An edition of Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ begins with an outside broadcast from what is today, Beamish The Living Museum of the North speaking with its founder Frank Atkinson about how the museum is financed. Two discussions are also had with museum and cultural professional on the relevance of the region’s industrial heritage and how museums such as Beamish should be supported and financed. In the second part of the programme a report from the town of Shildon...

An edition of Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ begins with an outside broadcast from what is today, Beamish The Living Museum of the North speaking with its founder Frank Atkinson about how the museum is financed. Two discussions are also had with museum and cultural professional on the relevance of the region’s industrial heritage and how museums such as Beamish should be supported and financed. In the second part of the programme a report from the town of Shildon also in County Durham where British Rail is to close its wagon works putting 2600 men out of work. In the studio in Newcastle Ian Breach leads a discussion on why this profitable part of the business is closing and what can be done to save it. Title: Tyne Tees Title: Briefing Standing atop a double-decker tram at Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum, presenter Ian Breach points out the winding engine house in the 1900 Colliery Village in the distance. Standing beside him is Frank Atkinson the Director of Beamish. As the tram gets underway the two men talk about the financial battle to keep the museum open during its first ten years of operation. Standing on Rowley Station reporter Kevin Rountree speaks with Stuart Bell, a teacher from Dalbeattie in Scotland who is visiting Beamish with a school party. As his pupils look around the station speaking with the driver of a steam train on the platform, he explains to Kevin the educational value of trips such as these to places like Beamish. In the covered waiting area of Rowley Station Kevin Rountree conducts a discission on how best to preserve the regions industrial heritage with Industrial Archaeologist Donald Wilcock, Nerys Johnson Keeper in Charge of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) Museum and John Thompson Director of Tyne and Wear Museums. Leaning against a lamppost next to the Annfield Plan Co-operative shop being re-built on site at Beamish, Ian Breach talks about the costs of developing a site such as this as well as the costs in operating museums around the region. The camera pans around the currently empty site of what will be the 1900s Town. In the distance a derelict railway coach on a set of rail tracks which, according to Ian, will cost £50,000 to restore. Standing under the bandstand inside Redman Park at Beamish, Ian Breach leads a discussion asking questions such as who should finance places like Beamish, do we have to many museums in the Northeast and what is their real value to the region? Questions are also asked with regards Beamish itself especially on how it is sold to the public and in what manner is it run. Those take part in the discussion are John McWilliam Labour MP for Blaydon, Joe Mills Regional Secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU), Terry Norris Chief Executive Northeast Co-Operative, Stan Heatlie Chairman of the Beamish Trust, Mary Bartram Market Research Director for the English Tourist Board, Councillor Michael Stott of Northumberland County Council, Bruce Stevenson Cleveland County Treasurer, Councillor Marks Nayman of Durham County Council and Donald Wilcock, Nerys Johnson and John Thompson who featured earlier in the programme. Returning to Rowley Station Kevin Rowntree stands beside a 20-ton coal hopper built at the wagon works at Shildon. Kevin explains that British Rail is planning to close the works creating 2600 redundancies and creating a crisis to for the town which we be discussed in the second part of the programme. As Kevin walks away the wagon is driven away. Title: End of Part One Part Two Standing on a podium at a local football ground at Shildon Derek Foster Labour MP for Bishop Auckland speaks to a crowd about the importance of the Shildon wagon work, it’s profitability and why wagons should be made in the town. The crowd of 3000 workers and their families applaud. From a slowly moving train newly built wagon on the opposite track changes to montage of archival images of some of the wagon and coaches built at the works as well as the works themselves with Ian Breach in voiceover providing a history of the company. Cars and other vehicles cross a level crossing near to the factory of British Rail Engineering Ltd Shildon Works. As Ian Breach provides details on the factories closure, men come out of the works at the end of a shift. Standing on the podium seen at the start of this report, Sid Weighell General Secretary of the National Union on Railwaymen (NUR) speaks to the crowd about meetings with British Rail (BR) to find a solution but no closure. The crowd cheer, some carrying banners that reads ‘Don’t Make Shildon a Ghost Town’ or ‘Save Shildon Works’. Standing beside one of the recently build wagons Sid Weighell speaks with Kevin Rountree and threatens strike-action should the wagon works be closed, and BR not return to the negotiation table. In the Tyne Tees Television studio in Newcastle Ian Breach leads a discussion on the closure plans for the Shildon works linking it to the closure of the Consett steelworks in and 1980 and asking what can be done to save it. Joining Ian is John Priestley of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers (AUEW) Works Convenor, Roy Jones NUR Branch Chairman, Geoff James British Rail Engineering Ltd Production Director and Derek Foster Labour MP for Bishop Auckland. Ian Breach brings the discussion and the programme to a close. Credit: Reporter Kevin Rountree Researcher Connie Pickard, Gillian Firth Political Editor John Sleight Associate Producer Bob Farnworth Studio Director Tony Kysh O.B. Director Jeremy Lack Produced by Michael Partington End title: Tyne Tees Colour. © Tyne Tees Television Ltd MCMLXXXII