1227 Industrial Heritage

Wintry weather was not ideal to go out to take some pictures required for the industrial section of the chapter on past times of the Northern Rivera and the feeling of negative omens about the day continued as I listened to the pre-match building of Newcastle playing Liverpool at home, waking that the game being shown live on Sky but having the feeling that all was not going to go well. The 50000 crowd could be heard to boo Stephen Gerrard the disgraced English team, a response of away fans to any English team players wherever they were playing. For decades I have berated fellow home fans for booing away players because it only winds them up and true to experience Gerrard unleashed an unstoppable free kick.

I switched on the TV back home but felt in the need for warm comfort food and made an omelette with prawns and olives and then settled to enjoy the rest of the game and I have not seen Newcastle play as woefully as this since the dark days of last year. Worse was to come and although the loss was 3.0 it should have been five or six. Well Sunderland would cheer me up, wouldn't they but this proved just as bad, perhaps more so giving away sloppy goals and showing no indication of changing the 3.0 disaster by half time, and then wow we score so it is 3.1

Yesterday was not a good working day, in part because I was affected by reviewing previous research about the number of those who had lost their lives in four of the five mines on or close to the coast between the rivers Tyne and the Wear, where information has been collated, over 100, of the 600 recorded deaths, about one fifth, were aged sixteen years or younger as low as 9, 10, 11 and 12. We are losing 6.1 at this point and the game is not over. My reaction yesterday was to watch films. I saw Dreamgirls in theatre and enjoyed the performance of Jennifer Hudson of American Idol, so added it to my mail order Internet list and although the musical has serious themes it brightened the evening. I also enjoyed the quirkiness of Alice Through the looking glass, a Daily Mail provided DVD which has an excellent cast going through the four main sequences of Jabberwocky. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, The Walrus and the Carpenter, and Humpty Dumpty. Before this I watched a made for TV movie with a title something like Solomon’s choice about an adolescent who needed bone marrow transplant which could be provided by her younger brother who has just recovered from life threatening illness himself and where his mother does not want to risk his life bring about marital disharmony and separation. Both children survive and there is the suggestion that the relationship of their parents revives, making a good example of well motivated risk taking producing a good outcome, so why did I forget to buy my Euro Lottery ticket, and I have yet checked to find out if I would have won or saved a couple of pounds.

Industrial Realities
I have spoken with coal miners, about their lives, since being a young man, and in 1961 I visited the headquarters of the Scottish Miner's Union to replay the fines, met from union funds, because Direct Action Committee Marchers from London to Holy Loch had insisted on walking along Princess Street in Edinburgh (8). I have never met a miner who wanted his children to have to go down a pit. I lived and studied alongside former miners during my two years at Ruskin College and worked for a year in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and leant something of the mining communities within the local authority areas responsible for Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham, so I had some preparation for coming to the North East in 1974 and where coal mining and shipbuilding were still the core industries which formed community and civic culture. One of my earliest long play folk records, the Industrial Muse, has one side of songs about Miners, including the Durham Lockout

In 1984 I attended an international residential four week senior management course during the Miner's strike and in the concluding exercise, the teams in which we had separately worked, were asked to represent the fuel interests, electricity, gas, oil, nuclear, coal, and alternative sources, in determining a national policy, and I was a member of the group allocated coal. For the first part of the week we researched the industry, the demand, manpower, output and costs and we could not avoid the reality that because a number of countries were able to supply the majority of domestic requirements at significantly less cost, the contraction of the industry was inevitable, although not as drastic as subsequently happened in practice. This is where my experience of working in a political environment came to the fore and I arranged with the college for a special delivery letter to be delivered to the chairman of the advisory group, formed to present an agreed energy strategy to the responsible Minister. The communication explained that it the national interest to limit and avoid further industrial conflict and bring to an end social hardship, the output from coal had to be kept at a level significantly higher than commercial considerations indicated. It was the style of the college that the letter was delivered by a special messenger on motorcycle and this persuaded the advisory chairman that it was official, in the sense, an intervention by the college, rather than a self interest manoeuvre by coal and the miners. Alas while this could have happened in reality and the demise of the British Industry taken place at a slower rate, there was the clash of incompatible ideologies between Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill. The consequence for South Tyneside and Sunderland is clear to see two decades later at the sites of Whitburn, Westoe and Wearmouth collieries.

At Whitburn, located between Westoe and Wearmouth, the end came in 1968 after 111 years with 3000 men working under the North Sea in 1914 2000 in 1950 and 1000 at closure. 139 men and boys died in the mine (138 before the creation of the National Coal Board) of which nineteen were aged sixteen years or younger (twelve)(10). As the photographs reveal, with the closure of the Northern offices of the coalboard, the site was cleared to create a coastal park to one side of the Souter Point Lighthouse. On the other side there is now no trace of Marsden Village built to house the miners, 135 houses population 700, Church, Methodist Chapel, Coop store, post office, school and Miners Recreational Institute (11).

At Westoe, overlooking one of three parks and an a large area of playing fields, before the beaches of South Shields, the end did not come until 1993, and in 1914 only 108 men were employed rising to 1000 in 1940 and 2500 in the 1980's, doubling in manpower following the closure of Whitburn. Two men were killed after 1948, in 1966 and 1983. Today there is a development of contemporary terraced housing with the last phase underway.

The most impressive new development is at the former Wearmouth Colliery. The pit opened in 1824 and reached its peak in manpower in 1914 with over 2500, and there were still over 2000 employed at closure in 1991. Considerable local controversy surrounded the future use of the site with understandably many residents seeking low cost housing and job creation projects. However the majority are more than content with one of the great football stadiums of Europe with a capacity of 49000, and adjacent, an Olympic size swimming pool, is now in the last stages of construction. The Stadium of Light(12) is marked by a large Miner's lamp which is kept lit. 281 men and boys are known to have died in this mine with some forty aged sixteen and younger, including a ten year old and several aged twelve. One man died in 1947 and none after.

Not far inland from the coast at South Shields was the Harton Colliery which employed over 3400 men in 1921 and closed in 1960 with 1400. 92 men and boys are known to have died here of which 20 were boys sixteen and younger (91 before creation of NCB), and the St Hilda's Colliery 2000 men in 1914 and 1000 when it closed in 1930 with 116 dead of which over a quarter were aged sixteen and younger including two aged nine years. I will leave information on other pits close to the rivers of the Tyne and the Wear for future walks.

