HUNDREDS of residents from two East Durham villages are putting themselves in the picture to mark the millennium.

People from Blackhall and Horden will be lining up in September for a photo shoot designed to create a permanent community record.

Bea Mangham and Christine Smith from Blackhall and Horden libraries were looking for an event which would encompass all age groups and came up with the big picture idea.

Bea said that it was intended to have someone on the photograph to represent each year of the life of the two communities.

"Horden is celebrating its centenary this year, while Blackhall started in 1909. If we do find someone 100 years old for each photograph we will be delighted,'' she said.

"Christine and I have found the community helpful, but it's more difficult getting people of working age involved."

She said they needed people born in the villages in the 1960s and 1970s to stand up and be counted.

The project is backed with £2,000 from the Turning The Tide project which has spent £10,000 cleaning away years of coal mine pollution from East Durham's coastline.

Bea and Christine are busy collecting the names of two people from each year for the photo shoot, which will be held in the vicarage garden, at Blackhall, and the Welfare Park, in Horden, on Tuesday, September 19.

Anyone born in the 1960s or 1970s, in either village, should contact Bea on 0191-586 3545 or Christine on 0191-586 3887.