A POIGNANT ceremony to bestow the freedom of the borough to the Army descendants of the famous Accrington Pals has been postponed indefinitely.

Hyndburn Council chiefs had planned to award the Freedom of the Borough to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, of which the Accrington Pals would now be a part if they were still an operational unit, next month.

But the planned July 1 event, which would have included a large procession through Accrington town centre and an open air ceremony to award the freedom to the Preston-based infantry unit, has had to be postponed after QLR were put on operational duty abroad.

The earliest QLR, formed when the East Lancashire Regiment, of which the famous Accrington Pals were attached to during the First World War, merged with the South Lancashire Regiment, can perform the ceremony now is in 2002. An exhibtion paying tribute to the Accrington Pals at the Haworth Art Gallery has also been put on hold.

Hyndburn is the only East Lancashire borough not to have awarded the Freedom of the Borough to QLR, and the council is keen to rearrange a date as soon as possible, said civic services officer Elaine Wright.

She said: "We want to hold this ceremony as near to July 1 as possible because that is the anniversary of the Accrington Pals involvement in the Battle of the Somme.

"We are very disappointed that we can't hold this event this summer but we understand that the Minstry of Defence has changed the reigment's duties so they will be away on that date."