RARE colour wartime film footage of life on the Home Front in the region has been uncovered.

Thousands of people gathered in Saltwell Park, Gateshead, in June 1944, for a summer celebration called Holiday at Home. The two-day event was held to give war-weary residents the chance to let their hair down.

It was recorded on colour movie film by John McHugh, of Gateshead Police's photographic department.

Liz Rees, of Tyne and Wear Archives Service, said: "This is a unique piece of film which documents an important time in the region's history, but what sets it apart is the fact that it is in colour, which is astonishingly rare.

"The event it records was a one-off, but it stemmed from the wartime restrictions on travel which the Government imposed.

"This was around the time of D-Day and every piece of transport was being pressed into use to ferry men and supplies to the invasion ports.

"With all available transport urgently needed for the war effort, people were discouraged from going away on holiday - hence the promotion of the idea of spending your family holiday at home."

The film will be on public show in libraries around the borough in a bid to trace some of those who took part in the event - and invite them as guests at the opening of the park's new visitor centre, the newly-restored Grade II-listed Saltwell Towers, in July.

The film will be on show in Gateshead Civic Centre and the borough's Central Library until Friday.