FOUR ‘elders’ from Worsthorne meet under the old ‘Gormless’ lamp in the village square in the spring of 1960 to mull over life.

And one topic these four granddads would no doubt have been discussing was the closure of Worsthorne’s two cotton mills.

For that spring there was one jarring note over the village, the sound of hammers smashing remaining mill looms.

With the loss of the textile industry, a coachload of operatives left daily to work in Waterfoot, while the inflow of workers from Burnley had been reversed.

One of the closed mills was Gorple, which had turned to manufacturing refrigeration equipment, while the Worsthorne Manufacturing Company was stood empty as its looms were destroyed.

Its last general manager had been Henry Latham, whose grandfather had started the business back in 1906.

John Redman, then head of the 360-strong pensioners’ association and parish councillor, who had worked in both mills, said: “There’s an old saying in Worsthorne that we always win or draw, we never lose, so we are far from a dead village despite the closures.”

In those days Worsthorne had an annual carnival, two top football teams, a prize winning school choir, an active night school, strong pensioners’ group and a new young vicar in the shape of the Rev Peter Furness, with up-to-date ideas about teenagers and Sunday nights.

He had launched a youth club at St John’s Church, which first opened in 1835, where youngsters enjoyed indoor and outdoor games and records, including the new rock ‘n’ roll.

Worsthorne was also going through modernisation, with plans to electrify all the street lamps by the end of the year.

Mr Latham was also a parish councillor and a worry for him was whether ‘big brother’ Burnley would attempt to take control of the parish council.

He said at the time: “I would oppose that very strongly. We have every facility which Burnley could offer and at a much cheaper rate. I hope they keep their hands off!”

In 1960, the headmaster at the village school, which opened in 1870, was James Clitheroe and its choir of 24, trained by Helen Ashworth, had won prizes at local festivals.

• Have you any photographs or stories of yesteryear from either Worsthorne or your own home town or village to share with readers?