Last updated 11:37, Thursday, 12 June 2008

A REWOWNED poet, who lived in west Cumbria all his life, has inspired eight people from his home town to create an exhibition which opens this weekend.

FERROUS HORIZON EXHIBITION.

Photographs and poems inspired by Millom poet Norman Nicholson are going on show at the Beacon Harbour gallery in Whitehaven from Saturday, in an exhibition entitled Ferrous Horizon, Jewelled Sky.

Norman Nicholson, who died in 1987, lived in Millom all his life and wrote about the environment in which he lived, including natural features such as hills and rock and man-made creations such as mines, ironworks, quarries and furnaces.

Seven women and one man from Millom spent a year working with photographer Rob Fraser and poet Antoinette Fawcett to produce their own photographs and pieces of writing drawing on Nicholson’s themes.

The exhibition will feature 34 black and white photos, each accompanied by a poem or piece of short prose.

The sessions were run jointly by arts and tourism officers at Copeland Borough Council and English Heritage, to encourage local people to take part in creative work and to find ways of promoting the area as a destination for visitors.

The photographs and writing focus on west Cumbria, but Mandy Penellum, the tourism development officer for Millom, said the exhibition would have universal appeal.

“You don’t have to come from west Cumbria to understand the exhibition,” she said. “The themes of relationships with places and memories represent parts of most people’s lives, so I think everyone will be able to relate to them.”

Ferrous Horizon, Jewelled Sky opens on Saturday and will run until Sunday July 12.

The Beacon Harbour Gallery in West Strand is open between 10am and 4.30pm every day except Monday. Admission is free.