AN arts group will mark the one year anniversary of a fire that destroyed a city landmark with a community event later this week.

When Drummond Mill caught fire on January 28, 2016, Cecil Green Arts Group lost its base, and its entire collection of puppets and giant arts pieces.

The tools and materials they lost were estimated to have cost around £12,000.

For the past year the group has been busy recovering, and on Saturday will hold a major event in Manningham to mark the anniversary.

For years the group have delighted crowds at events like Bradford Festival with their larger than life creations, and have lit up the city during their numerous lantern parades. For the four years before the fire they were built and stored in a unit at the mill.

The group has since re-located to a temporary base on Darley Street, where they regularly hold drop in arts workshops while they search for a more permanent home.

For the past few weeks these workshops have invited people to come along and create pieces for Saturday’s event.

The day starts at 2pm at Mary Magdalene Church in Manningham, which backs onto the mill site, and will feature arts installations, photos and films of the mill reflecting its history. A 200 strong lantern parade will begin at 5.30pm.

Among the art created for the event will be 200 clay figures representing mill workers at different points in its history.

Characters who will be brought back to life through the artwork include Solomon Selka, a Czech immigrant who bought the mill in the 1920s, saving it from closure.

While researching the mill’s history, members of the art group came across a letter he wrote on his death bed, reading: “If I have given a few years of my life to putting Drummond Mill on its feet again, and protect the livelihood of those dependent on it, then I am satisfied.”

Katie Jones, one of the artists at Cecil Green, said: “There will be artworks we’ve created with local groups as well as recordings of worker’s memories of the mill.

“The workshops have been really interesting, a lot of people have a lot of memories of the mill and it has been great to hear them.”

“There will be firefighters there talking about their memories of the day of the fire.

“And there will be Victorian clothes for kids to try on.”

Despite the devastation of losing their base, the arts group say their temporary home on Darley Street has its benefits.

“We are only there on a month by month basis, we have to find somewhere else to go eventually, but it is really nice being on Darley Street.

“There are a lot of artistic things happening there, and we are a lot more visible there.

“We’ve had a lot of people pass us by and decide to join in the public workshops.”

The mill was built in 1861, and was designed by Lockwood and Mawson - who were also responsible for Bradford City Hall.

The building had to be torn down after last year’s fire.