Giving McFly a run for his money

Within the next four years, we’ll all be given the chance to play the UK version of Back to the Future’s Marty McFly!

Work has begun on the new £18million development at Beamish Museum to transport visitors back to the 1950s.

It will be fascinating to see just how the 50s of North East England compares to the Hollywood vision of that decade. Remaking Beamish is sure to throw up differences and similarities in equal measure.

But the development is more than a quirky exhibition, it’s an historical project that will enrich our region for years to come.

Beamish conjures up so many images for generations in our community who have hugely fond memories of school and family trips to this living museum.

And that is what sets it apart from the rest ... you don’t just see history, you get to live it. Museum director Richard Evans is spot on when he says: “Everyone can relate to this museum. It’s their museum, we’re just the custodians of it. This is their story.”

But as well has harking to the past, it also delivers for the here and now ... and the future.

The £18million investment, the creation of 100 jobs, apprenticeship schemes and the promise of bringing in 100,000 extra tourists are a boon for our region.

It’s a fantastic, enriching project in so many different ways.

Beamish is not only the home of history in our region, it is an important part of our heritage and our future economic and educational prosperity.

Mr McFly’s historical jaunt in the movie franchise Back To The Future is great knockabout fun, but our Beamish knocks it into a cocked hat.