It's a building full of history and now a slice of that will be be put on permanent display.

Carlisle's Old Fire Station operates nowadays as a top entertainment and arts venues but up until 2012 it was as its name suggests, home to the city's legion of firefighters.

They moved out to two new bases either end of the city but Carlisle City Council took over the building in Warwick Street and set about converting it into what it is now.

But those in charge haven't forgot the building's heritage and have moved to make sure everyone who comes in is able to take some of that away.

The Old Fire Station team were donated a series of photographs from the 1940s to 2005 by Elizabeth Dobson, the daughter of Jim Templeton who used to serve in the station and wrote a book about the history of Carlisle's fire service.

So the city council's graphic design team worked to turn one of the station's walls into a huge photo collage featuring a collection of the donated pictures.

They've also used a picture to incorporate into the one of the windows so as people look out onto the former fire training tower they can see one of the images.

The opening of the new feature will coincide with a new event - Night of the Watches - which has put out an open invite to serving and former fire personnel to attend to socialise and reminisce about old times.

Stephen Dunn, the city council's arts officer, said: "Elizabeth brought in the photos and the idea just came from there really. We thought what could we do with them.

"The photos cover a really good swathe of time and we've been wanting to do the place up a bit so this seemed like a natural thing to do."

Speaking about tomorrow night's event, Mr Dunn added: "This one is to sow the seed for future ones and we'd like to make it an annual event if successful."

One of the ex-Carlisle firefighters who's backing the idea is Richard Pape, 59.

"One of the big things in the fire service is the camaraderie," he said.

Mr Pape was a watch commander and station manager in the city during his career which ended when he retired about 10 years ago.

"I'm sure this type of event will escalate," he added.

"What is now the Old Fire Station used to have a training room and we would have retirement dos in there for the firefighters.

"Now the stations are at opposite ends of the city so they don't have that mutual social space. It's nice to get that social side because, from a firefighters' perspective, they are such a close-knit group.

"People will be really excited about this.

"I'm sure firefighters past and present will enjoy it. We've been through so much together, at times we eat, sleep and go to horrific incidents together."

Mr Pape has already been to see the wall and speak with Mr Dunn about the event.

"It made me feel old as my watch from 1993 was in one of the pictures. I did recognise a few of the older faces too."

Unfortunately Richard is unable to go to tomorrow's event as he was already committed to another fire service reunion out of the county. But he hopes to be able to help it continue in the future.

* Night of the Watches starts at 7pm and runs until midnight. Admission is free.