KEEN craftspeople proved it was a stitch in time after completing an 18-month community sewing project ready for this weekend's Astley Bridge Festival.

Early last year the Friends of Astley Bridge group decided the area would make a fantastic subject for a new piece of artwork and so enlisted the help of local churches.

Five churches each took the responsibility for producing a banner made up of nine A4-sized squares, using a variety of mediums including photographs on cloth, tapestry, embroidery and collage.

Cllr Hilary Fairclough said: "We initially thought it would probably be a six-month project but it has taken a bit longer. It has been worth waiting for though."

More than 30 people from St Paul's, Holy Infants, Bank Top Church, Astley Bridge Baptist and St Peter's Belmont worked on the banners with the project co-ordinated by Asda community champion Christine Baldwin.

Each banner features images from the area and they have now been hung together for the first time at Bank Top Church to be viewed by visitors at July's Astley Bridge Festival.

"I think they are absolutely fantastic," said Cllr Fairclough. "They bring alive parts of Astley Bridge."

The banners are next due to go on display in Asda and then at St Peter'sBelmont before each will return to its own church.

Cllr Fairclough believes they will then make an interesting artwork trail.

"If you want you could walk around Astley Bridge visiting them," she said.