The Celtic Path

One of the most established places to visit in the Green Ginger shopping Arcade is The Celtic Path. Inside you will find a mix of Celtic inspired gifts from jewelry to greeting cards as well as porcelain collectables and relaxation CD's and crystals.

The Celtic path also offers a number of relaxation treatments from Reiki, Thai foot massage and many more treatments designed to balance body, mind and soul. I will post more about these treatments later but why not check out The Celtic Path website: www.thecelticpath.co.uk to see a full list of treatments and gifts.

The Celtic Path stocks a number of well known collectables and brands from Harris Tweeds to Rosina Wactmeister Cats.

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(TVLB) Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade

If there is one institution or place in Tynemouth that should never be taken for granted is the TVLB Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade. For a number of years I used to wonder what the unusual old wooden building overlooking the mouth of the Tyne was. Last year I ventured inside the Watch House and was amazed at what a wonderful place it is, full of history and character.

The TVLB was founded in 1864 due to a number of serious shipping disasters that plagued the surrounding area. It was the first station of its kind anywhere in the world and is still very active today. The TVLB is separated into two distinct parts: the Life Brigade, which is an active emergency rescue team based at the watch tower and the museum itself; which is open 6 days a week (I mentioned Billy the museums' caretaker earlier in this blog). It is worth visiting just to listen to his funny stories about everything from his younger days in Australia hunting crocodiles to the often humorous events within the museum. The museum is a treasure trove full of local history and brimming with interesting artifacts.

I feel that it is important to feature this museum as it is truly astonishing. If you love history, anything nautical or antiques this place is a must see local attraction. The museum relies on visitor donations as it is free to enter. If you are visiting Tynemouth or are local please pop in and be transported back in time and donate what you can to keep the building and organisation going. It is important to note that the Museum Watch Tower is home to a brigade of volunteers who will probably be the first response to any accident or emergency in the area. Not only will you see antiques in the museum but also modern rescue items. You may even see a couple of volunteers reviewing maps of the local area or other such invaluable training procedures.

So if you are out for a walk and see this unusual building please pop in and support the TVLB by simply visiting one of the area's hidden gems or by telling a friend how much you've enjoyed your visit. I have taken a number of people into the museum in the last 12 months and every one of them has loved the experience. This place is something real, something special and unique. If you have never visited and are local please visit, if you have been before then why not visit again.

Please visit the TVLB website for more information and links:

http://www.tvlb.org/

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(Deacon) French Bulldog from North Shields

Spotted on Front Street with his owner. On his way to visit his Grandparents.

www.anthonydorman.com

See more Tynemouth dogs by visiting the tab at the top of the page 'Tynemouth Dog'

Did you know that the Green Ginger Shopping Arcade on Front Street is dog friendly.

Country House Tearooms

I made arrangments to meet up with one of my longest suffering friends Maria yesterday and do a bit of a tour around Tynemouth to get some more blog photos and information. Somewhere I have wanted to feature for a while is County House Tearooms.

So on the finest of Tynemouth mornings we made our way there. I said hello and introduced us to everyone and was made to feel very welcome. I have been before with my girlfriend and we both love the place but I was interested to see what my friend Maria thought. She loved it, explaining that she could happily sit there all day. We both loved the antique decoration, the fabric, chandeliers and heavily guilt framed paintings and mirrors. I recently recommended Country House to my parents and they loved it comparing it to one of their favourite Whitby locations. There is a fantastic and varied selection of home cooked food on offer and a yummy  choice of scones and cakes to die for. The food like the surroundings is scrumptous, comforting and wonderfully presented. There is a great atmosphere inside and you will be made to feel very welcome as we were.

Photos by Anthony Dorman

Country House Tearooms is a great place to have a cozy romantic coffee and cake with a loved one as well as a perfect meeting venue for friends. Its the kind of place I would happily sit with a book and relax with lovely food and friendly service. Country House Tearooms has two floors with different decor as you can see from the photos above and is approximately 350 yards from Tynemouth seafront on Percy Park Road. They are open Tue-Fri 10-4PM and Sat-Sun 10-5PM

There is a new facebook page for the tearooms here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Country-house-tearooms/215431135148462?ref=ts&sk=wall

InTynemouth is now on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/INTynemouth

L'antiquario (Now Closed) Updated 01/07/11

L'antiquario can be found inside The Green Ginger Shopping arcade (formally 'The Land of Green Ginger') This place is a little gem (literally at times) inside it you will find a mixture of antique and collectable items from porcelain, clocks, jewellery and other interesting pieces of treasure.

