Letters

NORTH NOT SOUTH

I was very pleased when we received the September issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine to see an ‘Ancestors at Work’ article about Scottish fisher girls. I am a trustee at the Old Low Light Heritage Centre on North Shields Fish Quay, and have done some research on the subject. I was looking forward to getting some new links.

But what a shock when I saw that South Shields had been identified as the stopping port in pursuit of the ‘Silver Darlings’, rather than North Shields. These are two distinct towns separated by the River Tyne and hundreds of years of rivalry. The herring girls are a famous and colourful strand of our local history. There are still local connections in the community today.

Our centre has been open for five years now, telling the story of North Shields, and we have discussed creating an exhibition to tell