North East Labour History

NELH Tuesday Meeting, Tyneside Irish Centre. Margaret Bozic, Citizens Advice Cases in 1950s Tyneside: Divorce, Domestics and Rehousing
2025-02-04 19:00 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
This talk by Margaret Bozic explores what life was really like in the North East after the Second World War. What did we eat, what was the state of the housing, what was the situation of both men and women in the family and society, why were there so many divorces after the War and why did Bingo ruin everything?
She has based her talk on case records from the Citizens Advise Bureau at that time and from what was then The Council of Social Services in Newcastle, now Connected Voice. She also outlines the work done by the CAB and the Council.
There are plenty of illustrations including one of tripe. The talk lasts for about 50 minutes and she is happy to answer questions afterwards.
Margaret Bozic is a retired Chartered Surveyor who lives in Washington. She is a former Board member of the Lit and Phil and is now Volunteer Coordinator. She is also a Trustee of the Tyne and Wear Buildings Preservation Trust. She gives regular talks to u3as, Rotary, WI groups etc. She also leads tours and walks in the area.

Newcastle. Holocaust Memorial Events.
2025-01-16 - 2025-01-31 | Newcastle: Various Venues
From Peter Sagar
This is to invite you a Holocaust Memorial Day event on Thursday 23rd January at the Bewick Hall in Newcastle City Library at 5.30pm and also, to a repeat event at the Community Room in Newcastle West End Library at 3pm on Friday 24th January.
The events are remembering the role of local regiment the Durham Light Infantry in the Relief of Belsen in 1945.
The following is taken from the Newcastle HMD brochure: “Two events to commemorate and celebrate the role played in the Relief of Belsen in the spring of 1945 by one of our local regiments – the 113 LAA TA, affiliated to the Durham Light Infantry. -when men from the Northeast helped Jewish, Roma and other survivors. There will be illustrated talks by local historian Peter Sagar and ex-MP Julie Ward and the screening of an interview with Frank Lavin from Hartlepool, whose father Wilfr was part of the DLI detachment at Bergen-Belsen in April and May 1945. Young people from North Benwell Youth Project, many from a Roma background, will show how they have responded to the story through artwork”
I think that it is a great story, the kind of story that can break down barriers and which we desperately need at the moment.
It would be great to see you on 23rd or 24th January!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
As well as Peter Sagar’s events there will be a full programme of Holocaust Memorial events running from 16 to 30 January. See this link for the full programme:
Newcastle Holocaust Memorial Events 2025

NELH Tuesday Meeting. Tyneside Irish Centre. Ken Smith will talk about North-East Miners' Banners
2025-01-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
The banners of the Durham and Northumberland coal miners are an extremely important part of the heritage of the former pit communities of the North-East.
Emblazoned across their fabric are images and mottoes which reflect the history of the pitmen and their values. This illustrated talk will throw the spotlight on these wonderful icons of mining trade unionism.
Retired Newcastle journalist Ken Smith is co-author of Echoes of the North-East Miners, Splendour of the Gala, The Great Northern Miners and Remembering the Miners. He is a life member of the National Union of Journalists.

Tyneside Irish Centre: Annual Social of the North East Labour History Society
2024-12-17 17:00 - 22:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
The Society’s Christmas Social will take place this year at the Irish Centre in Newcastle on Tuesday 17 December at 7.00pm, more information in due course.

Newcastle City Library. Andy Beckett will talk on his new book The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain and Their Many Enemies
2024-11-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Newcastle City Library
Received from Tyne Bridge Publishing
I’d like to offer your members free tickets to Andy Beckett’s talk on his new book The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain and Their Many Enemies at Newcastle City Library on Thursday 28th of November at 6.30pm. Your members can request a free ticket (worth £5) by emailing tynebridge@newcastle.gov.uk on a first come, first served basis until they sell out. Please see attached image. Hope this is something your members might be interested in.
Best wishes
Derek

Tyne Bridge Publishing
Newcastle Libraries
City Library
33 New Bridge Street West
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8AX
Website: www.tiny.cc/TyneBooks
Browse our latest catalogue at www.tiny.cc/TyneBridgeCatalogue

