Three Tyne and Wear Metro stations in South Tyneside have had an extra splash of colour added with new artwork having been put on display to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the network. Hebburn, Chichester and Bede stations have all received the artwork which has been produced through a project delivered by The Cultural Spring, working with County Durham artist Laura Brenchley and a mix of local community groups.
The artwork is in the form of large collages made up of individual tiles created by members of the community groups involved in the project. This included groups and schools such as Hospitality and Hope’s Wellbeing Hub, Hebburn Sea Cadets, Lord Blyton Primary School, Monkton Academy, groups from Bilton Hall Community Trust and NAAFI Break South Tyneside.
Emma Horsman, The Cultural Spring’s Project Director, said: “Our Metro 40 project was a lovely one to work on with local community groups, and I think the results will be enjoyed by Metro passengers for years to come. Artist Laura Brenchley asked people to think about what the Metro meant to them, and what memories they had of the system. The groups then produced tiles using cut-outs from old magazines and recycled materials – the tiles were then used to create large collages of memories.”