North East History North North East History Volume 45 East
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north east history north north east history volume 45 east • Brandling Place Home For Penitent Women • A footnote in the history of a north east film archive history North East History 45 2014 • The Community Development Project in North Volume 45 2014 Shields 1971-1977 • Middlesbrough Football - Early History • Reflections on 1984-5 miners strike • Personal and oral histories of life in Sunderland, County Durham and Usworth • Book reviews, project reports and NELHS news The north east labour history society holds regular meetings on a wide variety of subjects. The society welcomes new members. We have an increasingly busy web-site at www.nelh.org Supporters are welcome to contribute to discussions journal of the north east labour history society Volume 45 http://nelh.org/ 2014 journal of the north east labour history society north east history north east Volume 45 2014 history ISSN 14743248 © 2014 NORTHUMBERLAND Printed by Azure Printing Units 1 F & G Pegswood Industrial Estate Pegswood Morpeth TYNE & Northumberland WEAR NE61 6HZ Tel: 01670 510271 DURHAM TEESSIDE journal of the north east labour history society www.nelh.net 1 north east history Contents Editorial 5 Notes on contributors, acknowledgements & permissions 7 How to submit articles 11 Articles: Brandling Place Home for Penitent Women - Sheila Foster 13 Spiritual shelter ‘Sanctimonious Sweatshop’? Thirty Years On: A footnote on the history Bob Davis 29 of the regional film archive Kicking up dust in North Shields: the story Patrick Candon 43 of a Home Office experiment in community action in the 1970s and its aftermath A Noble Game Became Degraded: Catherine Budd 63 The Rise and allF of Professional Football and Neil Carter in Middlesbrough, 1889-1894 Interpreting Photographs Peter Brabban 81 The Concept of the Moral Economy in Aidan Harper 85 Mining Communities of the North East in the 1830s and 1840s Oral History: Jim Tatters, Usworth Colliery John Suggett 115 Breaking The Bond: Coal Mining Trade Stuart Howard 127 Unionism in Nineteenth Century Sunderland The Miners’ Strike of 1984-5 with an introduction by John Stirling 145 Fred Ramsey – more than a stereotype Peter Brabban 163 A Labour Boyhood Archie Potts 179 2 north east history Their Geordies and Ours (part 2) Dave Harker 187 NELHS pages Reviews, news and ‘history in brief’: 216 contributions from projects and members Book Reviews 217 Film Review 236 Projects People’s History of the North East 238 JMW Turner’s Painting Keelmen Heaving Terry Welsh 245 in Coals by Moonlight Leazes Park: A people’s park Maureen Dickson 252 W E Adams - Omission from Brief History of John Charlton 257 Radicalism in North East England for the Popular Politics Project A Banner unearthed! Don Watson 259 2014 Secretary’s report 261 NELH Officers, Committee and How to contact the Society 262 Consititution 263 Sid Chaplin Labour History Trophy 265 How to join the society 266 3 north east history Shaping the Labour Party Conference 2015 To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the election of the first majority Labour government in 1945, the School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology at Bangor University will be hosting a Conference on the history of the Labour Party, entitled ‘Shaping the Labour Party’. This Conference will explore the themes and influences that have shaped the Party’s direction since its inception and will focus not only on the parliamentary party, but also the wider party, labour movement and other groups and individuals that have influenced development of Party policy and direction, both in government and opposition. As well as exploring the Party’s ideological evolution, the conference will examine regional and local issues and discuss their relevance to party development. In so doing, the conference hopes to build on Bangor University’s tradition of stimulate debate and encouraging further research into this vital facet of labour history. The Conference will take place on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th March 2015 and will be open to anyone who is interested in offering a paper on the history of the Labour Party but with a particular focus on influences, actions and events that have shaped policy. For further information contact Marc Collinson at hip20d@bangor. ac.uk or Martin Hanks on [email protected]. 