North East Labour History

What do Pythagoras, Shelley, Keir Hardie, Gandhi, Einstein and Hitler have in common? Was the 19th century vegetarian movement inherently radical, challenging established political and cultural structures, or simply a promoter of a joyless, puritanical way of life, designed to drive down wages for working people? Were vegetarians harmless enthusiasts or a danger to British […]

A special film showing and performance commemorating mining history as part of the Washington 60 celebrations (and of course timed to tie in with the Miners' Gala). Tickets £5 Join us at Arts Centre Washington this July for a screening of Bill Morrison’s mesmerising elegy to the Durham coalfields – The Miners’ Hymns. Combining rarely-seen […]

Sir Charles Trevelyan of Wallington in Northumberland was a highly successful British Civil Servant who is best remembered in Britain for his involvement in the modernization of the Civil Service. In Ireland he is however remembered as the man responsible for the relief of the ‘Great Hunger’ during which a million people died and even […]

Annual General Meeting. There will be refreshments. Presentation of the Sid Chaplin prize This year’s prize is awarded to Abbie Urquhart-Arnold, a student at Newcastle University for her dissertation, “Hark to the agonizing wail”: The Power of Ballads and Elegies in Unveiling the Grief of Widows and their Families following the 1880 Seaham Pit disaster […]

Between Blaydon and Ryton, on the south bank of the Tyne, is a square mile which is astonishingly packed with rich, varied and significant social and industrial history. The area’s surprising international links are not only due to the presence of Joseph Cowen, but also Stella’s place in the history of English Catholicism. Local historian […]

Minnie Pallister – The Voice Of A Rebel Pioneering South Wales ILPer Minnie Pallister was one of the most important feminists, pacifists, socialists and journalists of the 20th century. But her life and legacy have been largely forgotten in recent decades. Author Alun Burge has put that right in his new book, The Voice of […]

You will be interested to know that performances of The Cramlington Train Wreckers, written by Ed Waugh and directed by Russell Floyd, will take place at the Gosforth Civic Theatre on Friday 15 November, 2024 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. And any NELHS member or supporter attending the afternoon performance is most welcome to join us […]

I was born in Ashington, where I lived within view of the colliery shunting yard and a lifelong obsession with railways was born. I did however spend most of my formative years living and working in and around Darlington. In 2012 I redid my GCSE English for fun. I enjoyed it so much I followed […]