NELH Tuesday Meeting. Peter Smith will talk about the effects of Deindustrialisation on a 1960s Railway Town
2024-11-19 19:00 - 20:30
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 it in 2013 with A Levels in English Law and History. In 2016 I gave up my 28 years in the print industry to Studied at Teesside University. I gained a BA in history, with a dissertation looking at Important Railway anniversaries and commemoration. I then went on to study a Masters, looking at railways and deindustrialisation in the North East.
I am now A PhD Candidate at Teesside and am expanding my earlier work on the railway closures in and around Darlington. My intention is to interview former railway workers and their families about how Beechings cuts impacted and changed their lives. I also think this is an important opportunity to record the work and life experiences of these people before they are lost to time.
My talk will look at how the Beeching report and the cuts that followed impacted Darlington and the surrounding North East in the 1960s. Additionally, how the voices of those that worked in the rail industry are an important strand of history that need to be saved and this adds an extra dimension to what historians have already learnt about this period. How oral history is an increasingly important concept for many historians. Furthermore, how Darlington has changed from an industrial town in the 1960s and 70s, to the post industrial one we have today, with its modern industries.
Finally, I would like to say a little about the cultural Impact the railways have had across the town with the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington looming into view next year. How railway culture, married with the industrial changes have affected this town and what this two-hundred-year-old industry still mean to current generations.
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Meeting ID: 841 4229 6690
Passcode: 235711
This is Peter’s talk postponed from 4 June.

Gosforth Civic Theatre. 15 November 2:30pm and 7:30pm. General Strike 1926: The Cramlington Train Wreckers, by Ed Waugh
2024-11-15 14:30 - 21:00 | Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Rd,, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3HD
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 after the show at a local restaurant, just let me know and I will send the details.
Tickets are £18, age 11+, duration 2 hours, including a 20-minute interval. Each half will be 45-50 mins.
A booking fee of 6.5% + £0.49 per sold ticket is included when booking a ticket online through the theatre’s Eventbrite platform.
https://www.gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk/cramlington-train-wreckers (right click and open link)
From the team behind smash-hit plays Wor Bella, Hadaway Harry, Carrying David, Mr Covan’s Music Hall and The Great Joe Wilson comes another incredible, forgotten story about the North East.
The General Strike of 1926 was the biggest rupture in society since the English Civil War (1662). A million miners were told to take a 40% cut in wages. Britain’s only General Strike followed. On May 10, 1926, strikers accidentally derailed the Flying Scotsman at Cramlington.
Eight Northumberland miners were imprisoned for a total of 48 years. Almost a century later, their fascinating story is – finally – about to be told!
See cramlingtontrainwreckers.co.uk for the full itinerary.

Zoom. Minnie Pallister – The Voice Of A Rebel. Alun Burge will be speaking about his new book on Minnie's life and work
2024-10-21 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
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 a Rebel.
Alun will be speaking about Minnie’s life and work on Zoom on Monday 21 October at 7.00pm.
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In a 1970 parliamentary debate Michael Foot evoked the memory of four socialist symbols of South Wales – the Chartists, the hunger marchers, Minnie Pallister and Aneurin Bevan.
Foot claimed that when Pallister spoke from a soapbox in Tredegar, it was carried across the mountain to Merthyr, like some sort of religious icon, so it could be seen there. Bevan said that one of his first political acts was to carry a stool for Pallister to speak from, and he remembered the event throughout his life.
When Pallister died in March 1960, four months before Bevan, she was a household name. However, the importance of this feminist, pacifist, socialist, Brynmawr school teacher has been forgotten, until now.
Minnie Pallister strode on to the national stage at the 1915 ILP national conference when, given less than two minutes to prepare, her anti-war speech caused a sensation. Following that conference Keir Hardie described Pallister as a new star bursting on the horizon.
Alun worked in the Welsh government’s Department of Social Justice from 2002 and in local government. He was part of a group that published We, The People: The Case for Radical Federalism and Our Right: The People’s Convention in early 2021.
Minnie Pallister: Voice of a Rebel was published in September 2024 by Parthian Books.
For a summary of Minnie’s life go to: https://www.independentlabour.org.uk/2024/08/28/ilp-profiles-minnie-pallister-the-extraordinary-life-of-a-forgotten-rebel

