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Mr Brian Legg of the Northern Rock Building Society explained that the Council, the Building Society and the Northern Housing Association were collaborating in the project, providing a unique mix of public and private funds. The Delegation members were especially surprised to find that in the vicinity, 20 year-old tower blocks were being torn down, and that such a large injection of money was going into renovating 100 year-old houses, instead of demolishing them and replacing them with new blocks of flats. It was explained that in Britain, the preference is clearly for traditional-style, low-level homes, with some garden where at all possible, rather than high-rise tower blocks, which accommodate a far greater number of residents in a smaller ground area, but which, it is felt, are desperately impersonal, and ugly into the bargain. This, of course, contrasted sharply with the opinions of the Delegation members.
After The Avenues, a brief courtesy call was made on the Mayor of Gateshead, who was most welcoming. More photos were taken of the Mayor, in and out of ceremonial dress, along with members of the party, and gifts were exchanged. In view of the antics of certain members of the party at this appointment (including photographs of delegates carrying the ceremonial mace), some concern was expressed afterwards by one or two of the visitors that the Mayor might have been offended. However, I feel sure that this was not the case, and that all was taken in good part.
Finally, a visit to the Metrocentre ensured that the Delegation had an opportunity to do some shopping, most of them spending the majority of their time in Marks & Spencer.
The party enjoyed immensely a dinner in the evening at a restaurant in the Newcastle Chinatown, with numerous impressions of the rather rowdy session of Parliament which they had attended the previous day.
The following day, our first appointment was at the Eldon Square Recreation Centre, where Mr Larry McKeigan, Assistant Manager, Services, gave a short talk on the running of the Centre, which combines a number of shops with a wide and flexible range of leisure and sports facilities. Some of the delegates were particularly interested in the costs of sessions, but all were fascinated by the soft play area for children, piled high with brightly-coloured rubber mattresses, of varying forms and sizes to the point of indulging themselves in a quick bounce or two to test the water. Mr McKeigan explained that screaming children being dragged away by mothers were a frequent spectacle in the area, and the unspoken comparison with the behaviour of the delegates was immediately seized upon by all, to general amusement.
After leaving the Centre, we travelled on to Lumley Castle, which has now been developed into a hotel, retaining its lordly atmosphere, with the Baronial Hall used for banquets, and the rooms decorated and furnished appropriately.
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