February 28, 2010 South Shields Groyne

South Shields groyne on a stormy High Tide - the waves where sweeping over the piers and you can see inside the piers the sea was still quite rough.
In the distance across the river you can see Tynemouth Priory and the statue to Lord Collingwood who took command of the British fleet after the death of Nelson at Trafalgar.

February 27, 2010 HMS Ark Royal

HMS Ark Royal is the flagship of the Royal Navy and is currently visiting the Tyne and is berthed at North Shields Commisioners Quay.
The Ark Royal is the fifth ship to bear that name in the Royal Navy, the first being in 1587 built to the order of Walter Raleigh for Queen Elizabeth.
The current Ark Royal was built in 1978 in the Wallsend yard by Swan Hunters and has a displacement of 20,235 tonnes and is nearly 700 feet long. It is the sister ship of HMS Invincible and HMS Illustrious which was also built on the Tyne.

February 26, 2010 Discover the Discovery Museum

The Discovery Museum is on Blenheim Street and you pass it on the Boulevard into the city from the Redheugh Bridge - It's just on the left before Westgate Road.
The Museum was founded in Exhibition Park in 1934 as the Museum of Science & Industry and was the first Science Museum in the UK outside London.
In 1978 the museum relocated to the Old Co-op Northern Region Headquarters that was Blandford House which is this building pictured.
The museum is free and houses amongst other attractions the Turbinia which was the worlds first and fastest steam turbine powered Vessel which was built by Charles Parsons at Brown & Hood in Wallsend in 1894

February 25, 2010 Pelaw Metro Station

Pelaw Metro Station by Night - pelaw sits at the point where the metro lines to South Shields and Sunderland meet up and is a busy exchange station. Pelaw itself is a suburb of Gateshead and was once renowned for its factories producing textiles, printing and furniture ... but to my knowledge there's never been a rice factory !!!

February 24, 2010 Free Trade Bar

Another view this time from the bottom of the Ouseburn near its confluence with the Tyne . This picture was taken from beyond the Byker bank looking across to the Hotel du Vin.
There are some excellent real ale pubs here and just to the left of this location you can find the Free Trade Inn whilst just near the chimney you will also find the Tyne Bar . The Free Trade Bar has probably the best Beer garden in Newcastel with superb views of the River & Bridges much like this picture.

February 23, 2010 The Cluny

Staying on the Ouseburn this is straight across the road from the City Farm on Stepney Bank. The Cluny is a popular venue for live music - this two level venue was openend in 1999 inside what was an old Whisky Bottling Factory.

February 22, 2010 City Farm

Newcastle City Farm was formed in 1980 on Stepney Bank and sits on the Ouseburn nestled below three bridges which carry the busy Shields road between Newcastle & Byker, the metro train line and the third bridge is the famous Ouseburn Viaduct which was built as part of the Newcastle to North Shields train line in 1839,
The City farm provides a little bit of the country right in the heart of Newcastle's East end and gives local children the chance to visit & see many animals they otherwise wouldn't get to see.

February 21, 2010 Northumbria University

My old college - this is Northumbria University's new City Campus East which looks a lot more plush & modern than the old Ellison Building which I frequented.
The University was formed in 1992 from what was Newcastle Polytechnic and it has 30,000 students. It's notable alumni include Sting, Steve Cram, Kevin Whateley, Victoria Pendleton, Johnny Wilkinson and oh yes ... of course ... Steve Pratt !!

February 20, 2010 Angel

Anthony Gormley's Angel of the North - more Karaoke !!

February 19, 2010 Cathedral Buildings

Found on Dean Street on the way to the Quatside many people wander past this impressive building which is called the Cathedral Buildings beause St. Nicholas Cathedral sTands directly behind them.
To the rear of the building you can also find the Vampire Rabbit - the only one I know of in the UK !!!

February 18, 2010 - Ship in the Hole

The Ship Inn sits between berths at Swan Hunters Wallsend yard and this picture, taken before the cranes were sent to India shows you just how close it was.
The pub was called the Ship in the Hole by those who frequented it at break times in the yard. It sits beside the Segedunum Roman fort which was the original Wallsend at the eastern end of Hadrians Wall. It also sits right beside the C2C (Coast to Coast) National cycle route which I know well and although this point is the End of the wall, the cycle route still has another 7 or 8 miles to run till it reaches the coast at Tynemouth.

February 17, 2010 Sage Tricolour

A photograph taken inside the Sage gateshead which has been post processed to create a tricolour image. Visible in the picture are St Nicholas Cathedral, the Castle and the Tyne Bridge dominating the view through the huge Glass front facade.

February 16, 2010 - Tyne Crossings

This sculpture can be found at the entrance to the Pedestrian Tyne Tunnel on the North side of the River in Howden. It shows all the variety of ways of crossing the River from the ferry at South Shields upstream past the Tunnels at Jarrow and all the bridges at Newcastle up to the Newburn Bridge.
The Blaydon Bridge is actually the A1 western bypass and the Scotswood bridge is the concrete and metal arch bridge opened in 1967 to replace the old suspension bridge known as the Chain Bridge. The Scotswood Bridge is of course mentioned in the 5th verse of the Geordie Anthem ' The Blaydon races' .....

February 15, 2010 Snowdrops

Spring is here !!!
Well it appeared to be this weekend ahead of the next snow showers !!

