Step back 65 years to old Gateshead
THE QUEEN’S CORONATION IS CELEBRATED ON THE STREETS
WELCOME to part two of our new CineSecrets series. Over the coming months, we will be revealing hidden gems showing historic Tyneside on film.
They come from the unique collection of the region’s North East Film Archive.
Today we step back 65 years to June 2, 1953.
Austerity is forgotten in Gateshead as it splashes its streets with red, white and blue to celebrate the Coronation of the new Queen, Elzabeth II.
And why not? There are prizes to be had for the best-dressed streets. Do you recognise anyone pictured in this clip?
Sugar rationing had not yet ended, but children nationwide were treated to cakes, blancmange and jellies, and souvenir Coronation mugs.
On the day, a pig was roasted in Dunston Park, Gateshead, and other activities included a domino drive.
The crowning of Queen Elizabeth introduced colour and extravagance to a generation used to the drabness associated with the war years – the black-outs, brown or blue serge demob suits, no-frills utility fashion, the makedo-and-mend.
As the rain finally eased at around 7pm on Tyneside that day, the people of Gateshead emerged from houses and halls to celebrate on the street.
This particular film for the County Borough of Gateshead is one of four held in North East Film Archive collections made in the 1940s and 1950s by John W McHugh, who worked with the Gateshead Police Photographic Department.
You can see more footage of Gateshead’s exuberant Coronation celebrations in 1953 on the North East Film Archive website www. yorkshirefilmarchive.com
Some of the Gateshead streets
featured include Brussels Street, Suffolk Place, Gainsborough Crescent, Roseberry Avenue and Wardill Gardens.
Looking ahead, once a month we’ll release a Tyneside treasure from the archive on our website - www. chroniclelive.co.uk - and on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
You’ll see the sights and sounds, the faces, changing landscapes and industries of a ‘lost’ Tyneside.
You’ll experience special events just as they happened and watch everyday lives and the region’s rich past unfold on screen.
If these films spark your own memories, or you spot a familiar face, then please drop us a line.
Any nuggets of information, and tales about the people or the locations featured will help to piece together the amazing stories of our region’s past.
CineSecrets forms just a tiny fragment of a vast catalogue of film collected and preserved by the North East Film Archive.
It’s part of the archive’s major new project, North East on Film, which will re-connect the people and communities of the region with their film heritage, and provide important glimpses into our history through special screenings, events and online collections.
The Chronicle is delighted to be teaming up with the North East Film Archive once again.
CineSecrets: Tyneside has been specially curated with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Meanwhile, we hope you enjoyed last month’s first CineSecrets clip from the North East Film Archive.
It showed the official launch by the Queen Mother of the Northern Star passenger liner at Vickers-Armstrong’s Naval Yard in Walker, Newcastle, on June 27, 1961.
Around 17,000 people have so far viewed the clip on the Chronicle’s website and Facebook page.
Our third CineSecrets feature will be published early in July. ■■To find out more about #NorthEastonFilm visit: www. yorkshirefilmarchive.com