North East Labour History

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

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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

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.

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.

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

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

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/

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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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 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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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/

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

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.

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.
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 841 4229 6690
Passcode: [REDACTED]
This is Peter’s talk postponed from 4 June.

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

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.

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.

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. Margaret Bozic, Citizens Advice Cases in 1950s Tyneside: Divorce, Domestics and Rehousing
2025-02-04 19:00 - 20:30 | 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.

NELH Tuesday Meeting. Ken Smith. The role of the Tyne built Carpathia in the rescue of survivors from the Titanic
2025-03-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
In April 1912 the Tyne-built ship Carpathia rescued the bitterly cold and traumatised survivors of the Titanic disaster. In this illustrated talk Newcastle author Ken Smith spotlights the ship’s epic story of compassion amid tragedy.

Remembrance Event: 100th Anniversary of the Montagu Pit Disaster
2025-03-29 10:30 - 15:30 | St Margaret’s Church, Scotswood
From Judith Green,
This year marks the centenary of the disaster which killed 38 men and boys from the local area. To commemorate this, local organisations are holding a remembrance event from 10.30am – 1pm and a memorial service at 2pm at St Margaret’s Church, Armstrong Road, Scotswood NE15 6AR on Saturday 29 March.

Jarrow Cemetery: Unveiling of a Headstone to Mary Lyons (Wor Bella, Jarrow born footballer)
2025-04-27 11:30 - 12:30 | Jarrow Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Jarrow, NE32 5UU
Headstone for Mary Lyons (from Ed Waugh)
As a response to our play Wor Bella, about women’s football in WW1, there will be an unveiling of a headstone to Mary Lyons at Jarrow Cemetery on Sunday, April 27 @ 11.30am. See press release below.
FORGOTTEN WW1 FEMALE FOOTBALL STAR TO GET A HEADSTONE
She died a forgotten hero in 1979, but WW1 women’s football superstar Mary Lyons is about to get the recognition she deserves when a headstone on her previously unmarked Jarrow grave is unveiled in April.
Mary was born in 1902 in Jarrow. She became the youngest-ever England footballer and goal scorer when she netted in front of 20,000 people on her debut against Scotland at St James’ Park, Newcastle, in 1918, aged 15! It is a record that still stands today, and yet her achievements have been written out of history – until now!
Mary died in Primrose Hill hospital, Jarrow, in 1979, aged 76, and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave with three others.
The Friends of Jarrow Cemetery have been at the forefront of getting recognition for the town’s forgotten football hero and, last year after discovering her final resting place, erected a 3ft wooden cross to mark the grave.
However, Mary features prominently in Wor Bella by South Tyneside-based playwright Ed Waugh and due to the success of that play in the North East in 2022 and its hugely successful re-run in London and Newcastle Theatre Royal last year, the Friends of Jarrow Cemetery moved to get Mary a permanent headstone.
Jarrow amateur historian Stewart Hill, 73, and Tricia Vickers, 67, are members of the Friends and have led the way in getting recognition for Mary.
Stewart explained: “Mary was the youngest of eight siblings and she worked in Jarrow shipyard during WW1. She was a tremendous footballer by all accounts.
“Mary debuted for Jarrow Palmers when she was only 15 and quickly caught the eye. In May 1918, she was seconded to the mighty Blyth Spartans for the Munitionettes’ Cup final against Bolckow Vaughan of Middlesbrough.
“Mary scored a goal in the 5-0 victory at Ayresome Park, in front of 22,000 spectators and was crowned “Player of the Match”.
“The following year, 1919, Mary captained Jarrow Palmers to win the Munitionettes’ cup at St James’ Park, in front of 9,000 people, an incredible figure considering it was a time of the flu pandemic!”
Stewart added: “So by the age of 16, Mary had won two cup finals, scored in one, captained her team in the other – only two finals were ever played – and became the youngest-ever England player and goalscorer!
“What a brilliant achievement! Imagine what she would be like today, given the modern game and opportunities.”
Tricia, said: “Our great friend George Le-Blond of Abbey Memorials in Jarrow has generously donated the beautiful marble headstone and genealogist Sam Nicol has been a great help trawling through hundreds of newspaper articles for information.”
She continued: “Friends of Jarrow Cemetery work to keep the cemetery welcoming and clean, and make it safe for people and their loved ones. This is a tremendous development.
“Mary and the WW1 women footballers should be an inspiration to young women everywhere.”
The unveiling will take place at Jarrow Cemetery on Sunday, April 27, at 11.30am and everyone is welcome to attend. A brass band will lead the procession to the grave and ex-England Lionesses Christine Knox and Aran Embleton will perform the unveiling ceremony.
Christine, who won ten England caps in the 1970s and 1980s, played for Wallsend Ladies, Whitley Bay Ladies and North Shields Ladies.
Aran, the first millennial Geordie Lioness, gained four England caps and played for Blyth Spartans, Sunderland Ladies and Doncaster Belles in her illustrious career.
Aran said: “I am proud to have been invited to recognise Mary who, like the incredible Bella Reay of Blyth Spartans and other women of their generation, played women’s football until it was criminally banned by the FA in 1921.
“Players like Christine and I, and the current Lionesses, stand on the shoulders of these brilliant working class women from more than 100 years ago.”
Following the unveiling at Jarrow Cemetery, there will be refreshments and a celebration of Mary’s footballing achievements at the Iona Club, Hebburn. Due to start at noon, speakers at the event will be Wor Bella co-producer Jane Harker, Aran and Christine, and Wor Bella actress Catherine Dryden. The event is public and entry is free.

