Famous faces on display in Walsall textile tribute - with pictures

Famous faces, all with links to Walsall, have been threaded in to a stunning tapestry by a team of volunteers.

The 11 unique panels represent each area of the borough, picturing events, places and names. Each area has its own story to tell, whether it be the Pelsall poppies, meeting under the clock in Willenhall market place or the excitement when Cilla Black came to Pelsall for the first Blind Date wedding when Sue Middleton married Alex Tatham in 1991.

The tapestries also tell the story of celebrities including paralympian Ellie Simmonds, Slade star Noddy Holder, musician Goldie, actress Meera Syal, who attended Queen Mary's High School and Judas Priest lead singer Rob Halford, brought up on the same Beechdale Estate as Noddy.

They also include amateur athlete Glyn Marston, who has raised £120,000 for charity over the years. He said he was honoured to have his name embroidered. He is included in the tapestry devoted to Willenhall fundraisers, featuring an image of the late Christmas-crazy Hilda Creaney whose festively decorated home raised thousands for charity.

Glyn's name and those of Reg and Anne Wrighton, who for years organised an annual old folks dinner for the Willenhall community, are stitched around the edge of Mrs Creaney's embroidery.

But his surname has been spelt Marsden, instead of Marston.

However the 54-year-old has taken it in good heart: "It's the gesture that counts," he says. Each one of the Silver Thread tapestries took at least 2,000 hours to sew, a task shared by an army of volunteers from the local community. It was the inspiration of Walsall Council's creative development team, which was disbanded last year as a result of budget cuts.

People came from far and wide during the first three months of the year-long project to have their say on what should feature in the tapestries. Artist Hunt Emerson turned their stories into illustrations which were then stitched into more than 12 square metres of fabric. It is on a tour of the West Midlands – currently at Pelsall Library, until Monday.