First Conference Paper
Three members of the team – Paul Readman, Tom Hulme and myself – attended the Social History Society annual conference at Northumbria University. I presented a paper on behalf of all of us. We were in the first session of the conference and got a good audience turnout. In the same session were papers by Tosh Warwick and Ben Roberts, both on civic ritual in Middlesbrough, which linked nicely with the theme of our paper. Tosh circulated some interesting documents, including the programme from the opening of the Tees Transporter Bridge. With its long list of eminent guests and committee members, this looked very much like a pageant souvenir programme.
This was the first outing that the project has had at a conference, and the paper was little more than an introduction. We got some interesting and helpful questions. One member of the audience asked about casting and how this was done: did it reflect local social hierarchies, or could it subvert them? Another asked about the similarities and difference between historical pageants and historical re-enactments. This is something that we need to think more about.
The conference as a whole was great fun. On the first night we were treated to an evening of folk music from Vic Gammon (a historian who also gave a paper at the conference) and Benny Graham, a well-known Tyneside musician. This event took place in the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. The conference dinner on the second night was in the eighteenth-century Assembly Rooms. Serendipitously, the conference coincided with the 38th Newcastle Beer and Cider Festival, run by the local CAMRA branch. Some members of the project team took the opportunity to sample a range of excellent beers and ciders to round off a memorable conference.
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Mark Freeman