An art exhibition in Millom, Cumbria, will honor the late artist David Frederick Bates (1929–2024), whose sketches and paintings from 1949–50 document the town's ironworks, mines, and landscapes. Organized by Millom and District Local History Society in partnership with Holy Trinity Church, the show runs June 13–15, 2025, and includes a talk by Bates's son Malcolm. The exhibition also features works by Bates's wife June Moss and by Jim Billsborough, a former student of Bates.
The exhibition matters because it revives a little-known chapter of British industrial heritage through art, offering a rare public view of Bates's early work—much of it never shown before—and connecting contemporary audiences to Millom's vanished iron industry. It also highlights the role of local history societies in preserving and sharing regional artistic legacies.