FROM THE FRONT, edited by Belford Hidden History Museum.

Published: 18th September 2015  ~   0

FROM THE FRONT, edited by Belford Hidden History Museum. Available from Belford Community Shop (email: boward@hotmail.co.uk). £4. Softback.

ILLUSTRATED with Imperial War Museum archive photographs, this book contains excerpts from letters either sent by soldiers serving on the Western Front in 1914 and 1915 to family and friends in the North East and the Borders, or published in the local press.

The letters reflect the wide range of situations and emotions these young men experienced. One local man who fought in the Battle of Mons, Gunner B. Wiseman, sent a remarkable letter to the Newcastle Journal revealing how his life had been spared by an enemy officer:

“Our battery had fired their last round. The Germans were only 300 yards away. The order was given ‘Retire, every man for himself’. The Germans rushed up and I lay helpless. A German pointed his rifle at me to surrender. I refused, and was just on the point of being put out when a German officer saved me. He said: ‘English man brave fool’. He then dressed my wound, gave me brandy and wine, and left me.”

VISIONS OF NEWCASTLE – Watercolours of Newcastle upon Tyne, by Paul Goldsmith.

Published: 18th September 2015  ~   0

VISIONS OF NEWCASTLE – Watercolours of Newcastle upon Tyne, by Paul Goldsmith. Zymurgy Publishing (Tel: 0191-276-2425) £14.99. Softback. (see page 29)

THIS highly accomplished Tyneside artist began painting watercolours of the city sixteen years ago and this Arts Council sponsored book contains over 50 of his fine studies. These include the oldest location, Castle Keep and the Black Gate, Bessie Surtees House, St. Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle Green Market, Laing Art Gallery, the Crown Posada pub, Central Station and the Tyne and Millennium Bridges. While painting outdoors with his drawing board and palette of paint and brushes, the artist attracted the interest of passers-by and heard their stories of how architecture and the buildings depicted in the painting effected them personally. It was he says: “A journey of surprises.”

TYNESIDE’S GREAT WAR: THE HOME FRONT 1914-1918, by Vanessa Histon

Published: 17th September 2015  ~   0

TYNESIDE’S GREAT WAR: THE HOME FRONT 1914-1918, by Vanessa Histon. Published by Tyne Bridge Publishing (0191-277 4174). £7.99. Softback.

FOR the first time in history, the Great War brought conflict right to the doorsteps of ordinary people. Drawing on the diaries of two Tyneside women – Isabel Dalkin and Ruth Dodds – and newspaper reports, the author reveals the way in which the war escaped the battlefield and found its way into the homes and workplaces of ordinary people on Tyneside. They had to cope with everything from the Zeppelin raids of 1915 and 1916 to rationing of meat, butter, flour, sugar and milk.

Archive photographs from Newcastle Libraries’ collection featured in this book show some of the wartime roles played by women, ranging from members of the Newcastle Church Nursing and Ambulance Brigade and tram ticket collectors to the many who worked in iron foundries, factories and shipyards to help supply the munitions, arms and ships that helped win the war.