Lost community is revived through exhibitions ARTIST David Titley is heading for a successful career in art but it is his interest in his local roots which is providing him with the inspiration.

The 35-year-old has revived the history of an area of Colne in the 1800s. The lost community of Waterside, demolished in the 1930s, is the subject of two exhibitions about to be launched by the award-winning artist, who used to live in the area.

David, of Birwins Avenue, Foulridge, has been working on projects connected to Waterside throughout his degree, of which he is in his third year. The first exhibit takes the form of a tabloid newspaper entitled 'Times' made up of extracts from newspaper archives held at the library, from between 1874 and 1900.

Father-of-two David spent many hours searching for stories worth re-telling, such as the chicken which laid a three and a half pound egg or the woman who drowned in the River Calder.

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"I am doing these projects to raise awareness of the area's history.

The second exhibit includes artefacts found in June 2000 when David invited archaeologists, historians and children from West Street Primary School to carry out archaeological explorations of Waterside. A sculpture, which was created from the findings, will be on display near the Admiral Rodney pub in Waterside -- which he describes as being in the centre of the 'lost community' -- between 5pm and 9pm, on Wednesday, April 18.

When the exhibitions end, David's work will be part of University of Central Lancashire's Degree Show, in Preston, which is open to the public until June 9. David is now looking forward to furthering his academic achievements after being offered an unconditional place at Manchester Metropolitan University to study an MA Arts as Environment course starting in September.

He said: "It's very flattering to be offered a place at the MMU because Manchester is an exciting place to be at the moment.

"Who knows? Maybe we will seeing a little piece of Waterside in the centre of Manchester this time next year."