THE amazing women at Leigh and Districts U3A have completed a quilt showcasing the borough’s history.

For quite a few months now, the ladies in the U3A Quilting and Needlework Group have been concentrating on designing and stitching a Heritage Quilt which in time will be on display in the newly constructed Archives at Leigh Town Hall planned to be completed towards the end of the year.

The finished article was presented to the last social gathering of U3A members before the coronavirus lockdown.

Lilian Lockwood from Hindley Green, who co-runs the group with Jo Bowker, said: “I went to see Cottonopolis last year which was done by the Manchester U3A and we decided to do something on those lines for Leigh.

“Instead of research, we decided to make a quilt using whatever different stitching we each chose to showcase the mining and mills history of Leigh.

“But then it just grew from there really and it became about the whole history of Leigh and the districts.”

The completed quilt will be on display at the town hall once it is reopened and includes pictures of: Leigh town hall, the original fire station, a pint glass with all the names of the pubs in the area on it, one showcasing the mining history of Leigh with all the pit names on it, the cenotaph, bobbins with names of all the mills, clogs, a police helmet, the lancashire rose, parish church, a sign post showing the different areas that make up Leigh and districts, Spinning Jenny, the Leigh coat of arms, Centurions rugby team, a playground, a trolley bus, a canal barge, Pennington Flash, a market stall, bandstand, the obelisk as it was originally, a railway station, tractors and Leigh Spinners.

Gran-of-three Lilian added: “It’s just lovely really that this will be showcased at the town hall when all this is over. It’s going to be in one of the shop fronts for all to see which will be great. Hopefully it will encourage others to come into the archives and learn all about our history.”