A BRAND new banner has been made for a village's mineworkers.

The old banner of Fishburn's branch of the National Union of Mineworkers has been retired after 36 years because wear and tear have left it unusable.

"It was getting to the stage where it would never go out again on a march," said Billy Elliott, of Fishburn Band, who now looks after the banner.

The community clubbed together to raise more than £3,000 for a Norfolk company to make the new banner, which measures ten square feet.

The new flag features a picture of Mick Terrans OBE, a leading community light, who died in 1994.

Mr Elliott said: "The man on the banner did a lot of work for the community of Fishburn and Trimdon.

"He was an ex-union official at Fishburn Colliery and he worked his way up to be chairman of Durham County Council."

Fishburn Band donated £500 from prize money to the fundraising, which was matched by equal amounts from Fishburn Workingmen's Club and the village's old comrades' and millennium groups.

Former miners also donated money to the campaign to pay for the new banner, which now belongs to the people of the village.