Good bye old girl.

QE 2 sails

There were thousands of people and thousands of cars in South Shields yesterday evening to give a rousing send off to the QE 2, you could tell from the stacatto flashes that there were similar mumbers on the north bank armed with their cameras too. A spectacular send off was promised with fireworks launched from the Northumbria Quay as she left, and more from the piers as she crossed the bar.

I found myself on the Lawe with hundreds of others as the great liner’s horn blasted a fanfare sighnalling her intention to set sail, it’s deep note reverberated and echoed across Tyneside, we could hear but barely see the firework display above the rooftops behind us (if only I had decided to go the Mill Dam instead). It was only abou ten minutes later that the four blasts of the horn told us that she was entering the harbour carefully guided by the pilot and assisted by her accompanying tugs.

The scene was rather magical, she was dressed like an illuminated Christmas tree, surrounded by smaller craft and the Tyne Ferries too, there was a long pause as she was readied to to pass the piers on the high tide. It was then that the pain and the stomach cramps set in, I knew that I had to hurry, pack up and go, and go quick!

“Missy” is suffering too, I knew that it was a risk, I knew that this personal disaster might happen, but hoped that I might at least last out until the end. Alas, it was not to be.

Damn - I missed the fireworks!

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Apologies for slow posts

It’s been a busy day

Having got out of bed in the middle of the night to follow the QE 2 into the Tyne, I’ve spent a large portion of the day working on the RAW files, as well as spending time with the children, taking the wife shopping and finding just enough time to listen to Prme Minister’s Questions at lunchtime (I’m afraid that the Cameron strategy was buggered last week.)

I’ll be out again shortly to get some pictures of the QE 2 leaving South Shields, perhaps if I bump into Richardson he might buy me a pint in exchange for using my right shoulder as a bean bag (at least it got him a winner of a shot.)

Sorry for the shortage of my posts today.

QE ll visits Tyne - picture special

Final visit for Cunard liner

I was up before the birds this morning to join the hundreds of well wishers who lined the banks of the River Tyne on the South Shields side to greet Cunard’s cruise liner the Queen Elizabeth ll as she made a final visit to the region. The regal cruiser is destined to become a floating hotel in the Gulf.

Arriving at the Pilot Jetty at 05:45 I found a small group of photographers already in place, expecting the ship to show on the horizon within the next half hour, however, just like her last visit, she kept us waiting before entering the harbour just after 07:00. By then I was surrounded by almost sixty people with over a hundred on The Groyne and many more lining The Lawe and River Drive. By now I was almost frozen, as my shoulder played temporary tripod for Shields Gazette Chief Photographer Tim Richardson, as we attempted to get good pictures of the ship with the first beams of weak sunlight glinting off her hull.

She was slowly manoeuvred up river by a small flotilla of Tyne Tugs passing larger crowds at the ferry landing and the Mill Dam before being delicately and precisely turned at Tyne Dock, and thankfully the gate to Readhead’s Landing was open to allow photographers to record the moment. By 08:30 she was safely moored at the Northumbria Quay, North Shields and starting to attract huge crowds of tourists on both banks of the river.

The QE ll will be leaving the Tyne this evening at around 10:00 pm and there will be a small fireworks display as she sails, best views will probably be from the head of the North Marine Park in South Shields.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge. You can watch a full slide show here.

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Art and regeneration

Customs House exhibits

Just been down to the Customs House at the Mill Dam in South Shields, where I was chatting to the Director, Ray Spencer, about a couple of the latest gallery exhibitions there, I was particularly interested in two local works “Images for Change” and the first showing from local South Shields artist Paula Lees.

The Rekendyke ward in South Shields is dear to my heart, as local readers will know I was born and brought up in John Williamson Street where I enjoyed all the benefits of post war socialism and “the land fit for heroes”, i.e. oustide netties, a cold water tap in the yard, cobbled streets, gas lit street lamps, “knocker ups”, horse and cart deliveries, fish wives and coal men, and to cap it all rostered power cuts in the early 1970s, it coloured my views considering that South Shields had enjoyed so many years of Labour councils until then.

Having got that “dig” out of the way, let’s be historically correct and point out that the old Rekendyke and Victoria areas comprise the beating heart and life of this town, the riverside is where we owe our living, our history, and our community spirit. It spawned the shipbuilding and fishing industries, the first coal mines were sunk in Templetown, the first chemical and glass works existed side by side with the burgeoning growth of housing for those who worked there, even the industrialists lived close by in the streets near Chichester (and Westoe for the more wealthy). It is the one part of the town that has seen more change than most and it’s evolution has been almost constant since the time that the Romans established the Arbeia fort on The Lawe.

