THIS picture from 1939 shows Blackburn's public halls packed as 14,000 people gathered for Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's speech.

Paying sixpence to half a crown, King George's Hall was full to the capacity.

Prime Minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain was giving a speech on his deal with Germany.

More crowds gathered outside to hear the Prime Minister speak.

The message was Peace For Our Time, following the deal which Chamberlain thought he had struck with the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, during the Munich crisis five months earlier.

But within days of his triumphant hour at Blackburn, Chamberlain was to see that Hitler was not appeased as Nazi troops occupied what was left of Czechoslovakia.

Poland was Hitler's next target of his territorial ambitions.

This would eventually lead Britain to war.