THOUSANDS of people across the North-East will attend hundreds of events this weekend to commemorate the anniversary of Jo Cox’s murder.

The Great Get Together will see everything from street parties to bake-offs and Iftars in celebration of everything people have in common.

The Great Get Together is a nationwide event that will see communities come together in what is expected to be the biggest expression of national unity since the Diamond Jubilee.

It is inspired by Jo Cox’s maiden speech in parliament, when she said “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”.

Farming charity, the Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS), which supports communities in the Upper Dales, will hold a mad potters tea party for the public today at their centre in Chapel Row, Middleton-in-Teesdale.

A UTASS spokesman said: “We’re planning a great family event and hoping to ‘grow’ our community Spirit.”

One of the main activities will be to design a pit and plant a seed in it before gifting it to someone in the community which will be followed by a sunflower competition later in the year once they have grown.

A table top sale, book and plant stall, tombola, face painting and refreshments will also be available while the police will be giving out safety tips and balloons will be released.

The 1st Staindrop Scout Group, in Staindrop, Teesdale will also be putting on the Great Staindrop Get Together, at their scout hut, behind Scarth Hall, on Sunday.

Residents are invited to bring a dish or neighbour, from noon.

MP Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, said: “In the last few weeks we have been awed by the scale of the reaction to the idea of the Great Get Together taking place this weekend.

“The Great Get Together is the very simple idea of getting together with our neighbours and sharing food.”

He added: “Communities coming together in this way is more important now than ever. After the election and even more so after the horrific attacks in Manchester and London there is a huge ground swell of people who just want to focus on the things that unite us, who want to draw closer to their neighbours and communities. I think people are sick of the narrative of hatred and division that neither represents who they are nor our country.

“We hope these events give us all a moment - as my wife talked about in her maiden speech - to focus on the things we have in common.

“These events were inspired by Jo and mark her anniversary, but I hope they play a wider role in bringing us closer together. I also hope they are fun, full of energy and laughter. That’s what Jo would have wanted.”