New project planned

New project planned to expand commemoration of North Tyneside’s Great War casualties

The Tynemouth commemoration project has based its work on a published Roll of Honour recording men who died from causes related to the Great War of 1914-19 although it has mention of men who died as late as 1921. That document only related to the former Borough of Tynemouth. The current borough of North Tyneside was formed in 1974 by the coming together of Tynemouth with two other boroughs – Wallsend and Whitley Bay and parts of a number of district council areas (Backworth, Shiremoor, Earsdon, Forest Hall, Killingworth, Longbenton, Dudley Burradon and Seaton Burn). Now we are helping an initiative in Wallsend to begin the task of forming a group to carry out a similar role for the many hundreds of victims of the war who lived in or were connected to the former Municipal Borough of Wallsend.

A public meeting will be convened shortly – details will be given in this column and advertised widely – to assess support for the formation of a group to begin the task of assembling the record of service and casualties of Wallsend. Unlike Tynemouth Borough no document was ever produced (that is known about) giving a comprehensive record of Wallsend’s casualties. The first task of any group that is formed will be to collate the details to be found on numerous separate memorials, plaques and other artefacts connected to the town and the war. Church memorials will be a key source of information; and the great work of the North East War Memorials Project which began many years ago to seek out and list the memorials of every town and village in the North East will be a valuable first source of information.

The group, if formed will seek funding similar to that obtained by the Tynemouth project and will be provided free access to the database systems of our project. A number of opportunities will be available for people with special, skills to volunteer and it is hoped that the project will get underway early in the 2014, when funding and workspace have been secured.

The next in our series of talks at the Low Lights Tavern, North Shields, will be given by John Sadler, author of a book of WW1 poetry under the title – ‘World War One poetry they didn’t let you read’ A few tickets are still available from the Low Lights Tavern, Keel Row Bookshop, Preston Road and the project workroom at Linskill Community Centre.

New venue for Public lectures at Northumbria University.

Due to unprecedented demand the project has been obliged to transfer ALL lectures from the Sutherland Building, Northumberland Road to the City Campus East site - Room 002, New Bridge Street, Newcastle, opposite the Manors Metro Station. (Charged parking is available). The next lecture is on 13^th November, 2013 when Dr Martin Pugh will speak on the role of women in the Great War. If you may like to attend this lecture please help us by registering your interest in advance via our website. All lectures are Free but space is limited so places cannot be guaranteed.