Although the ship yards at South Shields, Hebburn and Wallsend on the Tyne and Monkwearmouth Sunderland continued to build and repair ships throughout the twentieth century, it was the closure of Palmers at Jarrow in the 1930's which had become part of industrial and Labour heritage and folklore. This was because Jarrow was created as a shipbuilding town and when the yard failed as did many others throughout Europe, the people were promised a steel making plant which was then denied despite available funding, and in desperation the men decided on a peaceful protest Crusade for work. As has been chronicled by Matt Perry, The Jarrow Crusade Protest and Legend, University of Sunderland Press, the march ended in failure as it was World War II which brought and end to a decade of mass unemployment. Nor did the Trade Union Congress and the British Labour Party support the primary objective. As the marchers and media record reveals the reception given to them varied, with sometimes more help provided by middle class interests. Nor was support from religious interests wholehearted. The Jarrow Crusade was of great interest to me because together with the salt marches of Gandhi it was the inspiration for a protest idea taken up by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, a march which commenced at the end of an Aldermaston March in Trafalgar Square in 1961 to Holy Loch on the Clyde where the Polaris Submarine was being based. As chief Marshall at the beginning of the March I met with Home Office and Scotland Yard officials and later received a warning letter from the Commander, Flag Ship Scotland, following discussions with various local police chiefs along both banks of the Clyde and at Dunoon, about our intentions for non violent protest. The march received a mixed reception from political, trade union and religious interests. In the later 1960's I was introduced to a former Jarrow Crusade marcher and his wife who were honoured members of a local Labour Party in outer West London where they had settled and made good lives for themselves and family.

Final Score Everton 7 Sunderland 1
Newcastle 0 Liverpool 3
Middlesbrough 0 Aston Villa 3
North East 1 others 13.

1225 St Peters and St Paul Wearmouth and Jarrow

I did not have a good night with several interruptions. My fault because I gone to sleep for only a few minutes while watching the opening of England's important game against Croatia, which at the time was considered a good thing because I missed Croatia's first goal and was barely awake when they scored a second. Everything was wrong torrential rain and pitch looked horrible, the outcome of playing an American league Football match. I then stayed up too long playing quick chess level two against the computer and should have stopped when I reached 300 recorded games 19 drawn 1 defeat but only 46 winning streak, with 56 reached before the decision to record everything so that in fact some 470 games have been played at this level, and of course I lost attention and allowed a draw. I then started to think about matters put off during the day and hey presto I did not sleep immediately on going to the loo or felt inclined to get up again and work. I even remember the dream on waking early this morning.

Because tonight I am out for a Judy Collins Concerts I decided on a cooked lunch, a beef spaghetti stir fry and a glass of wine knowing I would want to then sleep, which I did but only to be woken by the two deliveries within half an hour of each other. There was nothing for it but to return to work but first I checked emails to find a reminder from Travel Lodge that their over Christmas and New year into January accommodation sale was still available and decided to book another trip to Croydon making use of a free First Class Travel which had arrived a couple of days before, as a consequence of using the new GNER online booking system for the December trip. I had checked the cost of accommodation but decided to wait to see if I needed to use the voucher for a visit concerning the inquiries about the premature and preventable death of my aunt, but then received a letter which suggested it could be two to three months before progress although the reasons for the delay appeared to be good ones. I first checked the availability of accommodation and found that a saving could be made of £41 was possible instead of £31 if I adjusted travel dates and then contacted the GNER promotions line to check on the availability of seats and because it was first class was allocated individual airline forward facing type seats. Because the seats reservations are sent by post I provided my address to then learn that the assistant was born in the next street and attended the school opposite the Arbeia Roman fort which was the subject of yesterday's writing. The omens were propitious. It had become a good day.

St Peter's Wearmouth, Sunderland

St Paul's Jarrow

For thirty years I regularly travelled along the A183 from Seaburn into Sunderland City Centre, passing the church of St Peter's(5)' at the centre of its grassed over burial ground. However my interest was first aroused when as a consequence of an arson attack in 1984, the chancel roof was destroyed with much other damage and for a time the church appeared no more than a shell. Since then it had been restored into the active community church of today which because the historical significance of its history, hopes to become part of a World Heritage site in 2010, along with St Paul's Jarrow and the adjacent exhibition of Bede World in the grounds of Jarrow Hall.

In the seventh century, the King of Northumbria generously gave a site at Wearmouth, large enough to support seventy families, to one of his noblemen, Benedict Biscop, who after visiting Rome decided to renounce his role in society and create

a monastery and a church in the Roman manner. St Benet had a bold vision going to France of find masons and glaziers to train local people to create coloured glass into windows, lamps and vessels for the first time in Great Britain, thus commencing an art which remains in the city to this day. In Victorian England, Sunderland along with Newcastle became major centres for the industrial production of bottles and plate glass, and during the twentieth century all Pyrex ovenware was produced in the city, although during the period of my walks production was moved to France. However skilled glass blowing into objects of beauty continues at the National Glass centre today(6), a few yards away, and the craft is being promoted by Sunderland University(7) whose new complex of buildings is overlooked by the Church.

Our knowledge of the development of Christian worship and learning in Northumbria is due to the St Bede AD673-735AD, usually referred to as the Venerable Bede, through his major work on the Ecclesiastical History of the British People, and his Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow. It was a year after his birth that work on the Monastery commenced and at the age of seven he was entrusted to the care and teaching of the monastery in which he was to spend the rest of his life, although the greater part is believed to be at the Jarrow extension whose ruins can be viewed.

St Benet continued to work on his vision travelling across the channel; to bring back paintings and at one point the chief Cantor was offered by the Pope to promote the chanting and singing of psalms as choir master to the Monastery. Such was the reputation quickly established by St Peter's that eight years later St Benet commenced to develop a Monastery on two sites, also with the separate church of St Paul, at Jarrow.

As you drive along the A185 from South Shields to Jarrow, past the Port of Tyne Authority and south bank dockland and turn into Church Road there is no hint of the historical treasure a short distance away. The Jarrow location is on the banks of the river Don which runs into the Tyne and provided a river and sea route for the monks to maintain contact between the two sites. Today it is possible to also follow a clearly marked land journey of some thirteen miles between to the Churches, travelled on foot once year as a pilgrimage, or can be followed in one of six stages, or cycled (5)

My visits to the two churches and the monastery ruins at St Paul's were important experiences in my life as one obtained a sense of serious Christian belief and worship far stronger that at St Peter's and the Vatican at Rome when visiting again after the Millennium, I thought Christ would have attacked with as much vigour as he is reported to have the done the money lenders within the confines of the Jewish Temple. I would be surprised if any modern day Benedict Biscop would be inspired to try and recreate the circus which the Vatican has become, I have a similar reaction to the films of the hordes of pilgrims visiting Mecca, given my understanding that both men preached religions which were about the values and standards of every aspect of individual life, spirit within rather than the ostentation, exhibitionism and ritualistic worship which many religions have become and is why I was drawn to the Society of Friends in the 1960's after losing my Catholic faith. Over time I came to appreciate work of architecture and other forms of art which express the wonders of nature and the human experience and I can understand the emotional excitement and joy believers of individual faiths experience on visiting shrines and other holy places, and how such visits can affect the way lives are then led. I found St Peter's and St Paul to be good places where to sit and reflect and most will find the fellowship of others offered by their communities of great value.

