A PHOTOGRAPH signed by Hollywood greats Laurel and Hardy and dedicated to children in a North-East workhouse is to go up for auction.

The picture, which has been lying in a drawer of a County Durham home for years, will go under the hammer in Newcastle on Thursday.

The 10x8 photograph is inscribed: “To Lanchester Cottage Home, Kind Thoughts Always, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy".

Lanchester Cottage Homes in County Durham was a workhouse and children’s guardian board-house, which became a hospital in 1939 and was closed and demolished in 1980.

Although the photograph is expected to make somewhere in the region of £200, auctioneers Anderson and Garland hope it could make more after recent bidding interest in the comedy double act.

A letter from Stan Laurel, who went to school in Bishop Auckland, to a boyhood friend was expected to reach around £400 at the auctioneer’s September sale, but sparked an online bidding war and was eventually snapped up by a collector in Darlington for £1,400.

The photograph is being auctioned on behalf of Brian Snaith, who heard about the sale of the letter and remembered he had the picture.

Mr Snaith, from Chester-le-Street, said: “My grandma gave me it in 1945. It’s been in a drawer for years and I’ve never had it on display. I might as well let someone else enjoy it.”

Anderson and Garland auctioneer, Fred Wyrley-Birch, said: “Anything to do with Stan Laurel tends to be popular in the North East, thanks to his associations with the region, but we were surprised just how well the letter did at the previous sale.

“We’re expecting some of the same people to bid for this photograph and a potential repeat of the high price achieved at the last Fine Art auction.”

Stan Laurel, who was born in Ulverston in Cumbria in 1890, went to school in Bishop Auckland and later Tynemouth, before moving to Glasgow and eventually to the USA.

The Anderson and Garland Fine Art and Antiques sale takes place from December 2 to 4. For more information, please visit www.andersonandgarland.com.