[Gayle]

A few weeks ago there was a thread on here about pride in Accrington. I think Margaret asked me what Burnley had that Accrington didn't have and it's taken me a while to get round to answering - sorry! Plus, I can't find the old thread so rather than wading through all the threads I decided it would be easier to start a new one.

Burnley, is under going a bit of a transformation at the moment, which proves that it is possible for a town to regenerate itself after suffering some terrible problems. They still mention the riots in Burnley at every opportunity and there are a number of BNP councillors there so it's always at the forefront of people's minds. But in some ways I think the fact that the town had sunk so low is what makes it so determined to get up and on it's feet again.

There are a number of initiatives in Burnley that are helping to restore pride - they're building a new state of the art health centre, a new dental centre and a massive super-school. The roads are clean and the town centre is always free of litter and rubbish. They have branded a campaign 'Better Burnley' and are getting companies to work together to promote this logo - it's only a small thing but it indicates optimism.

Arts and events are thriving in the town - the Blues festival is going strong, Towneley Hall is really popular, the Mechanics has some good acts on, the summer programme of festivals attract really big audiences - there is something going on every weekend, even in winter. I won't even bore you with the stuff the Mid Pennine Arts does but of course, the gallery is based there so there's always contemporary art events going on.

But what's really good is that the local paper has embraced the new initiatives and is mostly positive about the changes and this seems to spread to the people. Yes, there are still things wrong with the town, it's a ten year plan, but it seems to be working.