A sign of the times back in ‘82
FALKLANDS CONFLICT WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE 35 YEARS AGO
ONE of the landmark events of the 1980s was the Falklands War.
Much has been written about the rights and wrongs of the conflict.
But when Argentinian forces invaded and occupied the remote South Atlantic islands on April 2, 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher responded by sending a powerful task force to re-take the territory.
Seventy-four days later on June 14, Argentina surrendered and the conflict was over with the loss of 255 British servicemen and 649 Argentines.
Our powerful main image was captured on Tyneside by photographer Trevor Ermel almost exactly 35 years ago.
He recently revisited the same location to find out how it looks today.
Of his older photo, Trevor say: “Emotions ran high during the Falklands war, as evidenced by this graffiti on the side of a shop in Oakwood Gardens, in the Lobley Hill area of Gateshead, taken on June 19th, 1982.
“Perhaps the two ladies are discussing the Argentine surrender five days earlier.”
And of the newer photograph, taken three and a half decades later, he added: “In 2017 the building is still recognisable, although various items have appeared in front and new windows have been installed upstairs.
“I didn’t get the name of the chap with the two dogs who kindly agreed to appear in the photo, but I hope he gets tonight’s Chronicle!”
Trevor Ermel is today based in Whitley Bay, but he was born and bred in Gateshead.
Since he began taking photographs of trains as a schoolboy in the 1960s, he has gone on to amass a superb body of work capturing the changing urban and riverside views of Tyneside in the decades since.
Recently, Trevor has been returning to some of the old locations and photographing what is there today.