This morning, September 24^th I made a visit to the Shipley Gallery to see the exhibition, Building Bridges which is part of the Reinventing the City programme (www.reinventingthecity.org.uk). The T & W Museums have assembled a remarkable collection of art works featuring the bridges which have crossed the Tyne at least since the Roman period. The exhibition is open till the 12 October and is highly recommended.

There is only one feature which falls short of one’s hopes and the curators can only be held marginally responsible. The viewer can only see fragmentary evidence of the real bridge builders – the armies of working men who laboured to builds the dozen bridges which have crossed the river east of Newburn. It will be argued that the gallery can only display what exists in the collection and in fact only a small number of items show the bridges under construction. This is a fair point. However it would have been good to see recognition, in perhaps a panel, of the labourers who undertook the manual tasks. There are a few examples in the pictures. A series of four photographs by an unknown photographer shows men at work, Jimmy Forsyth shows some construction workers in his photos of the building of the Scotswood Bridge, Muncaster’s painting of the Gateshead side during the construction of the High Level shows a squad of labourers digging foundations and finally there are some film clips from the twenties showing ill clad workers performing many deeply unsafe tasks.

There is clearly a need for research in this area. The most detailed book on bridge building, The High Level Bridge and Newcastle Central Station: 150 Years Across the Tyne by John Addyman, though excellent and well researched in many respects pays virtually no attention to the labour issue. It’s as if the bridge just materialised out of Robert Stephenson’s brilliant mind! The issue calls for research. It will be almost certainly true that the evidence will be sparse but it will exist. Half an hour in Gateshead Local Studies Library after the gallery visit brought a few items to light. First there are at least a dozen catalogue cards containing references to bridge building. Among them is a report of a strike amongst workers on the High Level. Then in a 1907-8 vulume of the proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers is an article on the King Edward Bridge which includes detailed remarks about workers’ conditions and safety. It seems to me that that there is a viable research project here. In a future piece I will try to map out how it might be undertaken.

English Journey – a free lecture

Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne

Tuesday 27 October, 6 – 7.30pm

 JB Priestley’s classic book English Journey will be the subject of a free lecture at Newcastle’s Discovery Museum.

The event will be hosted by Professor John Tomaney of Newcastle University, who will discuss how the North East chapters of the book relate to Tyneside today. Guest speakers will include the author’s son, Tom Priestley.

Graham Bradshaw, curator of Discovery Museum, says:

“English Journey describes the author’s travels throughout England and, at the time of its publication in 1934, it was an instant best-seller. It was hailed not only for its descriptions of both the beauty and poverty which Priestly encountered on his travels, but also for its honest depiction of a country in the grip of an economic recession.”

 The book celebrates its 75^th anniversary this year and has been re-issued as a special 75^th anniversary edition, which for the first time has been restored to its full length.

Contributors to the 75^th anniversary edition include Jarrow-born playwright Alan Plater and novelist Dame Beryl Bainbridge.

 The event at Discovery Museum will focus on the North East chapters of the book, during which the author visits Newcastle, Gateshead, North Shields, South Shields, Jarrow, Durham and Sunderland. Professor Tomaney, who is part of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University, will explore the author’s experiences in a historical context and will also discuss how they compare the with the same regions today.

 The lecture is free but places will need to be booked in advance by calling Janette Murphy on (0191) 277 2307 or by emailing  janette.murphy@twmuseums.org.uk

 For more information on English Journey visit the website at www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk.

Title: 59 Social
Location: North Terrace, Claremont Road
Description: Reunion week-end social evening
Start Time: 20.00
Date: 2009-09-19

Title: 59 Society Reunion
Location: Various places
Description: A reunion of comrades from the left in early sixties Tyneside
Start Date: 2009-09-18
Start Time: 20.30
In 1959 following Labour’s third successive election defeat a group of young people started a socialist group in Newcastle. It rapidly grew from a handful to several hundred across the region. It connected with the new movement against the H-Bomb and those involved marched from Aldermaston, sat down at Holy Loch and Parliament Square and took part in numerous local marches on the issue and also against Apartheid in South Africa. Many were involved in the music, art, drama and poetry scenes that flourished from the late 1950′s.This year marks the fiftieth anniversay and participants are coming together in Newcastle in September to celebrate. The events are public including a social on Saturday night, September 19th at the North Terrace on Claremont Road.

Also to mark the event, Merlin Press in association with North East Labour History Society,  will publish a new book,  Don’t you hear the H-Bomb’s Thunder by John Charlton, which tells this story from the memories of many participants.

Heritage Open Days 2009 – “A Celebration of Miners’ Lodge Banners”

Bowburn Community Centre, Durham Road, Bowburn, Durham, DH6 5AT

Saturday 12th September 2009

10.00am till 4.00pm

Over 40 banners from the Durham coalfield will again be gathered for this Heritage Open Days weekend event. It will include some rarely-seen examples from both before and after nationalisation, and from the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike, as well as more recent replicas and community banners.

The exhibition will include the banners from the following lodges and mining communities:

Blackhall, Boldon, Bowburn, Brandon, Browney, Byermoor, Chopwell, Coxhoe, Craghead, Crookhall, Deaf Hill, Easington, Eppleton, Esh Winning, Fenhall Drift, Greenside, Horden, East Hetton, Kibblesworth, Kimblesworth, Lumley 6th Pit, Murton , New Herrington, Randolph, Sacriston, Silksworth, South Hetton, Spennymoor, Springwell, Trimdon Grange, Tursdale Mechanics, Ushaw Moor, Waterhouses, West Stanley.

Also present will be the banners of the NUM Durham Area, NUM N.E. Area, Durham Aged Mineworkers Homes Association and Durham Area Miners Support Groups

Banner enthusiasts and former miners will be present throughout the day to explain the significance of these magnificent treasures and to discuss with visitors the history of the Durham Miners’ Gala and of Durham’s mining communities.

Information about each banner and its colliery will be displayed.

Rutherford & Son

BOOK NOW

18 September 2009 – 3 October, 2009

By Githa Sowerby
A Northern Stage and Threshold Theatre co-production
Directed by Richard Beecham
Designed by Naomi Dawson
Lighting Design by Anna Watson
Sound Design by Jon Nicholls

Tyneside, 1912. John Rutherford’s glass-making empire is in trouble.  A brutal industrialist who has sacrificed his children for the family firm, he is about to count the true cost of his tyranny. With his son-and-heir set on renouncing the family business and his daughter embroiled in a scandalous love affair, the future looks bleak indeed.

A century after it thrilled audiences in London and New York, Githa Sowerby’s forgotten Geordie drama receives its North East premiere.
Visit the Rutherford & Son website at www.rutherfordandson.com