Billingham volunteers aim to sew 1,200 years of history

Volunteers are working on an embroidered timeline to record a town's 1,200-year history.

The Friends of St Cuthbert's Church, Billingham, commissioned six panels depicting the "tiny little church on the hill" in the 9th century, through to the town's industrialisation and the influx of people coming to work in shipbuilding and chemicals.

Volunteer Jackie Ward said the story remained relevant because "without the economic migrants, the town really wouldn't have become what it is now".

Artist Harriet Mee said trying to fit hundreds of years of history into the designs was "quite a tall order", but she was honoured to be trusted with the job.

The charity is taking ownership of St Cuthbert's Church from the Church of England following proposals to close it due to costs and falling attendance .

Twelve volunteers of "all ages and skills" had already been working on the panels for a couple of months and it is hoped it will be completed by April.

"They're already learning things that they've never done before," Ward said, including applique, sewing and learning to upscale designs.

Mee, who is a freelance artist based in Stockton, said the first three panels depicted the historical origins of the area from Anglo-Saxon times in 850 AD and showcased a wild landscape eventually being cultivated for farming.

"Panel four feels so different because it's the introduction of the rapid industrialization of our area."

Ward said: "From 1801 we had 926 people living in the area and by 1961 we had 32,000.

"That huge thing was due to the influx of people who were economic migrants for the likes of ICI, the shipyards."

Mee said she had tried to stay true to local landmarks by using archive images when designing the skyline.

The sixth and final panel envisioned a "cleaner and more sustainable future", full of wildlife and featuring windfarms off the coast, she said.

Ward said the work was appropriate in "this year of the Bayeux Tapestry" coming to the UK.

"We're very quick to pull areas down and say the town centre's rubbish, the unemployment, the houses, and what not," she said.

"But at the end of the day we've still got an awful lot to be proud of and we need to continue reminding ourselves on that."

There hopes the panels will be exhibited at Billingham Library before being displayed in the church.

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The Friends of St Cuthbert's, Billingham Green