A COUNTY Durham town hall will build on its reputation as a budding art gallery with a programme of exhibitions in the New Year.

Six exhibitions have already been scheduled in between January and August at Spennymoor Town Hall.

The first exhibition will feature photographs from Neil Bage and will run from January 19 to February 16.

Between March 2 and 23 three artists including Ray Bradshaw, Graham Hodgson and Gary Smith will exhibit their work in the hall, which first started as an art gallery earlier this year.

In April, there will be a solo exhibition by John Hebborn between the 6 and 27, and, from May 4 to 25, Trimdon Art Group will be showing their Painting for Pleasure exhibition.

Newly acquired works by the late Robert Heslop, one of the original renowned Spennymoor Settlement artists, will be shown between June 8 and July 13.

The exhibition will also include work by the late Tom Alderson and the current Settlement Art Group.

To round off the new programme, from July 27 to August 24 there will be a summer exhibition of prints by John Banham, Geff Fogg and John Todd, inspired by the Bishop Auckland Town Hall Printmaking Workshops.

A spokesman for the hall on Spennymoor High Street said: “We are maintaining our record of showing the best of local art both past and present in the new exhibition programme for 2013.”