A PLAQUE has been unveiled in memory of pitman poet Tommy Armstrong at his favourite watering hole.

Only two photographs exist of the County Durham writer, both of them taken at The Oak Tree Inn at Tantobie, near Stanley.

On Saturday, more than 100 people attended the unveiling of a heritage plaque to mark the pub’s special place in the poet’s life.

Joe Wilson, secretary of The Tommy Armstrong Society, said: “He had a few watering holes which he liked to visit, but the only two photographs we know to exist of Tommy were taken at The Oak Tree Inn.

“One shows him writing at a table, which is understood to be at the Oak Tree, and the other shows him with friends.

“He died just a hundred yards away at a house in Havelock Terrace, so it seemed appropriate to put up a plaque at the pub”.

Born in 1848, Tommy Armstrong moved to the Stanley area as a child and went on to work in several mines around Tanfield.

By the time of his death in 1920, he had left a legacy of songs and poems, from humorous verses about daily life in the pit villages to ballads about the strikes and disasters which made life in the collieries so precarious.

Cllr Joan Nicholson, chair of Stanley Town Council, joined Mr Wilson in unveiling the plaque at a ceremony, which was followed by an afternoon of Tommy Armstrong’s music performed by Jude Murphy, Kiddars Luck, Alan Crawford and Beth Coyle.

Mr Wilson said: “We felt Tommy Armstrong was quite an important character and needed to be remembered".