600 handmade sailcloth flags created by local people will be installed at Blyth Beach

Blue Flag, an installation of 600 handmade sailcloth flags created by local people, artists and schoolchildren will be installed at Blyth Beach in front of the iconic beach huts this Saturday.

The installation by Great Northumberland, is part of Headway Arts’ arts partnership with The Blyth Tall Ship, entitled Inspiration Exploration.

Volunteers and organisers from Headway Arts will install the 600 blue flags from 10:07am (after high-tide) and they will be in situ throughout the day, weather and tide allowing.

Each flag has been created using cyanotype photoreactive techniques, which means the flag ‘develops’ into a bold Prussian blue colour when exposed to sunlight, and there’s been plenty of that over the past few weeks as hundreds of local people have attended workshops at Headway Arts to design and create their own flags to be part of the art piece.

The installation is celebrating the voyage of Captain William Smith, who was the first captain to discover Antarctica, and the flag-makers have been asked to take inspiration from Captain Smith’s journey to Earth’s Southernmost continent.