A FORMER miner is giving a personal account of his life underground in the form of an exhibition of paintings.

Tom Lamb worked for 27 years at Craghead Colliery and Busty Pit, in County Durham, starting at the age of 14.

The artist's caricatures and portraits of life in the mines began at the age of 18 when he went underground and started drawing on the pit shaft's whitewashed walls.

The County Durham artist's display, Mining Days, is now on show at the Mall Gallery, in Crook Civic Centre, until Tuesday, January 30.

Mr Lamb will also be on hand on Wednesday to demonstrate his painting techniques, between 9.30am and 1pm.

Admission to the exhibition ,is free and the venue is accessible for people in wheelchairs