Last weekend saw a fantastic parade through North Shields to bring a fitting close to NS800, celebrating 800 years of North Shields. The former Mayor Norma Redfearn asked me, almost two years ago, to Chair a committee to see how best we could celebrate the anniversary. We invited representatives from across the local North Shields community to come together, to organise events and find some funding. We resisted the request for a few standalone big events instead inviting community groups to develop events with real meaning for them.
The fishing community was at its heart when North Shields 800 began. But we also involved businesses, sporting clubs, schools, churches and many organisations. North Tyneside Council officers have done a great job in making NS800 a success.
Although NS800 was about 800 years of history, the emphasis was also on the present and the future. We need not have worried. Local people across our community rose to meet the challenge. From tweet of the day to the creation of murals local people stepped up. In doing so the events reached an audience far beyond the borders of our town.
North Shields is being physically regenerated; the parade route around Northumberland Square and down Howard Street showed how the town is changing. And many people, in conversation or when telling their stories have said they feel even more proud about coming from or living in North Shields. I hope then that some of the success of NS800 will continue into a Happy 2026 – but before that happens let me wish you all a Merry Christmas.