A THORNTON group has been awarded a lottery grant to help young people celebrate the life of one of the village's most famous daughters.

South Square Centre has received £11,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project to research the life of Charlotte Bronte.

The grant was announced just a few weeks before the 200th anniversary of the Jane Eyre author's birth, in a property in Thornton on April 21, 1816.

The project, called Home, will involve youngsters researching the life of the eldest Bronte sister, creating a heritage trail around Thornton and organising exhibitions at notable locations in the village, including the Bronte Bell Chapel. South Square Centre is a Grade II listed building in the village. Earlier this month an exhibition about female artists, inspired by Charlotte Bronte, called I am No Bird, began at the gallery.

Centre learning manager Sarah Deane said: "We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and are looking forward to creating some inspiring exhibitions and events to celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth."

She hopes the project will help create more recognition for the importance of Thornton among both Bronte fans and those who live it the village.

The centre will work with Bronte historians from the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, where the sisters later lived, and the Bronte Bell Chapel, the former church where the Brontes' father, Patrick, preached from 1815 to 1820.

The local young people, aged between 15 and 20, will also be offered the chance to create exhibitions, gain new skills and become leaders in the arts and heritage.

The events, workshops and exhibitions will take place throughout the year, and the centre plans to apply for similar grants on the bicentenary years of the other Bronte sisters.

"We're looking to start the events next month. This project will be specifically about Charlotte, looking at and celebrating her life and getting young people to engage in the heritage of the village," Ms Deane said.

"This is an attempt to focus a lot of the Bronte Heritage to Thornton and there will be exhibitions at different places other than South Square. They will be working with the Thornton Antiquarian Society to create a heritage trail.

"It is nice to be getting a bit more limelight. There is more and more interest in Thornton. There was a danger this anniversary could have just passed us by, so it is great we are able to get young people involved in celebrating this history."

The group of young people will also be offered the chance to do the Arts Award as part of the project.