THE exceptional talents of Teesdale people are being celebrated in the Fitzhugh Library’s latest exhibition.
From sculpture and drawing to poetry and drama, the work of local people over two centuries is on display at the Middleton-in-Teesdale archive facility.
The idea for the display came from a recent show of the works of Eggleston sculptor Phil Townsend, some of which remain in the exhibition including his depictions of the Bard of Teesdale Richard Watson and photographer and astronomer Jacob Readshaw.
Part of the Teesdale Talents exhibition is a display of works by disabled artist Edward Gargate.
Library volunteer Derek Sims said: “His dad was a lead miner and he became a lead miner when he was about 11. He contracted a disease, nobody knows what it was, but because of it he couldn’t walk.
“A local blacksmith made a frame and put his bed on it so he could be outside. He was a very talented artist. He also wrote poetry.”
Born in 1849, the artist was just 23 when he died.
A photograph of the artist in his mobile bed was taken by the photographer Jacob Readshaw, whose work also appears in the display, and an elegy was written after his death by the Bard of Teesdale.
Fellow volunteer Cath Maddison said: “I just love those sorts of connections that are made between them.”
Theatre in the dale is also represented by an exhibition of The Castle Players’ posters as well as the documents and receipts of the Cotherstone Amateur Dramatics Society which folded in the late 1940s.
Ms Maddison said: “It looks to me like the money that was left was given to the Temperance Hall in Cotherstone when they wound it up. There are some lovely documents going back. There is an invoice from the Teesdale Mercury for the printing of the programmes.
“Some of the plays [they put on] are really archaic and I can’t even find them on the internet.”
Photographs by veterinarian Neville Turner, who famously provided the images for the publicity and adverts of whisky brand The Famous Grouse, are also celebrated in the display.
The Fitzhugh Library, located above the Village Book Shop, is open each Monday and Tuesday between 10am and 2pm.
