A PILOT project, pointing people in the right direction around a popular tourist city, is to be repeated this year.

Following the success of Durham Pointers last summer, organisers are recruiting volunteers to help visitors find their way around the city’s attractions and amenities during the forthcoming peak tourist months.

Anyone considering offering themselves as a volunteer should attend a formation meeting for this year’s Pointers scheme at Café Cenno, in The Market Hall, on Tuesday (May 7).

Refreshments will be available from 5.45pm, before the 6pm meeting.

Pointers are volunteers who act as ‘mobile signposts’ for visitors to the city.

Following an extensive pre-launch appeal last year, more than 50 people volunteered to combine their local know-how and love for Durham to help direct strangers around the city.

Volunteers, with their distinctive pink tabards, will again operate from the Market Place, each Monday to Friday, between May and September.

Organising committee member, Esther Ashby, said: “The real benefit is that they offer a personal welcome and act as responsive mobile signposts for visitors.

“Because they know and love Durham, their passion helps to make every visitor’s time here all the better.”

She expects an upsurge of visitors to Durham with the Lindisfarne Gospels going on display from July to September.

Volunteers are asked to offer their services for up to two hours once a fortnight, with shifts running from 9.30am to 11.30am, 11.30am to 1pm, or 1 to 3pm.

Anyone wishing to attend Tuesday’s meeting is asked to contact markets manager Colin Wilkes to confirm their interest, either by emailing colin@durhammarkets.co.uk, or by calling 0191-384 6153.