“A History of South Marine Park”, by David Bell
With the restoration of South Shields premier seafront park now in full swing I thought it worth sharing this article in this morning’s Newcastle Journal reviewing the book commissioned by South Tyneside Council and written by David Bell.
Much of the research for David’s book came from a hand written journal kept by John Peebles, who was appointed as gardener/park keeper in July 1886, and was handed the huge task of creating the park from land which had been cleared of a “moonscape” of spoil heaps from a glass works.
His workforce of 40 men, three boys and seven horsemen, who moved more than 800 cart loads of soil, planted thousands of trees and shrubs and dug what would be the park lake, complete with two islands.
But with the lake flooded to only 18 inches, the cold weather froze the water and Mr Peebles promptly sold 8,942 tickets to skaters over the winter, raising £111.
The park was officially opened in 1890, with a civic procession which included the band of the Wellesley naval training ship, the South Shields Pilots Association, Volunteer Life Brigade, the Knights of Labour, the Ancient Order of Druids, the Ancient and United Orders of Free Gardeners, the Oddfellows Friendly Society, Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes and Green’s Sailor Boys Home.
The last entry in the journal is in June, 1902, when Mr Peebles asked the council on the advice of his doctor for “three to four weeks’ rest as a means of restoring me to health.” But by August he was dead, aged 52, and was buried in Harton cemetery, South Shields.
The first performance in 1904 in the new bandstand, by Lieut Amers’ Military Band, drew a crowd of 12,000, but even that paled against the illuminations and firework display in 1932 to mark the visit of the battleship HMS Malaya to the Tyne.
The warship had been built at Elswick, and an event was laid on at the park for the crew, which was to include outdoor dancing to the ship’s band.
A crowd of 75,000 turned up, police struggled to keep order and lawns and flower beds were destroyed by trampling.
The next big event was for King George V’s Silver Jubilee in 1935, when lavish costume pageants were held in the park over a week to depict 10 stages in the history of South Shields, and the South Shields Unemployed Drama group staged performances of The Merchant of Venice.
It’s impossible not to have lived a life in South Shields without spending countless hours in the South Marine Park either feeding the ducks and swans or playing with your children, perhaps even travelling around the lake on the 9″ gauge steam railway. Watching the model boats on a Sunday morning was a habitual past time for myself and my brother when we were children followed by a treat at Minchellas kiosk before a brisk walk on the sands.
However, we were never able to experience the sound of brass or silver bands in the park as the Victorian bandstand had been removed many years before we were born, similarly many of the formal flower beds had been replaced by informal walkways and shrubbery. I’m hoping that by time the Lottery funded restoration is complete that these features will have been returned and that some form of static display illustrating the park’s history and John Peebles involvement is available for visitors to enjoy.
It may not end up as a striking rival to Sunderland’s Mowbray Park or Gateshead’s Saltwell Park chiefly because of their greater size, but the South Marine Park in South Shields benefits from a much better geographical position which is easier to get to and find for the casual visitor. It will principally remain as the jewel in the crown on our seafront and will attract many thousands of visitors over the coming decades after it’s restoration, and perhaps in time to come may attract further money and further enhancements - a point that ought not to be missed by some of our local politicians.
