A ‘STORY-telling’ heritage trail is to be built in Bold Venture Park, Darwen, after almost £50,000 funding was secured from the Big Lottery Fund.

Sculptures linked into a professionally-written story will be installed at the Victorian 20-acre attraction to encourage more people to explore the park and to value their local heritage.

Local schoolchildren and community groups will be asked for their input into the tale, which will be inspired by the history of the park and memories of local people.

A pamphlet will then be printed with illustrations and a map as a guide to the trail. Harry Duxbury of The Friends of Bold Venture Park, who applied for the grant, said: “It’s been a couple of years in the making, but finally we’ve managed it.

“The idea is to encourage people further into the park, because at the moment, a lot only using the front part where the playground is.

“There’s an awful lot more to see, and there’s good footpaths all the way round.”

A central feature of the trail will be a paved labyrinth on the site of the former Huntington fountain, and this will incorporate a central, gravity-fed water feature linking to the story.

Mr Duxbury added: “Before the Second World War there used to be a lovely fountain dating back to about 1902, but it was taken out for the scrap metal and never properly replaced.

“In recent times it’s been looking neglected but to refit a fountain would have cost £100,000, which we couldn’t afford.

“So the simple water feature will be a nod to the history of the area, and will redevelop the area.”

Work on the installation will start soon with a view to completing the heritage trail in 2011.