AN artistic tribute created by two brothers in memory of their mining grandfathers is on display in the home of colliery art.

Neil and Ian Hardy joined to celebrate their grandfathers' tough life working in North-East pits.

Neil, 31, painted for the exhibition and Ian, 36, wrote poems to accompany the artwork.

The pair first displayed the tribute exhibition, called Dig, at a Leeds bar earlier this year and last week fulfilled a dream when the exhibit opened on home turf.

Exhibiting the work at The Spennymoor Settlement, in Spennymoor, County Durham, is especially poignant because the centre has strong links with pit art.

Started in the 1930s by the Pilgrim Trust charity, it encouraged the use of creativity to help unemployed people regain their self-esteem in the midst of Thirties' deprivation, and after the death of the mining industry.

Two of the country's most acclaimed coalfield artists, Tom McGuiness and Norman Cornish, both spent time learning and sharing their skills there.

Neil and Ian's exhibition, which runs until Friday, is dedicated to their grandfathers, Jim Hardy and Leslie Latcham, who both died of illnesses linked to a life of mining.

Mr Hardy was under manager of Wooley Colliery from 1948 to 1956.

He also worked at Roddymoor Colliery.

Mr Latcham worked down the pit at Brancepeth Colliery from the 1920s until the mid-1960s.

Neil said: "When the exhibition was in Leeds, it was appreciated for its technical qualities, as art.

"Bringing it to the North-East has given it more resonance with people and it has become much more emotional.

"When I was a kid I thought I could not do mining art because I had never been a miner, but now I think it is an important way to celebrate and commemorate that way of life.

"For us, it was also important to explore the lives of our grandparents, to appreciate what they did rather than just remember illness."

To see work from the exhibition or for details of Neil's work, go to www.theneilhardy room.com