Baltic, Gateshead. Franki Raffles: Photography, Activism, Campaign Works.
2024-10-17 - 2025-03-17 | Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, South Shore Road, Gateshead, NE8 3BA
From Sue Ward
An exhibition at the Baltic, Gateshead, until 16 March, Franki Raffles: Photography, Activism, Campaign Works.
About a brilliant woman photographer who, among many other things, provided the images for the Edinburgh Zero Tolerance campaign of 1992, opposing violence against women.
Free, and well worth seeing.
See https://baltic.art/whats-on/02-franki-raffles-photography-activism-campaign-works/

NELH Tuesday Meeting. Val Scully will talk about her new book The Wheel of Time: a people’s history of Stella and Blaydon Burn
2024-10-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
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 and writer Val Scully will explore the area’s many interlinked themes: land ownership, early industry in Blaydon Burn; Crowley’s ironworks and the social background which created the Cowens; mechanics institutes, the Co-operative movement, public services, local philanthropy; infrastructure, including the Tyne River Commission and the building of the railways; associated immigration, particularly of the Irish families who settled in Stella and Blaydon.
A retired teacher of English and History, Val is a member of our society and leader of the Gibside Research Group. As a volunteer with the Land of Oak Iron Landscape Partnership, she has produced books on the wider area of the Derwent Valley: Men of Iron, Crowley’s, Releasing the Genie of Coal, A Legend Evermore, Addison, Clara Vale, Tales of Derwentdale and Brickworks of the North East. She is author of A People’s History of Gibside, Path Head Water Mill, a biography of J.W. Fawcett and three historical novels.
The Wheel of Time and the above titles are available from ValScully.co.uk. Proceeds go to charity.
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NELH Annual General Meeting, Lit and Phil, Newcastle. Joe Redmayne will talk about his research project on Women and Shipbuilding
2024-09-10 19:00 - 21:00 | The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1SE, United Kingdom
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 and the 1909 West Stanley disaster.
Presentation of the Founders Award. This is the inaugural presentation of the Founders Award in memory of Archie Potts. It has been won by the Battle of Stockton group who are going to send a representative to receive it.
This year’s AGM talk will be by Joe Redmayne.
The presentation is split into two parts. The first part outlines Historic England’s ‘Women in Shipbuilding’ project (WiS) and the role I played in scoping potential research outputs relating to women in shipbuilding, ship-repairing, and marine engineering trades during the First World War.
Although women’s First World War experiences in munition factories are comparatively well told, there remains a lack of historical attention to the role of women in shipyards. In January 1919, the shipbuilding labour force totalled 266,000 of the insured workforce. Of this total, only 8,800 were women — 3 percent of the total shipbuilding labour force. The gap in the historiography and lack of understanding of women’s experience in shipbuilding, has prompted those involved in the project to think critically about the different experiences of women’s war work, processes of dilution, as well as the legacies of women’s entry into shipyards.
The second part of the presentation is based on a chapter of my PhD research, which exposed how women trade unionists negotiated gendered boundaries in the labour movement immediately after the war with the passage of the Restoration of Pre-War Practices Act (August 1919). Particular attention will be paid to women involved in North East branches of the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW).
Drawing on testimonies of those involved in the NFWW sheds light on women’s protest cycles and repertoires of action during a transition from a wartime to peacetime economy. These protests concentrated on experiences of women’s expulsion from heavy industry, subsequent unemployment, “right to work” campaigns, as well as the Labour Exchanges coercion for women to accept vacancies in traditional ‘unskilled’ prewar occupations.
Finally, the presentation will discuss the impact these protests had in challenging common tropes associated with women’s labour during this period. In the wake of the Representation of the People Act (1918) — which transformed citizenship from a gender and class perspective — women’s unemployment brought to the fore debates about the contradiction between the duty and ‘war service’ of subjects versus the democratic rights of citizenship. The North East NFWW maintained that participation was indispensable to full citizenship within civil society and that the British Coalition Government had a moral obligation to accommodate its citizens.
Dr. Joe Redmayne is a British social and labour historian. His research deals with British social history in the twentieth century, with a focus on transnationalism, labour movements, and the contentious politics of class. Joe completed his PhD at Newcastle University in March 2024. He is currently a Research Associate in Newcastle University’s Oral History Unit & Collective, where he is working on the Women in Shipbuilding partnership project with Historic England (https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/oral-history/2023/12/13/joe-redmayne-joins-newcastle-universitys-oral-history-unit-and-collective-for-historic-englands-women-in-shipbuilding-project/).

