Residents of a North Tyneside coastal village are hoping that an artistic connection can save one of its most iconic buildings.
Cullercoats was the subject of several paintings by celebrated US artist Winslow Homer, including the village's Watch House which opened in 1879 to allow the village's volunteer life brigade to look for vessels in distress. However, the Grade II listed building, which has been a snooker club since 1933, has fallen into disrepair and the work it needs done is likely to cost in excess of £250,000.
Despite this, there are hopes that a visitor to the town earlier this week could be instrumental in helping the building secure the repairs it needs and its future. Sylvia Yount is the co-curator of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent four days in Cullercoats ahead of the opening of the Winslow Homer: Force of Nature exhibition at the National Gallery in London, which opens on Saturday September 10.
