Trains, boats ... and rhubarb
Dec 12 2006 By David Whetstone, The Journal
Good books about the North-East - or published in the North-East - are in no short supply as the region continues to inspire writers, photographers and publishers. David Whetstone chooses a few you will find in the run-up to Christmas.
Let No Wheels Turn by Margaret Hutcherson (TUPS Books; tel 0191 419 0446; £6.95)
Margaret Hutcherson's book takes us back to a time of hardship when coal owners were calling for lower wages for miners whose families were eking out a living on the pittance they earned.
"When I was a young girl," she explains, "Grandfather told me how he and the miners of his village played a part in the derailing of the Flying Scotsman during the difficult days of the General Strike of May 1926.
"With tears in his eyes, he unrolled a wad of yellowing newspaper cuttings of that time, reporting the event, saying that one day I should write this story to tell of the desperate actions hungry men will take to fight for their rights."
Her grandfather, Richard Brierley, of Cramlington, had been a miner but was a shopkeeper in High Pit, Cramlington, at the time of the derailing. He died in 1957. As Margaret says: "It has taken a while but, Grandpa, I have kept my promise."
Fired up by a speech by union leader William Golightly, a group of miners lifted out a piece of rail near Cramlington station. They were hoping to derail a coal train but instead caused the Flying Scotsman to crash en route to London.
By the time the traumatised passengers began to emerge from the carriages, many of the culprits had fled. As some of their wives and mothers arrived to help, one crash victim yelled: "Go home and wash your dirty selves and your dirty homes. We don't want help from the likes of you." Incredibly, nobody was killed in the crash.
Although as many as 30 men were involved in the derailing, only eight were brought before the courts to receive sentences ranging from four to eight years' penal servitude, some of them reduced on appeal.
The Last of the Hunters by Peter Mortimer (Five Leaves, £6.99)
Twenty years ago the Cullercoats writer Peter Mortimer went to sea with the fishermen of North Shields, experiencing at first-hand one of the toughest ways of earning a living.
He would write: "Within hours of being out in the North Sea, any folksy, romantic notions drain out through your unsteady legs, and you realise that this is a harsh battle for survival, that the North Shields fisherman often works grindingly long hours in conditions not tolerated by landlubbers for maybe a century."
Peter's book, described as "a minor classic", was first published in 1987 to coincide with the first North Shields Fish Quay Festival. According to Nottingham-based publisher Five Leaves, it went out of print but was still in demand - which is why they have brought out this new edition.
In an "afterword", Peter explains the further shrinkage of an industry which was vanishing even two decades ago. Forty-odd boats fishing out of North Shields are probably now down to a dozen, he notes.
He confesses to "a certain melancholia" but reasons that "it merely signifies the passing of time, against which we are helpless and therefore should not struggle".
My Country: Discovering North-East England Volume II by Tony Henderson (The Journal and At Heart Publishing, £14.99)
The first volume of My Country: Discovering North-East England explored over 30 special places in this most surprising of regions.
It proved a hit with readers and now comes Volume II. In it The Journal's Environment Editor visits another 31 destinations and shows just how much there is to uncover and enjoy in terms of the North-East's heritage and unspoilt and diverse landscapes - each with their own story to tell.
The deeper one delves, the more there is to find - and the well is far from dry in this captivating part of the world.
If you enjoyed the first volume, you will know what awaits in this second instalment.
If you missed the last book, you have the choice of opting for a double helping of the delights which the region has to offer.
My Country: Discovering North-East England Volume II, post and package extra.
A Handful Of Stars by Janet Macleod Trotter (Headline, £19.99)
The 1930s Depression features darkly in the history of the North-East and also in this latest novel by the Northumberland writer. It was a time of pain as well as hope and dignity, the latter characteristics evident in the personality of Clara Magee, our heroine.
The 17-year-old is devastated when her father commits suicide, weighed down with gambling debts. Her family, headed by Clara's mother Patience, are forced to sell their fancy goods shop to a German couple.
