As the month-long Blyth Pride of Place Project draws to a close next weekend (Saturday 29 October) Blyth’s Labour councillors have paid tribute to those who set it up and the people of Blyth who have responded by sharing their art and creativity, their experiences and memories of living in the town and their hopes for the future.

The Blyth Pride of Place Project, which has been commissioned by Northumberland County Council and delivered by PlaceCreate, is part of the £70m Energising Blyth Regeneration Programme and is one of a series of pilot projects exploring culture across Blyth in advance of major investment to improve the town centre and deliver major new events and activities for the community to enjoy.

Councillor Kath Nisbet said: “I took part in the opening of the exhibition and I encouraged people to get involved. As always with the people of Blyth, they’ve come up trumps.

“My councillor colleagues have been along and they are so impressed with what’s happening there. It’s fantastic. It’s a fabulous project and absolutely what the town needs to remind people about what a rich culture and heritage we have.

“We are looking at ways to extend it because it is such an asset to the community to see and celebrate its past, present and future.”

Jan Williams from The Caravan Gallery said: “When we started our groundwork earlier this year with PlaceCreate we just hadn’t expected quite so much enthusiasm due to the way Blyth is generally portrayed.

“The exhibition is full of art, photos, books, models and crafts as well as a huge map where local people have been invited to mark places of interest, whether that’s somewhere to visit or a place that means something to them.

“Every day people are coming in sharing their stories and bringing things in. There’s such a buzz and it’s clear that having somewhere like this where people can celebrate what they love about living here and share their artistic and creative talent is just brilliant.”

The exhibition continues until Saturday 29 October, with the final closing celebration taking place from 3-5pm.