A EUROPEAN award will put Rossendale on the international map, according to council leader John McManus.

Rossendale is to receive the European Flag of Honour from the 40-member Council of Europe for its contribution to international links through its enthusiastic twinning with Bocholt in Germany.

Now all the organisations which have supported the twinning, such as schools, Shawforth Majorettes, the Valley choirs, the police and the fire service, are to be invited to a ceremony on September 6 when the flag will be handed over.

Coun McManus said: "It won't be quite on the scale of the Hong Kong handover, but it will be a small celebration which will put Rossendale on the international map. We are part of Europe and that is the future."

Coun Jeff Atkinson said 11 All Saints High School pupils who have recently complete two weeks' work experience in Bocholt had offered to lend the council a display of their work.

Rossendale is one of only 21 places to receive the Flag of Honour this year and the only one from the UK. Bocholt received it in 1993.

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