REHEARSALS are now in full swing for Rossendale Players' greatest challenge in its 70-year history.

For the company are closing their season by staging their first-ever Shakespeare play.

Much Ado About Nothing opens at the New Millennium Theatre, in Waterfoot, on Saturday, June 24 and it will be the first seen in the Rossendale Valley, since Haslingden Arts Club's portrayal of Macbeth in 1966.

Much Ado About Nothing runs, apart from June 26, until July 1. Tickets are available from Anne Riding, telephone 01706 228720 from Watts News in Waterfoot.