The River Tyne at Gateshead and Newcastle was a very different place when our often gritty film footage was captured five and a half decades ago.
The two-and-a-half-minute amateur clip, courtesy of the North East Film Archive (NEFA), vividly recalls the heavy industry that held sway in the mid 1960s and a river that was still busy with maritime activity. Taken from a longer six-minute piece, our footage begins with sweeping views from Gateshead up the River Tyne, where we see Dunston Staiths and the chimneys of Dunston Power Station - and, across the river, Newcastle West End including Elswick lead works and Cruddas Park flats.
It was a time when the mass demolition of Victorian-built streets in the Teams area of Gateshead was taking place, with many of the crumbling old properties deemed as slum housing. Across the river, with the old Redheugh Bridge on view, we see Newcastle city centre, and notably the giant floodlight pylons of St James' Park and the new Civic Centre under construction, still awaiting its tower.
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The camera moves downriver to the Quayside area of Newcastle where we see the Tyne, High Level, Swing and King Edward VII bridges, as well at the Baltic Flour Mill in operation, and an array of visiting merchant and naval vessels, including a submarine. Our excellent clip ends with views of the passenger ferry Kronprins Frederik departing Newcastle.
If you would like to watch more archive footage like this, but in DVD form, Newcastle On Film has been specially produced by NEFA. Presented and narrated by Pam Royle - latterly of ITV Tyne Tees News fame - it pays homage to life on Tyneside and features lots of wonderful archive film footage.
The DVD Newcastle On Film is priced at £12 (including postage and packing), and all profits from the sale go back into the valuable work of the North East Film Archive. Buy it here. See more from the North East Film Archive at www.yfanefa.com
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