A TRIP down memory lane proved so successful organisers are laying on a return journey.
The Cannon Street Revisited event in May drew more than 300 people to the Dorman Museum to reminisce about a thriving community at the heart of Middlesbrough.
The free exhibition was organised by community heritage group Hands On Middlesbrough in association with The Dorman Museum, Cleveland & Teesside Local History Society and Friends of Linthorpe Cemetery Nature Reserve.
Throughout the day hundreds of people came along to share their memories, photographs and some were even reunited with friends and family.
The event included a talk by local historian Ian Stubbs, a screening of a collection of recently digitised interviews with residents filmed during the demolition of Cannon Street during the 1960s and 1970s (courtesy of North East Film Archive and BBC North East & Cumbria).
And the event – with help and support from local historians and former residents and their families – was such a hit it’s making a return in October as part of the 2016 Discover Middlesbrough Festival.
And the second event will actually take place in what remains of Cannon Street itself at the Church of St Columba. Scarlet Pink, of Hands On Middlesbrough, said: “Cannon Street Revisited was one of the stand-out events in Middlesbrough Local History Month this year.
“Cannon Street has a special place in people’s hearts and is an important part of our heritage, worthy of being celebrated, and we want to ensure the streets and their residents are not consigned to a historical footnote and eventually forgotten.
“As part of the project have set up the Cannon Street Digital Archive, which traces residents of Cannon Street back to the 1911 Census, and we are hoping to recruit volunteers to develop the site further to include the streets that ran off Cannon Street.”
Hands On Middlesbrough are keen to hear from members of the public who have memories and photographs of Cannon Street and the surrounding areas, or who would like to help out with the research project.
Anyone who can help can visit the group’s Facebook page Cannon Street Revisited or email handsonmiddlesbroughfuture@gmail.com
A date for the second Cannon Street Revisited event will be announced in due course.