A Geordie In Girona

For a number of years, I’ve had an idea in the back of my head that the good folk of Newcastle should have a day, or a weekend, of celebration in recognition of our beautiful city and what it means to be a Geordie. I’ve always imagined something like a festival that would take us on a cultural journey of our great city, developing awareness of our history and traditions whilst, at the same time, providing us with the opportunity to have a good old Geordie knees-up. But it has never been more than just a nostalgic notion, a romantic idea, a pipedream if you like. And to be honest, I was never really sure about how the idea could be propelled into Geordie mainstream or how something so big could be organised.

In a blog I wrote a couple of years ago about Newcastle and its incredible history (read here), I suggested that for many Geordies the 9^th of June is the closest thing to a Geordie Day we have, since it’s the date mentioned in ‘The Blaydon Races’, Geordie Ridley’s famous song penned in 1862 (on a summer’s afternoon). Anyway, a gentleman called David Gibbon, aka the ‘Bard of Byker’, who it turns out has been pushing for something resembling a World Geordie Day on this date for many a year, recently stumbled upon my blog post on a Newcastle United Facebook page and contacted me with a view to discussing the prospect of somehow turning this pipedream into a reality. And that’s when things started to get interesting because now there were two of us with the same vision, both egging each other on; the Bard of Byker and myself, an exiled Geordie living in the Catalan city of Girona in Spain, aka a ‘Geordie In Girona’!

A few months have passed and the Bard of Byker and a Geordie in Girona have been whipping ideas back and forth about how we might like a World Geordie Day to look and how we might get it off the ground. The kind of thing we would like to see is some sort of ‘Festival of Geordieness’ held every year over the weekend that falls directly after the 9th of June. It could maybe start on the Friday night and end on the Sunday evening.

Here are some of the main ideas we’ve come up with:

1. A Geordie Music Festival/Concert including Geordie singers such as Sam Fender, Sting, Brian Johnson (ACDC), Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Jimmy Nail, Cheryl, Lindisfarne, Neil Tennent (Pet Shop Boys) and many more. Up and coming Geordie singers and bands could also be invited to play as could others from outside the region. The concert could be held at St James’ or on Leazes Park behind the ground. Some of these musicians could also play other shows at the Arena, the Sage or other venues during the weekend.

2. A Geordie Mass Karaoke including a huge singalong of all the Geordie classics such as ‘I’m Coming Home Newcastle’, ‘Local Hero’, ‘Geordie’s Lost His Liggie’, ‘Fog on the Tyne’, ‘Dance to your Daddy’, ‘Big River’ and ‘The Blaydon Races’ of course. This event could be held at the Centre for Life, the Sage or the new Stack beside St James’. Another option would be to just incorporate it into the music festival.

3. A Geordie Exhibition showcasing our impressive cultural heritage. This would include famous people from our past like Geordie Ridley, George Stephenson, Charles Parsons, Charles Grey, Joseph Swann, Lord Armstrong, Lord Collingwood, Emily Wilding Davison, Grace Darling and many more. There would also be sections on Newcastle’s history through the ages, the city (castle, cathedrals, bridges) and the surrounding area including the Roman Wall, Gateshead, Durham, the Angel of the North and any other nearby points or places of interest right up to Northumberland and Holy Island. There would be sections about football, other sports and the Great North Run. There would be sections about Geordies, who they are, their accent and how they got their name. There would be a section about the Blaydon Races, and why it is still such a focal point in Geordie culture today. This exhibition could be held in the Newcastle Arena and moved to the new arena in Gateshead once it has been built. There could also be a big promotional drive to visit all of the city’s museums and art galleries such as the Discovery Museum, the Great North Museum (formerly the Hancock), Centre for Life, the Laing Art Gallery and the Baltic.

4. Geordie Film Pop-Up Cinema showing old films set in Newcastle including ‘Goal’, ‘Get Carter’, ‘Purely Belter’, ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘I Daniel Blake’. Episodes of ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet’, ‘Byker Grove’, the ‘Likely Lads’, ‘Super Gran’, ‘Vera’ and ‘Spender’ could also be shown together with educational programmes that tell the story of Newcastle and its history. Big screens could be set up at Old Eldon Square and showings could also be held at the Tyneside Cinema.

