A refurbished town hall has been unveiled and opened as a heritage centre celebrating Teesside’s history from Iron Age settlers to modern-day clubbers.

The Yarm Town Hall Heritage Centre is free and has opened to the public after months of painstaking renovation and restoration. Its centrepiece is ‘Island In A River’, a permanent display with artefacts paired with 10 related films, created without about 100 residents including community groups.

The artefacts include a replica of a 10th-century Viking helmet – the first ever Viking helmet found in Britain – as well as a fire and flood bell dating back to the site’s previous use as a toll booth, a ceremonial sword belonging to lord of the manor Thomas Meynell, a 1686 bushel measure from the original weighbridge and polearms used in the Yarm Fair.

One of the most curious exhibits is a silver nose, inspired by local hero Tom Brown who lost part of his nose in battle and was reputedly the last soldier to be knighted on the battlefield. The exhibited nose was cast on a Yarm veteran, who was filmed talking about his experiences.

One piece of more recent history will be familiar to many nostalgic revellers of yesteryear – a stone lion from the entrance of the former Tall Trees nightclub, with a film featuring the legendary venue’s owner and contributions from former clubbers who went on to live on the site.

The films also include a recreation of a meeting of railway pioneers in The George and Dragon pub that led to the founding of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, with an all-female cast, an interview with the man who found the sword while digging for sewerage pipes in the 1950s, and community members including allotment holders and food charity workers.

The objects are all housed in a replica iron age canoe carved by a local volunteers from a tree trunk washed up at Tees Barrage, inspired by a prehistoric canoe found digging the foundations of Yarm Viaduct in the 19th Century.

“That’s possibly the earliest known sign of habitation in Yarm, and it all links back to the river,” said artist Matthew Rosier who created the exhibition, a project produced by media arts organisation Mediale.

“The idea was to contain all of these objects, and so bring that ancient connection to the river Tees back into the middle of Yarm and into this heritage centre, which feels like an island in the river of this amazing high street.”

A holographic film of the Tees will be projected on to the canoe installation at night, referring to floods which have submerged Yarm High Street over the years. The first floor currently houses a temporary exhibition about the town hall restoration itself, but will eventually hold exhibits about the river, railway, schools, churches, entertainment, business, trade and Yarm at war and at play.

Mr Rosier added: “The idea was to connect stories of the past in Yarm and see how they flow through the community of today.”

“It was an absolutely massive community endeavour. We’ve worked with nearly 100 people from all different walks of life. I’m just incredibly thankful to everyone who’s been involved and supported this, Yarm Town Council in particular for having the faith in this project.”

Yarm Town Council worked in partnership with Stockton Council to refurbish and convert the town hall into a heritage centre. The project was funded as part of the council’s successful bid for £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, with contributions from the council’s Town Centres Investment Programme and Yarm Town Council.

Councillor Peter Monck, town council chairman and project lead who has been working on the restoration since 2004, said: “It’s a project I’ve been close to for quite a long time. Thanks to Stockton and the Levelling Up money, we’ve managed to get this fantastic exhibition ready.”

He thanked Wharton Construction for an “absolutely fantastic job of restoring the building”, and town council clerk and development manager Juliet Johnson: “She’s worked her socks off to make it happen and I owe her a great debt of thanks for the work she’s done. Without Juliet it wouldn’t be like this, it would just be a collection of artefacts.”

He added later: “It’s been a labour of love.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. The end result is more than I could hope for.”

He said he was “blown away” by the canoe exhibition: “We were really fortunate to get Matthew on board. We just gave him free rein to come up with a project. I’m absolutely over the moon with it.

“We’ve brought all the community groups together to work on it. It’s been a real community involvement.”

Stockton South MP Matt Vickers unveiled a plaque to open the heritage centre officially. He praised Cllr Monck for pressing on with the project since 2004, “for having the vision, the terrier-like perseverance to get everything across the line and keep going when it looked like it would never happen”.

He said: “Great privilege, pleasure and honour to be here this morning to see a big piece of Yarm’s history take another step in its story. I don’t think it’s ever looked as good as it does today.

“Anything that comes with change brings a bit of anxiety but actually, anybody who was worried about what was going to happen with the town hall need worry no more. You’ve done a cracking job, well done.”

He added: “Yarm’s a really amazing town and I think it’s right that we’ve got a town hall that’s up to standard for it. The public are going to be proud to come and have a look around.

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“I think the fact the community’s been involved in putting it together is part of the magic. Yarm’s got an amazing history and it’s something we should be promoting and celebrating.”

Cllr Nigel Cooke, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Wow, what a transformation. It’s great to see this centrepiece historic building really transformed in this way. I’m sure it’s going to attract many more visitors.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic and a privilege to work with Peter and his colleagues at Yarm Town Council to bring about this change.”

He added: “I think anybody visiting this building would just be absolutely blown away by the transformation. It looks to me a million times better than it did just a couple of years ago.”

The centre will be open Thursdays to Sundays from 12 noon to 6pm.