Growing local interest

Story of the Great War now engaging the population

The Public Information Day organized by the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project in collaboration with North Tyneside Council Customer First Centre in North Shields on Saturday 1st March demonstrated the widespread interest of the local population in the story of the Great War as it affected the local community.

Now as the centenary of the outbreak of the war looms, the work of the Tynemouth Project receives recognition across the region as an example of outstanding community involvement and the excellence of its work, in recording the stories of the hundreds of men of the borough who paid the ultimate price in the war.

So far our work in schools has been limited but those that have been willing to engage with us have found that pupils are fascinated by and very respectful of the work of the project. Teachers who have grasped the opportunity, find that our casualty map and access to the database allows them to engage children by reference to the casualties who lived in the streets in which many of them are living in today.

Our work with schools is funded by our Heritage Lottery Fund grant and allows us to provide the services of a qualified teacher/ creative practitioner to go into schools and  work alongside teachers and pupils to learn about the war through art, music, painting and poetry, Some of the work produced has been commented upon as outstanding and allows the pupils to engage with the subject of the war at a personal level by exploring in depth some of the fascinating stories of the men of the borough, uncovered by our work over the past three years

The breadth of our activity has been recognis

Our entry has been submitted and we will hear more on progress of that in June. If successful it could mean a £2000 boost to our funds as a contribution to the many activities we have planned for the coming months. I will have more to say on this next week.

Just before writing this column I was at Northumbria University discussing our potential participation and contribution to a two day seminar being organized to look at the digitization of historical records with a particular focus on the Great War.

It is gratifying that the hard work of our more than 70 volunteers over the last three years is now recognized widely as an exemplar of good practice in the collation and presentation of materials in an accessible format through the means of modern digital technology.

The seminar will also have a public event in the evening of Thursday 24th April, in Newcastle. Further details on this will be given in the coming weeks.

Open Day success

Success of WW1 Information day prompts repeat of event

The Public Information Day organised by the Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project in collaboration with North Tyneside Council Customer First Centre in North Shields attracted a huge number of visitors to the centre on Saturday 1st March. So much so that it has been agreed already that the event will be repeated on Saturday, 28th June, 2014, when the Project’s highly acclaimed database will be opened to general public access via the internet.

During the event last Saturday more than 100 persons were given demonstrations of the project’s database and its rich sources of family history; with project volunteers on hand at four dedicated computer terminals in the first floor Library area.

Provisional figures show that more than 1000 people visited the range of stalls and exhibitions on view from 10am to 4pm.

One of the most popular stalls featured the food and rations of the British and German soldiers in the trenches, as well as some of the improvised recipes forced upon the civilian population, as shortages and rationing took a hold of the depleted food supplies available in Britain and Germany.

For differing reasons food was in short supply and the lack of it probably hastened the end of the war in Germany’s case.

For Britain the effects of u-Boat action threatened the continuation of the war at one point and in 1917 it was estimated that the country was down to only three week’s supply of imported foods. For a German family the effects of the Royal Navy’s blockade of European ports around the North Sea meant many staple items became very hard to get. Further pressure on food supplies was caused by the failure of the potato crop in Germany in 1916. In the notorious ‘Turnip winter’ of 1916/17 the staple diet was reduced to numerous variations of very bland inventions around the humble Swede.

Visitors to the event on Saturday were able to sample the delights of Turnip marmalade at the fascinating display on the stand brought by Richard and Jan Crouch which offered many samples and examples of the realities of wartime food and soldiers rations (picture). Richard said “The free recipe sheets went like ‘hot cakes’.

The history of the role of the Scouts in the Great War was on display from the
3rd Tynemouth (Ritson’s Own) Scouts – a troop originated through connections with the Ritson family who owned and operated the former Preston colliery until its closure in1929, situated in the area of Regency Gardens, of North Shields today.


Members of the NET group, preparing to open their new Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre in Clifford’s Fort on the Fish Quay later this year were on hand to show materials connected to the occupation of the fort by the
Tyne Electrical Engineers (Submarine Miners) in the early years of the 20th century. The group was able to make many contacts and recruit new volunteers for its exciting venture which will celebrate the maritime history of the Borough.

Three of the project’s popular talks given monthly at the Low Lights Tavern on the Fish Quay were repeated during the day.

The overall reaction of visitors was evidence of the strong interest in the story of the war in the community; stimulated no doubt by the increasing attention being paid to the forthcoming centenary of the start of the war in the national and regional media.

