AN exhibition of photographs from the first seven years of the Stanley Blues Festival is being held in the town's Lamplight Arts Centre.

With this year's event two weeks away, about 60 pictures of performers and crowds from the 1993 to 2000 festivals will go on display on Monday.

Most were taken by festival photographer Keith Pattison, but there are also pictures of North-East artists such as Sting and Alan Price.

The exhibition has been displayed in the beer tent at a previous festival and organiser Paul Green hopes it will help get music fans in the mood for the festival on Saturday, August 6, when The Yardbirds will be the headline act.

The event, launched by the now-defunct Northern Recording co-operative, has grown from a local event attracting a few hundred people and regional bands to the country's biggest free blues festival with big name acts.

Mr Green said: "We have always taken the photography of the event really seriously because it is a great spectacle, that many people in one place and such great acts.''

The exhibition runs until festival day and is open during arts centre opening hours. Admission is free.

For further information, contact (01207) 218899.