- A last-ditch attempt to save four South Tyneside’s primary schools from the axe looks to have failed. Labour councillors are being recommended to close St Bede’s RC Primary in Jarrow and Boldon C of E School, and merge Bedewell Primary and Lukes Lane Community schools on Hebburn Comprehensive School’s site. [Shields Gazette]
- Gateshead Council has premiered a series of short films commissioned to celebrate the Angel of the North’s tenth anniversary and look at what the sculpture means to the local community.
With a little positive thinking and a lot of high pressure pushing north from the Mediterranean, we might salvage something of our summer. At the moment, the weather would have you believe it was approaching Christmas Eve, or Armageddon.
Still, good weather or not, it won’t stop a fervent army of picnickers arriving on your doorstep. [...]
Could Newcastle soon have a monument to dwarf the Angel of the North?
10 years ago, the idea of a party to celebrate the Angel of the North would have gone down like a bag of spanners.
Now we’ve come to accept the towering, if somewhat rusting beauty as part of our heritage, a 10th birthday bash seems entirely appropriate.
When the Angel of the North was first unveiled in 1998, Tyneside did little to hide its horror at the rusting eyesore looming above the A1 like the harbinger of death. 10 years later, and the Angel embodies the transformation of the region that followed and more importantly, always tells you you’re nearly home when [...]