Wish you were here - at Blyth Beach

Posted by Wendy Errington on Oct 30, 11 12:35 PM in Bloggers

After visiting Beamish Museum last term my Year Four class, from New Delaval Primary School, set off to Blyth Beach to find out about some local history. Beamish had given them a flavour of Geordie history but they were in for a real treat in their hometown of Blyth.

At the beach there is a Battery used during WW2 and a newly developed promenade with café, park and beach huts. A 20 minute walk took them past an old bandstand, the port of Blyth and Ridley Park and they ended up at Bath Terrace, which has a small row of Georgian houses and a lighthouse built in 1788. The disused lighthouse stands nearly 19 metres high in the back lane of Bath Terrace, peeping above the house roofs - an amazing sight. It used to be only 10 metres from the sea.

High Light Lighthouse, Blyth.JPG

The children explored the area in a variety of ways. At the Battery they were shown around by the Community Heritage Officer, Elanor Johnson. The visit is free for school children. Elanor had them marching like soldiers and looking out to sea from the observation towers. The battery defended the port during war times. On the promenade the children did a tally of different activities and noted how the old and new have been brought together to make a great place for families to visit.

Whilst at Bath Terrace the class sketched the houses, lighthouse and war memorials. They chatted to one of the residents and looked for the house that once housed the baths. Back at school they researched the baths and found out more about the street, the port and battery. They are now in the process of designing posters persuading people to visit Blyth and writing postcards saying why they had such a good time. The class all agreed that the battery visit was interesting and fun and they didn't realise they had so much history on their doorstep.

Finally, as part of the "Love Where You Live" Campaign the class did a litter pick in the school grounds on the last Friday of the term. I'm hoping that the visit above and the litter awareness campaign will persuade the children to look after where they live, by feeling proud of their school and their heritage. New Delaval Primary children have got a lot to be proud of and they certainly seem to appreciate it all.

For further information about visiting Blyth Battery go to: www.blythbattery.org.uk
Or ring Elanor Johnson on - 0191 2329279 - if you would like your class to visit.

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