A BLACKSMITH is busy creating a sculpture of a worker as part of celebrations to mark 50 years of the operation of a mine in east Cleveland.

The sculpture of a miner, carrying the type of equipment which would have been used in the early days of operation at the mine at Boulby, will sit along the Cleveland Way.

It is being made by artist and blacksmith Katie Ventress, who is constructing it from galvanised steel in her studio at Hinderwell, near Whitby.

The miner will sit at a replica "bait table", made of laser-cut stainless steel, which will also have a map of the mine to help people visualise the site.

Alongside the statue will be seats where miners past, present and future, as well as members of the public, can take their families for a stroll and a picnic and have a picture taken with it.

Ms Ventress said: “Ideally I would have liked to have used a miner as a model for the piece but social distancing put a stop to that. Instead I’ve had to use my partner and he’s got a bit fed up of me staring at him from time to time or asking if I can measure his nose."