EAST Lancashire was relatively fortunate during the Second World War to escape the worst of the German bombing raids.

Planes could often be hear passing high overhead on their way to targets in Manchester but very few bombs were dropped on the area.

This photograph shows the aftermath of a bomb landing on George Walsh and Sons timber yard in Oswaldtwistle in March 1941.

Much of the yard was destroyed after taking a direct hit but thankfully no-one was killed.

It is not thought that Oswaldtwistle was a prime target of the Luftwaffe on that March night but that either a pilot mistook the chimneys of the town or that it was at the end of a raid and he was just off-loading his last remaining bomb on to what looked like an industrial target.