Below is a more recent shot, as you can see the paddling pool has been removed and replaced with a splash park.  In the summer months there are sprinklers and water fountains for children to play with which proves very popular.

Below is how it is today, in total contrast to the photo above due to the current Coronavirus situation. No families or children playing, just deserted.

You will notice in the background of picture 2, the bandstand. Many military and colliery bands played here on a Sunday afternoon and evening. Performances were advertised in the local papers.   Unfortunately in 1967 this was removed and later replaced by a rose garden. The rose garden was constructed with financial help from members of the Blyth Round Table and was opened by the mayor in 1970.

Below is the Park House as it is today. It hasn’t changed very much at all apart from the noticeable solar panels on the roof. My good friend Amanda lived here as her father was the park keeper – Mr Short.

8 May 2020 saw us celebrate the 75^th anniversary of VE Day.  However, we mustn’t forget the dark days of May and June 1940, eighty years ago.  The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were fighting a rearguard action to save the backbone of the British army, which was making its way into a small pocket surrounding the port of Dunkirk. 

Churchill described it as a colossal military disaster and hailed the rescue as a miracle of deliverance. Wars are not won by evacuations. The evacuation began on 26 May when 7,669 allied soldiers were evacuated. It was thought that at least 45,000 men could be brought home before the Germans reached the port. By 4 June 1940, the last day of the evacuations, the total number of allied forces taking from the beaches and harbour during ‘Operation Dynamo’, as it was called, was a colossal 338,226, including 123,000 French soldiers.  What is often forgotten is that there were still large numbers of the BEF in France, cut off to the south of the Somme by the German “race to the sea”. 

At the end of May, further British troops had  been sent to France with the hope of establishing a second BEF. The majority of the 51st (Highland) Division were forced to surrender on 12 June. By then, almost 192,000 allied personnel – 144,000 of them British – were evacuated through various French ports between 15 and 25 June under the codename ‘Operation Ariel’. The Germans marched into Paris on 14 June and France surrendered eight days later.

Not many people know that 100,000 French troops evacuated from Dunkirk were temporarily billeted in camps around south-western England, before being repatriated home.  British ships ferried these French troops to ports in Normandy and Brittany. For many French soldiers, the Dunkirk evacuation represented only a few weeks’ delay before being killed or captured by the German army after their return to France.

Of the 863 ships, big and small, that helped save the British Army, 243 were sunk. From 10 May, up to the surrender of France in June, 68,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force were lost, along with 445 tanks, 20,000 motorcycles, and 65,000 other vehicles. Tons of stores and ammunition were left behind. In the same period, the Royal Air Force lost 959 aircraft.  Despite what many troops thought, the RAF were actively trying to halt the German onslaught.

It is said that for every seven men evacuated, one was left behind to become a prisoner of war.  

The Newcastle Evening Chronicle on 21 November 1918 stated that the influenza was still retaining its grip on Newcastle, with 71 deaths. It was reported that between 40-50 Policemen in the city were off duty due to attacks of the epidemic.  We mustn’t forget that this was the second bout of the epidemic; there was one earlier in July. On 2 July it was reported that here were a considerable number of cases in Newcastle. The Post Office had been badly hit; although for some reason the girl telegram messengers were hit worse than the boys. Yesterday, a number of young women collapsed in the streets with two having to be taken to the infirmary. 

On 6 July it was reported that 2000 children and 20 teachers were absent with the flu in Gateshead Schools. However, Sunderland seemed to be badly hit by the epidemic as on 30 November 1918 the Chronicle reported: 

At the present time 200 bodies lie waiting to be buried. Some of the deaths had occurred some 10 days ago. The grave diggers have been overwhelmed at the amount of work and now soldiers had been brought in to assist. 

The authorities had also appealed to the military to release undertaker’s assistants from service. In the meantime the Army had offered the council a number of joiners, but their services so far had not been accepted. The tramway committee had offered the use of their shed which was fitted with necessary machines which could be used to cut wood for making coffins.

In November 1918 the Medical Office of Health for the city reported that there were 8000 cases of Influenza.

Old Newcastle Post Office building