A unique artwork which adorned a regional daily’s commemorative Remembrance Sunday edition has garnered an “overwhelmingly positive” reception from readers.

The Northern Echo took the decision to publish on a Sunday for the first time since Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, with the Darlington-based title commissioning artist Mackenzie Thorpe to design paintings for both the front and back pages.

The front featured an image of a poppy set against a dramatic skyline.

A dew drop, representing a tear, is found within the poppy, while the drop itself features the subtle silhouette of a soldier at war.

The front page of The Northern Echo’s Remembrance Sunday edition

The back page featured an image of another poppy, accompanied by words from the Ode of Remembrance.

Both were produced at the Echo’s request by Middlesbrough-born artist Mackenzie Thorpe.

The original artwork will now be auctioned for charity as part of the paper’s ‘£100,000 for 100 years’ campaign, launched earlier this year in support of the Phoenix House rehabilitation centre, established by Help For Heroes, at Catterick Garrison.

The issue was sold for £1 (one penny for each year since the outbreak of the First World War) and 10p of each purchase has been donated to the appeal.

Echo editor Peter Barron said: “The response to the Remembrance Sunday edition has been overwhelmingly positive and requests for copies are continuing to come in more than 24 hours after it was published.

“Readers, advertisers, newsagents and our own staff have been incredibly supportive.

“We are also being inundated with enquiries about the original Mackenzie Thorpe artwork, which is being auctioned in aid of Help For Heroes at the end of the month, and telephone bids have already been registered.”

The issue featured photographs and names of North-East soldiers who died in the Great War, and a collection of historic front pages from the Echo archives.

The back page of The Northern Echo’s Remembrance Sunday edition