We have been pleased to welcome Norma Redfearn, Elected Mayor of North Tyneside to the centre twice in the last few weeks.

First, early in October. she called in to see our “That’s Women’s Work” exhibition while visiting the Sea-Fit event being run by the Fishermen’s Mission outside the Old Low Light.

Norma said our exhibition was “outstanding” and promised to return with a colleague from North Tyneside Council’s press office who she hoped might help us with out promotion of “That’s Women’s Work”.

Within three weeks, Norma was back with her colleague David Hemming. They spoke to some of the volunteers who had been involved in the curation of the exhibition and also Sheila Hirsch, a retired trawler kipper from North Shields, whose story features on one of the display panels.

Norma is the third VIP to visit the centre within the last month. At the end of September we welcomed Lord Neil Mendoza, Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal who visited with a team from Historic England. A week later, our local MP Alan Campbell spent almost two hours in the centre, talking to staff, volunteers and visiting our exhibition where he also met retired fisherman, Brian Chambers and Sheila Hirsch.