Stoke residents old and young will come together in a celebration to mark the completion of an £18 million, state-of-the-art, housing development.

Staffordshire Housing Association's West End Village, off London Road, Stoke, provides high quality accommodation for older residents.

It is also a major regeneration project for the town of Stoke - which has received government funding of £7.2m through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and is providing homes and jobs in an area which has suffered from the decline of traditional industries in recent times.

A celebration of the development - which incorporates a new office headquarters for Staffordshire Housing Group - will be held on Friday, 27 May.

The art and creativity of the Staffordshire Potteries will feature alongside an official opening ceremony at the event.

Guests will be presented with an animated DVD of the development, colourful painted barge buckets and a packet of oatcake mix, made in Stoke-on-Trent.  

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Tristram Hunt will officially open the complex.  SHA Chair Rhian Hughes and Paul Spooner, Executive Director of the Homes and Communities Agency Midlands, are also key speakers.

The remainder of the event will showcase the work of Stoke-on-Trent's artistic community.

Diane Lea, Chief Executive of Staffordshire Housing Group, said:  "Rather than a traditional opening ceremony we plan to host a celebration for the community.

"Staffordshire Housing Group hosted various community art initiatives during the building phase of the West End Village and these projects will be showcased on the day."

The event will see the launch of an animated film about the building of the West End Village.

Stoke-on-Trent based artist Rob Pointon recorded the development as it progressed through a series of paintings.

He then worked with animator Karen Sale and acclaimed film maker Ray Johnson to complete a unique DVD about the development.

Karen, from Big Red Studio in Burslem, will hold an inter-generational animation workshop with West End residents and children from Alexandra Junior School, Normacot. Stoke-on-Trent.

Rob Pointon, who has produced a popular 3-D artwork in the grounds of the complex depicting a long lost canal which once ran through the site, will be on-hand at the workshop, together with city based blacksmith, Charis Jones and artist, Michelle Martin.

Michelle worked with local children to produce the brightly coloured barge buckets which will be presented to official guests at the event. 

Blacksmith Charis created unique gates and railings for the village featuring horses and a runaway elephant. The unusual designs feature odd events in the history of London Road - wealthy pottery factory owners used to raise horses in the area and a circus elephant caused chaos after getting loose.