A free event will celebrate the life of an unsung Leicestershire hero this weekend. The celebrations will be part of the national heritage celebrations taking place all through September.

Christ Church in Coalville will be celebrating the life of George Stephenson and the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway during its one-day event this Saturday (September 13). The mining town's history is intertwined with George who built the first mining colonies which created Coalville.

The engineer, often referred to as the father of the railway, also assisted his son Robert Stephenson to build the Leicester and Swannington Railway. George's son alongside his brother James, both helped build the world’s earliest steam locomotives, ‘Blucher’, ‘Killingworth B

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