Redcar navigates the choppy waters

The surprise trouncing of Solicitor General Vera Baird in Redcar provided one of the more memorable moments of this year’s General Election.
The defeat at the hands of LibDem Ian Swales - subsequently blamed in large part on a collective failure to save hundreds of jobs at the town’s vast steelworks - also represented the highest swing (22 per cent) against a Labour candidate of May’s poll.
The fight to save Corus’ Teesside Cast Products works was a major issue in the run-up to the election.
The plant itself is a distant but significant presence to the north of Redcar, looming large and highly visible from much of the lovely long sandy beach that stretches for miles in front of the town.

Donkey handler Daniel Kelvie with three of his beasts of burden on Redcar beach

Zetland Museum volunteer and passionate advocate of maritime heritage, John Chambers, with the world's oldest surviving lifeboat

A camel on the North-East coast? A sculptural flight of fancy at the end of Redcar’s Esplanade

Redcar's striking town centre clock tower was dedicated to King Edward VII

Newly-painted and ready for action

Pride of place

Not everyone is a fan of industrial landscapes, especially when they muscle in so obviously on leisure time vistas. But on a fantastically sunny early summer’s day, with the beach sprinkled with families enjoying the school holidays, the Corus plant is less a dark satanic mill, more a humbling reminder of the region’s hardworking heritage.
It certainly presents a more impressive skyline than that offered when turning south to face the town’s sea front.
Fellow fans of Britain’s seaside towns will be familiar with the faded elegance and echoes of Victorian glory days so often present - think crumbling grandeur and flaking majesty.
But Redcar is no such relic.
I’d been reliably informed that its act had been cleaned up significantly in recent years. Nevertheless, the architecture of the Esplanade itself has a real shortage of character.
Parts of the beach at Redcar were famously transformed to resemble wartime Dunkirk during the making of the hit 2007 film Atonement - it could just be that some of that cinematically-imposed bleakness has rubbed off.
One of the Esplanade’s most interesting buildings is also a museum, housing among many exhibits the world’s oldest surviving lifeboat.
The Regent Cinema, which squats out over the beach on the site of a long-gone pier, is also a prominent, if slightly shabby curiosity.
The main high street, set back from the front, also has little in the way of style, in terms of its buildings, but   it does provide a broad, pleasant area to stroll and peruse Redcar’s broad offering of shops.
The borough council has made a brave attempt at dressing up vacant commercial properties by sticking colourful facsimiles of attractive looking shops and restaurants to their boarded-over windows.
But if I paint too negative a picture of the town, I am being unfair. We are, after all, in the teeth of grim economic hard times, and Redcar - no stranger to hard knocks - is understandably reeling from massive job losses.
And there are bold rejuvenation plans afoot. Early in June, a multi-million pound regeneration scheme was approved by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council.
The two-phase, £36.9m scheme will include an arts and media centre, a new leisure centre and pool and a new library. Work is expected to start next year.
A fishing town founded in the late Middle Ages, Redcar flowered as a seaside resort with the arrival of the railway from Middlesbrough in 1846. This more or less coincided with the discovery of iron ore in the nearby Cleveland Hills, and industry and tourism combined to fuel its growth.
Tourism remains a highly seasonal, but important part of the town’s economy, although even some of its seafront slot machine amusement arcades appear to have shut up shop.
The donkeys on the beach stroll on, however, and a modest in-shore fishing fleet still puts to sea.
A line of trusty veteran tractors park up in Fisherman’s Square, their lovingly cared-for and brightly painted cobles sitting on trailers behind them.
Billy Weldon, 49, divides his time between joinery and fishing.
‘It’s a quiet time of year this, so many people take the opportunity to paint up,’ he explained, as he sands down the hull of the Bagpuss.
Echoing the gripe of those from many walks of life, he complained: ‘There’s that many rules and regulations - and that’s before you even set out to sea.’
But leaving behind such 21st century cares, I stroll back out onto the beach in the early evening sunshine.
Buckets and spades have been packed away - and far too much litter left by lazy day-trippers.
Looking out to the huge container ships and tankers in the distance, it’s hard not to savour some of the romance of the sea that has captivated Redcar folk down the centuries.

Daring tales of 500 lives saved at sea
A must-see in Redcar is the Zetland Museum on seafront Esplanade.
Home to the world’s oldest surviving lifeboat, this listed building houses a reconstruction of a traditional fisherman’s cottage and other elements from the town’s maritime history.
The Zetland was built in 1802 and her crews saved more than 500 lives off the North East coast during her 78 years of heroic service.
Long before the RNLI was formed, local fishermen clubbed together to help raise the £200 needed to construct the clinker-built, double-ended 30ft boat, which was crewed by between 13 and 20 oarsmen.
Retired structural engineer John Chambers got involved after he saw an appeal for museum volunteers while walking past one day.
‘I had a very happy childhood at Redcar and have the heritage of the town’s maritime history in my bones,’ he said proudly.
Mr Chambers explained how the Zetland sprang from an urgent requirement towards the end of the 18th century to stem the huge loss of boats, their cargoes and crew off the stormy North East coast.
South Shields lifeboat pioneer Henry Greathead won a competition to come up with a suitable design - Zetland was number 11 of 31 built to his design and is the sole survivor.
Zetland takes its place among a select few vessels - among them HMS Victory and Cutty Sark - which represent the special core of the National Register of Historical Vessels. 
‘These boats are essential to the maritime heritage of Britain,’ enthused Mr Chambers.
The museum is open until October from Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 4pm and noon to 4pm at weekends and on bank Mondays. Admission is free, although donations are welcome. For details, call 01642 485370 or visit rnli.org.uk/zetland.

The best kind of donkey work
For more than a century, donkeys bearing visitors have been led up and down Redcar’s beach by members of the Burniston family (motto: "Entertaining Redcar’s kids for donkeys years").
The latest in this long line of lead rein clutchers is Daniel Kelvie, 17, who is spending his summer on the sands. Four of the hardy four-legged stalwarts - Zippy, Peanuts, Sonic and Mini Me - are based in Redcar, with five more making their way up and down the shore at Saltburn, further south.
Daniel estimates that he helps ferry up to 150 delighted children on a good day on the beach, charging £2.50 a time.
‘Our animals are well trained and looked after,’ he said. ‘We look for animals that are hardworking and nice with kids.’

Members Comments

• Comment by: Zetland 11 July 2010 - 21:31

  I read your article with interest today on the town where I was born in 1945. I am also a volunteer at the Zetland Lifeboat Museum.
  One problem I have with the article is the way that you mention the sculpture at the end of the High Street - as the camel being a flight of fancy.
  The Sculpture depicts a very famous lady from Redcar - namely Gertrude Bell who travelled the world and befriended the arabs - a very interesting woman indeed and you might like to do an article on the same person - who knows - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell - the fantasy bit is maybe the mermaid - but Captain Cook is also depicted there. Some very famous people lived in Redcar.
  Lovely article all the same - nice to see something good about the town.

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• Comment by: garethdant 20 November 2010 - 09:29

  Thanks for the kind words, Zetland.
  Despite attempting to find out a little more about the camel - and other sculptures - I failed, I'm afraid.
  I'm very aware of the remarkable lady and her travels (I've also long wanted to write something about her), but if I remember right there's nothing at the site to connect the artwork with Gertrude Bell.
  It's surprising how common it is to find interesting street art with absolutely nothing nearby to explain what it is, who it's by etc...
  Next time I'll try harder to get to the bottom of it though!
  Thanks again.
  Gareth Dant

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