The Customer First Centre staff all enjoyed the day with the centre management
commenting:-

   ‘We have had fantastic feedback from the public and staff. Customer comments included “very interesting”, “Thoroughly enjoyed the day, looking forward to future events”, “We loved the WW1 songs”, “I’ve learned so much today”


The Project will be repeating the event on the occasion of the launch of the database and hopes to bring along additional groups and further interesting aspects of the story of the war for public information.

Public Information Day

Plans well in hand for forthcoming events

Our Public Information Day will be held at North Shields Customer First Centre (Library) on 1st March, 2014 when a number of local and regional groups will be on hand from 10am to 4pm to demonstrate the resources available to help anyone wishing to learn more about the war and the part that a relative may have played in the momentous events of 100 years ago.

The NET (North Shields) will be present with a wartime themed display and information on progress towards the development and opening of the Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre now being created in the Old Low Lights Building on the Fish Quay.

The next talk at the Low Lights Tavern, on Tuesday 25th February, featuring Dr James McConnel of Northumbria University, talking on trench songs of the Irish soldiers is ‘sold out’. We are sorry if you have been unable to obtain a ticket for one of these very popular FREE events but limited space at the venue prevents our issuing more than 40 tickets. The March 2014 talk (illustrated) will be given by Dr Cecilia Holmes of Newcastle College- ‘The Avant-Garde versus The Old Guard: British painting and the Great War – at 7.30pm on Tuesday 25th March.2014.Tickets for that event will be available from 4th March, from the usual outlets.

For anyone unable to attend some or any of these talks we are repeating three during the Public Information Day on 1st March, 2014. They are; ‘Britain in Crisis’ – Dr Dan Jackson of the project surveys the state of the nation in the years immediately before the outbreak of the war. (11.30); John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville will look at the poetry of the serving men, drawn from their recently published book ‘Tommy Rot’ – the poetry they didn’t let you read (1230); and finally Ian McArdle MA will give his talk ‘Cruelty and compassion’ – a comparative review of the war literature of the French and German fighting men (1430).

At 1.30pm Alan Fidler will be reviewing the development and range of the Tynemouth Project as we approach a summer of activity to mark the launch of our Database as well as Death at Dawn the full-length play by North East playwright Peter Mortimer, to be Directed by Jackie Fielding and premiered at Linskill Community Centre from 1st to 6th September; and culminating in the regionally focussed commemorative concert ‘The Response’ being staged by the project jointly with the Army Benevolent Fund in the magnificent venue of the Sage Gateshead at 7.30pm on 27th September.

Tickets are now available for ‘Going over the top’ on Sunday, 23rd March, 2014 when the Project will be having a fundraising evening with superb entertainment provided by the regular musicians at the Low Lights Tavern -  North Shields oldest surviving pub. Tickets for this event are £5 (includes light supper); available from: Keel Row Bookshop, Preston Road (opposite Christ Church), the Low Lights Tavern and the Project Workroom B9, Linskill Centre.

Local stories to feature in Remembrance Concert

Local stories to feature in Remembrance Concert

The Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project has joined with the Army Benevolent Fund to stage what will be the most significant event in 2014 to recognise the response of the North East to the call for a massive increase in the country’s armed forces in the summer and autumn of 1914. The concert, The Response to be staged at Sage Gateshead on Saturday, 27th September, 2014, in the magnificent auditorium of Hall One, will be an event not to be missed. Tickets for that event will be on sale from the venue from June, 2014. In the meantime there is an opportunity to get a preview of some of the remarkable stories of the involvement of local men in many aspects of the war on land and at sea.
At 8pm on March 1st 2014 the launch of the Commemorative CD ‘Only Remembered’, featuring words, songs and music of the Great War will take place at Sage Gateshead. In the intimate surroundings of Hall Two, local singer Vicky Guillory, well-known columnist Denise Robertson and Colonel Alasdair Hutton will recall the experiences of the fighting men through music and verse, all featured on the new CD produced by the Army Benevolent Fund in aid of forces charities. As a part of the programme on the 1st of March, the Tynemouth Project has assembled a few of the many fascinating stories that have been uncovered in the course of the three years of our research and contact with living relatives of those who served. These will be presented with readings by current relatives of the men whose stories illustrate the realities of the conflict. Tickets for this event are available from the Sage Gateshead box office - (0191) 443 4661 or www.sagegateshead.com
The second half of the programme features music of later years with the ‘Little Sisters’ harmony singers, recreating the music and songs of the forties.

