Yesterday members of the Bolton Ukrainian community were at the town hall for the international celebration of Ukrainian embroidery this month.

The event was organised by Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn, chairman of the Bolton branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB).

The AUGB asked for people who owned a Ukrainian embroidered blouse of shirt to wear if to the town hall for a photo on the steps.

Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn said: "The embroidered blouses and shirts are a symbol of Ukraine.

"They are who we are. Ukrainians identify themselves with the embroidery. You find it everywhere, in Ukrainian churches, Ukrainian houses and in Ukrainian society.

“Ukrainians shed blood in the defence of this symbol of the Ukrainian struggle against Russia and later the Soviet Union.

“Whether Ukrainians are from the west or from the east, north or south of Ukraine, the embroidery will be for all generations that identity which will ever be Ukrainian.”