AN official launch for the county's City of Culture bid will take place in East Lancashire today.

Marketing chiefs have picked out Holmes Mill, in Clitheroe, to host their Vision 2025 gathering this morning, coinciding with Lancashire Day.

And supporters have invoked everything from the Pendle Witches to the first sirloin cut of beef to trumpet their candidacy.

Even the chairman of the bid, Pendle businessman Tony Attard, chairman of textiles maker Panaz, hails from the eastern end of the M65.

Town leaders in Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington, Chorley and Clitheroe are said to be behind the bid.

Ahead of the launch, he said: "From the very beginning we were focused on constructing a bid that would include the whole of Lancashire, not focus in on just one urban centre.

"Lancashire is 80 per cent rural, with 137 miles of coastline, assets that add immense value to our cultural landscape and that we want to emphasise, not underplay.

"We also have significant urban centres, all of which have their own distinct identities, none of which dominate in scale and again, each one with assets that will add weight to our bid. "

Promoters of the red rose will be looking to harness the kind of staying power that brings 69 million people to the county each year.

The world's largest collection of Tiffany Glass, housed at the Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington, is another cultural touchstone being relied upon.

Debbi Lander, bid director, added: "Future cities should not be constrained by historic or geographic boundaries.

"Digital technology and connectivity has enabled the creation of new places or spaces more so than urban centres."

Former Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid, a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire, also said: "Lancashire is a hidden gem. We simply need to get it out of the jewellery box and wear it."

The formal submission of the bid is expected to take place in the spring.