Power in North East England
Electricity and its role in the North East’s past, present and future will be explored at a seminal event in Newcastle next month (March).
The North East led the country in the application of electricity within industry in the early years of the 20th century.
And the region’s oldest civic society, The Northumberland and Newcastle Society (N&N) is staging Power in North East England, at The Common Room (formerly The Mining and Mechanical Institute), Westgate Road, on Wednesday 15 March.
Presentations by two highly regarded experts in the field will cover the birth of the industry in the late 19th century, nationalisation in the mid-20th century and new technologies being developed and applied by private companies to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable low-carbon, electrical energy.
The event will begin with Tom McGovern, of Newcastle University Business School, describing his research work on the early days of electricity supply in the North East and, later, nationalisation, which resulted in the establishment of the North Eastern Electricity Board.
Tom will be followed by Tony Quinn, director of technology development at Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Ltd, at Blyth.
He will describe the introduction of the large coal-fired power stations in the 50s and 60s and the later privatisation of the industry in the 1980s before examining the ‘greening’ of the industry in recent years.
The event has been organised for the N&N by former Merz and McLellan engineers Les Brunton and Ian Burdon, who have “long supported the case for promoting the story behind the profound influence of local industry personalities, such as Merz, Spence-Watson, Parsons and Reyrolle.”
Les said: “Their establishment of the North Eastern Electric Supply Co. interconnected electricity grid system here in the North East, led to the adoption of the principle nationally and throughout the world.”
Tickets for Power in North East England, on 15 March between 2pm and 5.30pm, cost £17.50 - with discounts for students and N&N members - and include refreshments.
To book, visit https://www.nandnsociety.org.uk/events/. The closing date for bookings is Wednesday 8 March.
For more information about the Northumberland & Newcastle Society, or to support its work, visit https://www.nandnsociety.org.uk/