It is now about to undergo further major changes in a project that may eventually finish what was essentially started in the mid 1970s when 50% of the community was destroyed during slum clearance programmes. Those displaced then were scattered around the rest of South Shields to areas like Derby Street and Victoria Road, Mile End Road, and Harton Moor, in place of the demolished terraced housing we were given factories and a dual carriageway road; Frederick Street, the retail heart of Rekendyke was consigned to a slow death by strangulation - no houses, no customers, - it was a “no brainer” really. To make matters worse, having passed the modern estates of Simonside and then negotiated Tyne Dock, Rekendyke had become the gateway to the town centre, and it did not present a pretty picture (I’m not saying that it ever did, but an opportunity was missed to create one.)

At least during this latest process for change a lot of input is being sought and received from those who still live there, they have built quite a strong local community spirit through the efforts of the Rekendyke Partnership and their community house, with representations from St. Jude’s Church, St. Bede’s Church, the Al Akshar Mosque, the Hindu Gurdwara on Westway and a number of other voluntary groups.

So “Images for Change” is their work, they were given a number of cameras which they have used to go and record life as they see it around them. However, I’m not sure if the brief was too wide rangeing or not specific enough, it certainly has succeeded in producing a batch of photographs that show off the Rekendyke area as it is now, but it leaves the viewer with a certain amount of confusion. I was left asking myself questions;

• Is this what they wish to keep?
• Is this what they wish to lose?
• Is this what they wish to change?
• What do they want here?

However you look at it, one must accept that at least there is a record of how things looked in 2006 -07. The important thing to remember is that people are involved at a very grass roots level in the decision making process, and this regeneration is one which must be put in place correctly this time, the scene that it sets will be there for at least fifty years, and it must show the forward looking spirit of the people of the riverside with harmonious blends of residential housing, working areas, and public leisure space, it must become an area of South Tyneside that we can be justly proud of. It is over sixty years since the last war ended, and we have still failed to turn this part of South Shields around, so let’s employ the most modern and imaginative thinking that we can to make it a lasting success this time.

Paula Lees came to my attention after a few posts on my message board, it turns out that I used to work with her partner Mark (the son of another Progressive councillor), her first showing at the Customs House is worthy of your attention, a series of portraits of worldly faces. Colourful, vibrant, and excuding exitement and emotion by using a variety of media on paper (fabrics, pen and ink, and paint too). These are portraits of indigeonous folks from around the world, Africa, Asia, South and Central America too, the bonus is (if you think these works would sit nicely in your home) that they can be purchased via an interest free loan scheme, details are available next to the exhibits. My only slight criticism for Paula is that they lack context, and by that I mean that the backgrounds are blank empty spaces, perhaps they would really come to life if she starts to include some portions of their life in the background.

These exhibitions are not there for a great deal of time, so get yourselves down as soon as possible, you might get a running commentary from Ray Spencer too, if you are lucky!

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Great North Run 2008

South Shields packed to the rafters!

An unbelievable amount of people turned out on the streets of South Shields this morning to welcome a record number of runners in the 2008 Great North Run. The event took place on a cool morning in bright sunshine, just perfect for the half marathon from Newcastle.

I was out and about nice and early to savour the atmosphere with the hundreds of volunteer workers in the charity village set up on The Leas behind the finishing points, and to see the areas set aside for the 52,000 runners to recuperate with massages, refreshments, and to meet waiting family members.

The elite women’s race was won by Ethiopia’s Gete Wami who had a thrilling neck and neck sprint finish with Great Britain’s Jo Pavey who eventually finished in third place having lost the battle just a few feet from the finishing line. Despite the size of the crowds at the finishing area and around the Bamburgh the real atmosphere and noise was coming from farther up the Coast Road, as many of those that I spoke to had arrived in South Shields from all over the country to support family and friends who were taking part.

Another Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede won the elite man’s race in a cracking time, and it turns out that he is the shortest man in the history of the race to win it. There were loads of celebrities entered but I didn’t get to see any of them, but if they were looking for support and encouragement they wouldn’t find it difficult with the crowds at the Nook and the Marsden Inn making the most noise in South Shields.

I missed the Red Arrows this year, well I heard and saw them from my living room window, but I was hungry by then and the camera had been put away. A quick trip to Asda this afternoon showed the amount of human traffic as a great tide of people was moving up Ocean Road to the Metro Station in King Street, unfortunately there were hardly any shops open for them to get refreshment or spend any money (but I guess they don’t carry much on a 13.5 mile run.)

Here are some pictures that I captured at the finish line - click the thumbnails to enlarge. More pictures will be available in South Shields Daily Photo during the course of the next week.

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Govt. of the living dead

Lord Mandel son of Dracula makes a return

I bet you thought that a cabinet shuffle was meant to bring in fresh faces, and rejuvenate a tired collective of people who had run out of steam and the will to carry on. Well Gordon Brown today turned that theory on it’s head as he created a government of the living dead, bringing older experienced corpses to finally bite and suck the lifeblood out of the Labour Party. It was, in my view, an extraordinary display of poor judgement.