1224 Abeia and Rivera project

This brings me to yesterdays completed work on the Arbeia Roman Fort.

Times Past

In the whole of the North East of England, the vast geographical area of Northumberland, Durham and 'Cleveland' there are estimated to have been about a quarter of a million people in 1800(2).

One hundred and seventy fives years later the population had reached two and three quarters of a million, eleven fold.

This growth, with large numbers migrating from Scotland and Ireland, was created by the need for fuel, transport and manufacturing machines for the Empire: Coal, Steel and Ships. Over half the population was concentrated, as it is now, within the comparatively small area around the river Wear and the City of Sunderland and between the towns on the banks of the Tyne, Tynemouth and North Shields, South Shields, Jarrow and Hebburn, Wallsend, Gateshead and the accepted regional capital city of Newcastle. For the past two decades a half marathon has been run from the centre of Newcastle to the Coastal Park at South Shields(3).

Excluding the Industrial Revolution, the region is known for the Roman Wall, the chronicling of early Christianity, the City of Durham and its many and magnificent Castles. By one of those quirks of circumstance, value for money opportunities and sudden availability, I bought a house within a couple of streets of the visible remains of the Roman fort and main supply depot for the troops which guarded the wall built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. I was about to purchase a house a mile away when the estate agent rang to say that the individual who had made an offer had dropped out.

The fort is now known by its earliest recorded name Arbeia (4) in a 4^th/5^th century work, Notitia Dignitatum, and is thought to be Latinised Aramaic, the known language of the last attested unit stationed at the fort. It has also been known as Caer Urfa with Caer a Welsh word meaning fortified place and then in the Middle Ages as Scheles which is a middle English term for a groups of shelters.

The fort was built during the reign of Hadrian about AD 125 to guard what was then a small sea port below the hill, which was once an island created by a tributary of the Tyne which ran down what is now the main shopping area, a night life district and street of small hotels and restaurants onto the coast, called Ocean Road. At this time it was an Auxiliary Calvary Fort with units of 500 men. "In AD 208 the Emperor Septimus Severus launched a series of campaigns against the troublesome Caledonian Tribes". The function of the fort was then changed first into an auxiliary infantry cohort and then extensively rebuilt with additional barrack blocks. It is said to have fallen into disuse for a time and then developed as a store to supply the troops of the seventeen forts guarding the wall, using the Tyne river to transport. It contained the only stone made granary found in Great Britain and as attested by the stone built structure of the West Gate, its building would have required specialist engineers.

The fort was abandoned about AD 400 when Emperor Honorius advised the British people that we had to look to our own defences. Research has shown that cavalry units stationed at the fort came for Hungry and Spain and then by infantry troops from Gaul, although perhaps only half the 1000 strength were stationed because only accommodation blocks for 500 have been identified. The last known Roman unit was of Syrian bargemen from the River Tigris in the Middle East. Of contemporary interest among the Gods worshipped at the fort were the Spirits of Conservation.

The spirits of conservation were dormant for much of the Industrial Revolution and it is only during the last quarter of a decade that attention was given to the site, first with building the extraordinarily authentic reconstruction of the West Gatehouse, and only this year the more recent recreation of the centurion's house was completed as a contrast with the accommodation available for his eighty men.

The following two photographs do not do justice to the potential of this important site which is tucked away on the brow of the hill surrounded by large three storey Victorian terracing. The proposal to build a visitor's centre and observation tower on the adjacent hillside park overlooking the mouth of the river towards the beacon remains of Tynemouth Priory and Castle has met with understandable self interested opposition by some local residents, and admittedly my preference, if there is to be some skyline structure, is for a giant sculpture of a miner and a shipyard worker to rival that of the Angel of the North, perhaps together with a Centurion they could be made to support the tower!

1223 Northern Rivera

This is been an interesting 24 hours in which I completed the introduction to Northern Rivera, (se below) just three pages of words and ten pages with 20 photos. There are just five copies being printed and I made a mistake with two pages of the photographs forgetting that I had previously decided on the inclusion of different photos. I have also drafted the first two pages of the first chapter which is called times past and will features words and pictures commencing with the Arbeia Roman Fort, the Latinised Aramaic as the last recorded Roman Troops, to be stationed were boatmen from Syria and the River Tigris in particular, as by then the fort had a supply depot for the 17 forts guarding Hadrian's wall, with good arriving at the port of South Shields, store at the fort on the hill and then shipped by boats along the river Tyne to various distribution points to the Wall. The chapter will then cover the work of St Bede at the monasteries of St Peter and Paul, smuggling into inlets and caves the creation of Jarrow as a ship building town, growth of the ports of the mouth of the Tyne and Sunderland, the coastal Coalfields at South Shields and Whitburn, the Jarrow Crusade, former mining village by Souter Lighthouse, using Cleadon Mill for target Practice in World War One and the day a German Bomber fell into the sea near to where Lewis Carroll worked on his stories.

It is also 24 hours when I watched an American made film in Japanese with English Subtitles directed by Clint Eastward and then a Russian counter terrorism adventure, also with English subtitles, and received my voucher for a free first class return travel on GNER anywhere on its line during January. Another trip to Croydon and London me thinks. It has been 24 hours of almost solid rain with a day long gloom which discouraged venturing far, although I did take a trip to Sunderland to a bank try and resolve issues regarding the small estate of my mother. I stopped first at the supermarket for some bread, prawns in shell, salted peanuts and fresh fruit, and the latest DVD from the Daily Mail. On my way to the car a man in front about my age paused, and I had to slow to get by as had another man before me, at which a woman behind commented jokingly about needing to slim, I think aimed at the man who paused although I am larger and the man in front even bigger. He turned round had asked me if I had heard the one about the man who could not fit inside a hula hoop. I mentioned my efforts to reduce weight whereupon he said he now owned a car for the first time in his life and had put on two stones since giving up the bicycle on which he had done100 miles each week. It was raining with a cold wind but this was the true spirit of the Tyne. Talking of spirits I learnt that one of the inscriptions found at the site of Arbeia for the God of the Spirits of Conservation.