NELH First Tuesday, Tyneside Irish Centre. Mike Fraser: Sir Charles Trevelyn & The Irish Famine, 'The Victorian Cromwell'
2024-08-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
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 more fled abroad. Mike will assess Trevelyan’s role in what is regarded as the greatest disaster in nineteenth century Europe.
I have given history talks to many groups in the North-East when based in Berwick upon Tweed. Margaret and I have now moved back to Newcastle. My most popular talk was on the Labour politician Sir Charles Trevelyan of Wallington. My latest research is on his controversial grandfather, also Sir Charles Trevelyan. While I am a Celtic supporter I am not Irish! This study was prompted by a chat with two Irish people which made me aware of their anger about the ‘Great Hunger”. Knowing Trevelyan’s papers were in Newcastle University’s Special Collections I thought this would be an interesting topic to study. It has been interesting but also extremely depressing.
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Meeting ID: 958 006 0001
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Washington Arts Centre. Sunderland Film Club presents… The Miners’ Hymns + Performance
2024-07-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Washington, NE38 8AB
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 archive footage with a score inspired by the region’s brass bands, Morrison and composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s lyrical film is a testament to the vibrancy of the North East’s mining communities and their culture.
Documenting the hardships of pit life, the power of community organising and the legacy of mining on the area, every moment of The Miners Hymns is imbued with a rich, emotional potency.
We’re delighted to be joined after the film for a performance by the historic Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band and local folk icon Bill Elliott.
Here’s the event page: https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/events/sunderland-film-club-presents-the-miners-hymns/

WASHINGTON AT 60: NEVER STOP LEARNING PUBLICATION LAUNCH EVENT
2024-07-10 10:30 - 12:30 | Washington Mind, Grasmere Tce, Columbia, Washington, NE38 7LP

NELH Monday Meeting. Liz O'Donnell: Radicalism Or Faddicalism? The 19th Century Vegetarian Movement In North-East England
2024-07-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
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 national identity?
Inspired by the discovery that Newcastle had two vegetarian restaurants in the late 19th century, Liz (herself a vegetarian of over 40 years), has been exploring the movement both nationally and locally. The research underpinning this talk is definitely a work in progress and Liz will welcome debate around the topic.
If you cannot be there in person this is a hybrid meeting and the link is:
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Meeting ID: 958 006 0001
Passcode: 5Hf41d

Jarrow. Rebel Town Festival
2024-06-22 11:00 - 14:30 | Jarrow, by Pedestrian Tunnel, NE32 3DX

Durham University. Liam Liburd: HistoryNow! Pride Month Event - A Queer Tale for the Silver Screen: Projections from the Archive of a Gay WWII Movie Star
2024-06-10 12:00 - 14:00 | Room PG20, Pemberton Building, Palace Green, Durham City
My name is Liam Liburd and I’m the Assistant Professor of Black British History at Durham University. I’m also the Department of History’s Public History Officer and am responsible for arranging history-related public events across the academic year.
You very kindly shared the details of our Black History Month event with your contacts in October last year. I’m now writing to bring our Pride Month event to your attention.
To mark Pride Month, we are holding a free lunchtime public talk by Dr. David Minto to mark Pride Month.
A Queer Tale for the Silver Screen: Projections from the Archive of a Gay WWII Movie Star
In the early 1940s Anton Walbrook was one of Britain’s most celebrated actors, famed for his key contributions to wartime films and stage plays. He was also technically an “enemy alien,” having fled from Nazi Germany, and an intensely private man who formed queer relationships at a time when Britain criminalised homosexuality.
Using newly revealed documents alongside film clips of Walbrook’s most dazzling performances, this talk explores the tensions and overlaps between the actor’s roles in Britain as foreign refugee, patriotic propagandist, and gay movie star. It casts him as an extraordinary but revealing presence in a world of queer entertainment as well as national interest.
When: 12pm, Monday 10th June
Where: Room PG20, Pemberton Building (next to the Cathedral)
Attendance is free, please register here.

Durham University: Dr Alex Barber, an event to mark Gypsy/Roma/Traveller (GRT) History Month
2024-06-06 15:00 - 17:00 | Elvet Riverside 1, 83 New Elvet, Durham City, DH1 3AQ
From Liam Liburd
On Thursday 6 June 2024 between 3-5pm, Dr Alex Barber, one of my colleagues in the Department of History at Durham University, has organised an event to mark Gypsy/Roma/Traveller (GRT) History Month.
Attendance is free but registration is essential. You can register here.

