VISITS by footballers to schools and community groups have been part of life for years, so we decided to look back at the visit of Burnley and ex-England footballer Martin Dobson to present Chief Scout awards to 12 Scouts from Burnley, Rossendale, and Blackburn at Padiham Town Hall.

The awards were won after the Scouts took part in activities as diverse as mountaineering and voluntary community service in 1979. The ceremony was attended by the Commissioner, Alan Smith, who explained the background to the scheme.

Scouts who received awards were Mark Nuttall and Dominic Sagar, of 16th Burnley; Martin John Wilson, of St Mark’s, Burnley; Paul Ormerod and Anthony Spencer, of 4th Rossendale, Michael Hoyle and Timothy Maden, of 38th Rossendale, and James Butler and Mark Yates, of 40th Rossendale.