On my way to Sunderland I heard that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had to admit to Parliament that a junior at the Child Benefit HQ had sent by a private firm of carriers two computer disks on which all the names and addresses, socials security and bank information for every child in the UK had been compressed and appears not to have immediately disclosed that the information went astray, sending two more disks to the National Audit Office in the same way and who had requested the information. The information covers half the families in the British Islands. There can be no bigger scandal in the history of bureaucracy, moreover the implication of the statement suggests there was an attempt to cover up within the organisation, but the Government appears to have learnt from the blunder of the Home Secretary regarding the number of illegal immigrant employed by the government in its security services. Well Gordon, this is the job you wanted so much, now prove you are up to it. An independent inquiry has been established but will not report until next year. What I want to know is why the National Audit office wanted such detailed information?

Introduction to Rivera. The photos will be added to my photos in due course.

"For over thirty years, half my lifetime, I have lived and worked, close to the Rivers Tyne and Wear, travelling by road, almost daily, along part of the coastline, which is approximately seven miles between the points when the rivers reach the North Sea. It has taken all this time to fully appreciate the spectacular shore of former smuggler's coves and inlets, the bird covered stacks of rocks, the glorious spectacle of the sweeping sandy bays, on a bright winter's, spring or autumn day, the six magnificent parks, and the other stretches of public and agricultural land, the two ancient sites of British Christianity, of St Peter's and St Paul, and the way in which public and private interests are working together to complete the transplant of the former industrial landscape of shipbuilding and coal mining into an organic mixture of global enterprise, varied new residential communities, focussed adult education developments, together with vibrant recreational and imaginative cultural experiences.

There is still much to accomplish and there is sometimes vigorous debate about overall priorities and individual projects, in an area, and a region which in the twentieth century experienced great loss from two World Wars, and still mourns its courageous young men and women as they continue to form the backbone of the British army, navy, and merchant force, and time and time again, had to recover from the devastation of a community, such as the people of Jarrow, brought together to build 1000 ships, and then faced a decade of dole because of economic change and political intrigue which denied them a steel plant (1).

As I walked along the manicured green by the Souter Point Light House, it is easy to forget the tiny houses which once formed a mining village around me, or as I eat lunch among flowering shrubs and sheltering trees of the Whitburn Coastal park, that men and boys toiled under the sea and that before the nationalization of the coal, over one hundred lost their lives in preventable accidents, or as I stood among the attractive business like buildings of the new Sunderland University complex on the bank of the river Wear, close to the National Glass centre, to remember that once there where giant factories producing glassware for the world, and then learnt that the last factory, where every piece of Pyrex ovenware was once produced, had closed its gates, because the company was moving production to France.

I believe I can demonstrate through pictures and simple words, commencing with the ancient Cathedral and University city of Durham, to the industrial port of Sunderland beside the banks and mouth of the river Wear, and then along a coast with features rivalling that of Devon and Cornwall, and then inland once more with the twin beacons of the ruins of Tynemouth Castle and Priory on the north bank. and the now hidden ruins of the what was once the biggest Roman supply fort in Europe on the other, in South Shields, and onto what has already become the great tourist city centres outside of London in the United Kingdom, Newcastle with its twin local authority Gateshead, that this area can now claim to have become again the Northern Rivera, a new era for the North East riversides, and which also includes those at Middlesbrough, Stockton on theTees.

The towns and cities of Durham, Sunderland, South Shields, Tynemouth, North Shields, and Whitley Bay, Newcastle and Gateshead, are excellent places from which to explore the region with to the North, the deserted coast of Northumberland and the film set Castle at Bamburgh, overlooking the dawn of British Christianity at Lindisfarne and the other Farne Islands, and inland the vast forests and sheep lands, and the grand reservoir lake of Keilder, merging into lowlands of Scotland, with its capital city, an hour away by train, and to the immediate west the Pennines and northern Cumbrian Lakes, with in the south west the country towns and wild open hill lands of Durham on over the mountains to southern Lakeland, while in the South there are pretty villages of the North Yorkshire Moors, the land of Heartbeat and All Creatures Great and Small, leading to the picturesque Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby, with the once grand seaside splendour of Scarborough, and the extraordinary city of York Minister, also an hour away by train.

I first settled here in 1974, a stranger without having had any meaningful sense of a home land before, and quickly came to love and hate which is the stuff of all great passions, and where now as I reach my three score years and ten, I marvel at where I am and able to enjoy in a comfort what many others do not. For 2007 I have concentrated on the embankments of the river Tyne to the River Wear between Jarrow, South Shields and Sunderland.

I hope the photographs convey something of the variety of flavours of a day's walking, or a week's leisurely experience, covered in the following work.

In future years I hope to travel and part walk the length of the Tyne, stopping to cover the amazing developments in Newcastle and Gateshead, all the way to Keilder, and then concentrate on the City of Sunderland to Durham
.
These walks and travels are part of a contemporary art installation project 101.75 in which I am reflecting on my lifelong experience in the form of A 4 size cards, one for each hour until the age of 65, over 600000 cards in over 20000 sets representing each day, with between a quarter and a third of the work completed, divided between material which will be accessible and that which is confidential and will remain private, plus photographs over which of 250000 have made been made, and some unedited audio and digital film.

Everything I do is designed to be shared and enjoyed by anyone and everyone."

1181 The Great North Run before a funeral

For the first time in over a week I want and feel able to write again, and although the air has been a cool, the sun has been shining brightly for several days, and for several hours from dawn when I awoke and rose, the sky has been cloudless.

I went out to place a notice of thanks in the local evening paper, to purchase books of first class stamps and to obtain some cash and bank statements. From the post office, en route to the offices of the newspaper I passed the attempt to improve the attractiveness of local shopping through the development of a BHS, Desire at Debenhams, River, and Next, and decided to see the what was offer for men, having unexpectedly found a quality but inexpensive off the peg suit at the Newcastle store last Thursday evening, and discovered that the Sunderland store was closed until January because of a fire. Alas I was disappointed because while the Shields store has two floors and caters for boys, it does not for adult males. A similar situation to that at the Marks & Spencer's which reflects the population structure of the town. However the visit was not a total waste because I enjoyed an excellent cup of coffee and a Danish type slice, and a chat with assistants over the comparative rarity of a male being in store.

This comfort break was needed to prepare myself for the cost of saying a public thank you to the staff at the District General Hospital, the Residential Care Home, the community Medical and Nursing staff, the Priest and his parishioners, and the Funeral Directors who between them had made the last three years of my mother's long life the happiest for both of us and her last physical days joyous.

