RESIDENTS of Leigh came together to celebrate the town with a pop-up exhibition and party.

The Celebrate Leigh Together pop-up exhibition and party took place at the Leigh Community Centre and more than 200 people came together to join the festivities.

The Celebrate Leigh Together event was run by not-for-profit company Blade Education with funding from the Big Lottery Celebrate Fund.

Blade Education chairman, Mary Forsdyke, said: “This has been a fabulous opportunity for Blade Education to learn even more about our talented community – we have to thank everyone who gave us such great support and not forgetting all the lovely people who buy lottery tickets that make this kind of event possible.”

The day included a special exhibition of Leigh photographs by Dean Trotter, work from pupils of the West Leigh Infant and Junior Schools, and Leigh North Street Primary School as well as contributions from people on the theme of “What Leigh Means To Me”.

Southend West MP Sir David Amess and the mayor of Southend, Judith McMahon, councillors Julian Ware-Lane, and Bernard Arscott were among those attending the event and gave a speech praising the spirit of Leigh residents and the work of the community groups.

Joining the celebrations were a number of organisations, including the Leigh Society, Royal British Legion, U3A, Essex Society for Family History, Leigh Camera Club, Figure of Eight students, Sit and Fidget Arts and local artists to celebrate what a great place Leigh is to live and to recognise the amazing work that is done year after year by community organisations.

Bob O’Leary, secretary of the Leigh Branch of the Royal British Legion, said “We thoroughly enjoy being involved with these community events.

“We always meet lots of lovely people and this wonderful event was no exception”