Further diary dates to note are the Public Information day to be held at North Shields Customer First centre (Library) on 1st March, 2014 when a number of local and regional groups will be on hand from 10am to 4pm to demonstrate the resources available to help anyone wishing to learn more about the war and the part a relative may have played in the momentous events of 100 years ago.
The NET (North Shields) will be present with a wartime themed display and information on progress towards the development and opening of the Fishing and Maritime Heritage Centre now being created in the Old Low Lights Building on the Fish Quay.
The project invites you to join them ‘Going over the top’ on Sunday, 23rd March, 2014 when they will be having a fundraising evening with superb entertainment provided by the regular musicians at the Low Lights Tavern -  North Shields oldest surviving pub.
Come and have an evening of good company and good music; all in the surroundings of a real pub with real ales, real fires and real atmosphere.

Tickets for this event are £5 (includes light supper); available from the usual outlets: KeelRow Bookshop, Preston Road (opposite Christ Church), the Low Lights Tavern and the Project Workroom B9, Linskill Centre.

Leading film director/ producer to speak at local Video Group meeting

Leading film director/ producer to speak at local Video Group meeting

Since its formation in 2011The Tynemouth WW1 Project has enjoyed immense support from the local news media, not least from the News Guardian which has afforded the project the opportunity to inform the public of its activities and progress on a weekly basis, as well as the ability to reach out to the local community to seek information about the almost 2000 casualties of the Great War.

The approach of the centenary of the outbreak of the war means that many special interest groups of local enthusiasts are also looking to feature materials related to the conflict in their programmes and meetings.

We were particularly interested to receive notice of a meeting of The Tynemouth Video Group, who meet at the premises of the Tynemouth Photographic Society above the Library in Front Street, Tynemouth. On Monday 17^th February, at 7.30pm they will be hosting a talk by well-known speaker, historian and producer Ed Skeldon, which will be illustrated with film excerpts featuring the Ypres and Somme battlefields from his film ‘Walking the Western Front’.

Interest in this talk is expected to be widespread. If you wish to attend the event please telephone the Group (0191) 253 3536 for further details and to register interest. The event is free but advance reservation is recommended as the venue has limited capacity.

The next in our series of lectures at City Campus East, Northumbria University, New Bridge Street, (opposite Manors Metro Station), will take place at 6.15pm on Tuesday 18^th February, 2014 when Dr Edward Madigan of Royal Holloway and Bedford College, University of London (and until recently historian in residence at the CWGC) will be speaking on the subject of The better part of valour: British understandings of courage in WW1’. The eight lecture series is now at lecture five, with four very interesting and stimulating topics and speakers due to address us from now until May. These lectures have all been very popular – see our website for details of all the remaining talks and registration to attend (not essential but it helps us with planning). - www.tynemouthworldwarone.org

Tickets are now available for the next in our series of informal talks at the Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, Fish Quay, North Shields. Dr James McConnel, Head of History at Northumbria University will be talking about the trench songs of the Irish soldiery in the Great War. These were men who came from a part of the British Isles which had been, in the years before the war (and would remain) in a state of political unrest. A huge number of Irishmen served in the armed forces and all were volunteers. The government in London feeling it wise not to introduce the compulsory conscription of men into the army which was applied on mainland Britain. Tickets (Free) are available from the Low lights Tavern, The Project Workroom (B9) at Linskill Community Centre and from Keel Row Books, opposite Christ Church, Preston Road, North Shields.

HMS Viknor

New light on Viknor loss 

Two years ago (12^thJanuary, 2012) I noted the loss of HMS Viknor near Tory Island off the coast of Northern Ireland. Four local men were among the 295 casualties as all contact with the ship was lost. There were no survivors.

Now two years on and as a result of research by the Project the story of one of those lost can be told. Frederick Shaw Monks had an eventful life being born across the world in Australia in Maryborough, Queensland in November, 1887. However by the time of the Census of 1891 the family is back in England living at Monkton near Jarrow; and in 1901 we find them living in Wallsend at 85 Vine Street. Young Frederick is not with them then having been committed to the Training Ship Wellesley moored off the Fish Quay in North Shields. He had been ordered to be detained for 3 years and 9 months charged with ‘frequenting the company of thieves’. He was discharged from the Wellesley on 6th November, 1903; probably around his 14^th birthday.