I was instantly drawn to the clock and the porcelain you can see in the image above. I don't class myself as an expert in antiques, far from it but I do like great design especially when it is both artistic and functional. When you step into L'antiquario you instantly feel like a treasure hunter. I think the fact that I used to watch Indiana Jones films on VHS every Saturday when I was little has shaped my imagination. This place does feel like a treasure trove especially if you visit when the late afternoon sun streams through the old church windows and bathes everything in a very cinematic light.

Photographs by Anthony Dorman

Because I know nothing about antiques it would be silly of me to pretend that I do so why not pop in yourself and do your own treasure hunting.  L'antiquario can be found on the first floor of The Green Ginger Arcade.

Visit the L'antiquario ebay page here: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/l.antiquario

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Taylors Seafood and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

I decided last week that I wanted to include more features about the North Shields Fish Quay into the blog. After all this blog is written about the places, people and events that are on my doorstep and I can walk to the Fish Quay as quickly as I can walk to Longsands.

A few people had told me that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was going to be filming at various locations in the area including Taylors Seafood based in the heart of the Fish Quay. I checked their facebook page which confirmed this and decided to pop down the day before his visit to check if I could pop down on the day and take some photos for the blog. I was invited down the following morning to snap away. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a morning person so a 5.30am start to my day came as a shock to the system. I walked from my flat down to the Fish Quay in some brilliant morning sunlight and saw a side to the fish quay that I had never seen before - I even managed to get a coffee and a bacon sandwich at 6.15am (but that's a story for a different time). Tony and his crew at Taylors Seafood opened up just before 7am and began preparations for their day ahead which would include selling the latest seafood catch as usual but also to welcome Bafta Award winning TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to their premises.  What struck me about Taylors Seafood straight away was two things - atmosphere and quality. The guys made me feel very welcome with a nice mug of tea and a friendly chat about what they do whilst they were setting up. The variety of seafood on offer was quiet astonishing; from locally sourced fish, just landed into the quay side from the trawlers, to more exotic items like Canadian lobsters and more seafood that you would find on TV's 'The Deadliest Catch' (which happened to be playing on a plasma screen).

It was not long before a the shop began to fill up with a mixture of local restaurants and fish merchants to locals with an appetite for great seafood at affordable prices. I will not buy fish from a supermarket after witnessing the quality, expertise and selection on offer here. Sally who owns the Martineau Guest House, featured earlier in the blog, is a regular customer and popped in to buy her fish while I was there, she showed me a whopping great whale of a fish for £4 - now when I say whale - I mean Moby Dick sized.

Before long Hugh and his film crew turned up at Taylors with their own catch (the fish that is normally wasted because of bureaucratic laws as mentioned in my previous two posts). I made myself known to Hugh and his team and promised to keep out of the way whilst they were filming. One of the few problems with my camera is that I look like press and it makes people wary at times. After speaking with the sound engineer I decided that I should keep my distance and shoot with a long lens (70-200mm for camera buffs). This meant that my shutter clicks would not be audible on the mike.

Shooting from such a distance is quite problematic, I was very far away and its hard to compose a scene but the guys had filming to get so I got what I could, when I could. I think that my adherence to the crew's wishes won me some respect as they began to talk to me about shooting some images at a local primary school (featured later). I think the filming at Taylors went well as there was a nice varied selection of people for Hugh to talk to and serve and the staff seamed to enjoy their visit too.

I will be popping into Taylor's tomorrow to say hello to everyone and to thank them for being so welcoming.

You can view Taylor Seafood's website here: http://taylorseafood.co.uk/

...and also view their facebook page (updated daily here) : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taylor-Seafood/271225799181?ref=ts#www.facebook.com/pages/Taylor-Seafood/271225799181?ref=ts#

Please take a look at Hugh's website here which has details of the Fish Fight Campaign: http://www.fishfight.net/

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (North Sheilds Fish Quay)

This image of the BAFTA award winning TV Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was taken today at Taylor Seafood at the Fish Quay in North shields.