NELH Tuesday Meeting, Tyneside Irish Centre: Dr Katherine Connelly will present: 'Who stopped the War? Women and the Jolly George'
2025-05-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
On 10 May 1920, East London dockers made history when they refused to load the Jolly George ship with munitions that were intended to be used against the Bolsheviks in Russia. Their action precipitated a wave of working-class support that effectively forced the British government to abandon their war plans. It has remained a beacon of inspiration to anti-war activists and internationalists ever since.
But what persuaded the dockers to take this stance in the first place? In this talk, Dr Katherine Connelly explores the overlooked, but vital, contribution of former suffragettes in East London who drew on years of campaigning experience, close connections with dockers and their extraordinary ability to smuggle revolutionary literature in a tireless effort to bring about the strike. It is an inspiring story that is urgently relevant today when we face questions about how we can stop genocide and the drive to war.
Dr Katherine Connelly is a historian, writer and activist. She is a lecturer at New York University London and Boston University’s London centre. She is the author of the biography ‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire’ which was published by Pluto Press in 2013. In 2019, she edited and introduced Pankhurst’s hitherto unpublished manuscript about race, gender and class in the United States, now published by Pluto Press under the title ‘A Suffragette in America: Reflections on Prisoners, Pickets and Political Change.’ She is the editor of the forthcoming ‘Cambridge Companion to Women’s Suffrage in Britain’.

NELH Tuesday Meeting. John Stirling: On the edge? A 1960s Trade Unions Arts Festival in Newcastle
2025-07-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
It was 60 years ago in July 1965 that the Region’s trade unions planned and put on an Exhibition and Arts Festival. This talk will review just what was on offer and what the reaction was from local people and in the media. It will also reflect on the state of the unions at the time. But why would trade unions want to put on an arts festival anyway? What were they hoping to achieve? That’s open for discussion and, perhaps, contributions from anyone who has memories of the event!
John Stirling joined Northumbria University when it was a Polytechnic and has been involved in teaching trade unionists and writing about the movement ever since.

Redhills Miners' Hall: Mining the Memories Book Launch
2025-07-10 13:00 - 14:30 | The Miners’ Hall, Redhills, Durham, Flass Street, Durham City, DH1 4BE
From Kath Connolly
Education 4 Action are a group of volunteers working to celebrate our mining and union heritage. Amongst other things, we have provided tours of the Miners’ Hall at Redhills, organised meetings for major speakers in the week of the Big Meeting as well as developing our schools programme which has been successful in raising awareness of the need to work together in a democratic way to challenge injustice.