Anyway these snowdrops were pictured outside St Pauls Church in Jarrrow which was founded by Benedict Biscop who was to teach the Venerable Bede.

February 14, 2010 Blinking Eye

The Gateshead Millenium Bridge unlike many Millenium projects did actually open in 2000.
It is affectionately called the blinking eye because it looks like an eye - the cables resembling eyelashes - anyway here it is in Full Blink !!

February 13, 2010 Great War Memorial

This is the Great War memorial in Newcastle very near to yesterday's post of the Haymarket area.

You can again see the Civic Centre with a good view of the Bell Tower which houses the famous 25 Bell Carrilon.

February 12, 2010 Haymarket Panorama

This is a view of the Haymarket area of Newcastle with lots to see from the left the white building is the Civic Centre which was opened in 1968 by King Olaf of Norway. The church is St Thomas the matyr which can be traced back to 1170 when one of the murderers of Thomas a Beckett (Hugh de Morvillle) dedicated the original church. The current church was designed by John Dobson and opened in 1830.

The winged statue is the Boer War memorial and the statue represents Victory and has been there since 1908.

Finally the glass fronted dome is the new Haymarket metro Station which has undergone an excellent revamp in the last 2 years and is part of the Tyne & Wear metro system.

February 11, 2010 Great North Museum

This is the Hancock Museum which was refurbished and merged with the University Hatton Gallery reopening last year as the newly formed rebranded Great North Museum.

There are many exhibits on display which range from Hadrians Wall, Dinosaurs, Egypt and a Planetarium.

The natural history collection can be traced back to about 1780 when Marmaduke Tunstall started accumulating material from around the world.

February 10, 2010 Karaoke

This is a nightime view of the Gateshead Millenium Bridge taken from the Newcastle Quayside. It's a much photographed scene and a well respected member of the South Shields Photographic Society that is now known as PPFUK describes such scenes as karaoke photography .....

I'll let you decide !

February 9, 2010 Mariza @ The Sage

This is a poor mobile phone picture of Mariza performing at the Sage in Gateshead tonight.

Mariza was born in Mozambique but moved to Lisbon when she was very young where she grew up in the Bairro Alto singing Fado.

Tonight was the last leg of her 5 City tour of the UK and the concert was fantastic the highlight being a very emotional rendition of O gente da minha Terra (People of my Land)

February 8, 2010 Gallowgate Steps

These are the steps down from the Gallowgate end at St James Park which is home of Newcastle United - beneath these steps you will find the famous Shearers Bar which is housed beneath the Gallowgate.

February 7, 2010 Tyne Tunnel II

This is the new Tyne Tunnel taking shape in Jarrow. The view is looking North towards the river from a point close to where the new tunnel will eventually emerge alongside the existing tunnel.

What looks like an upside down chimney behind the crane is actually a vent for the old tunnel and there is another identical one on the North side of the river.

Tyne Tunnel 2 is due to open in 2012 at which point the A19 will become dualled through the river.

February 6, 2010 Great North

This is the view at the finish of the Great North Run lloking from the tented village out to the piers at the mouth of the Tyne at South Shields and Tynemouth. The Great North Run is the largest participation race in Europe and the biggest half marathon in the world.

Oh and I've done every one - all 29

February 5, 2010 Leazes Terrace

This is Leazes terrace behind the east stand on St James Park - the terrace is a fine classical fronted building built by Grainger and now used as student accomodation for the University.

February 4, 2010 Grey Street

This is the magnificent Grey Street in Newcastle on which you can see the Theatre Royal on the left. Grey Street is named after Earl Grey who was the Prime Minister who introduced the Great Reform Act in 1838 and he is famous for giving his name to an aromatic grade of Tea.

Grey Street has been voted the best street in Britain and at the North end of the street you will find Grey's Monument which was erected 2 years before nelsons column.

February 3, 2010 Conversation Piece

This photo was taken on the seafront at South Shields and is part of a public work of art created by acclaimed Spanish sculptor, Juan Munoz in 1999. The 22 bronze life size figures command a superb view of South Shields harbour and the Tyne Piers, while greeting visitors from land and sea. They converse with each other, with those that come to meet them and in turn become the subject of conversation. Each figure weighs approximately a quarter of a tonne and stands 1.5 metres high.

Here's a link to more info

http://visitsouthshields.com/tag/conversation-piece/

February 2, 2010 Chimney Pots & Sage

This is the view from the Tyne Bridge looking across to the Sage across the rooftops and many chimney pots on the buildings on the Quayside.

The Sage opened on 17th December 2004

It has 3500m2 of glass in the roof which is made of 630 panes.

Here's a link to more info

http://www.thesagegateshead.org/content/documentLibrary/50233445-ab91-0871-d09e-3c478f47ceee.pdf

February 1, 2010 Tyne Bridge Tower

This is not part of the Castle in Newcastle ... It is one of the four support towers on the world famous Tyne bridge built in 1928 & opened by King George V.

The bridge span is 531 feet and the bridge deck sits 84 feet above the river - the bridge weighs in at 7112 tonnes and cost a mere 1.2 Million pound to build.

OH AND MY FAVOURITE FACT - It has 77,124 rivets in it !!

Here's some fascinating pictures of it under construction.

http://www.picturesofgateshead.co.uk/postcards_tyne_bridge_uc/index.html