North Shields photographer, Alison Spedding shares with you the voices and photographs of local people as they recount stories of what daily life was like in the North East, during and immediately after WW2.
Alison also met Jack, now nearly 92 years old, but who at the age of 17 left home for the first time and, in his own words …. “I went to war a boy and came back a man” having fought at the bloody battle of Monte Cassino in Italy where there were over 250,000 casualties.
Jack shares the emotional story of his journey by ship to Durban in Africa, through to Egypt and finally to Italy and talks of being proud to be a “D-Day Dodger.”
Life today is characterised by ‘immediacy’ – internet shopping, take-away food, mobile phones, Facebook and social media to keep in contact with friends and family.
In stark contrast to modern day life the exhibition “voices” talk about a wide range of subjects:- How the bombing in North Tyneside affected them personally.
The “Distant Voices” are symbolic of an age and a time that is fast receding from human memory – they share with you memories of lives lived and extraordinary events which are completely alien to today’s children and young adults – yet which to the “voices” seemed perfectly ordinary at the time.
Some of the stories told by the “Voices” are amusing, others are emotional and moving – all are deeply personal.