A POPULAR festival which celebrates the vibrancy of a Furness town has been resurrected thanks to the efforts of local residents.

Ulverston Flag Festival has graced the town’s streets for the best part of two decades but a lack of volunteers meant it was all set to be consigned to the history books.

Initiated by the Welfare State International, now Lantern-house, the two-week event aims to highlight the colourful nature of the town and features hand- crafted flags which adorn buildings and roundabouts.

Now thanks to the efforts of The Gill resident Geoff Dellow and friends, who have formed Ulverston Flag Group (UFG), it will not only continue, but also could be extended to last three weeks.

The group will take over the festival from the Better Town Team (BTT), which had run the event for 17 years, in February.

Mr Dellow, of UFG, took on the challenge of saving the festival in December after councillor Colin Williams told a town council meeting he believed it might not go ahead in 2011.

“At the group’s first meeting, it was proposed that we explore new dates for the festival,” he said.

“So instead of it taking place between May 1 and May 15, we would like it to take place from May 15 to June 5, a period of three weeks.

“Despite the extra work and wear and tear on the flags we believe three weeks provides one week for the town alone, one week for the town and the Buddhists (from the town’s Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre) during their spring festival, and then one week for the town and visitors on the spring Bank Holiday.

“This will benefit the town by raising spirits in difficult times and encourage the feelings of the community.

“Lastly, it will make the town look attractive to visitors.”

Group members are working on new flags with the aim of putting 25 flags in The Gill, which they see as a focal point for the town with its much-used car park Jayne Kendall, who has been a BTT volunteer for 15 years, said: “BTT, which has organised the festival for 17 years, had decided that it no longer had the people to run it and looked around for another group to take it on.

“It was eventually decided to hand the running over to Mr Dellow and his new flag group.

“We are at the moment producing an agreement and an appendices of all of the equipment which Mr Dellow or the chairman of the new group must sign.

“We will also be giving Mr Dellow’s new group a cheque for £500 when all the i’s are dotted and the t’s crossed with his constitution.

“We envisage that if all goes well and the agreement is signed, it should all be resolved in February.”