The second stage of cycling’s Tour of Britain comes to the region on Sunday 13th September, taking in almost all the major sites of the area. Over 100 riders from seventeen teams will race on eight stages across the country this month, and the stage starting in Darlington and ending on the banks of the Tyne looks to bring cycling fans out for what promises to be an exciting weekend.

Carlton Reid of BikeBiz.com was born and raised in Newcastle and is looking forward to the arrival of the Tour in the north east. “Because it’s late in the season, it’s a very open competition. There will be no out and out favourites, unless Mark Cavendish starts! In previous years, a long breakaway on first day has all but settled the whole tour. With an added day this year, there will be less likelihood of this happening so will make for a more open and interesting.”

Newcastle man urges people to ‘Unite By Cycling’ and get in gear for The Prostate Cancer Charity’s Tour Ride – Prostate Cancer Charity

Tour of Britain 2009 – Start List – Cycling Weekly

Tour of Britain set to be bigger than ever – Bike Biz

Top Cycle Race to pass through Bedlington – Bedlington Journal

Tour of Britain – Whiptail Cycles

Newcastle Entertainment

 

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This blog post has been contributed by Chris Stokel-Walker.

Visit Chris’s website to find out more about him.

 

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Now might not be the best time to be advocating reaching into your pockets and sparing some change for a charity, but there are plenty of good reasons to mention Children North East at any time.

It was 1891 – an era which saw even poorer people living in even worse conditions below the breadline – when two local men wrote an open letter to the region under the masthead of The Poor Children’s Holiday Association, offering a free visit to the seaside for local children from poor backgrounds. Thousands took up the offer to flee the fug of a shipbuilding-centric Newcastle and take in salty sea air.

That charity has grown and changed over the years, but the same credo remains at its core: to help the disadvantaged children of the region through educational and informative services.

There are countless children’s charities that do plenty of good work, but many are national or multi-national corporations that can afford television advertising and widespread paper campaigns. Children North East has no real advertising budget to speak of. It instead relies on the goodwill of local volunteers and people willing to dig a littler deeper behind the sofa even in the most trying of times.

The WEYES (West End Youth Enquiry Service) Project is one of many ways the charity helps youngsters in the region, taking their cue from the actions of those two men in 1891 offering a trip to the seaside. It will act as a drop-in centre for those in the West End of Newcastle, giving advice on issues as complex as mental health and as basic as writing a CV. If those who utilise the WEYES Project just want someone to sit and talk to, Children North East volunteers are there to lend an ear.

Children North East’s good work has been recognised by a famous local lad and his wife, too. West End son Tim Healy and his wife Denise Welch have recently offered their support to the WEYES Project in an attempt to help the charity reach the £250,000 needed to give support to local youngsters aged 11-25.

The money will go towards urgent work needed to refurbish the dilapidated Victorian townhouse which provides the base for the WEYES Project and replenish it with state-of-the-art IT systems to help get youngsters off on the right foot. Planning permission has been granted and Children North East are looking for donations big and small, both of money, services and goods-in-kind, to help put the project into action – a project which will be long-lasting, tangible and have a seriously positive effect on the community.

Tim Healy is all too aware of the good the charity does in the region.

“Children North East not only looks after children but families who are undergoing problems and have no one to turn to. They are given great support and help from CNE. Being a family man myself and being born in Benwell makes this charity particularly special to me. I applaud the work they do.”

His wife, television’s Denise Welch, says that

“it is an honour to represent a charity that looks after our own.”

The charity has been looking after its own for nearly 120 years now, ever since two kind-hearted men gave up their time, services and money to provide children with respite from the grimy inner-city life. Today Children North East are looking for the same charitable spirit from local businesses and individuals to help improve the lives of some very worthy children. For more information on the charity and how to donate, please visit:

http://www.children-ne.org/

This blog post has been contributed by Chris Stokel-Walker.

Visit Chris’s website to find out more about him.

 

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Jessica Ennis and Christine Ohuruogu pound the track in Gateshead

Gateshead International Stadium is a rather unassuming place to be classed as one of the homes of British athletics.

Surrounded by car dealerships, a McDonalds and little else, it’s not somewhere you’d think would host world-class athletics on a regular basis. But it does – and Gateshead’s one of the highlights of the track meeting season.

The Aviva British Grand Prix will be at the nearly-55 year old stadium on Bank Holiday Monday (31st August), with World Heptathlon gold medallist Jessica Ennis making her debut at the stadium, competing in the 100m hurdles. She’ll be joined by British standout star Christine Ohuruogu, who loves competing in Gateshead “partly because of the quality of the field they always have there and also just because it is always a good atmosphere.”

With tickets from just £10 (and some of the 11,000 still available), the atmosphere provided by local supporters of athletics will surely be of the same high quality as normal. Every one of them will be hoping for strong performances on the track and in the field, and a hope that a magical Gateshead moment can occur, like it did in June 2006.

Further information:

Aviva Grand Prix – United Kingdom Athletics

Aviva Grand Prix – Gateshead Council

Gay joins the field for the British Grand Prix – Northern Echo

Gay will compete at the Aviva Grand Prix – World Track

This blog post has been contributed by Chris Stokel-Walker.

Visit Chris’s website to find out more about him.

 

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Thousands of students are going to descend on Newcastle’s two universities. Alright, that might not sound like the most wonderful thing – loud, brash and up for a party, the student population of Newcastle live up to their reputation for playing hard – but it is. Because thousands of students are going to descend on Newcastle and its two universities and be greeted by the friendliest people in the country.

A new poll of 5,500 people (LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8207836.stm ) saw Newcastle beat out Liverpool and Manchester in the friendliness rankings, which will come as a surprise to absolutely no-one who lives here.

And what will happen in a few weeks time is that those thousands of students will come bright-eyed into Newcastle and wander down Northumberland Street for the first time and be overwhelmed by the generosity of locals. They’ll get lost and find people willing to help. They’ll do their first food shop in the draughty Grainger Market and at first be confused but then pleased at being called “hinny” and “pet”.

It’s the Geordie way to give a warm, open-armed welcome, and it’s that quality which has been recognised in the national poll. Hard factual data will undoubtedly be backed up by first-hand experience for thousands of nervous undergraduates next month.

Read more at:

Auld Reekie tops city wish list – BBC News

Geordie Dialect – BBC

This blog post has been contributed by Chris Stokel-Walker.

Visit Chris’s website to find out more about him.

 

If you would like to have your say at the Directory of Newcastle upon Tyne Blog contact us at support@directoryofnewcastleupontyne.com