A campaign to raise money for a landmark statue on North Shields Fish Quay to commemorate the crucial part women played in the port’s success, has received a welcome financial boost.
The North Shields Fishermen’s Heritage Project is aiming to raise £50,000 for a Herring Girl statute to recognise the essential role women have always played in the area’s fishing industry. The appeal was launched last year and has so far raised £15,000.
Now it’s been given a £4,000 boost following an auction held at North Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender’s favourite pub, the Low Lights Tavern on the Fish Quay. Lots included a bottle of House of Commons whisky signed by the leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, as well as original artwork.
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But the star lot was a painting of the Low Lights Tavern by local artist Mark Taylor-Gregg. This went for £1,600, with the new owner now set to have their own portrait included among the figures shown sat outside the famous watering hole – believed to be North Shields’ oldest pub.
Fishermen’s Heritage Project chairman Terry McDermott hailed the auction a “huge success”. He said the group is confident the £50,000 target will be reached in time for the Herring Girl statute, which has already been commissioned, to be installed on the Western Quay on North Shields waterfront in March 2023.
He said: “There is no way it’s not going to happen. The Herring Girl is on the move, she is following the shoals of herring and heading for bonny Shields!”
The statue is being made by Durham -based Ray Lonsdale, responsible for the one-and-a-half-times life size figure of a fisherman that sits on Fiddlers Green overlooking the River Tyne just off the Fish Quay. It was unveiled in 2017 following a campaign to raise £75,000 by the Fishermen’s Heritage Project, and has become a local tourist attraction as well as a focus for remembrance.
The statue is a permanent reminder not just of North Shields' fishing industry, which in its heyday brought wealth flooding into the town, but of the many hundreds of fishermen who have been lost at sea over the centuries.
Now five years after that statue was unveiled, the push is on to create the life-size figure of a Herring Girl sitting on one of the barrels that were one a familiar feature along the Fish Quay. Western Quay has been chosen as the site as this is the place where women worked tirelessly gutting, packing and salting the thousands of tonnes of herring that were once landed at North Shields each year.
Most of the Herring Girls were local. But in herring season they would be joined by women from north of the border who travelled from port to port following the herring boats along the North Sea coast.
The new statute will be based on an old photo of a smiling herring girl that Terry McDermott’s daughter spotted. He said: “She saw the herring girl who, despite doing what was obviously a difficult job, had the most beautiful smile.
“The statute will be smiling in the face of adversity.”
The North Shields Fishermen’s Heritage Project has a number of fundraising events planned for the coming months and is applying for grants to help it meet its £50,000 target. Terry said: “It’s important we remember the role women played in the success of North Shields’ fishing industry.”
