Andrews Liver Salt at Discovery Museum until 30th June

Known as the effervescent health salt, Andrews Liver Salt was first made in Newcastle in 1894 and was taken to relieve constipation and heartburn.
Thanks to a kind donation from pharmaceutical company Sanofi in 2015, Discovery are able to display a range of nostaglic old packaging, advertisements and images from their years at Fawdon Manufacturing Centre.

Newcastle Gateshead Historic Quayside

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Newcastle Gateshead Historic Quayside

NESCO

Ian Burdon writes...........................

 

Many innovations during the Industrial Revolution were pioneered in North East England.  One which is perhaps less-well known to the public at large than railways and iron ships is electricity supply.

One of the projects which the Friends of Discovery are involved with relates to a most important aspect of this Region's industrial development – the economic supply of electricity. Access to cheap and reliable electricity was to have massive effect, not only on the economic development of this part of the Country, but on many other parts of the Empire and its Dominions also.

A significant number of important features in large-scale electricity production and distribution were conceived and developed here in the North East.  Aided by far-sighted and technically gifted engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs, the North Eastern Electric Supply Company (NESCo) grew from small beginnings in 1899 on Tyneside into a Company which led the field right up to Nationalisation and the integration of UK-wide electricity supply in 1947.

The abundancy of coal in the region, supplemented by innovations such as the application of the steam turbine to electricity generation, the use of 3-phase supply systems, unitised boiler and turbine-generator arrangements, reheat in the steam cycle, centralised control of the transmission and distribution network, electrical protective systems for plant and transmission lines and Reyrolle’s metalclad switchgear were responsible for the development of the electricity supply industry here in North East England.  These were just some of the innovations that were first applied in the NESCo area of supply – which ultimately stretched from the Scottish border down through the industrial area of Teesside and into North Yorkshire – well ahead of the rest of the UK.

There is no official history of the Company, although some books have been written on the work of a few of the participants in the Company’s activities.  Much material is now lost due to the passage of time and the disappearance of many of the organisations involved pre-nationalisation.  Research work I have undertaken in recent years has discovered that a not-inconsiderable amount of remaining archive material is fragmented and dispersed amongst former employees of NESCo and its post-nationalisation successor company NEEB, not just in the Region but much further afield.

I am increasingly concerned that much of this information, not just on the Company itself, but on the manufacturing companies which supplied plant and equipment, even the Company’s lawyers, might be lost forever unless it is located, identified and catalogued in the near future.

The electricity supply industry can truly be classified as one of which changed the world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  Companies and individuals in North East England were very important players in that industry and I believe that it is important that the major contribution made by NESCo and its associates should not be lost to future generations.

Please get in touch if you would like to support this project, maybe by donating relevant material or by getting actively involved in the pursuit, recovery and cataloguing of records and artefacts. I shall get back to you when I have a sufficient number of responses. If there is a reasonably positive response, I will organise a meeting where we can discuss how we might take things forward.

Ian Burdon (Ian.burdon@live.co.uk)

Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel

Friends of Puffing Billy

The Friends of Puffing Billy

Dear All ,

The Friends of Puffing Billy – Chairs address , Feb 2016

It has been some two years since the memorable events of the 200thAnniversary of Puffing Billy

in 2013 , along the route of what used to be the historic Wylam Waggonway . During that year ,in conjunction with Beamish Museum and numerous other organizations a series of associated events  took place at schools , centres and parks at Wylam , Heddon on the Wall , Throckley ,Walbottle , Newburn and Lemington.

 

The Wylam Waggonway route is now into its 48th year of use as a Walk and Cycleway . In two years time it will see its 50th Anniversary in 2018 of another chapter in the circa 270 year history of this historic rail route . The Waggonway was the railway that saw the birth of the first practical steam locomotive which set the World Railway Revolution alight and eventually saw the trials of the early Diesel locomotives that ushered in the second railway revolution of British railways. The Wylam Waggonway in the last ten years or so , has seen a tremendous rise in the numbers ofpe ople using it. The importance and popularity of the Wylam Waggonway looks set to continue with the new housing developments on the west side of Newcastle , with potentially 3,500 new homes projected . Another exciting prospect is the development of the new Visitor Centre for Hadrian's Wall , which it is hoped will see an additional annual 250,000 visitors along Hadrian's Way , part of which joins the Wylam Waggonway through Heddon on the Wall , Newburn and Lemington.

