ONE of the region's top artists will be returning home later this month to give a talk on his work.

Eric Atkinson, who was born in West Hartlepool, will be speaking at the town's art gallery in Church Square on Tuesday, September 26.

Mr Atkinson has lived in Canada since 1969, but he has retained strong links with the region and a display of his work will be hosted in the town from next Saturday.

It will include work from all stages of his career, from early drawings of Hartlepool in the 1940s and 1950s to three paintings exhibited in The Tate St Ives Gallery.

Some of his work is on loan from galleries and private collectors, but the majority of the exhibition comes from Hartlepool Museum Services collections.

These works have been given to the service either by Mr Atkinson or as part of a gift from Dr Jack Reading, of Kent.

Hartlepool council's collections manager, Elizabeth Law, said: "Jack Reading had a large collection of Eric's paintings,which he has kindly given to the Hartlepool Museum Service.

"They include abstract work which Eric started to do in the 1960s and drawings showing the town as it was immediately after the war.

"Eric is a very highly-regarded artist who has exhibited in London, Germany. Canada and the US - truly one of Hartlepool's success stories."