ONE of the "bonniest'' banners is returning to the gala for the first time in 63 years.

The last time Browney Lodge's banner was paraded was in 1939 when the world was on the brink of war.

The Dorman Long-owned colliery, a few miles from Durham, had closed the year before because of flooding.

The banner went to Redhills and, years later, was handed to Beamish Museum. It is now too damaged to parade.

However, local historian John Kitching launched an appeal to raise £4,000 needed for a replica.

Today, villagers will proudly march with the handiwork of Norfolk artist John Midgley.

Mr Kitching, whose grandfather's cousin, John Wilson, unfurled the previous Browney banner, in 1911, said: "It's definitely one of the bonniest banners I have seen."

The front shows a scene titled "fair exchange" and features a miner and Britannia standing in front of Justice.

The miner holds a scroll saying "mines owned by the nation for the nation, loyalty, endeavour and good citizenship".

Britannia's scroll reads "humane conditions, higher standards of living, adequate compensation and safety measures''.

The reverse shows Justice with a seated mother and two children, two other women and a seated figure, with a book and a cross, positioned around a lyre and incense burner. The ground is strewn with fruit and the sky is an all-seeing eye.