Another Wander Round Whitley Bay

I had hardly seen Vivien in months; she was on a cruise in the weeks before we left for France, so I was looking forward to catching up.  There were several places I wanted to check out in Whitley Bay, so that's where we headed.

 

Our friend Lucy has found a job and so sadly she wasn't able to join us.  Her family have finally found a four bedroomed house that suits them - well, it's currently being re-wired, re-modelled and re-painted with a second bathroom being added - or will soon suit them.  They have to be in by September when their rental lease runs out.  Vivien and I had a vague impression of what street the new house was on, so we added this venture to our route. 



First of all I wanted to visit Milk It.  I'm not sure about that name, but basically it is sort of an Etsy shop, only you rent a 'shelf worth' of space for £10 a month, after an annual £50 'admin fee'.  I wanted to see what sort of things one might find there.  I didn't take photos, assuming they wouldn't be appreciated.  I shall go back sometime and ask - it is foolish to assume.   (There are loads of lovely photos on their website, though).  


Vivien and I were wondering if it would be fun for the three of us (with Lucy) to rent a 'shelf' (they disperse items where ever they can best be displayed).  I don't think it would be feasible to make any real money, but we might try this out sometime.  I'll certainly let you know if we do.    There were loads of really cute and clever items in the shop, but none like the items we three like to make! 



Another place I had read about ages ago was a 'vintage coffee shop' called Anywhen's.  I absolutely loved the place.  We sat and chattered over lunch and then took loads of photos (all those on this post).



Another place we discovered in Whitley Bay was Rosewill Cottage, where they sell beads and bits for making jewellery.  Now, since I have all of my Aunt Rita's jewellery, anytime I'm the least tempted to buy anything I remember that Bill would have me sectioned if I did.  I would like to re-make some of her necklaces and bracelets, however, as I think I would wear them more often.  I've been looking for classes for some time and now I know just where to find them!



And, finally, we couldn't resist a vintage shop called Dregs of Society.  The crockery displays outside were delicious and the clothing and furniture inside were like a time machine back to the 60s and 70s.  I don't want to re-live those years, but it is eerie finding things you grew up with in a 'vintage' shop...or worse, a museum.  Just you wait, one day...  Actually, remembering a cream brocade cape I saw in the attic, from the 40s or 50s (my first mother-in-law), I should take it to her to sell on consignment.

With all this shopping, you might think I spent a small fortune, but that's not the case.  I paid about £3 for my Metro ticket, about the same for my lunch and a couple of quid for tea and half a toasted tea cake.   For the uninitiated, a British tea cake is just like an American hamburger bun only with raisins in it instead of caraway seeds on top.  I think Vivien bought a get well card at Milk It.  In all I had a great day our for less than a tenner!




Not having a more definite plan, we wandered through Monkseaton (past the bowling green) looking in vain for a coffee shop.  We ended up going around in a great circle back to Whitley Bay, where we did find a place for a tea break. 



I'm afraid we walked much further than we'd intended.  By the time she walked home from her metro, Vivien had chalked up 8 1/2 miles... it's a miracle that she's still speaking to me!

The Whitley Bay Adventure - The End

I know you'll be sad to read that this will be the conclusion of Vivien's and my tour of Whitley Bay.  Leaving the seafront again, we were directed to turn up Marine Ave.  The seaside end of this street reflect the rather carnival aspect of the town.

This Thai restaurant looked interesting, but it has quite mixed reviews, so perhaps we'll give it a miss.   Vivien loved the elephant trunk...or maybe she was just keen to share it with her sister-in-law in Sydney who has a thing about collecting elephants.



The guide invited us to admire the newly refurbished Whitley Bay Playhouse.   It was once a movie theatre, apparently.  Would that it still was.  I was telling Vivien of its recent financial difficulties.  Personally I'm not convinced that it is viable to have a playhouse in every other village only a couple of miles apart, but I'm sure the people involved in the various playhouses would vehemently disagree with me.  We looked at the posters in the window of the playhouse and I concluded I wouldn't be visiting anytime in the near future.  Vivien, at least, had heard of some of the stars that were billed.  I told her Bill sometimes amuses himself reading what's on at the Newcastle City Hall. 