5. Geordie Comedy with Ross Noble, Chris and Rosie Ramsey, Sarah Millican, Lee Ridley (lost Voice Guy) and Jason Cook (Hebburn). This event could be held at the Stand or at the Tyne Theatre for example. It could even be amalgamated into a Geordie Variety Performance. Held at the Theatre Royal, it could resemble something similar to ‘Sunday for Sammy’ and some of the singers from the Geordie Music Festival (mentioned in point 1) could also perform, as could some of the actors who have appeared in Geordie film and TV (mentioned in point 4).

6. A Geordie song/poem competition which could be linked to our region and traditions. Winners of different categories could be announced on the night and then the winner can perform/recite their piece of work. There could also be other performances and recitals over the course of a show which could be held at the Northern Stage or the Tyne Theatre for example. Another possibility would be to have the winners perform at the Geordie Variety Performance (mentioned in point 5).

7. Geordie Food and Drink Stalls with ham and pease pudding stottie cakes, pan haggerty, Craster kippers, locally sourced fish and chips, saveloy dips, Northumberland sausages and many options from the mighty Greggs. There could also be Geordie tapas stalls. To drink there would naturally be lots of Newcastle Brown Ale, Geordie Gin, Newcastle Gin and many other beverages from the region’s breweries. Lucozade and Earl Grey Tea could also be sold, given their links to the city. Market stall holders selling other Geordie-related products such as Geordie souvenirs, gifts, t-shirts, paintings etc, could also be invited. This event could be located around the Monument area, or the Quayside, and could also include pop up bars like the ones that appear at Christmas. There could even be a funfair for the kids.

8. A Geordie Carnival bringing the whole city to life in a sea of black and white with flags and bunting decorating all the streets. ‘Wor Flags’ could be heavily involved in this. It would be a Geordie-themed parade full of noise and energy with dancers and floats containing a giant Angel of the North, a geet big Tyne Bridge, a giant Shearer with arm aloft, a massive Bottle of Broon, and a huge Stephenson’s Rocket, for example. Dressed in black and white, crowds could come to the city to soak up the party atmosphere with the climax being a majestic Geordie fireworks display down the Quayside.

9. Bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels, universities and businesses could all get in on the act by putting on Mini Geordie events over the course of the weekend with Geordie themed menus, song and dance events and lots of renditions of ‘the Blaydon Races’ and ‘I’m Coming Home Newcastle’.

10. Exiled Geordies in different parts of the world could also get together to celebrate it as could worldwide Newcastle United supporters groups.

These are only suggestions but they are the kinds of things we could imagine seeing in a ‘GeordieFest’. It’s obviously still nothing more than a dream, but at least now this blog has been published, it is out in the public domain instead of being lodged for all perpetuity in the collective imagination of the Bard of Byker and a Geordie in Girona. For the dream to stand any hope of becoming a reality, the idea needs to capture the imagination of the Geordie public. Hopefully there will be large numbers who share our enthusiasm in getting World Geordie Day off the ground. One way to spread the word and gain as much support as possible would be for people to share this blog post on social media. We have also set up a Facebook page called World Geordie Day which people can like and follow.

Together with gaining public support, attracting ‘big hitters’ to our cause is going to be the other fundamental ingredient to take this to the next level. Some of the big names in Geordie culture spring to mind such as Alan Shearer, Kevin Keegan, Ant and Dec, the Auf Wiedersehen Pet trio, Brian Johnson and Sam Fender, as well as other influential figures in the city such as Newcastle United owners Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben who coincidentally now have Sela – a Saudi company who are the driving force behind organising spectacular events – as front of shirt sponsors. The people who run Newcastle and Gateshead Councils, the local media and the regional tourist boards would also be extremely useful allies. Local charities should also be contacted for support as a percentage of profits (at least 10%) will go towards good causes.

If, and it is a canny big if, World Geordie Day did ever become a reality, it would be expected to attract people from all over the region, the country and even farther afield. Not wishing to get too carried away, but if this were to develop into a successful annual event, it could be huge for Newcastle. It would bolster not only its finances but also its reputation as a top UK destination and, at a time when the football team is on the up and up, now could be the perfect time to capitalise on the feelgood factor that currently exists in our wonderful and unique city. 

Howay the Lads and Lasses!