CANCELLED. NELH Tuesday Meeting: Peter Smith, The effects of Deindustrialisation on a 1960's Railway Town
2024-06-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Our apologies, a last-minute technical problem means we cannot go ahead with tonight’s meeting.

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Meeting ID: 828 2467 4327
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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 it in 2013 with A Levels in English Law and History. In 2016 I gave up my 28 years in the print industry to Studied at Teesside University. I gained a BA in history, with a dissertation looking at Important Railway anniversaries and commemoration. I then went on to study a Masters, looking at railways and deindustrialisation in the North East.
I am now A PhD Candidate at Teesside and am expanding my earlier work on the railway closures in and around Darlington. My intention is to interview former railway workers and their families about how Beechings cuts impacted and changed their lives. I also think this is an important opportunity to record the work and life experiences of these people before they are lost to time.
My talk will look at how the Beeching report and the cuts that followed impacted Darlington and the surrounding North East in the 1960s. Additionally, how the voices of those that worked in the rail industry are an important strand of history that need to be saved and this adds an extra dimension to what historians have already learnt about this period. How oral history is an increasingly important concept for many historians. Furthermore, how Darlington has changed from an industrial town in the 1960s and 70s, to the post industrial one we have today, with its modern industries.
Finally, I would like to say a little about the cultural Impact the railways have had across the town with the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington looming into view next year. How railway culture, married with the industrial changes have affected this town and what this two-hundred-year-old industry still mean to current generations.

Peter Smith on his research into the impact of the Beeching cuts and the closure of the Darlington railway works in the 1960s

Professor Jim Phillips: Milton Rogovin and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike
2024-06-04 12:45 - 13:30 | You Tube Livestream
Professor Jim Phillips of the University of Glasgow will consider the Before & After Coal exhibition to explore the meaning and relevance of the miners’ strike 40 years on.
Tuesday 4 June, 12.45-1.30pm. National and livestreamed via YouTube. Free but ticketed.
In 1982 Milton Rogovin photographed Scottish miners, their families and communities. His images capture the world that was defended unsuccessfully two years later, in the 1984-85 strike against pit closures. Rogovin’s works are currently exhibited alongside new photographs by Nicky Bird in Before and After Coal at the Portrait Gallery. Jim Phillips, Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow, and author of Scottish Coal Miners in the Twentieth Century, uses this current exhibition to explore the meaning and relevance of the strike forty years on.

NELH Tuesday Meeting: Jake Milner, The 'Silicon Valley' of The Green Industrial Revolution. But at what cost? An Oral History of Industrial and Energy Transition on Teesside
2024-05-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
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Passcode: 382599

My realm of study is the transition from a ‘steel culture’ on Teesside to a ‘Green energy’ culture. Essentially I aim to trace:

The disintegration of a steel culture of Teesside (related to the way deindustrialisation on Teesside is perceived to have been unjust by the local community)
The extent to which historical regeneration (the Teesside Development Corporation, for example) either perpetuated or reduced this sense of injustice
Community reactions to the eventual closure of the Steelworks and the related save our steel campaign
The regeneration of the former steelworks site & the transition to the green economy
The destruction of the Doorman Long building and industrial heritage.

I am currently in the process of data collection, so it is not complete, however I’d be honoured to share my ideas and any preliminary findings and receive any sort of feedback.
Jake is studying for a PhD in History at Teesside University.

South Tyneside Trades Council May Day Rally & Celebration
2024-05-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Alberta Social Club, Railway Street, Jarrow, NE32 5HW
From Paul Mayne
This will be held on Wednesday 1 May at the Alberta Social Club, Railway Street, Jarrow NE32 5HW.
The speaker will be Mick Bowman from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who is recently returned from Palestine and his talk will include reference to the history of the area.
Doors open 7.00pm, Speaker 7.30pm – 8.00pm
Music from the Shamrock Street Band
Bar, Buffet and Prize Raffle

