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Gateshead makes Local History Month its own |
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Gateshead makes Local History Month its own |
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Gateshead will be a beacon of local history activity during May 2008 thanks to the efforts of Anthea Lang, Gateshead Council’s Local History & Heritage Manager, who has enthused colleagues and local historians, individually and collectively, to come together and create an amazingly varied programme of events with something for everyone. The events have been organised as Gatehead’s contribution to Local History Month. To find out more you can download your own leaflet at: www.gateshead.gov.uk/ls, then click on the ‘Latest News’ box headed ‘Local History Month’. When this opens you will see a ‘document’ box to your right containing the leaflet. You can be forgiven if the fact that May 2008 is ‘Local History Month’ has passed you by. Despite being the brainchild of the Historical Association some years ago it doesn’t even rate a mention on the home page of their website. Nor can you find any reference on the British Association for Local History website, not even on their ‘Events Page’. What information there is about next month’s activities can be found at HA’s Local and Community History website, www.halocal.org.uk. The good news is that it’s a little better than it was in 2007 when only 32 events were listed. This year there are 70 events, but only one of these relates to a local history society. At the time of writing (18 April 2008), there are no events listed for South West England and fewer than 10 in the Midlands (6) and the North West (9). 32 of the events listed are in the North East, of which 6 are in Gateshead — where over 100 events will be taking place. Now it may be the case that Gateshead is typical of what is happening everywhere, insomuch as only a few events have been posted to the Local History Month website whilst many more are actually taking place. Experience and what information we have received direct does not support this view. The truth is that until Anthea Lang sent us Gateshead’s programme of events had not received a single Calendar entry mentioning Local History Month. As things stand Gateshead and the North East appeared to have made the event their own and if it is ever to become the national event it should be, even if in different months in different regions, then it will be because of the hard work of Anthea and her colleagues. Unfortunately, we do not have the space or the time to do full justice to all the events taking place in Gateshead during May 2008, so here is a small selection (either download the leaflet as mentioned in the first paragraph or contact Anthea Lang, tel: 0191 433 8400, email: anthealang@gateshead.gov.uk for more information). Events with ‘PBE’ at the end must be pre-booked by telephoning Gateshead Central Library, tel: 0191 433 8420. 4 ‘Stories behind the stones’. A cholera memorial, a grave without a body and a sporting hero are just some of the memorials to be found on a walk around Gateshead East & St Edmund’s cemeteries, meet at the War Memorial, Wordsworth Street, Gateshead, 10,30am, free, PBE. |
22 April 2008 |
