A stained glass window designed and made with the help of villagers has been installed in their local village hall.

Sixteen people living in Barningham, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, worked with artist Joanna Hedley, from Newcastle, to make the £5,000 three-panel window for the hall.

Each of the volunteers - who ranged in age from 30 to 70 - attended two five-hour classes run by Ms Hedley at the hall where they learned to cut glass and then small pieces of coloured glass to make designs on circles of glass which were then fired and incorporated into the window.

Ms Hedley said she enjoyed working on the window and hoped the residents' designs would give them a greater sense of ownership.

She added: "I think this section of the window is particularly successful and the people who took part should be proud of their achievements."

The window also depicts the scenery around Barningham with the hills and winding roads.

The new window was designed after the frame holding the old plain-glass window began to rot.

Joyce Brown, a member of the village hall committee, said: "I think this looks really beautiful and I'm really pleased with it.

"Making the stained glass was something I've never done before and it was really, really successful.

"Someone remarked just how absorbed everybody was in making them." Ms Hedley is holding another two workshops to allow residents to design and make their own small windows.

She is also in the process of designing a marriage window for the nearby St Michael and All Angels church in Barningham, due to be fitted this autumn.

The window will be the first thing newly-married couples will see as they exit the church. The abstract design of interlinking circles and flowers is intended to represent love and marriage.

The village hall window was funded by grants from Awards for All and the RPA Small Projects Fund administered by Durham County Council, as well as local fund-raising.

A party to launch the window is being held in the hall on Monday, May 30, from 11am to 1pm.