Society of Antiquaries (Newcastle): North East Miners' Banners
2024-04-24 18:00 - 19:30 | Lecture Theatre 2, Herschel Building, Claremont road, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
From Sue Ward
Please join us for the April meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne on Wednesday 24 April at 6.00pm in the Lecture Theatre 2, Herschel Building, Newcastle University, Claremont Road NE1 7RU.
Our guest lecture will be: North-East Miners’ Banners by Ken Smith
The banners of North-East miners are a key part of the heritage of the former pit communities of the region. These impressive icons of trade unionism reflect the history of the pitmen and their values. New banners are still being produced today to replace old ones which have become too worn or fragile to parade or have been lost in the mists of time. This lecture will throw the spotlight on the history of the miners seen through the lens of the banners.
This is a public lecture so is free for all to attend.
Please see the attached leaflet and for more information about the Newcastle Antiquaries and the full 2024 lecture programme, go to: https://www.newcastle-antiquaries.org.uk/

NELH Tuesday Meeting: John Griffiths, Washington: Crocodiles and Cows, Sixty Years of a New Town
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
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Washington New Town was ‘designated’ for development in 1964, part of a second wave of New Towns to be built under the provisions the New Towns Act of 1946. Its purpose was to stimulate economic development in the Tyneside and Wearside area, and it had features unlike previous towns and which served as a model for subsequent developments.
John Griffiths is an adult education lecturer whose specialities include urban history and planning history. He gained a PhD in 2020 for his thesis ‘Mr Newcastle: the career of T Dan Smith’

NELH Tuesday Meeting: Heather Wood, Just A Pit Lass, an account of growing up and living in Easington Colliery
2024-03-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83987112493?pwd=SDlHN3JCUTgxQ0JlckhoaDRrd1NKUT09
Meeting ID: 839 8711 2493
Passcode: 768850
Born and raised in Easington, the daughter of a miner and from a family of strong working class women, Heather Wood has been involved in virtually every aspect of her community, not least her work with Save Easington Area Mines (SEAM), a group that provided crucial support for striking miners in 1984/85. More recently, she’s had roles in two Ken Loach films, ‘Sorry We Missed You’ and ‘The Old Oak’.
And now she has written her autobiography, ‘Just A Pit Lass’. As she says, “It’s always been a goal of mine to write my story, which in so many ways is the story of many, many working class folk. Our history is not often written by those who lived it so in my mind it’s not been in depth, and it has certainly, on many occasions, not been in our favour. I have no doubt it will never win any great place in the literary world but it’s there, it’s down and it’s all true.”

South Shields: The Cramlington Train Wreckers & The Role Of Women In The 1926 And 1984/85 Miners' Strikes
2024-03-10 10:00 - 14:00 | The Word, 45 Market Place, South Shields, NE33 1JF
On March 10, 1926, seven days into the General Strike, striking miners uncoupled a rail on the main line from London to Edinburgh. Their intention was to derail a coal train they felt was undermining the strike. Unfortunately, they derailed a passenger train – the Flying Scotsman!
Of the 281 passengers on board, only one person was slightly injured.
Eight Cramlington miners were sentenced to prison for their part in the derailing. The leader of the wreckers was Bill Muckle who was born in Westoe. The Judge who sentenced them was also from Westoe. The first part of the day school tells their story. Were they terrorists or workers defending their jobs and community?
Part two will focus on women’s involvement in two of the most significant strikes in 20th Century British history: the 1926 General Strike and the 1984/84 Miner’s Strike.
Programme for event:

Welcome
Talk – Introduction to the Cramlington Train Wreckers Film
Film – 30-minute BBC Film. “The Cramlington Train Wreckers”. Originally shown in 1970 as part of the Yesterday’s Witness series, this incredible historical documentary features “volunteers” who manned the Flying Scotsman and the four surviving striking miners who derailed the train.
Break for tea and coffee
Talk – The role of women in the 1926 General Strike
Talk – The role of women in the 1984/85 miner’s strike. Marking the 40th Anniversary of the start of the strike.

This event will include songs and recitations and Q&As.
Tickets, limited to 100, are only £5 per person and can be purchased via:
Cramlington Train Wreckers Day School at The Word Tickets, Sun 10 Mar 2024 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

