Famous 'Candy Bomber' celebrated at Towneley Park's Uniformed Services Family Fun Day

Sponsors Pendle Hill Properties handed out 250 free parachute men and 250 free Hershey bars from their special military jeep to U12s attending the event, on a first come, first served basis.

The giveaway commemorated the 75th anniversary of The Candy Bomber, Col. Gail Seymour Halvorsen, an American pilot who gained fame for dropping 23 tons of candy to German children during the Berlin airlift of 1948 by tying a handkerchief to the candy bar and dropping it out of his plane.

Also attending the Family Fun Day was the Town and District Transport Trust's very special gold Coronation open top bus, which created a fantastic viewing platform for the event, while children were also able to fly their parachute men from the top.

Alongside the giveaway, the event featured a wide range of activities and displays including an army parachute display team which jumped and landed at Towneley Park at 3pm, fairground rides, face painting, an inflatable army assault course, brass band, police horse and dog displays, military vehicles and equipment, Armed Forces careers teams, uniformed cadet groups, food stalls and much more.

Toby Burrows, lettings director at Pendle Hill Properties, said: “We had a great day down at Towneley Park for the Uniformed Services Family Fun Day, where we had a fantastic response to our giveaway of Hershey bars and toy parachute men.

“Thank you to everyone who came to see us and we hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as we did.”

Andrew Powell, managing director and co-founder of Healthier Heroes CIC, said: "What an absolutely fantastic day we had, we can't thank everyone enough for coming down and supporting the event.

“We had so many fantastic attractions and activities taking place throughout the day and we really enjoyed having the Pendle Hill Properties Candy Bomber commemoration with us this year.

“On behalf of Healthier Heroes, Royal British Legion (Burnley and Pendle branch), and Pendleside Hospice, thank you for all your support, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.”