One of the five priorities within Darlington Culture Strategy 2022 – 2026 is to creatively explore Darlington’s rich railway heritage. Creative Darlington budget has contributed to a number of artist led projects in 2024/25 and 2025/26 which have done just this, including Write on Track, led by writers Ann Cuthbert and Pam Plumb, Bob Beagrie’s Bicentennial Pen Pals project which will see a new anthology launched in September, and bringing The Kiosk, created by local artist Adam Shaw to Hopetown Darlington this summer.
Write on Track held an awards ceremony on the evening of Friday 11 July 2025 at Hopetown Darlington, attended by 45 people, including many writers who had submitted work and been awarded prizes in the different categories of a Write on Track competition (with Tracks Darlington providing project management support), autobiography, poetry, short stories etc. Excerpts of writing submitted have been displayed in stations and other parts of the local rail network, and a final anthology was gifted to those who had engaged Write on Track, alongside postcards with snippets of some of their new writing. Five days of activity were held in Darlington in total, including 8 participatory sessions, with 12 creative professionals involved as workshop leaders, writing judges, and technicians). The project atrracted 60 workshop participants and 82 writing competition entrants from Darlington borough. Participants comments included: ‘The workshop leader was very friendly, encouraging and supportive of fledgling authors’.
Following hot on the heels of Write on Track, this summer The Kiosk, a moving workshop for a moving story, has arrived at Hopetown Darlington. Created by local artist Adam Shaw, its an interactive touring artwork exploring memory, nostalgia, and local heritage which offers opportunities on particular days for people to explore printmaking. The Kiosk was brought to Darlington through Navigator North and Middlesbrough Art Week’s FORGED programme, and was backed by the S&DR Community Grant Scheme, the National Heritage Lottery Fund, Creative Darlington, budget and Hopetown Darlington.
Following a visit to pupils at The Rydal Academy in July 2025 The Kiosk is in situ at Hopetown Darlington during the summer holidays and people are welcomed to participate in creative activities and conversations with artists and volunteers, included in free site admission.
The Kiosk is on display at Hopetown Darlington in the Goods Yard everyday throughout the summer as a standalone artwork with creative participatory sessions for all ages, taking place on selected dates including 23, 26, 19 July, and 3, 7, 9, 12, 17, 24, 29, and 30 August. It will also travel to Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington this year.
Artist Adam said: “The Kiosk is about gathering traces — stories, drawings, memories — and inviting people to step into the past through imagination. Hopetown feels like the perfect place to do that. It’s where history was made, but also where young people today can make something new from it. Throughout the summer I’ll be running print workshops that explore etching and printmaking as a way of connecting to this heritage — by making something with your hands, you’re taking part in the story.”
Meanwhile to mark 200 years since the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway — the world’s first passenger railway to use steam locomotives — renowned typographer and printmaker Alan Kitching returns to his hometown with a striking new exhibition: ‘British Railways’
Alan Kitching is one of the UK’s most celebrated letterpress artists. Known for his dynamic use of wood type and bold, expressive layouts, Kitching’s work brings history to life through print. This new body of work pays tribute to the engineering legacy of the North East, drawing inspiration from the spirit of steam travel and the graphic language of railway signage.
Born in Darlington in 1940, Kitching began his career as a teenage apprentice at a local print shop, the beginning of a lifelong passion for typography and design. His journey has taken him from the North East to international acclaim, but this exhibition brings him full circle, back to the place where it all began.
Kitching went on to co-found the Experimental Printing Workshop in Watford with Anthony Froshaug and later became a partner at Omnific Studios, where he established his reputation in letterpress. His honours include being named a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) and Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and Visiting Professor at University of the Arts London.
We hope you’ll fit visiting The Kiosk at Hopetown Darlington and/or the current exhibition at Darlington Library Art Gallery into your summer timetable, with many more activities, events and exhibitions creatively exploring our railway heritage on track to. The brilliant Teesside poet Bob Beagrie has planned one launch event starting at 2pm on Saturday 20th September 2025 for the Bicentennial Pen Pals anthology, and a second on Wednesday 24th September at Darlington Library starting at 2.30pm, which will share new writing created by adult participants in an extensive writing project, and Darlington Stitch will be sharing their exhibition of fantastic embroidery celebrating railways this Autumn.
