Warkworth History Society December 4th 2023

‘Geordie Newcastle: How we used to live’ Neil Storey.

Social historian Neil Storey gave a fascinating presentation, based on his book, which he has produced along with Fiona Kay. It is a collection of digitally enhanced photographs which give some very clear and evocative depictions of the people and places of Newcastle from the late C19th up until the 1950s.
Early photographs showed the quayside with its shipyards and heavy industry, together with the accompanying coal dust and dirt, a very different picture to today’s stylish promenade.
There were also many pictures of the people of Tyneside in those early days; family photographs, workers outside the pottery factory, and, sadly, people queuing for the soup kitchens before the days of the Welfare State. Sad to reflect that in the C21st many are still reliant on their modern equivalents, the food banks.
There was a photograph of the launch of HMS Victoria on April 9th 1887, built in the Elswick shipyard, later sunk off Tripoli in June 1893 during training manoeuvres, with the loss of 358 of her crew. And on September 20th 1906 RMS Mauretania, the largest ship of its time, was launched by Wigham Richardson and Swan Hunter. Post war engineering saw the building of the Tyne Bridge, opened on October 10th 1928 by HM King George V.
Moving forward into the 1930s it became apparent that, although conditions were still tough for the working man and woman, housing had improved with the demolition of some of the worst areas and the building of modern bungalows. Living conditions began to improve. There was a sense of patriotism, a remnant, no doubt, of wartime fervour. We saw photographs of Empire Day, when the Life Boys, Sea Scouts and the Girls’ Venture Training Corps would march through the city with pride. By the 1950s advertisements proliferated; Barney’s Tobacco and Cremola Foam suggested that there was money to spare for small luxuries. And the first supermarket, Hadrian’s Self Service, was opened. But the dirt and grime remained. Grainger Market, Grey’s Monument and Central Station were shown black with soot. And the quayside was still full of shipyards.
Neil’s presentation took us on a journey into bygone times, yet many of the photographs showed a Newcastle still familiar enough to stir memories of the more recent past, as well as providing a stark contrast with the city as it is today.