Tour takes in North East’s idols
TAKE A TOUR OF THE NORTH EAST TO REVISIT SOME REAL LOCAL HEROES, WRITES BARBARA HODGSON
THE popular Tyne Idols tours are travelling further afield with a new route being launched for the summer.
The North Tyneside tour company – which specialises in entertainment trips, bringing alive local culture for passengers – is now crossing the river to South Tyneside. And there it will showcase some surprising connections to music and film with help from Ray Laidlaw. The Lindisfarne favourite is to play host and will act as a, no doubt, hugely entertaining guide as he gives a running commentary during the trip.
“This is a brand new tour and one that our team is very much looking forward to doing,” he said. “The variety there is amazing from Monty Python to Thelma and Louise and George Harrison to Little Mix – there’s something for everyone on this tour.”
He added: “Everything and everyone we feature all have links to South Tyneside and our research has unearthed some amazing connections, strange coincidences and even a dancing circus animal called Nellie the Elephant!”
Tyne Idols’ current programme includes the likes of music tours and locations of film and TV sets and its yellow double-decker bus is a familiar sight around the city streets.
Its original Newcastle Gateshead tour celebrates the story of The Animals and Get Carter in the region, as well as Lindisfarne’s record-breaking concerts at the City Hall.
Its Coastal Heroes Tour, on the north side of the Tyne, takes in similar pop culture roots in North Shields, Whitley Bay and Blyth. Now the new tour will do the same for the opposite side of the water as the bus heads through the Tyne Tunnel to South Tyneside.
The three-hour South Tyneside Coastal Heroes Tour is inspired by what organisers call “the rich mixture of musicians, writers, comedians and actors that hail from the borough”.
Passengers on board are being promised a lively blast to the past as the sightseeing will be peppered with interesting facts, visits to TV locations and even the odd watering hole or two, as the three-hour trip includes two stops for refreshments at “iconic locations”.
The tours begin on Sunday, July 1, when a bus leaves from the Gibraltar Rock pub in Tynemouth at 1.30pm and 2pm from The Customs House South Shields.
To book a tour, which costs £10, call Julie Clay at Tyne Idols on 0191 253 1618 or email her at julie@tyneidols. com
■ Tickets are also available at The Word in South Shields.