THE first joint venture between schools in Darwen was hailed a massive success in bringing the community together.

St Edward's Primary School, Earcroft Children's Centre and Kitten's Pre-School joined forces for an autumn festival, and a meeting is being held tonight to arrange a second.

Crafts, music and food were enjoyed by more than 100 children at the three educational estab-lishments across town.

Darwen Fire Service talked about safety on Bonfire Night and there was a storytime, ginger-bread making and a scarecrow competition, won by Helen Rowlings from St Edward's.

Anne Jones, family liason teacher at St Edward's said: "We were really pleased at how it went.

"We felt we needed to do something to pull children in the community together and we hope to do it again.

"We're holding a meeting tonight to discuss the next event."