It was only when making way to Funeral Firm a week ago, and saw the road closure signs and diversions for Sunday's Great North Run that I realised the difficulty there would be finding accommodation and getting out and about on the day. The present population of the town is 90000 and the advance publicity for the Run mentioned that close on 50000 participation forms had been distributed which meant that with everyone having an average of one supporter and the number of volunteer helpers and organisers there could be more of them than us. Much like what happens at Seaburn Sunderland when a population of thousands become swamped by at least a quarter of a million people on each of two days, the approach of the locals is to go away for the day, or stay home or take a peak at the crowds, although as the air show took place a few years from my former home, and the road outside was filled with three lanes of buses in one direction, windows shaking as jet fighters zoomed away, and long lines of visitors clutching giant toys won in raffles, it was impossible to pretend nothing was going on.

The problem which the run created is that main dual carriage way route to Newcastle, and the two main routes to Sunderland are closed and with only one way to get from north to south and vice versa between coast and river Tyne along its banks to Jarrow where the road Tunnel takes you the North Bank and across to Newcastle if you wish, or South on the A19 dual carriage to Sunderland, over-passing the runners. My problem was how to get from my home to where my mother was in Chapel during the afternoon, and I quickly abandoned my car in a town centre car park when it was evident I would have to spend valued time in an increasing traffic jam as vehicles commenced to make their way to the only exist route. The war was not only good for me but provided opportunity to encounters several hundred happy but tired faces as they made their way to join the amazing queue I could see of those waiting to for the shuttling ferries and then the even more extraordinary spectacle of thousands orderly queuing at the two Metro train entrances entertained by a live band. I had great sympathy as one, I assume partner, consoled one exhausted participants as they unknowing headed for the station, just think how all this exercise is good for you.

It had been a warm day and my first task on reaching the Chapel of rest was to remove my soaking shirt and button up my out jacket. Later my concern was how to get to the bus station to meet the London coach as a preliminary check confirmed that all the outward traffic was now blocking all exits for my almost hill home with the coast and river on three sides. Fortunately within 30 mins of the arrival time the police diverted the traffic to a different route and I had I now difficulty in getting to the arrival point, and knew the only way to reach the hotel without meeting the escaping vehicles on their redirected homeward journey's.

I have to admit I watched the BBC showing of the event in the morning while I made last minute preparations, interspersed with a re run of the Japanese Grand Prix which he won and barring a disaster in the final two races secured him, and GB, the World Championships Driver's title. The retirement of Lady Tanni Grey took away something from the wheel chair race although she was on the course handing out bottles of water. It was good to see Paula Radcliffe back although she was soundly beaten by rising star Kara Goucher from the USA who broke her national record for the distance.

The main run was started by Sir Bobby Robson who had to give up shaking hands of those who passed closest to him after the first ten thousand or so, although the number who started and completed the full distance was about 25% less than those who were registered.

The most sad and moving of the personality stories was the reason why Sir Christopher Chataway was making a special effort this year. In 1954 while I was still at school I went to the White City athletics stadium and watched Christopher Chataway break the world 5000metres world record although I was about as far away from the finishing line as anyone could be. He then became the first BBC sporting personality of the year. His son was engaged to a young woman who worked on the promotional side of Chelsea Football club and worked in a water aid project in Africa when at Newcastle University. She was knocked down one day or her way to work and died. Father, son and some 190 friends and supporters were competing in order to raise sufficient to complete a new water project.

Bubbly three times married Carole Vorderman told the story of her welsh mother and family background at Prestatyn in the latest Who are you? programme and then moved on to travelling to Holland to find out if the father, she had first agreed to meet in 2002 when she was forty, he having left the family within weeks of her birth, had worked as in the resistance as a very young man. She discovered that he had risked his life listening to the radio on the progress of the allies and helping to print and distribute leaflets which passed on the information. He died before she could report on her discoveries about him.

For me the most interesting aspect of the programme was the recently walked coastline filmed from a helicopter. I am not yet ready to write an account of this year's walk to accompany the photos, but nearly. I repeated some of the walk in the sunshine on Monday afternoon; it was an affirmation of life and death.

1166 Theatre Royal Newcastle

My career as a stage performer was a disaster. As a preparatory school child I appeared on a formal stage three times. As a running around elf wearing a borrowed pair of girls brown knickers which humiliated when I was told that this was so by the girl in great glee; as a pianist who made mistakes with the piece I decided to play rather than the couple of bars which the tutor intended; and as a policeman wearing a real helmet which a friend of Aunty Harriet provided. This brief walk on was a success because there was no embarrassing disaster. There was also the nativity play where I was part of the supporting cast. Later as a local taxation motor vehicle licences finance clerk I performed on a washboard as part of a Skiffle group with was of the entertainments after the annual NALGO branch dinner.
A career as a creator of plays was a possibility after writing a play at the age of 21 which the readers of a major contemporary theatre group in London, the Royal Court, thought the writing was interesting and asked to see more, but instead I went to Ruskin College, Birmingham University and child care social work and social administration.

I attended theatrical performance over the next four decades of all kinds, from Royal Shakespeare Company ,of most of, if not all of his plays, and various classics with the ten play Tantalus one of the highlights to full production musicals with Miss Saigon competing with Les Miserables for the most moving spectacular, to modern drama's such as the Long and the Short and the Tall, Shadowlands and Singer, to verse plays such as The Cocktail Party and Under Milk Wood and pantomimes and family orientated stage reproductions of popular TV shows such as "Hi Di Hi", "Are you being served", and "Hullo Hullo."

It was not however until two years ago with the reopening of the Northern Playhouse and its recreation of three theatre spaces that I commenced to be interested in how plays are produced as well as written, culminating in my first back stage tour this morning of an international standard musical production after the second major overall development of one of the great presenting theatres in the United Kingdom, after last night watching the eleven biological men of the RSC in a new work, play in progress.


This morning an added bonus was a half an hour talk with slides on the history and development of the theatre in Newcastle. The earliest record presented was of publicity in 1656 over a proposed performance at the Flying Post which antagonised Cromwellian Protestants and which was as much anti Catholic as anti theatre. For a few years around 1735 there were theatrical performances in Castle Yard and then for forty years at the Turks Head Long Room in the Big Market. It was not until 1784 that a purpose built theatre was created as the Theatre Royal and continued until 1836 when it was necessary replace the theatre as part of the Richard Grainger development in central Newcastle, one of the finest collection of building facades anywhere confirmed by the highest concentration of grade one listed buildings anywhere in the UK. The present external building was completed 10 months later at a cost of less that £1000 over the building it replaced. Unfortunately there was a major fire in 1899 associated with a performance of Macbeth hence the subsequent theatrical tradition of the play being called the Scottish play, because this was not the only fire associated with play performances, and which is about to be performed by the RSC at the Playhouse next week. The auditorium was devastated. The fire safety curtain which must be tested sometime during every performance is designed to protect one part of the theatre from the other and at the Theatre Royal, friends have contributed £15000 for a special painting to cover the screen.

