INVITED guests from the world of politics, business, the arts and local organisations attended the official opening of the From Wordsworth to the Web - 200 years of The Westmorland Gazette exhibition at the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry, Kendal, on Tuesday night.

Among them were two former editors of the paper - John Lannaghan and Mike Glover - and former photographers Mike Barker, Steve Barber and Paul Bramham.

Also in attendance were local historians who regularly contribute to the Gazette's weekly Nostalgia page - they included Arthur Nichols, Peter Holme and Roger Bingham.

The exhibition takes a look at the history of the newspaper and shows how major news events have been covered over the years.

In his opening remarks, current editor Andrew Thomas said: “As we have looked back through all the old editions we have felt at our backs the weight of that history, the continuity of the newspaper and an increased awareness of all the staff across various departments who have worked so hard and diligently at the paper over the past two centuries.”

The Westmorland Gazette was first published on May 23, 1818, when George III was king and the Earl of Liverpool was Prime Minister. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth played a major part in its founding during a political row in a notoriously contentious general election - and one of its first editors was another poet Thomas de Quincey.

The exhibition, which features an old printing press and photographs from the Gazette archives, will run until the end of the year.