Whitley Bay Playhouse

You know, the ones where you are amazed to learn that they are still alive, and aghast that they are still performing?

In researching this, I have learned that the boundary between Whitley Bay and Monkseaton, another historic village is considered to be Ilfracombe Gardens.  We didn't know this at the time, but the difference between the seafront at Whitley Bay and the 'charming villa residences' in Monkseaton is obvious.  There is nothing carnival about these grand houses, which sell starting at about £575,000.  I have also since learned that Marine Avenue used to be called Seaside Lane, as it connected Monkseaton village with the coast.

   

Does the sight of snowdrops grab your heart?  I know they are among the earliest of the flowering bulbs, but they do give one hope that spring might actually one day appear.

I had no idea there was a park with the name Souter (like the lighthouse in Sunderland).  I'm always impressed with the checkerboard lawns of Britain's bowling greens - and of some residences, for that matter.  That is the roofline of Monkseaton metro station in the distance, another Victorian station. 

Vivien was astounded to realise how close her friend lives to this metro.  She's always visited by car in the past.  We agreed that one sees things very differently from a car.  I know my initial impressions of this area were formed by riding the Metro and bus.  I believed that everything was much further away than it was, owing to the many stops and the length of the journeys.  Many Metro stations are no more than a 10 minute walk apart.

Our guide told us to examine the stained glass art at each end of the Monkseaton metro station and so we dutifully did.  The one titled 'Shipyards' takes a bit of looking to find the prows of the ships lined up at the bottom; the yellow vertical pieces with the triangles above are the cranes used to build the ships.  Having grown up in land-locked Oklahoma, had I not ever seen the actual shipyards at Wallsend, I doubt I would have figured this out.  The silver coloured horizontal and vertical frame for the station structure doesn't help much either.

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The stain glass work titled 'Beaches' is a bit more straightforward.

Now, if one wished to follow our tour on a map, this is where you would go back to the post about Northumberland Village Homes.   As I said, the guide didn't include snooping wandering all the way down Village Court and back.  The next sight recommended by the guide was

"... the 1864 consecrated St.Paul`s Church, designed by London Architect, A. Salvin. The first vicar of the church was the Rev. R.F. Wheeler who was a founder member of the Cullercoats Volunteer Life Brigade. In his 1957 book `The Buildings of England`, Nikolaus Pevsner thought that this was “not a church of much architectural merit”. Judge for yourself."

St. Paul's parish church yard

We decided we so agreed with Pevsner as to wonder why we were looking at this building.  I took no photos of it.  However, using Google maps to retrace our steps, I realise we were in fact looking at the former Church Hall, and that the guide was referring to this St. Paul's Church, which I did photograph...sort of.***

On your left stands the Fat Ox public house which derived its name from the famous, locally reared animal which, when killed in March 1789, weighed an astounding 216 stones 8lbs. (1375 kg.).*  A large copperplate engraving of the animal by Thomas Bewick** was published the following month. 

  * That's 3,025 pounds in American.

** Thomas Bewick is a big deal around these parts. 



 

The 'Whitley Bay Clock' was commissioned...by the town's Rotary Club to celebrate their 75th anniversary.  The work was inspired by the coastal location and reflects, in its materials and structure, the engineering traditions of the area.

... the New Coliseum which was opened in 1910 and provided live entertainment until the advent of the `silent movies` in 1919, when the building was extensively altered. The ABC Company introduced the first `talkies` to the cinema in 1929 and these continued to be shown until the very last film was screened on the 1^st May 1971.

Not far from this spot, at the top of South Parade, for a short while in the 1960`s the Club A Go-Go reverberated to the music of the day and on the 9^th November 1963 a fledgling band played at the club. They were the Rolling Stones and as they say………the rest is history!

Vivien, Bill says these are Starlings - another form of flying rat....

We decided we were more interested in food than in a former discotheque, and so we adjourned to The Fire Station for lunch.   I had to order the superfood salad, as it included 'edamame soy beans', about which I've read but never experienced.  They were pretty good and I now read that one can buy these at Tescos or Sainsburys. 