© Anthony Dorman

This is one of a number of candid shots that I took whilst Hugh was filming the latest series of Fish Fight programmes today. The aim of the series is to highlight the food waste caused by EU and government regulations that make fishermen throw half of there catch back into the sea due to red-tape. I have experienced this myself when I embarked on my North Sea Adventure and witnessed first hand the amount of fish that is thrown back to die in the sea. The regulations set in place by government do not help conserve fish as it is impossible to select what enters a net. Hugh is trying to change the law to help the fishing industry and to also show that the wasted food can be used to help society. Today I shot some images at a local primary school who were being fed with today's fishing catch of fish that normally would be wasted. I was worried I would be in the way of Hugh and the crew today however they were very friendly and accommodating. I look forward to seeing the new series.

Check out Taylor Foods Website here: http://taylorseafood.co.uk/#

Check out The Fish Fight campaign here: http://www.fishfight.net/ Please sign the petition.

I will be posting more images of Hugh at both Taylor Foods and Priory Park Primary over the next few days.

www.anthonydorman.com

North Sea Adventure

This post comes from my own personal blog www.anthonydormanphotography.blogspot.com which was posted in January. I am posting it today as I will be posting about the North Shields Fish Quay area in the next few days. The Fish Quay is a quick walk from my house and part of the immediate area and full of fascinating people, places and industry. It is so interlinked with Tynemouth that it deserves to be featured in the blog.

 

Earlier this year I took a walk along the Fish Quay at North Shields which is a place I really like because there is always someone or something interesting there to photograph. I noticed some fishermen making some repairs to their nets on the quayside and decided I would ask if they would be in my 100 Strangers Project. Philip pictured below agreed to having his photo taken as he said he really liked photography. I said how much I would like to go out on one of the trawlers to get some reportage style images. Within 5 minutes we had agreed that I would go out on his boat the 'Aspire'

 

 

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

The images below where taken in order and where shot using only natural light. The lighting conditions where extremely difficult from the early morning pitch dark to the below deck ambiance. I was determined not to distract the crew with flash photography so I shot with a large aperture and some very high grainy ISO settings. I also wanted to present un-edited real photos, I was not going to airbrush or remove unwanted items. I wanted to tell the real story including the wonky horizons caused by my land lubber legs and slight sea sickness.

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

© Anthony Dorman

 

For me the day was a success, I was still alive, had not thrown up and had some interesting reportage images and a lot of new knowledge. For Philip and the 'Aspire' crew it was another frustrating day with a poor catch and a damaged net costing £1000 to repair. I was really looked after and had some great conversations, especially with Philip about everything including fishing, religion and art. I wonder how many people will get the chance to do what I did that day considering how the industry is suffering through high costs and crazy regulations set by men wearing suits in Brussels? I hope that this industry survives unlike many others once essential the the North East economy and history.

I decided to post this today as I received a disk in the post from Martin (hands image and goatee images) as he is a keen photographer who wanted me to see his photos.

www.anthonydorman.com

www.anthonydorman.blogspot.com

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Tynemouth Tour

The lovely lady below is Keiran-Ann Keilty, a qualified local guide who has just started a guided walking tour of Tynemouth. We got in touch with each other through the Tynemouth Business Forum and agreed that I should do a preview walk with Keiran-Ann. I won't give too much information about the walk as it would spoil the experience. What I  will say is that I learnt more about my local area during my walk than  had learnt in the five years living in Tynemouth. 

photography by www.anthonydorman.com

The walking tour starts at Tynemouth Priory and finishes with a delicious cream tea at The Grand Hotel. I really enjoyed my walk with Keiran-Ann and would recommend it to both local residents and visitors to Tynemouth. The talk will educate you and keep you fit whilst enjoying some splendid scenery.

Please combine Keiran-Ann for more details including times and booking information.

kkeilty@hotmail.co.uk

07816789685

Elwood (Tynemouth Dog)

(Elwood) Lurcher from Tynemouth

Spotted taking John from Children of the Revolution for a walk down Front Street. Sleek with a fabulous sporty build and amazing eyes (Elwood that is).

www.anthonydorman.com

http://intynemouth.blogspot.com/p/tynemouth-dog.html