Dunston Community Centre has been awarded a grant by Historic England to fund a new project aimed at helping young people connect with the region’s industrial past by exploring the history of Dunston Staiths.
The grant of £7,000 will finance the project, called The Staiths and Me, which will create songs, films and photographs to celebrate the people who once worked there. These young creatives will help add to the Staiths' status as a visitor attraction, while exploring hidden stories linked to the huge timber structure on the River Tyne. As an added incentive to take part, five prizes of £100 will be awarded to groups who come up with the most interesting or unusual depiction of the Staiths’ story.
Dunston Staiths was the product of a now-vanished Tyneside way of life. The 520m (1,709ft)-long structure, believed to be the largest of its kind in Northern Europe, played a crucial role in the transportation of millions of tons of North East coal from the River Tyne.
READ MORE: Tyneside in the 1920s - 10 photographs
The North Eastern Railway Company began its construction in 1890, with the first staiths opening in 1893 and the second a decade later. There were also staiths at Wallsend, Jarrow, Tyne Dock, Derwenthaugh and Blyth as coal powered the North’s early 20th century economic boom.
The 1920s saw 140,000 tons of coal a week loaded at Dunston - the last working staiths on the Tyne - but by the 1970s, this had fallen to just 3,000 tons. In 1980, the staiths loaded its final shipment and was closed. Then, in 1990, £37m was spent on beautifying 200 acres of old industrial land at the site for the successful Gateshead National Garden Festival.
Coun Brenda Clelland for Dunston and Teams said: “We’ve all visited grand castles and stately homes, and we’re all familiar with TV series featuring lords and ladies wining and dining in great houses. But as this Historic England grant proves, our working-class heritage is just as important to the fabric and history of our nation.
“We want young people to find out how the Staiths and the people who worked on it shaped history and shaped the area in which we now live. The Staiths and Me will be an important celebration of our shared industrial heritage."
A spokesman for Dunston Community Centre on Railway Street encouraged local people to visit the centre, saying: "It's a warm and friendly place with various activities and groups run each week. There’s something for everyone."
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