A PIT banner which had fallen into disrepair is to go on permanent display in a workingmen's club, following a renovation costing thousands of pounds.

The Esh Winning Colliery banner will be unveiled in the village's Newhouse workingmen's club, on Tuesday.

The ceremony will mark the fruition of three years of work for the Esh Winning Colliery Banner group, set up in 2005 with the twin aims of creating a replica banner, which could be paraded in the Durham Miners' Gala, and restoring the original to its former glory.

The group achieved its first goal in 2006 and is now poised to meet its second, following a £25,200 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The banner features the Durham National Union of Mineworkers' headquarters on one side. On the reverse, a miner and mine owner are shaking hands below an angel and the words "All men are brethren".

The banner has been at Beamish Museum since the early Eighties.

The Forties icon had become tattered and torn, but the silk material has been refurbished and the oils repainted.

Bob Heslop, vice-chairman of the banner group, said: "The banner is part of our local heritage.

"We went and saw it at Beamish last year. It was quite an emotional time.

"We've decided to have it at Newhouse club because it was one of the main clubs for people who worked at Esh Winning.

"I'm looking forward to seeing it displayed. There's a lot of hard work gone into it."

At its peak, the Esh Winning colliery, which opened in 1866, employed 1,500 people. It closed in 1968.

Mr Heslop, who worked at the pit, mostly at the surface, for 16 years, said the banner group is working on creating three replicas to display in the village's schools.

He thanked Chris Scott, assistant keeper of industry at Beamish Museum, for his help with the restoration project.

The unveiling ceremony will be in Newhouse Workingmen's Club, in Newhouse Road, at 7pm, with entertainment by the Bearpark and Esh Colliery Band.

Admission is free.