As we turned to make our way back to the Whitley Bay metro station, I snapped this last photo of the church in the background.  I was thinking, darn, the guide didn't mention this one.  ***Using Bill's map reading skills along with several photos, turns out this is in fact St. Paul's parish church.





No wonder I always get lost in Whitley Bay...Thanks, Vivien, for the guided tour and a great day out!

Continuing Our Whitley Bay Adventure

This is another post about Vivien's and my recent day out in Whitley Bay.   In our guided tour  I learned the names of familiar landmarks I'd never heard before, such as Watts Slope and Panama Dip.

We walked along the lower promenade until we came to Watts Slope.  There were shuttered openings all along the promenade, closing off spaces that extended well under the pavement on the left.  We joked that these were the size of flats in London and with the marvellous sea views (particularly if one had a glass front with shutters for privacy), they ought to be prime real estate. 

Funny enough, I stumbled upon an article about a developer who thinks much the same. 

 

The Boardwalk Cafe at Watts' Slope

Our tour guide invited us to admire the dome of the former Spanish City, immortalised by Dire Straits in their song, Tunnel of Love.   I love Dire Straits, but if like me you need help with the lyrics, they are here.

The Dome at Spanish City

Sadly the Spanish City has been largely torn down other than the famous dome; I did see it when the arcades were still going, but was never interested enough to visit.  Spanish City figures large in the childhood memories of many.  Imagine, though, wearing a suit and tie to ride in the bumper cars!

Regeneration plans for the immediate area include "50-bed four-star boutique hotel, 20 apartments, a 1950s diner, and a pleasure garden. The completion date is 2014".  Given all the ructions about this development in the local papers, I have my doubts whether anything is actually decided or if, given the economy, it will actually go forward. 



Yet another war memorial on the seafront.

I learned that the grassy area known as the Links (not sure what the name exactly means)

was during the early part of the 19^th century strewn with colliery spoil heaps and ironstone workings. Eventually, work was started to totally transform this area and in 1890 Whitley Bay Golf Club began to use the area.

The Links

The gardens were laid out by the local council in the 1930`s and the Dip was named after the café which had occupied this site since the end of the 19^th century.

Vivien said there used to be entertainment put on in this amphitheatre-style garden.

This is Panama skate park, site of the former Panama Dip Cafe.   I've seen it often but never noticed the name.  I think the skateboarding that goes on here is attempted suicide.

I don't even like to watch.

We stopped at the Rendezvous Cafe for a cup of coffee and some respite from the wind. 

I couldn't resist this adorable little dog, a Lakeland terrier with a Schnauzer hair cut. The man told me they only paid £10 for the dog's cut, and he had to pay all of £6 for his own!  When one has a foreign accent, people tell you the oddest things...

After having our chat and enjoying our coffee, we bundled up to go back out and continue our tour, looking over our shoulders and wondering if this storm was going to catch us out.  Vivien predicted it would just blow over, no big deal.

If you can call struggling to stand up in the wind or to walk uphill into it no big deal, she turned out to be right; we got no more than an occasional sprinkle over the rest of our stroll.  We decided to just consider the strong winds as 'resistance training'.

Northumberland Village

I'm going to leave the seaside for a moment and talk about a quaint place we discovered off the track of our tour guide.  I've passed by the entrance to Village Court many times, but never realised what an amazing oasis of quiet and gentility it is just on the edge between busy Whitley Bay and posh Monkseaton. 

The guide informed us that the Village Court was in fact  

"...the former Northumberland Village Homes. Opened in the 1880`s, the Homes were occupied by up to 150 girls who were kitted out in a distinctive uniform of a blue serge dress and a red cape and were given instruction in household duties. The Homes closed in March 1985 and have now been tastefully converted for housing..."

With a little digging I discovered that it was in fact the  "Northumberland Village Homes for homeless and destitute girls unconvicted of crime" and in 1884 the inspector commented that

"Five girls emigrated to Canada in the year, and were judiciously placed out in situations."

This sounds a bit sinister to me, given the tales of supposed orphans who were shipped abroad, when their parents were not dead, only destitute. 