4 north east history NOTE FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD The contributions making up this edition of the Journal cover an impressive range of topics. We have begun with Shiela Foster’s description of Brandling Place Home for Penitent Women detailing how it endeavoured to help women, some as young as 14 years old, adopt a healthier and morally acceptable way of life This is followed by two pieces which deal with more recent history: Bob Davis marks the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of a regional film archive, while Patrick Candon explores the roots of Community Development Projects of the 1970s and the impact on the people and politics of North Tyneside. Catherine Budd & Neil Carter have provided an insight into the rise and fall of Middlesbrough Ironopolis Football Company Ltd during the period 1889-1894. To mark the thirtieth Anniversary year of the Miners’ Strike we have included some personal recollections from Davy Hopper, Mary Stratford, Vin & Pat McIntyre, Bala Nair and Thea Khamis which can be read against the backdrop of the release of Government papers relating to the strike. These accounts deal with bitter memories alongside the sense of solidarity generated in communities across the region. Going further back in mining history Aidan Harper’s piece examines how songs and ballads of the 1830s and 1840s often conveyed the values of mining communities - an expression of the moral economy of the day. Stuart Howard deals with nineteenth century trade union action to break the Bond in Sunderland. Finally, the mining theme is completed with a personal history of collier Jim Tatters born in 1921. John Suggett’s interview with Jim describes the experience of life underground and conditions for families above ground characterised by poor housing and inadequate health care. The personal history theme continues with an account of Fred Ramsay’s long life which began just after the end of the First World War and ended in 1980 when his poems were discovered. Peter Brabban uses the poems, 5 north east history personal and family recollections to tell a moving story of Fred, his family and the very individual experiences of his uncle’s life. Peter has also supplied us with a guide to interpreting photographs through two contrasting images. Archie Potts shares his recollections of growing up in Sunderland from the 1930s to Labour’s victory in 1945. We conclude this issue with the second part of Dave Harker’s investigation of the use of “Geordie”. In the Society’s section Willie Thompson has co-ordinated a number of book reviews. The Society’s current project, A People’s History of the North East, is reported on pages 237-255 demonstrating the enthusiasms and research interests of but a few project members. Judith McSwaine Convenor, Editorial Board Brian Bennison Peter Brabben John Charlton Kath Conolly John Creaby Mike Greatbatch John Stirling Paul Mayne Willie Thompson Win Stokes Many thanks to Sue Ward for her “sub-editing” role; Joan Nicklin for her advice; and proof readers: Maria Goulding, Peter Latham, Johanne McSwaine, Janet Metcalf, Liz O’Donnell, Sarah Rennie, Maureen Dickson, Elaine Pope and Amanda Wintcher. 6 north east history NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Peter Brabban was one of the first NHS babies born in Consett, Co. Durham. Leaving school at 15, he has had two distinct careers. Firstly, as a photographer he worked in both commercial (fashion and portraiture) and documentary photography for the labour movement and for Oxfam. He has worked in Zaire (DC Congo), Zimbabwe, the Rwandan refugee camps and lastly in Cambodia. After studying History at Sunderland Polytechnic he began a second career as a campaigner working for War on Want, Oxfam, Age Concern and the National Trust. He is retired and lives in Newcastle. Dr Catherine Budd is an associate lecturer in modern European history at De Montfort University (DMU). She completed her PhD, ‘The Growth of an Urban Sporting Culture – Middlesbrough, c.1870-1914’, at DMU in 2012. Patrick Candon has lived and worked in the North East for over 30 years. He spent over 20 years as a teacher of humanities and social sciences. Before he retired, he worked for 10 years in Education and Children’s Services for Sunderland local authority. Dr Neil Carter is a senior research fellow in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University. He is the author of The Football Manager: A History(Routledge, 2006) and Medicine, Sport and the Body: A Historical Perspective (Bloomsbury Academic, 2012). Bob Davis came to the North East in 1971 to work as a sociologist firstly at Durham University and then at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic with the North Tyneside Community Development Project (CDP). Following a spell as a community worker he turned film-maker with Trade Films (latterly Common Features). Still associated with the company Trade Films, he now lives in France. Sheila Foster created and taught a range of heritage and ICT courses 7 north east history and specialised in Oral History during her career with Durham County Council’s Library Service. Sheila was a Regional Net-worker for the Oral History Society for ten years and, although retired, continues to work as a freelance oral historian. Dave Harker wrote “One for the Money”, “Fakesong”, “Tressell” and “Gannin’ to Blaydon Races!” He edited two Surtees Society volumes and co-edited “The Big Red Song Book”, “The Flying Pickets” and the Open University Press “Popular Music in Britain” series.