Organisers of the North-East's biggest mining gala have hailed this year's event as the largest for more than 40 years.
About 70,000 people attended the Durham Miners' Gala in Durham City on Saturday - the first gathering since the closure of the region's last deep-pit mine.
The 121st gala was attended by thousands of former pitmen, who marched with 60 banners to the tune of 30 bands from Durham's Market Square to the city's Racecourse.
Among the marchers were more than 20 former miners from Ellington Colliery in Northumberland, whose closure in January bought an end to centuries of deep-pit mining in the North-East. Allan Stewart, the secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers at Ellington, said: "It was a very touching and emotional day. Our banner seemed to be something of a celebrity. The amount of interest from people was special."
Former mine worker Terry Meadows, 56, from Chopwell in Gateshead, suffers from multiple sclerosis and attended the parade in his wheelchair.
He said: "This has been a fantastic day. It is an important part of the cultural heritage of the region and it is important the gala continues for many more generations. I have sympathies with the people of Ellington. You get mining communities, where the mines have disappeared, but the spirit goes on."
Former miners from the North-East were joined in the march by pitmen from as far afield as Poland.
David Temple, spokesman for the NUM in Durham, who helped organise the event, said: "It was the biggest gala since the early 1960s. The crowds were fantastic and the weather was fantastic.
"It was very important that so many turned up, now that there are no more working deep mines in the North-East. It was an important step in keeping the tradition going."
In the 1940s and 50s, up to 200,000 attended the annual Durham Miners' Gala, but after the bitter 1984 strike, numbers slumped to 10,000.
According to organisers, about 50,000 people attended the gala in 2004.