Between 1986 and 1988 there was a major redevelopment, the costing 6.5 million, probably double today, and the new marble and chandelier four floor staircase cost £2 alone. The area before the theatre was transformed so there is a bar/coffee and seating facility at every level. Such is the height of the "Gods" that seats are above the proscenium arch and there are allegedly two phenomena at this level with one seat always found in the sitting position by cleaners each morning, and a female figure, reputed to be the victim of a love affair, who through herself over when abandoned by her actor lover.

The theatre has just reopened after a further period of redevelopment lasting nearly two years at a cost of another £7 million. The main improvements and changes are to the stage and theatrical facilities, partly achieved by acquiring the premises of a former bank to one side of the theatre. There have been five improvements as consequence. The main problem had been the absence of an adequate stage wing for major props and to allow dancers the ability to exit in motion. In the previous situation the walls had to be padded to avoid damaging collision, remembering that in order not to affect the onstage performances the walls are painted black with only a "blue" light permitted.

The second addition is a new performance area with seating to be used as a participation teaching studio to encourage the disadvantage, those at school and the elder citizens to have increased interest in theatre. The Olivier suite, opened by his son yesterday, has leather chairs set out for the slide show, but can be adapted for various functions, forming a dining facility, or meeting room, and at the end of which are spectacular glass doors depicting Olivier in one of his major roles. Below this there is the new open plan box office with a separate street entrance and with the former box office area closed. On the same level as the box office and replacing the former order at the counter café there is a bistro, the Café Teatro, and stalls bar, which aims at quality food as it run by the same man who developed the bistro at the English National Opera base in London. The 750ml bottle wine list commenced at £13.95 to £53 for Verve Cliquot Yellow Label. Moet Chandon Brut Imperial was £45 providing an indication of the style and charges. One consequence of this change is that the former basement bar, seating areas and cloaks has become office space.

This reminds that in addition to a set lunch and evening menu at the Playhouse Bistro has some 50 Spanish Tapas, offered at reasonable prices, ideal for bringing a party and sharing a selection. There is also a public lift at the front of house, not in the intended location because a buried bank vault door was found at the original location. The same approach of burial was adopted for the existing vault door as this was less expensive than moving by road transport.
The most important development, designed to attract the highest level of production standards by world class companies is a new fly tower, following on from that created at the Empire Theatre Sunderland, and which enable sets and scenery to be moved around more effectively. There is now nothing to prevent any theatrical production, and given the quality and range of developments it increasingly becomes more mysterious why Liverpool was chosen over Newcastle/Gateshead as the 2008 City of European Culture.

For me the main interest was the behind stage experience where for the present production one can only describe the situation as chaotic and hazardous. The used stage area for Aspects of Love appeared small and difficult and the working conditions for the assistant stage manager prompt was equally challenging. It is evident that for productions of this nature those responsible for sets, props and lightening are as important as the actors. It is a very different situation from the average contemporary production at the Playhouse where the written work and the acting are to the fore and set scenery supplemental.

The behind stage organisation for dressing rooms, green room, rehearsal and other company members, dress, wigs etc was also interesting. There are only two dressing rooms on the ground level one marked David Essex was nearest the stage door and opposite the "Green room" which was disappointing. The theatre has adopted the traditional approach of lights around a mirror to reproduce on stage lighting and heating, with the modern convenience of individual ensuite shower facilities. Other principals have their rooms on the first floor ascending to other levels according to status in the company. The rehearsal area at the top of the theatre building and which we overlooked from a balcony is the same space as the stage. A link between this area and the former bank building is to be added and it was admitted that other development work was still to be completed. The experience, following on from New Work, in Progress, the previous evening has given me a new dimension to the role of the playwright from the minimalist stage at the Playhouse for New Play work in progress, where the eleven actors sat on seats at either side of stage 2 clutching their scripts.

One footnote is that our tour party was joined by someone visually impaired and a mother with a child in a pram, as well as an elderly gentleman wearing a hat and a tie and from their behaviour I suspected this was some disability friendly testing although it they may have been encouraged by the theatre to signal the new inclusive policy reminding of the wheelchair dancers and other disabled participants performing with able bodied to celebrate the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall.

Another footnote is that I learnt the origins of being in the limelight, the avoidance of any whistling and several other theatrical terms

The previous evening I had set off to Newcastle, leaving my car at Heworth and found the city quiet, despite the Thursday late opening. I collected my ticket for the early morning tour noting the new box office and but was told that the ticket for the night's performance would be at the Playhouse. It was not and had to be handwritten. There were fifty seats sold although the impression was of fewer, but a good audience for stage 2. It was a warm evening so beforehand I treated myself to an apple and pineapple drinks in a very tall glass full of ice. I then elected to sit on the front row with my feet on the performance area and was rewarded by being engaged in conversation by a party of four who sat to one side, and by two individuals who I later learnt were the author and an RSC Assistant Director.

I have not seen a work by the writer director Anthony Neilson before whose work is already substantial with, Year of the Family 1994, The Night before Christmas 1995 However Bag 1996, the Censor, 1997, Dirty Laundry, the Düsseldorf Ripper, Edward's Grants Amazing Feats of Loneliness 2002, Stitching 2002 The Lying Kind 2002, Heredity, Twisted 2003, the Wonderful World of Dissocia 2004, The Menu 2006, Home 2006, Penetrator, Realism 2006, Welfare My Love, and White Trash. The dates are known years of first production

In response to my after show question the RSC commissioning director explained that as part of the present touring season of two versions of Macbeth the company are performing The Penelopiad based on what happened to Penelope when Odysseus went off to fight the Trojan War, originally a book by Margaret Atwood who provided the play script performed by the thirteen female members of the travelling company. This left the eleven men of the touring company with either a spare couple of evenings at each of the touring theatres or to perform a work intended for men, This was the brief given to Anthony Neilson. You have 11 biological men, produce a work for them. It was not stated how soon the idea occurred to defer the writing of the work until he had opportunity to get to know the actors over a three week preparation period, although my understanding is that the approach taken is to know the actors and then adapt any prior ideas and work structure to them. Instead of creating one work for performance, the concept of a play in progress is developing in which the response of the audience is being considered and the work adjusted, if appropriate, as well as from the continuous interaction with the actors.

