PARENTS and health visitors were busy creating a mural yesterday as part of a new project to encourage healthy living.

The mural, at Teesdale Community Health Centre, in Barnard Castle, will be used to give tips and advice on how to look after children's health.

Parents of some of the children who visit the centre helped newly qualified health visitor Sandra Cooper, who has just joined the team at Barnard Castle, to create the mural.

The design features a tree, and each month six tips will be put on the branches.

Ms Cooper said she hoped it would prove successful.

"The reason we decided to create the mural is so it attracts the eyes of the parents and children who visit the centre," she said.

The first theme is about dental care, and the tips are to brush teeth twice daily with fluoride toothpaste, avoid sugary food and drinks, eat healthy snacks, visit a dentist at least once a year and to eat cheese after a meal to avoid tooth decay.

Ms Cooper said: "Dental health in this area has been pinpointed as a problem, especially for children under five, so that is why I chose it as the first topic.

"I hope to put up six more points next month about passive smoking for children, and every month there will be new themes, and hopefully they will be taken on board."