Northern Buildings at Risk:

From HUT Newsletter - Thursday 18 January 2018:

Building of the month - Hexham Workhouse, Northumberland 

THE Hexham Union at Peth Head was erected in 1839, and is an early example of a purpose-built workhouse complex with large parts of the original buildings surviving.

Located within the Hexham Conservation Area, the buildings have been unoccupied since September 2015 and have suffered from neglect and vandalism. The council took action in 2017 to force the owner to repair a collapsed wall and clear some of the debris from the site, but the buildings remain at risk with an uncertain future.

A group of Hexham residents would like to convert the workhouse buildings into genuinely affordable community-led housing, and they are encouraging the County Council to acquire the site through compulsory purchase. For more information click here.

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'The Matter of the North'!

MELVYN BRAGG celebrates the history of the North of England in a new Radio 4 show, The Matter of the North:

The ten-part series, began yesterday Monday 29th August, with Bragg delving into stories spanning the end of Roman rule to the present day.

According to Mr. Bragg the North is as much a country as any other geographically defined country.  Melvyn Bragg's program explores the historical, religious & intellectual roots of what became the North of England.

The program begins in the 5^th Century when the Romans built forts in places like Maryport on coast of Cumbria, before the bulk of them began draining away.   

Arguing that the North is as much a country as any other geographically defined country.  Melvyn Bragg's program explores the historical, religious & intellectual roots of what became the North of England.
In the program Mr. Bragg will travel around Northumbria, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Liverpool and Manchester, exploring the pivotal historical moments and cultural contributions from the region, which have helped shape the Britain of today.

The blurb on the BBC website declares:

'This is the story of the North, one that has the history of most countries. The area has twice the economy of Scotland, if it were a country in its own right it would be the eighth biggest economy in Europe, and it’s been the scene of the greatest revolution in the world – the industrial revolution – the retreat of one empire – the Roman military – and the advance of another, the Roman church,'

Mr. Bragg says:    'Invasions from the East by the Vikings, and from the South by their cousins the Normans, the former enriching the English language, the latter marching up from London to destroy much of the North and leaving centuries of bloody rebellion and justified resentment.

'It’s here in the North that the original culture of England was founded after the Romans, the dissent and non-conformism bred great inventions, and that a particular sense of humour was developed... I think it’s a wonderful part of the world and like most people who’ve been born and brought up in the North I feel this is as much a country as any more neatly geographically defined place on the planet... And it’s not a bad time to look at the roots of northernness in this referendum year when there’s been much talk of a North-South divide – there’s no doubt that being northern matters greatly to people in 2016.'

Across the 30-minute episodes, Bragg hears from a cast of northern voices including Dame Judi Dench, David Hockney, Lee Hall, Jimmy McGovern, Ian McMillan, Geoffrey Boycott, Maxine Peake, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Chris Bonnington and Joan Bakewell.

The Matter of the North will broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 9am (Monday-Friday) from Monday 29th August – Friday 9th September

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Northerners are 'stupid'!

IAN Lavery, the Labour MP for Wansbeck in Northumbria, said in a discussion that the Westminster Labour elite have not 'done anything' in their lives, and think that people with Northern accents do not 'really know too much'.  He made the remark at a conference on social mobility in London organised by the think-tank Class.

He was reported as saying:
'I’ve got to say there are some superb Labour Party MPs - Sadly, there’s not enough MPs who’ve actually worked on the coalface, on the factory floor...    We’ve got an elite in Westminster which, quite frankly, frightens me.  They haven’t been anywhere or done anything, and when you’ve got an accent like mine, they think "Well, that man doesn’t know too much".'

Meanwhile, Conservatives in Northumberland seized on comments made by Mr. Lavery that a 'Westminster elite' of Labour  MPs look down on people with Northern accents.  The Wansbeck branch of the Tories has claimed the constituency’s Labour MP Ian Lavery 'confirmed what we all already knew'.

Mr Lavery, a former president of the National Union of Mineworkers, later said:
'My comments were about the need for more working-class MPs and in no way a criticism of Ed or his office.  For the record, I believe Ed Miliband is absolutely the right man to bring in policies that will be of great benefit to people in the North and across the country.'