A SELF-taught artist has recreated a once-thriving area which is about to become a vanished community.

Middlesbrough artist Bob Williams, 59, is celebrating the completion of a huge painting of 1900s St Hilda's.

The area is currently being demolished as part of council plans for the flagship Middlehaven development.

Eager to recapture St Hilda's past, Mr Williams decided to portray the area at its best.

He has also created a picture of South Bank's blast furnaces, demolished decades ago.

He said: "I wanted to recreate a time when it was peaceful - before we had all the trouble."

Mr Williams has been perfecting his hobby for more than 30 years and has a host of work he is eager to showcase to the public.

As a schoolboy, he was top of his class in art and was encouraged by his teacher to pursue his talent at university.

But as the oldest child, with a mother who was extremely poor, Mr Williams entered the steel industry to earn money for his family.

At 24, he had a nervous breakdown.

Mr Williams said: "I had a lot of time on my hands and I decided to take up art again in a big way.

"I first started copying old favourites, such as Constable and Turner, and then I wanted to do my own thing."