£18m expansion
LOTTERY CASH USED TO HELP FUND MAJOR NEW PROJECT
museum, and outside,” he said.
“A lot of the money is coming from heritage lottery funding, so hopefully people will be pleased, really pleased, to see that money for good causes being spent here in the North East.”
The development will eventually bring 30 buildings to the site. Some will be replicas of structures from across the region, while others will be moved piece by piece and recreated in the museum.
Spain’s Field Farm, which will be moved from its current location in Weardale, will tell the story of agricultural life in the region and the technological changes which affected it in the 50s.
Below the farm will lie a full 1950s town, featuring a community centre, homes, shops, a cafe, a bowling green and a fish and chip shop.
One of the major new draws will be a 500seat cinema, the Grand Electric, from Ryhope. During the day, short films and newsreel will be shown, but the museum could be opened up at night for full feature showings.
There will also be a number of aged miners’ homes, which will offer support for older people and those with dementia.
Richard said: “The reason we chose the 1950s was it was a period of tremendous change in the North East, following World War Two.
“There were changes to housing, an incredible amount of building, changes to industry as some mines closed but new ones opened, developments in transport and life at home, we saw developments in education and the birth of the NHS.
“These are all stories we will be able to tell, from the perspective of ordinary people in the North East.” New attractions will also be added to the Georgian area of the museum, which depicts North East life in the 1820s. The first of the new exhibits to be open to visitors will be ‘Joe the quilter’s cottage,’ a traditional heather-thatched cottage from Northumberland, which will open next year. Over the next three to four years, museum bosses say history-lovers will be able to gradually visit all the new buildings as they open. Richard said: “Hopefully we’ve been able to capture stories from right across the region, from Teesside right up to Northumberland - although it’s just a field now you have to have some imagination to see that over the next three to four years you’ll see those new exhibits and those stories being told.” The development is set to create nearly 100 new jobs, 50 of them apprenticeships, and it’s thought an extra 100,000 tourists will be attracted to visit. Richard Evans TRANSPORT Secretary Chris Grayling has incensed regional leaders by claiming the North-South investment gap is a “myth”.
Speaking at an event in Manchester, he defended his government’s record on investment in the region after sustained criticism that the funding is focused on London and the South East.
After his recent decision to scrap the planned electrification of key Northern rail routes, he was hammered by regional political leaders.
But today he came out fighting, saying research by think tank IPPR North which exposed the depth of the imbalance was wrong. They found that, when Crossrail 2 is taken into account, transport spend per head in London will be nearly £3,400, compared to £427 in the North.
He said: “The figures you have heard completely misunderstands the nature of spending and the nature of the figures.”
Ed Cox, director of IPPR North, defended his work, saying: “He’s wrong. He’s actually wrong about historical spending.
“Mr Grayling needs to be more specific about what he’s referring to.
“If there is so much discussion around this, we would be happy for this matter to be referred to the Office for National Statistics.”