Tees Valley Community Media

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Following on from yesterdays Marske visit we once again hit the Healthy Heritage Highway and had an afternoons walk right through Skinningrove. We were met at the Tom Leonard Mining Museum by Barry Hunt and by the time we reached the Doorstep Green we were also  joined by Tommy Evans so we had the full compliment of the famous Skinningrove dynamic duo. Tales of folklore, history, nature and regeneration abounded as the team snapped away with their cameras.

Image below the team at the Sealife Mosaic (click here for the story)

June had brought along her mum and whilst she matched us step for step she had her own Skinningrove stories having herself lived there and attended school in what is now the Riverside building. There was some tale of buying cigarettes at school aged 6 but we turned a deaf ear to this. Luckily our route took us past the Riverside building so we enjoyed tea and lemon cakes (no cigarettes this time) We have  heard stories about the German air raids during WW2 from the school log but but Junes mum had actually experienced the evacuation from the school and taking cover in the mine.

After tea we went onwards through the village. At 14 Stone Row we stopped for my own little bit of Skinningrove heritage about how I installed the first public computer in the village there. Then it was back to the professional raconteurs (Tommy and Barry) whilst we visited the  landmarks of the Sylvania Anchor, the Village Mosaic and the Repus. Barry even repeated the story of “The Boat Comes Home”  (The Repus) for some passing walkers on the Cleveland Way. How times have changed, walkers used to hurry through here without pause.

Our visit ended with a privileged visit to the Skinningrove Chapel. The Tour Goes On ! if you want to be involved email s.d.thompson@tees.ac.uk

The gallery below (click to enlarge) shows the team at work. The actual pictures will be seen at the exhibition in the summer.

Heritage and Health walked hand in hand as a small team visited Marske to take “Digital Postcards” today. The walk began at Winkies Castle Folklore Museum and followed a route set up by Joan Russel. Joan had made up a book of the route complete with heritage images of several locations and the team set off to take current pictures of each site.

Above, the team prepare for the photographic march. Joan gave a running commentary on what proved to be a most interesting afternoon. When we reached the beach we got talking about Marske Fishermans Choir and then the fishing industry in general which prompted Barry to tell us about the Tuna steaks he had marinading in Soy Sauce, Honey and Garlic (our mouths watered !) The walk finished by the grave of Captain Cooks father in the Marske cemetery. The finished images will end up in the Octorama tour which you can read about here. Tomorrow it’s Skinningrove.

The free social network NING that drives the Digital Village Social Network is intending to go PREMIUM only. The announcement from the new CEO (whilst cutting the Ning workforce by 40%) seems quite stark, “pay for premium services or migrate off the network”. Of course no-one said Ning is going away and all you have to do is pay (not sure how much yet) to keep your network. However, I hear warning bells and so I’m experimenting with alternatives as are many people.

Meanwhile folks who are on Facebook may want to join the Facebook Page – Digital Communities which will also form part of a new social media strategy to replace NING.

[edit to add] As an alternative to Ning I’ve now set up a “BuddyPress” and exported the members across. It can be found here www.tvcm.co.uk/community