What’s On

A volunteer lead exhibition which takes a broad look at the Merchant Navy during the 20th and 21st centuries and the very big part it played and still plays in the lives of people on both sides of the Tyne.

The exhibition materials cover everything from local shipping companies and repair yards, the world wars, the support and training offered to visiting seafarers of all nations, a boarding school for children who had lost a parent in the service, the Merchant Navy of today and the future, as well as stories from individuals and families.

£4 / free for members

Mindfulness Drop-In Class lead by Michael Atkinson of the The Centre for Mindfulness and Wellbeing.

Donation (Suggest £3-£5).

Join Peter Jackson to explore the history of Preston Village.

£4 per person. + Booking fee

Explore the religious, military and maritime history of Tynemouth and learn how it came to be the popular place to live and to visit that it is today.

£4 per person. + Booking fee

Old Low Light volunteer and local author Mike Coates will talk about how the existence of the Powburn – once an important tributary of the River Tyne – was an important factor in the development of the medieval St Leonard’s Hospital and Northumberland Park.

£4 / members half price (+ booking fee if booked in advance).

We are very pleased to welcome Astrid Adams and Janice Snowball to talk about how the Blyth Tall Ship, the William Smith II – inspired by the story of a local sea captain who discovered the first land in Antarctica - has become a ‘life-changing gangway to the sea’ for people of all ages. They will also share the story of their amazing Williams Gansey Project which resulted in volunteer knitters all over the world.

£4 / free for members (+booking fee for pre-booked tickets).

During Black History Month, local historian David Young will shine a light on Charles Udor Minto MBE, a former middleweight boxing champion in his home country Nigeria, who found his way to North Shields in 1925 and became an active community leader, lobbying successfully for a social centre for Black residents of the town.

He will reveal the key episodes of Charles’s life in North Shields, an extraordinary story full of twists and turns. 

£4 / free for members (+booking fee for pre-booked tickets).

Author the Rt Hon Baroness Joyce Quin will talk about the second volume of Angels of the North, produced with fellow author, Moira Kilkenny. It celebrates the achievements of a further 35 notable women of the North East, including some from North Tyneside, ‘whose actions have led to improvements in different aspects of our national or local life, or women whose personal creativity, bravery and persistence is inspirational and which can encourage and motivate us all’.

£4 / free for members (+booking fee for pre-booked tickets).

Expert willow weaver Lorraine Griffiths will lead another workshop at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre when participants will have the opportunity to make Christmas stars and baubles. Suitable for new and more experienced willow weavers.

£35pp + booking fee

David Kidd, chair of the Coble and Keelboat Society, will talk about how this disaster, 175 years ago, which resulted in the loss of 20 of the Providence’s crew of 24 within sight of their homes on the Lawe at South Shields, changed the history of Britain’s lifeboats.

He will explain how the Providence was attempting to rescue the crew of the Betsy which was stranded on Herd Sand. Following the disaster, there was a competition for the design of an improved self-righting lifeboat which became the RNLI’s standard lifeboat.

£4 / free for members (+booking fee for pre-booked tickets).