A Tyneside scene, 1981: Then and Now
THIRTY-SEVEN years separate the two photographs on the left that capture the same Tyneside location.
Subtle differences highlight the near four decades that have elapsed.
The cars, the passing train, and the red white and blue bunting in the earlier picture are all points of contrast.
The terraced houses on the right of the older image have also gone, replaced in the last few years by new properties.
We’re looking at Bensham in Gateshead.
The two striking images were taken by keen amateur photographer, Trevor Ermel.
Hailing from Gateshead, but resident today in Whitley Bay, Trevor has built up a fine body of pictures which chart the changing face of Tyneside over the last five decades.
Of the older image, he says: “We see Macadam Street - just off Saltwell Road in Gateshead - decked with flags celebrating the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer which took place on July 29, 1981. A London-bound ‘InterCity 125’ train is speeding past.”
As for the up-to-date picture, Trevor says: “The North side of Macadam Street - on the right - had been rebuilt with new housing by the time of this modern view from August 2018.
“The postman crossing the road is oblivious to the ‘CrossCountry’ train heading past, bound for Reading. I wonder how many people travel from Newcastle to Reading?”
Today, Bensham remains a busy suburb for families who work in and around Tyneside - and it houses a community of around 5,000 Orthodox Jews whose ancestors flocked to the area in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Later, during the Nazi era, Jewish businessmen refugees from Hitler’s Germany - settled in Gateshead, making it one of the largest centres of orthodox Jewish scholarship outside the United States and Israel.