This isn’t a new fresh approach, this isn’t a ground breaking attempt to rejuvenate and renew, this is little more than a lurid horror story, it’s a “Little Shop of Horrors”. Regression of the of the highest order and it looks and feels as though the influence of Alistair Campbell is there, along with Derek Draper, all the architects of NuLabour back spinning for their lives, the only one missing is the man whom voters recently declared was capable of beating the Tories at the next election - one Mr. (very well paid) Tony Blair!

Yes, the Prince of Darkness, Peter Mandelson has plenty of experience, the former member of the Young Communist League knows just what it takes - in order to resign! He retired as councillor in Lambeth in  1982, disillusioned with the state of Labour politics, he resigned as Trade Secretary in 1998 over the non declaration of a loan from millionaire Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson, but made his way back into Blair’s cabinet the following year as Northern Ireland Secretary. However in 2001 he resigned from the cabinet again over unproven allegations involving an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship.

Also being brought back from the dead is Margaret Beckett, who surely looks as though she died thirty years ago!

The comings and goings today have begun to look like a George Romero film, it’s a shocker of a horror B movie, “Day of the dead”, to remind us that NuLabour has indeed died and that the nocturnal creatures will once more inhabit 10 Downing Street, the undead stalk Whitehall, and the stench of a corpse hangs around Gordon Brown like a tattered decaying old grey overcoat.

No new life to see here, move along now, and make way for the government of the living dead. Just when Labour needed the exhilaration and feel of a fresh breeze on their face, they get the thick hanging murky mist that  infiltrates and dampens all enthusiasm, what an opportunity missed.

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He can fix it

Cameron gives hope

It’s quite surprising how the news headlines can change overnight, one might have expected that the Conservative Leader David Cameron would have been front page news on all of the internet services this morning, but in a matter of a few hours yesterday’s reviews have been bumped lower down and replaced with headlines from the House of Senate in the USA.

Cameron’s speech was measured, correct in tone, skilfully crafted, and appropriate for the economic circumstances this week, it was not a head first, all out attack on Labour’s record, we are all capable of working that one out for ourselves, but it gave a greater insight to the man hoping to become the next Prime Minister. In his efforts to portray himself as ready to take on the responsibility of the job he countered Gordon Brown’s jibe of “no time for a novice”, and to be fair we could name numerous Prime Ministers who have arrived at Downing Street with no experience of leading the nation (MacMillan, Home, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair, and Brown were all novices to the job.) Experience, he said, “was the excuse of the incumbent over the ages.”

His approach was almost patrician with a greater emphasis on social responsibility and living within our means, with a mix of traditional Conservatism coupled with a modern outlook to the environment, health, education, and a warning that a day of reckoning beckons for City bankers as he sets about fixing a “broken society”. My only gripe was that he confused libertarianism (perhaps a general swipe at the internet bloggers working within the Conference centre.) He said:

But freedom can too easily turn into the idea that we all have the right to do whatever we want, regardless of the effect on others.

That is libertarian, not Conservative - and it is certainly not me.

Libertarians believe in as much individual freedom as possible within the law, taking account of how their actions affect others around them, and being mindful of their own responsibilities and the consequences of their decisions. A freedom “free for all” is not libertarian, it is anarchism, and we don’t support that.

All in all it was a good speech, I’m not sure that it was his best (as has been suggested in some quarters) and I’m not sure that he should be offering Gordon Brown his unstinting support in pushing measures through Parliament to shore up ailing banks, but that’s his judgement call. It was still short on policy, but that has to be tempered with an acknowledgement that Brown’s government now has a track record of stealing policy ideas as soon as the Conservatives announce them, just go back to the Inheritance Tax issue for an example.

Cameron ticked the right boxes, it wasn’t too theatrical, his wife was not used as a stooge to warm up an unreceptive audience, and it wasn’t too strident. We will begin to see what effect the Conference season has had on voters after Parliament returns to work next week and the leaders begin to battle it out over the Despatch Box and the pollsters begin to gather some soundings.

There is still a long way to go before the next election, it could be up to eighteen months away and by then we could be immersed in a full blown recession with rampant unemployment, energy bills will have continued to climb, inflation will be rising, food costs will continue to rise, house repossessions will rise as we see that government intervention in the “credit crunch” has failed, and by then the electorate could well be yearning earnestly for a change in government.

South Tyneside’s two Conservative Associations in Jarrow and South Shields have still not selected candidates to fight the next election, it’s time to get a move on people!

Read David Cameron’s full speech here

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Paul Newman

Death of a screen legend (and legendary petrol head)

A legend of the silver screen and a man described by Michael Parkinson as the link between the glamour of the fifties Hollywood and today’s stars like Tom Cruise. He was a giant of his trade, unassuming and gentle, and a great fan of motor racing.

