Hartlepool bagpiper's tribute to Queen 'bringing people together'

Chris Pearson has been playing the bagpipes each night since the Queen's death

A bagpiper's personal tribute to the Queen has been credited with bringing a Teesside community together.

Chris Pearson has been performing at locations across Hartlepool since the death of Elizabeth II as a "small way of saying thank you" for her years of public service.

He estimates crowds of up to 300 people have gathered to hear him in recent days.

His efforts have been described as "fantastic".

Mr Pearson said "just a few dog walkers" had listened to him at Hartlepool's Headland in the hours following the Queen's death.

However, after a video was posted on Facebook, "the next night it had doubled and the night after it doubled again".

"It's ended up being two to three hundred people in recent nights," he added.

Crowds grew after a video was posted on social media

One onlooker told the BBC: "I think it's lovely. He's got the community together."

Another couple said they were unable to travel to London to see the Queen lying in state and so watching the bagpipe performance was their way of paying their respects.

Watch: Queen Elizabeth II's lying-in-state

'The long, silent queue has a meditative magic of its own'

What next? A day-by-day guide from now to the funeral