Famous UK fell walker celebrated

Alfred Wainwright was famous for his guides and love of football

Friends, football fans and walkers gathered at Blackburn Cathedral to celebrate the life of Britain's most famous fell walker, Alfred Wainwright.

Wainwright, born in Blackburn in 1907, wrote more than 60 guides to walks in the Lake District and north of England before his death in 1991.

Hymns he sang on his walks were used during the service, one of a series of events marking his Centenary.

Wainwright was also one of the founders of Blackburn Rovers' Supporters Club.

The service featured some of his original drawings and writings about his beloved football club.

Broadcaster and author Eric Robson, chairman of the Wainwright Society, lead the address.

Alfred Wainwright wrote the first of his pictorial guides in 1955

The society was founded in Ambleside Youth Hostel in 2002 - the 50th anniversary of Wainwright's first drawing for the first of his guides.

Alfred Wainwright published the first of his Pictorial Guides to the Lake District in May 1955.

Since then, the series has sold almost two million copies.

The son of a stonemason, Wainwright was born in Blackburn on 17 January 1907 and left school at the age of 13.

Ten years later he went on holiday to the Lake District and said he immediately fell in love with the area.

On Wednesday, the cathedral bells rang out over Blackburn to mark what would have been Wainwright's 100th birthday.