Clara befriends their daughter and younger son while casting admiring glances at their older brother, Frank.
But Patience thinks old family friend Vinnie Craven would make a better husband for her daughter and, when Frank leaves abruptly for Germany, Clara relents. Bad move. Vinnie is a right-wing thug who enjoys bashing the Tyneside `Reds'.
He becomes a committed member of the British Fascist Party and has an affair with another leader's wife. Clara, meanwhile, is left to care for their handicapped child.
Macleod Trotter writes with confidence and conviction, weaving together a panorama of inter-connected incidents, all charged with feeling and emotion. It's another good read and it proceeds to a dramatic climax.
GEORGE CURRIE
Geordie Diary 2007 (Newcastle Stuff, £6.95)
Unfortunately Marshall D Hall's Geordie Diary begins with a bit of misinformation on January 1, 2007, when Newcastle United are playing Manchester United rather than - as stated - Spurs. But as he declares on the title page that "the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions", we must blame a gremlin.
Also on that day, we learn, blind beggar Thomas Ferens died in 1907. `Tommy on the Bridge' begged in the middle of the Swing Bridge each day for 30 years in the belief that neither Gateshead nor Newcastle police could arrest him. The Grim Reaper got him in the end.
Each day of 2007 is furnished with similar nuggets of happenstance. On January 6, 1838, skaters were out on the Tyne which had frozen solid for five miles, even allowing passage to loaded carts.
There's a section of Geordie facts, a Geordie dictionary and a Geordie timeline. Each week of the year also contains a potted biography or history of a Tyneside icon, whether it be Alan Shearer, Lord Collingwood or Coffee Johnny who died on April 5, 1900, and features in Geordie anthem Blaydon Races.
There's a website worth checking - www.newcastlestuff.com
Tyneside's Finest (Tyne Bridge Publishing, £9.99)
Why should you count your lucky stars that you live within jogging distance of the Tyne? Packed within these pages are many reasons, all suggested by more than 50 writers and specialists based in the region.
From finest poet to finest inventor, finest composer to finest open space, there is more than enough here to justify the title. Tyneside, you will conclude, is a pretty fine place.
This is a great book to dip into and a useful resource. Want a potted biography of the Venerable Bede or Charles Avison? Here it is, with pictures to support the words.
Flights Of Fancy edited by Mark Roberts (Falcon Press, £6.95)
This is a real Christmas stocking of a book, an anthology of contributions from a host of authors including Alan Titchmarsh, Denise Robertson and Pam Ayres.
Editor Mark Roberts, who lives in Trimdon, County Durham, rightly describes it as "a publication designed to be read from age eight to 80, with something for everyone.
"Humour, pathos, fact and fiction, reminiscence, trips down memory lane, but mostly with a North-East feel."
One of the contributors is Roberts himself who became a writer and then editor after serving with the Royal Navy and the Fleet Air Arm.
All proceeds from the book, which sports a splendid photo of The Angel of the North on its front cover, go to the Great North Air Ambulance.
The book is on sale in Asda stores - or from Mark Roberts. Tel (07860) 125515 or email markthebook06@aol.com
Geordiefella: Road To Hell by Terry Miller, as told to Gordon Taylor (TAGL Publishing, £9.95)
Few top chefs are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and Terry Miller was no exception, as you will find in this jovial biography.
The 2004 winner of TV show Hell's Kitchen recalls life on an estate in Longbenton with six brothers and their parents squashed into a two-bedroom flat. It was, he recalls, "a hell of a grounding in getting on with people".
There was just enough food to live on, he reckons. Looking back, he realises his mum worked wonders on a tight budget.
Of his own interest in food we learn a great deal. Moving to a bigger house in High Heaton on the day of the 1966 World Cup final, Terry discovered a plentiful supply of rhubarb in the garden. "Of course, being me, I decided to snap it all off and eat as much as possible..." Raw rhubarb, I think we can be certain, does not feature on the menu at Rockafella, Terry's Newcastle restaurant.