However it was immediately evident that Neilson likes a script rather than a framework in which the actors improvise, and that he likes overall control by being the director as well as writer. The work remains his vision and responsibility which he underlined in the introduction given to the performance. The final work is to be performed at Christmas which explains why the opening interaction between two actors is a variation on the Christmas Carol story and a number of subsequent interactions use this "coat peg", but it is only a coat peg for the deeper theme of communication, in this instance between biological males and which is very different from biological females. The temptation to create a work about men's attitude towards women, when they interact together without the presence of women, is resisted although an early piece is about what happens when a relationship is ended only by one of a couple. Because of my own experience on the internet of having frank and sometimes intimate conversations with strangers who turn out to be not what they first appear to be, I was interested in one sequence where an exchange was reproduced as it happens including the sending of a photograph which then transposes from a female form into a male. It was interesting to hear from the author in relation to the question from another that he is interested in communication conducted from a computer anywhere with anyone anywhere at any time.

Apart from the final interaction the play comprises interactions between two actors, I hope I have remembered this accurately, and this is an interesting decision, because he has not been tempted to explore the same concept using two, three or more actors, to demonstrate how the same individuals in the same set of circumstances react differently when there is one other individual in communication or several.

Ever since that first reopening production of Exquisite Pain. Sophie Calle's performance Art Work in Stage 2 at the Playhouse I have thought about and played about with her basic concept of reconsidering the same event over and over again through the changing perspectives as we layer new experiences upon older ones and in this instance a traumatic one. In Exquisite Pain Calle juxtapositions her revised perspectives, over 20 perhaps 30 stretching over several months to a year, with the accounts of different relatives and friends of their individual experiences of pain physical, mental and emotional. I was interested that the performing company did not consider seeking permission to change the order of these counterpoint experiences to reinforce what I thought the point being made that however traumatic an experience is for one individual it should be viewed against the reality of what happens to others, and that the view of the individual will change over time as will their view of the significance of their experience in relation to that of others.

Because of my short term memory problem and not making notes I was not able to digest sufficient of the work to make any judgement about its overall coherence or to comment on individual components, but I did come away with a sense that I would have liked to have experienced more. My solution would be to repeat the same sequence of interactions three times, repeating first the finale and then ending with the Christmas Carol, recommencing with a Christmas Carole and ending with the "second life" finale, but using a different pair of actors or changing at least one of the actors for the second series and then changing the number of participants for the third series and using the same sequence as the first.

Earlier I mentioned that the Theatre Royal slide show covered something of the history of theatre in Newcastle. Because I was only able to make scribbled notes and so far have not found a comprehensive history of the theatre in Newcastle on the internet these remain preliminary notes and queries for further consideration.

In 1786 reference was made to a Theatre, I think, at Drury Lane Newcastle, named after the famous Drury Lane Theatre in London An information note is that when the 1837 Georgian Theatre Royal was created on its present site the Royal Mail Coach to London took 33 hours.

There was reference to the Gaiety Music Hall at which Charles Dickens performed. The one source of information so far covering vanished theatres is from www.arthurlloyd.co.uk and he makes reference to Grainger Music Hall built in 1838 which became the New Tyne Concert Hall in 1879 and was renamed the Gaiety but it is not said when Arthur Lloyd performed at the theatre in 1862 and 1863. Balambra Music Hall was built and opened in 1848 as a room in the Wheatsheaf pub, renamed the Royal Music Hall, 1859, returning to the Wheatsheaf Music Hall 1864 and the Oxford Music Hall in 1865. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1899 and a new building opened in 1901 and this building was converted to become the Balambra Music Hall in 1962, and is now a pub.
There are said to be only 5 grade one listed theatres outside of London and two of these are in Newcastle. The second has become the Journal Tyne Theatre with a capacity from 100 to 1100. The building was created and opened in 1867 as the Tyne Theatre and Opera House and its external frontage remains today much as it was. And structurally the auditorium also remains substantially the same. There was a serious fire in 1985 over Christmas which gutted the fly tower and there were fears for its future with constant threats of closure, now protected to an extent by its listed one building status as in 2002 developers cast their eyes on the site and English Heritage gave it an at risk status. There is a 15 year lease and the theatre appears to be mainly used for tribute bands. Arthur Lloyd performed in 1887. Ultimately it will be the public who will determine if the building is to continue as a performance theatre in the longer run. One issue is whether the musical hall, the variety show will ever regain its popularity

The Newcastle Hippodrome was built in 1909 as a skating rink with a large white dome at the top and therefore known at the White City. In 1901 it was reopened as a Cinema but the management of the cinema next door objected so it became the Dreamland Ballroom De Luxe and lasted until 1912. It then became a variety theatre known as the Hippodrome with the dome removed. It was closed in 1933 and it is said a Pizza Palace stands on the site Frankie and Benny's with a car park above.

The Moss Empire Theatre in Newgate Street was built in 1890 and rebuilt in 1903 by Frank Matcham who also had great influence on the internal structure of the Theatre Royal. The theatre was demolished in 1963. The site is next to the Rose and Crown in Newgate Street.

The Palace Theatre was built in the Haymarket in 1895, rebuilt in 1940's and then demolished in 1961. There are now single story utility shops such as Oxfam on the present site which suggests site development was planned.
The provider of much of this information and the web site is Donald Autry who worked at the Palace Theatre as a stage manager before national service in the 1950's.

I have previously covered the development of the University Theatre into the Playhouse with its Gulbenkian studio and its transformation into the home of the Northern Theatre Company. It has become my theatrical spiritual home, in much he same way as others of a young generation found the Live Theatre, on the Quayside, formed out of a 16th century warehouse in 1856, showcasing contemporary and experimental work, promoting local talent coupled with a Hot Club and a popular eaterie. After closure coinciding with the reopening of the Playhouse the Live Theatre is reopening in September after a £5.3 million extension and redevelopment.

Thirty Years ago when the RSC commenced to visit Newcastle it used the People's Theatre which is near Jesmond Dene on the coast road out of Newcastle. Recently it to has been refurbished to create a 500 seat auditorium and a 90 seat studio and is now recognised as the premier amateur theatre in Northern England with the objective of staging a new production each month.

The Bruvers has been a community theatre group in Newcastle for thirty five years taking performances to schools, community centres, nurseries, youth clubs, play scheme sites, pubs, clubs, village halls, church halls, day centres, sheltered housing accommodation, hospitals and care homes and colleges. Now it is to have a home at a new theatre, in the round, seating 180 people at 34 Lime Street Ouseburn Newcastle, and which opened in July. There are therefore six theatrical spaces identified in Newcastle in 2007. The Theatre Royal, the Northern Theatre Company Playhouse. Live Theatre, The Journal Tyne Theatre, the People's Theatre and the Bruvers Theatre in the Round. I also assume the two universities will have their own theatrical spaces and earlier in the year, or was it last year lunch time plays were put on at a city restaurant.

