Shutters show a historic window to golden days

A HISTORY group is laying on a tour of the shops to provide a window into the past of their town.

- TONY HENDERSON @Hendrover

A scheme to brighten up the High Street and town centre area of Wallsend and at the same time spark interest in the town's history has seen shop shutters decorated with a variety of images from ship launches and the days of trams to workers leaving Swan Hunter'shipyard, a former cinema on Station Road and the narrow streets of old Wallsend.

Two images adorn the shutter at the the AD Tackle shop. One is of the liner Mauretania under construction and the second of the tanker World Unicorn taking shape in 1973 at the bottom of Leslie Street.

Now as part of Wallsend Local History Week, which runs until Sunday, a free hour-long walking tour of the shop shutters will be held on Wednesday from 6.30pm, starting at Wallsend Community Hub and Library.

It will be led by Wallsend Local History Society's Steve Allerdyce. The 1948 marriage photograph of his parents, Sylvia and Alex, covers the shutter of a wedding and prom shop.

Eighteen shutters have been given the pictorial treatment and Steve said: "This has created a lot of interest."

Through the scheme, one family of dancers has tapped into decades of good times at the town's Memorial Hall.

The hall shutters feature a picture of Christine March as a young girl dancing in the 1960s at 'The Mem.