Darwen Group

The Darwen Group was a bus manufacturer located in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company originated from the purchase of East Lancashire Coachbuilders who went into administration in August 2007. After a series of developments, in June 2008 Darwen performed a reverse takeover in fellow bus manufacturer Optare, with the Darwen name disappearing.

History

Darwen rose from the ashes of East Lancashire Coachbuilders in August 2007, after they went into administration - Darwen saved them the next day. Darwen went about reorganising the business, making a number of redundancies and rebranding main bus side of the business as Darwen East Lancs, the repair arm as Darwen North West. The current East Lancs products at the time were continued by Darwen, with new brand names.

This was followed by the acquisition of Leyland Product Developments in November 2007, which was rebranded as Darwen LPD. Further progress came in February 2008, when the parent company Darwen Holdings floated on AIM.

Darwen

Coordinates: 53°41′53″N 2°27′40″W / 53.698°N 2.461°W / 53.698; -2.461

Darwen is a market town and civil parish located in Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area. It is known locally as "Darren" or in quick speech (throughout Lancashire), as "Daa(r)n," or "Darun" or most commonly "Daaa-win," and its residents are known as "Darreners" or "Daane(r)s." The main road through Darwen is the A666 towards Blackburn to the north and Bolton to the south, and ultimately at the Pendlebury boundary with Irlams o' th' Height where it joins the A6, about 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Manchester. Darwen's population decreased to 28,046 in 2011 and is made up of five wards.

The town stands on the River Darwen, which flows from south to north and is visible only in the outskirts of the town, as within the town centre it runs underground.

History

Most authorities trace the name 'Darwen' to the Brythonic derw "oak", originally applied to the river; an etymology supported by an older form of the name, Derewent (1208).

Darwen (disambiguation)

Darwen may refer too:

Football clubs

See also

Darwen (UK Parliament constituency)

Darwen was a county constituency in Lancashire, centred on the town of Darwen. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election.

During the 1920s, the constituency was a fiercely contested marginal between the Liberal and Conservative Parties, with the sitting MP defeated at each election. At the 1924 general election, it saw a 92.7% turnout, a record for an English constituency.

It was largely replaced by the new Rossendale & Darwen constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;