Summer Exhibition

Belford Development Trust is holding a three month exhibition in the Trust’s building to coincide with the Golden Age of Northumbria celebrations. The event will open on June 28^th after Belford Players perform their own version of ‘The Laidley Worm of Spindlestone’

The Trust is bringing to life the history of our area from the memories and reminiscences of local people and loaned/donated photos, archive material and objects of interest.  We aim to save these before they are lost for ever, and to show the “younger generation” how very different life was not that long ago. Some of the memories already given are charming, romantic, funny, tragic; some seem mundane but are fascinating to us looking back. As well as Belford we  have stories from Wooler, Seahouses, Berwick, Newcastle and even further afield.

Simple memories seem amazing to us now. One chap remembers his one and only school trip from Chatton School. He cycled to school from a farm 3 miles away then with his classmates cycled to Beal. They then walked to Holy Island and toured the sites. They were all a bit tired by then so the Headmaster hired a horse and buggy to get them back to their bicycles. They then all cycled home – can you imagine a 10 year old doing that today! A lady originally from Berwick remembers the entire school being bundled into the Headmasters car and being taken to see the sites where bombs had been dropped – no such thing as health and safety or risk evaluation.

A display of “lost houses” from grand country houses such as Haggerston Castle to small cottages in the area will be on show with the history of who lived there, what the occupants did etc. We need to hear from anyone that have memories or photos of  the following houses:- Haggerston Castle, Twizell House, Bellshill House, Chatton Colliery Farm, Plantation Farm, Newlands West Lodge, Easington Village or the cottage on Woody Bank, Belford.

A collection of vintage clothing linked to the history of the village will be on show. The village was pretty much self sufficient for clothing with a tannery, spinners, dyers, weavers, tailors, cobblers and milliners. We will show what people wore from the ordinary folk to the gentry.

We would like to cover areas such as agriculture, fishing, mining, industry,

and the war in this area. So much happened that is now forgotten such as the training on Goswick Sands of pilots in readiness for the D Day landings.

A film was made in the 1960s called Look to the Land. It featured local farmers at work and has subsequently been lost, we are trying to find it without success as yet.

A drop in area will be available for people to meet, chat, socialise and hopefully record more of their memories.

Ros Simpson, Chair of the Trust, says, “in a recently conducted survey 74% of people thought that Belford needed its own visitor attraction and considered it one way of halting the economic decline of the High Street. We hope that this exhibition will bring in visitors from outside the area who will then spend time in the village and its shops.

We envisage the exhibition as being rather ad hoc and informal but fascinating; a room of memories, not polished and elaborated but very human. ”

The Trust is appealing for anyone who would like to contribute to the exhibition, either with memories, objects or items of clothing to get in touch with

Fiona Renner-Thompson on:

01668 213377

rennerthompson@btinternet.com.

 If wished someone will come along with a tape recorder to tape your memories.