1160 South Shields Riverside

Awake 8am following interesting dreams arising from my walk around Old Sunderland Riverside and docklands area. Mist was in and only commenced to break up around 10 and by then decision to make this a work day.

Great news as an email advises that Don McLean who sings Vincent on Myspace is to appear at the City Hall Newcastle Thursday 11th October and I have booked a ticket in the central balcony at a total fee of £32.50. I will not moan at the cost of concert tickets these days, for once.

Further thoughts on 2007 Northern Rivera Project and decision to transfer and reorganise photos into major folder Northern Rivera with sub folders of Sunderland River Mouth, Sunderland Seaburn and Roker, Whitburn, South Shields Coast and Inland and River Tyne to Jarrow, This has been accomplished by 10 am except for Seaburn Seas, Skies, the airshow weekend photos. Trips planned South Shields down to Hotel to Customs House. Customs House to St Paul's, St Paul's Bede World and Jarrow. Cleadon Hill and Village, Fullwell Mill.

Introduction to include key photo of St Peters and St Paul, Wearmouth Bridge, Tynemouth Castle and Priory, Marsden Grotto, Souter Point Lighthouse, sweep of Bays at Shields and Seaburn. Need to think more on this for 10-12 photos have places now for Jarrow Town Hall Heritage weekend Sat 10.30 and Theatre Royal Friday at 9am.
Could not book Vie en rose Tyneside film theatre box office not open until afternoon evening. Do tonight on return from Hospital. Visit next week Sunderland Bourne film and Empire Visit re Heritage Day. Arranged later 7.55 Sunday September 2nd. Remember to claim over 60 concession ticket.

Will do shop by car beforehand say 1pm. (Cereal Salad Milk Cherries for weekend - work freezer clear means two Pizza's pork chops Fish, need some prawns. Change of plan as the sun breaks out and I cannot resist going for a walk. Go to Supermarket after hospital visit. 2 Litres Asda water for 19p, They are out of milk. Change of plan for evening meal have a prepared stir fry. Beef, onions, peppers, noodles and sauce. Takes 14 minutes and provides oversize helping for one at £3 special offer. Buy two fresh pineapples which together with cherries bought from market earlier in the day and bananas purchased previously will provide fruit for the weekend. Pay Credit card and order some cinema tickets with points accumulated.

Last night's programme on small French village properties Burgundy Region 2-3 bed with ground £75000 raised once more the issue of major change after Mabel without achieving major capital/income injection age health and other issues dream dreams unfulfilled. I am pleased that others will however be having the experience. My two weeks was just a taster. It is amazing that it happened over 15 years ago

Big Brother House enters its last week. Individuals continue to surprise with creativity and greater depth. Last night two task organiser were made to participate in a couple of their ideas) has my suggestion of an insiders programme taken some root? There have been some magic moments for the group over the past two weeks which have been shared with anyone with the time and inclination to participate. I am reminded of the week to ten days I spent at Oxford with a group of friends from Ruskin college after the courses had been completed and we waited for the results to be posted outside the Examination Schools and where we did all the things which Oxford is famed for from punting to a picnic at Blenheim Palace, meals and drinks and chat into the night, speculating on our individual futures and the changes we would make to the world. The experience was irreplaceable and unrepeatable .

I also share the reservation expressed by other about Ziggy and it would be disappointing if be won the event. The public has generally been right about who to evict in that there is only one individual; who I would have preferred to have remained, Gerry, replacing Ziggy.

After an early lunch I took the car to the Little Haven Hotel where it looked as if an all female association was having a lunch in the promenade restaurant. A two or three course is reasonable priced and there is a two or three night special rate which works out around £40 a night BB but is per person. On the river side at the junction with the river mouth beachside there is an ornate metal work bench on its own with a plaque explaining that it is for John who loved to watch the river from his family who watched he river with him. I sat and thought of John and of his family who had provide the facility. Later in the evening I received an email announcing that a former work colleague had been called by his Lord. He was a man of life long public service through his professional work for local government, as a lay preacher and through a political commitment to social justice. I was able to walk around the yacht club slipway noting that the tide was exceptionally low as it had been at the Wear yesterday, on to the promenade around the riverside development where once oil storage tanks dominated the skyline. I had also take more photos of the telly tubby men and women, but forgot to count and note their number about fifteen I think.

I then moved the car, and me, to housing development around the two former small dock inlet west of the ferry terminal to take a close up photo of a sea siren embracing a golden galleon. The roadway now divides the two inlets, creating enclosed rectangular areas of water and in the second, across from where I had parked my car there are now seven model galleons made from steel several feel in both length and height. It was an exciting artwork discovery in the midst of a private housing development where fee travellers venture unless they are residents or visiting residents.

I then was able to walk along the riverbank to the customs house taking photographs as the clouds turned to grey. In the car park at the back of the Customs House project there are also about fifteen white metal sculptures fixed on the high wall avoiding graffiti. There are ships, a crane, an anchor and a navigation wheel. However the amusing sculpture work is nearby on the site of the former La Strada nightclub. What I do not understand from having one visited the club is the limited area of the present site, given that there was the dance floor and bar and a small office area in one corner where I spent most of my time keeping clear of the action, surviving on soft drinks because I was not only driving but was needed as a chauffer. Now there are raised beds of flowers where once were the outer walls of the club , The art work consists of five ten foot or so posts, with bar height round tables on which are glasses, bottles, mobile phones, a hand bags.

Having written about the two ancient churches and monasteries of St Peters and St Paul, mention should also be made of St Hilda's off market Square and the old Town Hall building at its centre. The church is also over 1000 years of age, founded in in 647 AD. The surrounding buildings are unattractive post war structures reminders of the extent of bombing. Earlier by the Custom's house project I had stood in remembrance of the statue to merchant navy men unveiled by Lady Mountbatten in 1990. Thousands who sailed from the Tyne during the second world war perished, with the largest number of deaths from any town or city coming from South Shields. There is a terrace of ancient pubs leading to the Customs House including the Waterfront and the Steamboat, and then a terrace crescent of restored buildings commencing with the Mission to Seafarers building which includes the Flying Angel bar, and a former church no converted into flats.

In the High Street there was a new entertainer, a traditional one man band with a drum and symbol on his back played by a foot, a banjo and mouth organ and playing and singing something which sounded Cajun New Orleans and which brought a great smile to many a face because of past memories, and he was good and great fun. Somehow even the leaden sky above started to smile again and the sun strengthened and it stayed warm for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Tomorrow is going to be a difficult day, a day, tomorrow has already arrived.