person at their meeting in February. A scheduled trip to France was cancelled in May along with a planned visit from ramblers from Vitry who were due to visit Burnley in September to discover the area's fantastic countryside.