Durham City: An invite is extended to all members of NELHS to attend the National Women Against Pit Closures 40th Anniversary March
2024-03-02 12:30 - 21:00 | Palace Green, Durham Cathedral, Durham
The parade of banners will assemble at Palace Green (Cathedral) at 12.30 where we will sing the Women’s Song and the Riverside Brass Band will play Gresford and at 1pm we will parade down Saddler Street and then on to Elvet Bridge led by the Riverside Brass Band. The parade will end outside the Swan and Three Cygnets with another song and the band playing Sweet Caroline. We would love you to join in with us or just watch from the street.
There is also a performance by Joe Solo outside Dunelm House (Durham Students Union building in New Elvet) and Durham miners’ banners will provide a guard of honour for the women of the coalfields.
There will be an event in Dunelm House in the afternoon which unfortunately is sold out but a few places remain for the evening (again in Dunelm) please click on the following link if you want tickets for it.
https://forms.gle/yXy4mFp4YV9tDBjd9

NELH First Tuesday: Don Watson will talk about Campaigns Around Poverty and Health in the 1930s
2024-02-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89693537082?pwd=LzdXdWJFMjBFZE5xM3hkQjlrZ3VJQT09
Meeting ID: 896 9353 7082
Passcode: 041875
During the 1930s loose networks of scientists, doctors and activists sought to galvanize public opinion and pressure the government over the significant levels of malnutrition and poor health in the areas of high unemployment. Their focus was frequently on the effects of family poverty on child health.
The North East provides some good examples of their work: Dr. M’Gonigle in Stockton is well known but important contributions also came from a Sunderland GP, a future Professor of Child Health at the RVI, the NUWM, and activist Emmie Lawther.
The talk will examine this combination of research work and political campaigning, and discuss how far it influenced social policy.
Don Watson is the author of No Justice Without A Struggle: The National Unemployed Workers’ Movement in the North East of England 1920-1940 (Merlin Press, 2014), and a committee member of the NELHS.

Newcastle City Library. Holocaust Memorial Day: The Fragility of Freedom
2024-01-23 17:30 - 19:00 | Bewick Hall, Newcastle City Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AX
From Peter Sagar
You are invited to a special event to mark the week of Holocaust Memorial Day, on Tuesday 23rd January from 5.30 – 7.00pm at the Bewick Room on Floor 2 of the City Library, 33 New Bridge Street West, Newcastle NE1 8AX.
Please see here information from the Newcastle Holocaust Memorial Day booklet:
A LIVING TRADITION EXHIBITION & EVENT
The Fragility of Freedom
Bewick Hall, City Library
23 January, 5.30pm | FREE
An exhibition and event which illustrate the fragility of freedom using recent examples of repression, persecution and genocide in Iran and Bosnia.
The exhibition, ‘Woman, Life, Freedom in Iran’ by Parisa Panahi, focusses on contemporary Iran and shows the ease with which freedom can be, and has been, withdrawn. Parisa Panahi will also speak at the event, where music, poetry and visual and verbal presentations will be used to explore the genocide in Bosnia in July 1995 and the uprising and repression in Iran in 2022. It will reflect on the response to those atrocities by the people of Newcastle, examine the welcome extended to those fleeing them by the people of the city, and celebrate the restitution of their freedoms.”
There will also be an examination of how people in Newcastle have struggled for their rights, and still do and music from Newcastle and Iran and poetry form Bosnia.

NELH Tuesday Meeting: Merilyn Moos, German Resistance: Enemies of the Nazi State from within the working class movement
2024-01-16 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
Please note the earlier than usual time for this meeting: 6:30 pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83015017898?pwd=NDIwOTZURnh2dzBaVVkrSE5ZUzdnZz09
Meeting ID: 830 1501 7898
Passcode: 135427
Against the position that most Germans did not resist the Nazis, or even that Nazism was a largely uncontested outcome of Germany history, I shall be considering the level of organised resistance to the Nazis from within the working class movement in Nazi Germany.
Despite the leadership of the two major left parties – the Communists and Social Democrats – either being arrested or having fled, their members separately organised heroic, yet largely unheard of, attempts at resistance in their localities.
I shall touch on the remarkable resistance by local youth, the role played by forced foreign exiled workers and the – undoubtedly limited – attempts by railway workers to sabotage the train system. I shall finally briefly raise the question of similarities between then and now.
Merilyn Moos was born in Oxford to refugee parents who had been active anti-Nazi Germans who fled in 1933. She grew up in Durham where she went to the local Grammar School, then getting a degree at the University of Oxford. She became an FE and HE lecturer, Branch Secretary of her union branch and active anti-racist.
After retirement, she has had published a wide number of books, including a couple on anti-Nazi Germans. She is on the editorial board of Socialist History and is ex-Chair of the Retired branch of London UCU.
