CHILDREN are celebrating the success of an 18-month long arts project which has kept generations of village residents in touch with their mining roots.

People of all ages from Coundon and Leeholme have worked together on Creative Coundon, Forging a Future, based at St Josephs's RC Primary School.

As it draws to a close, the school needs to borrow old photographs for a history exhibition and to talk to former evacuees to complete a record of people's memories of wartime.

Without the project, there were fears that Coundon's mining legacy would be lost to future generations.

The village pit is recorded as the first to be given permission to extract coal by the Bishop of Durham, but many Coundon residents are too young to have seen a working mine.

The school organised trips for children and adults to Beamish Museum and the National Mining Museum, at Wakefield.

Pitman painter Tom McGuinness designed a stained glass window, which was painted by Darlington artist Duncan Storr and made at North Grange glassworks, in Newcastle.

Blacksmith and artist Graeme Hopper, from Hunwick, worked with history groups, residents and pupils on a school fence decorated with mining images.

Simon Pell led banner-making, and theatre artists Jack Drum held drama workshops and helped with a book called from Cuna Don to Coundon.

Musician Jez Lowe composed a Coundon song for a CD due to be released soon.

Headteacher Stefa McManners said: "We are preparing to celebrate the success of the project, which has really caught the imagination of people in Coundon.

"Things like the stained glass window and the fence will be a lasting reminder of Coundon's mining legacy."

The project also received grants from Wear Valley District Council, the Forge Arts in Education Agency and Age Concern Durham County.

For more information on the project, contact the school on (01388) 602608.