A FLAVOUR of the Durham Miners' Gala is being given in an exhibition leading up to this year's event, on Saturday.

The 123rd Big Meeting is expected to continue the revival of the event, which many thought would fade out with the demise of the mining industry in the North-East, in the early 1990s.

But its fortunes have enjoyed a revival thanks to the rekindled interest in local mining heritage of the many former colliery communities across the old Durham coalfield area.

Keen artist and ex-National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) Durham branch official George Robson has played as big a part as anyone to ensure the tradition lives on each July.

In his role as union finance officer he helped to organise it, and even since retiring has used his expertise to ensure the Gala still runs smoothly.

But, in his spare time he has also painted more than 40 Big Meeting-day scenes, some of which have gone on show a vacant former gallery space on the corner of Claypath and Millennium Place, near the city's appropriately-named Gala Theatre.

The exhibition also features a collage of Gala scenes by a second artist, Ben Hume, plus a small display of some of the banners which will feature in Saturday's parade.

The largest are the banners on show are from the former Randolph lodge, near Evenwood, and Byer Moor, near Gateshead.

But there are also smaller banners from the Durham Area NUM and Black Prince Lodge of the Durham Miners' Association.

The exhibition runs until next Tuesday, while a new book featuring old photographs portraying Gala-day scenes, Banners and Brass, is available from libraries and several book shops across County Durham, for 6.

It can also be ordered from County Durham Books, by ringing 0191-370 8714.