THERE is a surfeit of civic pride - not to mention the odd attack of the giggles - when the new Mayor of Blackrod and his Mayoress are invited to attend local events.

Cllr Keith Bowes asked his eight year-old triplets to become his Mayoresses, and the result is definitely three times the fun.

Cllr Bowes, aged 41, said: "I regard it as a privilege to be Mayor of Blackrod and I wanted to invite my daughters to be part of it. I felt they would enjoy it, and be good at it."

And their two official engagements to date - opening Blackrod art exhibition with the Mayor and visiting a new Scout camp at nearby Chorley - "went very well," said Cllr Bowes.

Hannah, Megan and Saskia, who live in Horwich with their mum, Elaine, are pupils at Blackrod Primary School.

They are not identical, and are all very different characters. "We don't dress them the same and we have always brought them up as individuals," added their father.

Hannah is "confident, intelligent and elegant; Megan is "outgoing, helpful and caring", and Saskia is "charming, and very determined", he said.

None of the girls wears the town's traditional Mayoress chain. Instead, Cllr Bowes has had a special civic necklace with a gold pendant made for each of them.

Most of the Mayor's engagements are in the evening or at weekends, and so schooling is not disrupted.

More difficult is fitting in engagements around hobbies like gymnastics.

"I would certainly like the people of Blackrod to feel they can ask us all along to local community events, said Cllr Bowes.

"The girls are very sociable and cope well with new people."

This year, Cllr Bowes has decided to link his Mayor's Charity to the Make Poverty History campaign and work with a couple of local schools in raising £12,000 to build a new school, probably in Somalia.

The girls are very enthusiastic about their roles. "I like helping the community," said Saskia.

Hannah said: "I like that we are helping to build a school."

Their schoolfriends seem fine with the girls' elevated status. "Although Mrs Fairhurst, the dinner lady did ask me to show her my wave", said Megan.

They have been practising their official greetings to people - "I've stopped saying 'Hi'," said Hannah - and are turning out in smart outfits as befits their official position.

The girls will be known as "Miss Mayoresses."

And they are considering following their father into the council chamber.