One wanders down a single little street.  On one side are large houses with dates in the late 19th Century.  The are unique in my experience for having been built with rooms over a garage, though it is possible that the re-development, which built blocks of small ground floor flats on the opposite side of the road, included amending each of the large houses in this way.  They back on to large south-ish facing gardens beyond which is a pedestrianised road.    There is an interesting arch at the west entrance and a quaint little gate at the east entrance, leading into Duchess Street. 

It's just opposite from the Monkseaton metro station, another Victorian structure. 



Vivien and I agreed that if we couldn't live where we did, this would be a great choice.   She thought the small apartments would be attractive if she were living on her own.  I have to say I'd still be greedy and want one of the grand houses! 



The one-bedroom flats are listed at about £80K each, but I couldn't find any information about the value of the houses.  It doesn't look as though they change hands very often and I'm not surprised.  Vivien was told that these properties were only sold to persons over 50, which would make it even more attractive to many.  Village Court also appears to be one of the rare streets that Google Maps has overlooked.  There are photos at the entrances, but not inside.

The house at the Duchess Street entrance had an amazing conservatory, this intricate mock Tudor detail and a name: 



Fleming Memorial Lodge AD 1891. 

I've been unable at this writing to find out anymore about the history of this lodge or who were the Flemings, only that there was also a Fleming Memorial Hospital in Newcastle.  That is a mystery that will have to wait until I have time to visit the Local Studies people at the library or the Tyne & Wear archives, which apparently has rules, journal, case records, admission and discharge records and photographs.  I suspect it would remind me a great deal of Owatonna.

There appears to still be a Northumberland Village Homes Trust, registered as a charity in 1963 with a stated aim of 

... THE RELEIF OF POVERTY, DISTRESS AND SICKNESS AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS AND TO PROMOTE THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF SUCH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS LIVING IN THE NORTH EAST AREA. NO GRANTS ARE GIVEN FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES OR FOR "GAP YEAR" PROJECTS. 

(Their full accounts make for interesting reading, if you are as nosy as I am.)

If Vivien and I had made this discovery alone, I would have considered our time together that day very well spent!

Further Adventures in Whitley Bay

This is the continuation of a guided walk Vivien and I took recently.  Following the instructions along Esplanade to the seaside, we admired the many attractive looking guesthouses and I noticed this unusually named house.

Thanks to the internet, I could tell you the names of some of the previous tenants, about their hobbies, businesses and bankruptcies.  I could also tell you the purchase price paid in 2000, but I can't find any explanation for this house name.   Of course I look at that name and think 'Kruschef', but this is spelled differently.  Must remember to ask Russian friends about this one day...

Whitley Bay sea front is a curious mix of large Victorian houses, hotels, pubs, boarded up buildings, nightclubs and long-fallen demolition sites.  Vivien and I hoped that this enormous building was being developed into flats rather than yet another incarnation as a nightclub. 

I'm at a loss to explain how prime seafront property can be left languishing year after year.

I tend, rightly or not, to blame the local authority politicians, too busy fighting for their own political gain than to look after the well being of the communities under their jurisdiction.

I don't know what the answer is, but Whitley Bay is in desperate need of one.

We were next instructed to admire the very grand Rex Hotel.  In the past it has hosted such legends as Gerry Rafferty, Billy Connolly, Ralph McTell and Lindisfarne (The last, according Bill, "World Famous Around These Parts").  In looking them up I think perhaps they are listed in that order for a reason...

The Rex Hotel, more attractive from the other direction.

We were then directed to take note of Grant's Clock, unveiled in 1933 as a 'little sister of St. Mary's Lighthouse'.  

Grant's Clock (Who was Grant?)

You know, St. Mary's lighthouse, just over there...

View of St. Mary's Lighthouse

Well, good job I can zoom in on it. 

You've seen this before in any case, a couple of summers ago, along with the wonderful, very practical, Sandcastles art installation.  You'll have to go to the link to see the outside, this time around - my first walking tour - I dived in and sat down out of the incessant wind.   Vivien and I were both grateful for digital technology as the wind made it a real challenge to keep the camera steady enough for a clear photo. 

To be continued...