MECCANO fans young and old gathered for an exhibition of the popular model construction sets in a North-East town.

The North-Eastern Mexxano Society held an exhibition at St Cuthbert's Church Hall, in Darlington, on Saturday (October 25) afternoon.

Among the exhibits were trains, trams, cranes, bridges, a fairground, a clock and a chef – all painstakingly created out of Meccano, of course.

John Herdman, the society's chairman and exhibitions secretary, said: "The society is endeavouring to publicise – to children in particular – the benefits of Meccano as a hobby which develops interest and knowledge in engineering.

"These basic skills appear to be in decline in today's world of PlayStations and computers."