 

Due to the demands of other work and other causes on the time of the officers of the Friends of Puffing Billy , the financially trying years of 2014 and 2015 have been relatively quiet. Despite this , the funds of the Friends of Puffing Billy stand at an amount of £1,434.41 in the black.However , in the face of continuing funding difficulties , work has been ticking away on a project arising from the 200th Anniversary Event . The idea is to commemorate Puffing Billy & the Railway Pioneers at the Wylam and Lemington ends of the Waggonway which will involve the local community and schools.

 

The Officers of the Friends of Puffing Billy Elected in 2013 have kindly volunteered to continue in their roles . The Friends of Puffing Billy wish to thank all of those people and organizations that supported the200th Anniversary Events and made it such a success. We look look forward to their continuing support .

Yours faithfully ,

Tom Martin . Chair – Friends of Puffing Billy

The future of the ANLHS

The Future of ANLHS: A Letter from the Chairman and Executive

Dear Member,

The ANLHS meeting at the Lit & Phil on 27^th February is a Members’ Meeting. As in earlier years it will begin with a presentation – this time by ‘History Wardrobe’ - and the Members’ Meeting proper will follow. There will be one item on the agenda and this is the future of ANLHS.

We have reached the position where, regretfully, the current Executive Committee cannot continue and will be standing down at the AGM in November 2016.

The reality is that we have not been able to form a full active committee for some time. One member of the committee is currently doing three jobs! We have no Secretary and ideally we should have a Programme Secretary as well as a Minutes Secretary and Publicity Officer. According to the Constitution (amended November 2012) we should have a committee of 6 officers (chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer, editor of T&T and editor of website) as well up to 7 additional members. Currently we have 9 committee members, some with health problems and Michael Thompson and Jane Bowen gave notice of their retirements long before the last AGM.

We have put out several appeals for people to join the ANLHS Executive committee over the last three years but without success. In addition, specific invitations have been sent to likely individuals (9  in total) all with an interest in local history or North East history, inviting them to join the ANLHS Executive. Although a couple initially expressed some interest, none have actually volunteered to join the committee. Recent experience also tells us that there is very limited interest in participating in ANLHS business meetings. Some previous Members’ Meetings have been reasonably well attended but many people have left after the Speaker’s presentation. Attendance at recent AGMs has been very poor with well below 50% of member societies being represented (out of around 50 member societies, 17 attended at the 2014 AGM and 16 at the 2015 AGM).

In addition, our membership is diminishing. Four fewer LHSs renewed their membership of ANLHS this year.  The (very) few larger LHSs function independently but many smaller LHSs are struggling to survive. Over the last few years at least one has closed each year. The problems of many local societies are mainly due to demography with membership becoming increasingly elderly but with young people not getting involved.  They are not interested in talks in village halls or in local history journals. ANLHS came into existence in 1966 with the objective of encouraging the growth of the study of local history within the county.  At that time, hardly any local history societies existed – now there are about 50.  It could be argued therefore that ANLHS has done its job. Although it is a cliché, times are changing dramatically and, as an organisation, we cannot go on as in the middle of the last century.

The current Executive committee is therefore of the view that, despite their best efforts in recent years, ANLHS cannot continue beyond 2016.  Accordingly, an Extraordinary General Meeting will be arranged at Stannington village hall for Saturday 30^th April where a motion to close ANLHS will be put and where decisions about an orderly closure of the Association will be taken.

The Members’ Meeting following the ‘History Wardrobe’ presentation on 27^th February is intended to provide members with the opportunity to express their views on this situation.  If members are not attending this event we would welcome written observations and comment to the above address or email address by February 24^th 2016.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Barke (Chairman) on behalf of ANLHS Executive Committee.

Round the County Day