His period of schooling and nautical training had obviously been taken to heart for by the time of the 1911 census he is recorded as living at the family home in Vine Street and his occupation is given as ‘Second Mate Merchant service’. As was common at that time members of the merchant navy were often listed as Royal Naval Reserves for employment in times of emergency. He was called for sea service in the Royal Navy on the outbreak of war and was commissioned on 20^th November, 1914 as a Sub-Lieutenant (Temporary). He was serving on HMS Viknor when she was lost with all 

hands .He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval memorial.

The Navy records tell us that when commissioned his address was 126 Park Road in Wallsend.

That property still stands today and we will if possible place a plaque on the building noting his service and death – one of the almost 600 homes we hope will bear witness to the losses of the war from those listed in the Tynemouth Roll of Honour. Despite his troubled start in life he had obviously made something of himself and the fine photograph shows a confident man who had earned the respect and confidence of his employers and latterly the Royal Navy which called upon his abilities to serve his country in its hour of need.

The naval records show that the ship was lost off Tory island in severe weather, all those on board being drowned. No firm evidence of enemy action was found but a considerable number of bodies were washed ashore. An enemy submarine had sown a minefield nearby recently.

The loss of Frederick came soon after his uncle Frederick Richard Monks (aged 43) had been lost in the tragedy of the sinking of three cruisers on 22^nd September, 1914 (News Guardian-

22^nd September 2011). He had spent four hours in the water after his ship HMS Cressy was sunk – the last of the three victims of U9 off the coast of Holland - and died only minutes after being rescued.

Link to worldwide community

Link to worldwide community of commemoration aids project again

Just before Christmas the Prime Minister, David Cameron and the Irish Taosaioch, Enda Kenny made an historic visit to the battlefields on the Western front – the first by a leader from the Republic of Ireland; the more significant because it was made in company with the current Prime Minister of the former ruling government of the territorial area of the southern Irish state. The part played by the men of the whole of Ireland was extremely significant and was an aspect of the history of the south which has been largely ignored officially for almost 90 years in the modern state of Eire but is now being reassessed as the centenary of the Great War approaches. The huge Irish diaspora which settled on Tyneside and in the north east of England in the latter part of the nineteenth century is strongly represented in the sad catalogue of loss in our local communities. A further link across the Irish Sea for the Tynemouth Commemoration project was revealed over the Christmas holiday when we were able through our Twitter connections to secure a photograph of the gravestone of a local seafarer buried in the Old Church Cemetery at Cobh in County Cork on the southern coast of the Republic, where many if the victims of the ss Lusitania ‘outrage’ are also buried.

Benson Leck Blacklock was 3^rd Engineer of the tanker ss El Zorro lost through enemy action off Kinsale Head. A well-known local rugby footballer his sporting ability was celebrated in obituaries in the Shields Daily News. -4^th January, 1916: ‘News has been received of the death at sea of Mr Benson Blacklock, the well-known forward player of the Percy Park Rugby Football Club, thus adding to the already considerable list of the members of that organisation who have laid down their lives in the service of their country during the last 18 months. Mr Blacklock was not a member of His Majesty's Forces, but as engineer of an oil-carrying steamer carrying fuel for the fleet he was undoubtedly in the service of his country. The ship.. the steamer El Zoro,.. was carrying oil from Port Arthur to the United Kingdom, was lost off the coast of Ireland… Mr Blacklock and another member of the crew lost their lives,.. [he] was 32 years of age [and] was a son of Mr Benson Blacklock, an engineer employed at Smith's Dock, and served his time at the Shields Engineering Co.'s premises before going to sea. He was an enthusiastic football player, ever one of the foremost in the rushes of the Percy Park pack, and was a great favourite at Preston Avenue. He still kept up his connection with the game after going to sea, and when home from a voyage would don the jersey if the winter game was in progress.

SDN 11^th January, 1916. The funeral of Mr Benson Blacklock … took place at Queenstown on Friday. An Appreciation from an Old Percy Parkite. 'Bennie' Blacklock! What memories of many hard-fought Rugby matches does his name conjure up… Home and abroad he loved to chase the ball. Alas he and others who helped to make the name of Percy Park famous are gone from us. We mourn his loss but appreciate the fact that we had his friendship.

Now, through modern media, undreamt of in his day, we have been able to get a picture of his CWGC headstone in Cobh. The men of Tynemouth Borough lost in the Great War are commemorated across the globe. Those memorials link the communities in which they rest with their hometown to this day. We are grateful to Caoimhe NicDhaibheid of Sheffield and Cobh for her help in securing a picture of Blacklock’s gravestone to add to our database.