Newman raced, Newman fiddled around with cars, Newman managed race drivers, champion race drivers, Newman was one half of one the most succesful race teams that America ever knew. With his partner Carl Haas, Paul Newman formed a team that would make Britain’s Nigel Mansell the only man to simultaneously hold the F1 title and the Champ Car title as took the American Championship at the first attempt. New F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais owes his success to Paul Newman’s team having become the only driver to win four successive US championships.

In 1994 I drove from South Shields at 5:00 a.m. on a cold Sunday morning to collect my friend in Darlington, we were going to Donnington Park to see the TOCA Shoot Out and were privileged to be able to spend a few minutes chatting with “Our Nige” in the pit lane, he was to drive the Ford Mondeo in the feature race (and nearly kill himself after smashing into Starkey’s Bridge), Mansell spoke glowingly of Newman describing him as an ordinary quiet bloke and quite unlike any other team owner he had known, easy to get along with and extremely knowledgeable, according to Mansell.

Outside of acting Paul Newman has donated over $250 to charities from the profits of his sauces, and sent over 14,000 children who are living with cancer to summer camps where they can “raise hell - without feeling different”, a truly remarkable man.

Here’s a video of Newman being interviewed with Sebastien Bourdais for the Letterman Late Show last year .

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The weekend entertainment

Rabbit

It seems to be all that I’ve heard this weekend, so today I dedicate Chas and Dave’s “Rabbit” to my six year old daughter “Missy”.

The kids and I spent yesterday visiting some of the excellent places that are either not normally open to the public in South Shields and locally, or would cost a small fortune to visit, yes it’s the weekend of Heritage Open Days in Tyne and Wear, so we’ll probably do a little more visiting today. Yesterday we started at the North East Maritime Trust in Wapping Street, South Shields to allow the kids to learn about some traditional boat building crafts and skills as well as to appreciate the journey from tree to bench saw and the final transformation into a useful object created by the carpenter. It was fascinating and important to note that these skills somehow need to be encouraged to survive.

Next up was Ryhope Engine Museum to see England’s biggest “boy’s toy”, the largest “Mammod steam engine” you could possible imagine. The two one hundred horsepower beam engines were steamed up and going at a nice rate, and at twenty seven tons per beam it is an impressive experience, “Junior” was loving it, but didn’t have quite sufficient strength to handle the big shovels of coal required to keep the boilers going.

Then we finished off with a visit to the National Glass Centre in Sunderland; our family has connections with the glass industry, for many years my father was the manager of huge industrial glass production factory in Sunderland and my younger brother started his working life by learning to blow glass at Pyrex too.

However, all day long, from getting out of bed, “Missy” chatted and rabbited until falling asleep last night, I had a headache of monstrous proportions, and it seems I’m in for more of the same today - pass the paracetamol!

This music video is dedicated to “Missy” champion heritage rabbiter!

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Back in town

Holiday season over, hurricane season in full swing

I’m back in South Shields after our final camp of the summer, the kids have had a great time in the countryside (beating the credit crunch) and we’ve managed to let them see some of the great achievements of the British industrial revolution as they took in the history of agriculture, the railways, canals, mills, and more, as well as great battlefields, castles and cathedrals, they were enthralled and will be able to tell their tales to new school friends today. They can also talk about the animals and wildlife that they have been in contact with from cattle to rabbits, arachnids, and toads! Mr. and Mrs. Curly will now be left wondering why the house is so quiet!

Just as the holiday season ends the hurricane season is in full swing and our politicians will be be battered by the howling winds of new policies at home, Hurricane George is about to swing into Brown’s Island with an announcement that will bring relief to millions of married home owners as the non doms take the full force of the winds. Further afield Hurricane Medvedev still hasn’t blown out and the tiny island of Miliband is being drowned by European wind and water, Miliband’s attempts to force a wind of change have been lost amongst the maelstrom. Hurricane Ann is blowing and gusting at fellow party members over the practice of forced marriages, suggesting that Labour MPs are too scared to raise the issue for fear of unsettling large amounts of Muslim voters, Tropical Storm David has blown into Afghanistan on a mission to give British troops more time at home, but the biggest winds to be felt so far are those created by Hurricane Alistair who appears to have blown the government miles off course after his “Hebridean frankness” over the state of the economy, the amount of damage caused is probably incalculable.

The hurricane season will carry on through October and will culminate in the opening of the new session of Parliament when the whole shebang of windbags will regather after a good huff and puff during the party conference season, yes folks we have a lot of heavy weather to get through yet!

However, it’s good to be home and enjoying a little sunshine, it will probably take me a few days to get back into the swing of things and to catch up with the other news around the blogosphere.

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