We are now publishing Mining The Memories, a collection of memories about what it was like to grow up in the mining communities of County Durham.
The book will be launched at the newly restored Redhills in Durham City on Thursday 10 July, 1.00 – 2.30pm and to book your place at our free launch please go to https://redhillsdurham.org/event/mining-the-memories-book-launch/ Special guests are Fiona Hill, Bill Elliott and the Rickleton School Choir.
If you can’t make that date we are having an evening event on Monday 7 July at 7.00pm in the People’s Bookshop, Prince Bishop’s Shopping Centre, Durham. To book your free place for this you should email me at kathleenhconnolly@hotmail.co.uk .
Please circulate to those who you think will be interested.
Best wishes
Kath and Education 4 Action

Joint NELH / Tyneside Irish Centre Talk. Chris Jones: 'The Spy who helped the Soviets win Stalingrad and Kursk'
2025-09-25 19:00 - 20:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
Details to be added

North East Labour History Society, Annual General Meeting. Tyneside Irish Centre. Speaker: Dr. Sally Watson on Protest and participation in the redevelopment of Byker, 1968-1982.
2025-10-07 19:00 - 21:30 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
Our AGM speaker will be Dr. Sally Watson on Protest and participation in the redevelopment of Byker, 1968-1982.
Byker has long divided opinion. It has been celebrated for its achievements, both architectural and social, and criticised as a failed experiment. This talk revisits Byker to reconsider some of the myths that have sprung up around its redevelopment. The neighbourhood was earmarked for demolition in 1963, with a new plan for Byker published in 1966.
Following a backlash to this proposal, Newcastle City Council appointed the architectural practice Ralph Erskine Arkitektkontor to oversee the redevelopment. They committed to retaining as many of the existing population as possible and to engaging tenants in decision-making about its future design. The talk will cover this period of protest, which generally receives less attention than the redevelopment itself. It will then go on to examine how tenants continued to campaign for housing rights alongside exerting their influence on the design of the new neighbourhood.
Finally, it considers what were the implications of redeveloping ‘Byker for Byker people’, as the rallying cry went, both for children who had no voice in this process and in terms of who could become a Byker tenant. It concludes by considering the legacy of the struggle over Byker.
Dr Sally Watson is a researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University. Her research focuses on the relationship between changing ideas about children and the design and regulation of the urban environment since the mid 20th century. As part of her PhD research, she undertook the first extensive archival study based on the office archive of Ralph Erskine’s practice in Byker. She has also worked in museums and architectural archives in Newcastle, London and Edinburgh.

Northumbria University. Workshop: Change-making between the Local and the Global: A Conversation
2025-10-08 10:00 - 16:15 | Business Hub, Library, room 304E, Northumbria University, Sandyford Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST
From Daniel Laqua | Professor of Modern and Contemporary History | Department of Humanities | Northumbria University
On 8 October, we’re running a workshop at Northumbria University, entitled ‘Change-making between the Local and the Global: A Conversation’. It’s part of a wider project that my colleague Henry Miller and I are involved in. The aim of this event is to use some historical examples to facilitate conversations on the links between local and global activism. I’m conscious that many NELH members are not only interested in history but also often have personal experience of various forms of activism. With this in mind, would you be able to share the details with them?
Details, including a page to book a place on the workshop, are available here:
Change-making between the Local and the Global: A Conversation Tickets, Wed, Oct 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite

NELH Tuesday Meeting, Tyneside Irish Centre. Mike Fraser will talk about The Geordie Appeaser - Viscount Runciman's Mission to Czechoslovakia in 1938
2025-11-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SG, United Kingdom
Runciman’s mission to Czechoslovakia was a key part of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. Mike has not delivered this talk in about 12 years so why revisit it now? It initially occurred to him when he recognised that Putin spoke of the Russian speakers in Ukraine similarly to how Hitler spoke of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia. The decision was confirmed when he heard the former head of the British military state that we are at the 1937 stage with Russia.
Mike will discuss how Runciman’s mission became a significant precursor of the Munich agreement with Hitler.

NELH Tuesday Meeting. The Closure of Sunderland's Shipyards: The Inside Story with Bob Clay and Martin Spence
2026-02-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
In December 1988 Sunderland’s shipyards closed despite a long and passionate campaign to save them, and 800 years of shipbuilding on the Wear came to an end. Yet this closure has always looked bizarre. Why were these sophisticated modern yards, representing millions of pounds of public investment, written off? Why did the Tory Government sideline a major shipowner keen to place an order which could have kept the yards open?
In this meeting Martin Spence will summarise his recent research into 1980s government papers which suggest answers to these questions. Bob Clay will comment on these findings in the light of his own experiences in the 1980s.
Bob Clay was Labour MP for Sunderland North from 1983 to 1992 and led the campaign to save the yards.
Martin Spence worked in ‘Days of Hope’ bookshop in Newcastle, and later for the media trade union BECTU, where he was Assistant General Secretary.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 829 9814 1605
Passcode: [REDACTED]
