PENNIES will be scattered to crowds of eager youngsters on Thursday as one of the oldest traditions in Furness is maintained for another year.

Cllr Christine Bowditch will represent Cumbria County Council - as modern lords of the manor - for the reading of the Broughton Proclamation in the Market Square at 12pm.

To mark this event - held each year on August 1 - we are taking a look at Mail archive pictures from previous years.

The Mail on August 2 in 1973 noted: "A crowd of townsfolk and tourists gathered around the fish slabs in Broughton village square yesterday to hear the annual proclamation of the fair read by county alderman W. D. Cooper, of Scales, Ulverston.

"For 380 years this ceremony has taken place in town and this year Lancashire County Council, the lords of the manor, were represented for the fourth time by Ald Cooper, chairman of the highways and bridges committee.

"A procession of 12, consisting of aldermen, councillors and their wives, was led to the fish slabs by the bailiff, Mr W. Atkinson, who carried the halberd.

"Ald Cooper read the proclamation from the old scroll, which was held by councillors Dupree and Atkinson.

"Two hundred pennies were then thrown into the crowd, which then followed the procession into a public house to partake of 'fair cake and refreshment' - a glass of sherry and an Eccles cake."

The 1988 event marked the end of an era as representatives of Lancashire County Council performed the ceremony for the final time as lords of the manor of Broughton Tower – before handing over to Cumbria.

The ceremony traditionally starts with a procession to the square and ends with cake and ale – where glasses are raised in a toast to Queen Elizabeth.

Broughton’s charter bears the signature of every person who has read the proclamation since Henry Stanley, Lord Strange, 4th Earl of Derby, in 1593 – during the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth.