THE achievements of amateur and professional athletes from Hartlepool are being celebrated in a new exhibition aimed at getting more people involved in sport.

Called ‘Inspire’, it runs until Saturday, March 14, at Hartlepool Art Gallery featuring sculpture and photography.

It showcases the work of Michelle Castles, an artist renowned for her full-sized mesh sculptures of the human form, alongside images by award-winning Hartlepool photographer Lucinda Grange, who has worked with local male athletes of all ages and abilities to produce pictures for the exhibition.

Organised by Hartlepool Council, ‘Inspire’ is striving to build on the momentum of the London Olympics, the Paralympics and the 2012 ‘Inspire’ women’s exhibition at the gallery.

“This is an amazing opportunity to motivate our young people to embrace sport, art and life,” said Ms Castles who graduated from the University of Sunderland in 1998 where she began creating wire sculptures.

Ms Grange added: “Through the Inspire project my aim is to encourage people to take part in sport by celebrating the achievements of Hartlepool’s athletes of all abilities and ages.

There is only one depiction of a local female athlete in the exhibition, a sculpture of Hartlepool boxer Savannah Marshall, which has been commissioned by Hartlepool Council from Ms Castles.

Boxing since the age of 12, she made history in 2012 by becoming Britain’s first women’s world boxing champion in the world finals in China, later going on to win gold in the Women’s Middleweight Division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and represent her country in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.