A theatre group has visited Darlington to help launch a drama group.

The Chicken Shed Theatre Company, from London, visited the Darlington Education Village to launch the first "Shed" in the North-East.

The Darlington project is the 22nd "Shed" to be established and will be called the Steam Shed after the town's railway heritage.

Members of Piter Shed, a Chicken Shed project in St Petersburg, Russia, also visited the launch to see how Darlington Education Village works.

The £37.3m village is the first of its kind in the country and opened in April to 1,400 pupils from three schools - Haughton Community School, Springfield Primary and Beaumont Hill Technology College.

Beaumont Hill's deputy headteacher, Carolyn Barker, who is overseeing the theatre group launch, said: "The idea is that this is going to be a town-wide resource which we will be running in partnership with the Arts Centre.

"We have chosen to go with Chicken Shed because their inclusive values and philosophies match closely with those of the Education Village and our beliefs regarding inclusion."

Councillor Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for children's services, added: "Having our very own 'Shed' is a real coup, not only for the Education village, but for Darlington as a whole."

This afternoon there will be a youth theatre taster session from 11am to 12.30pm.

Youth and adult theatre groups are due to be launched in September, followed by a children's theatre in January.