Funny local news headlines inspire Norfolk art show

Sinead Birmingham ponders why the Spud-U-Like takeaway in Great Yarmouth closed

A woman has turned her collection of amusing local news headlines into an art exhibition.

Sinead Birmingham scoured Norfolk papers for quirky "gems", including constipated goldfish and a gorilla that resembled Freddie Mercury.

She picked 28 favourites and asked artists to create a work based on each one for the gallery event in Norwich.

"A photo quiz called 'guess the Norfolk roundabout' was the first one I recall, but now I have a whole file," she said.

"I've always loved my local news, and when I moved from Norfolk to Surrey for university 10 years ago I kept reading the papers online," said Miss Birmingham.

'Sunburnt pig'

The 30-year-old graphic designer's collection of amusing and sometimes baffling headlines grew since she moved back to Norwich a year ago.

She said she "found comfort and joy in the local headlines and Norfolk humour".

The works on display include a cartoon of a distraught man, hungry for a tasty baked potato, asking: "Why has Spud-U-Like in Great Yarmouth shut?"

An incredibly detailed drawing depicts crowds gathering around a pig in a bikini, illustrating the headline "Sunburnt pig called Delilah wandered loose on Prince of Wales Road".

Headlines about an angler banned from fishing for being too good, and the theft of beach pebbles inspired other artwork.

While an accusation about a home being turned into a Japanese restaurant also features.

Others in her collection have been added to an Instagram account, including: "A parrot that 'meows like a cat' is missing is missing from Little Melton", and "Man carried out Norwich bomb hoax because his brother wanted to finish Burger King shift early".

Some of Sinead Birmingham's favourite local newspaper headlines:

• Firefighters called to help child whose head was stuck in a potty

• Warning after man digs dangerously deep hole on Gorleston beach

• Norwich man took 27 attempts to pass practical driving test

• Cat gets stuck on Long Stratton TV aerial

• Amazing £300 operation by North Walsham vet on constipated goldfish

• Protests over removal of Freddie Mercury gorilla go on

One headline from a neighbouring county states: "Nobody knows why one of Suffolk's busiest bridges closed last night"

Profits from ticket prices and prints will be donated to the Open Youth Trust, a charity that helps children and young people to express themselves through creativity.

Archant, which publishes some of the papers whose headlines have been used, has been approached for comment.

Lolcal News is at Open on Bank Plain in Norwich until 16:00 BST on 6 April