Fifteen minutes to go until Great North Star and you can watch it live by clicking on this link here.

Image source, GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE NORTH

Kathrine Switzer (pictured) is one of five female sporting legends taking part in Great North Star tonight.

In 1967 she became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, at a time when women did not compete over long distances.

She said: "Fifty years ago when people said a woman couldn't run and we did run, we proved everyone wrong. We showed how women were much more capable than anyone ever believed and that we deserved the opportunity to try.

"It's the same with women getting the right to vote, that was our intellectual and social acceptance, this is our physical acceptance."

She will be joined by Paula Radcliffe, Dame Tanni-Grey Thompson, Ingrid Kristiansen and Rosa Mota.

Zena Francis
BBC North East

I have been chatting to the Nelson family along with their grandparents Chaz and Cath Ferguson.

Jacob,13, and Francesca, 10, are very excited for the show as their mum is performing.

They have really enjoyed the Great Exhibition of the North having visited The Baltic and Stephenson’s Rocket at The Discovery Museum, which they said was "really cool".

Jacob, however, found the fountain (on the River Tyne in front of the Sage) "anti-climatic" as he saw it in the daytime and missed the lights. Hopefully the same can’t be said for tonight!

The Great North Star performance is due to start at 21.00

The Great North Star performance starts at 21:00 and the invited audience, including contributors and volunteers, are starting to take their seats.

Prince William visited the Great Exhibition of the North, ahead of tonight's Great North Star ceremony.

The Duke of Cambridge began his tour at the Sage music centre in Gateshead, where he met schoolchildren and an over-50s singing group.

During his visit, the duke was given a Newcastle United Number shirt bearing the number 3 for his son Prince George.

Image source, PA

Back on 22 June we covered the opening day of the Great Exhibition of the North.

It featured North East band Maximo Park, poet Lemn Sissay and an impressive drone show which you can watch below.

You can catch up with the day as it happened here.

The 80-day Great Exhibition of the North was set up to celebrate the scientific and artistic achievements of the north of England.

Former Chancellor George Osborne came up with the idea as part of his Northern Powerhouse scheme.

The Exhibition was based around three starting points - the Sage and Baltic in Gateshead and the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

Among the highlights was Robert Stephenson’s Rocket at Newcastle's Discovery Museum (see video below) and John Lennon's piano at the Great North Museum.

Sir Gary Verity, chairman of the Great Exhibition of the North, said: "I’m hugely proud to have been involved in such a "great" exhibition shining a spotlight on all the fantastic creativity and innovation in the North, past, present and future.

"The success of the Exhibition is down to every single contributor, large and small, from world class venues, to hidden gems in NewcastleGateshead and across the wider North. The support of our ambassadors and huge team of volunteers who’ve helped things run so smoothly, has been invaluable."

Zena Francis
BBC North East

There is a lovely sunset on the Quayside as last minute preparations are under way for Great North Star the ceremony marking the end of the Great Exhibition of the North.

You can watch it live here from 21:00.

The Chronicle

A sneak peek of the finale of Great Exhibition of the North, external reveals a music and dance celebration of the past and present achievements of great northern women

Good news if you're one of those invited to watch tonight's Great North Star performance - after a pretty miserable day it looks like it's going to be dry.

Our advice is to wrap up warm though, it was pretty chilly at last night's rehearsal.

About 2,000 people, including contributors and volunteers, have been invited tonight.

Tonight's Great North Star performance will mark the 100th anniversary of some women in the UK being given the vote for the first time.

Dozens of volunteers will take part, and with it being Great North Run weekend, a number of female sporting icons will also be there including Ingrid Kristiansen, Kathrine Switzer, Paula Radcliffe, Rosa Mota and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Great North Star is a 50-minute performance written by Manchester poet and playwright Louise Wallwein (pictured).

She said she wanted to give an insight into the character of women from the North and the qualities of "fairness, fortitude and fight`.”

"I couldn't believe my luck when I was asked to do this job because there are so many great Northern women to celebrate," she said.

"We do change the world up here."

The performance is produced by Festival.org, and artistic director Bradley Hemmings said: “Great North Star has its roots in the Simplyhealth Great North Run's One Millionth Finish four years ago, when a triumphant running woman puppet sailed up the Tyne, illuminated with flames.

"For this production, I wanted to continue in that same spirit and celebrate the women of the North of England and the role they have played in fighting for equality in all areas of public life."

The title of tonight's performance comes from the astronomical navigation tool, the North Star.

It is constructed and performed in four acts with actors Charlie Hardwick and Julie Hesmondhalgh narrating.

The main performance space for tonight's Great North Star is the running track in front of the Baltic on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne.

After tonight, it will be used for Saturday's Great North City Games when elite athletes will compete in track and field events.

A rehearsal was held last night and it was a chance to get a taste of tonight's performance.

Dozens of volunteers are involved, telling the story of the fight for equality and women's rights and celebrating the contribution of women from the North to manufacturing.

The set features a screen with various images projected on it, pyrotechnics and music performances by soprano singer Lesley Garrett, actor Ibinabo Jack and Grace Davies, who appeared on last year's X Factor.

Here are some of the photos from last night's rehearsal to give you a flavour of what to expect.

Image source, GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE NORTH

Image source, GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE NORTH

Thank you for joining us.

We'll be with you for the next few hours leading up to Great North Star, which will mark the start of the closing weekend of the Great Exhibition of the North.

The 80-day event started on 22 June and was designed to celebrate the "spirit" of the North of England and the impact of its inventors, artists and designers.

Tonight's Great North Star performance will mark the 100-year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act, which gave some women in the UK the right to vote for the first time.

It starts at 21:00 and we'll bring you updates as it happens, including the chance to watch the whole performance live here online.

We'll look ahead to tonight's performance and at some of the things that have happened over the last 80 days.

We'd love to hear from you - what have you thought of the Great Exhibition of the North, have you been to any of the events? You can tweet us, external, contact us via our Facebook page , externalor email us.

Image source, NORTH NEWS