Well, this is not quite rock ‘n’ roll, but I thought it was worth including a short entry to mark my visit to this interesting exhibition at my local museum. I was attracted to the exhibition by the invitation I received from the museum which explain that: ““Fixing Time” is a retrospective exhibition exploring 50 years of work by renowned British artist and photographer Ian Macdonald. … Macdonald boasts a rich and prolific career spanning five decades behind the lens. His photographic journey has been dedicated to documenting life, the evolution of working-class communities, and the rise and fall of industry in Teesside and Cleveland.”
“Distinctive in his approach, Macdonald developed a unique style using traditional black-and-white film and print-making techniques. This distinctive aesthetic not only reflects his artistic prowess but also signifies his growing confidence in employing photography as a tool to address the pressing issues observed and lived during that transformative era. The exhibition at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens spotlights key photographic series such as “Heavy Industry,” “Smith’s Dock Shipyard,” “Redcar Blast Furnace,” and “School Portraits.”
This sounded very interesting and relevant to my own background in Sunderland. So, Chris and I walked down to the museum on the appointed afternoon to see the exhibition. We waited in a short queue for Ian Macdonald to arrive and escort us around the exhibition, which consisted of a series of enlarged black-and-white photographs of shipyards, heavy industry in the north-east and industrial workers. Ian talked us through each photograph, explaining its relevance to him and his family. He clearly found this a highly emotional experience as he had to stop at various points and take a long breath before proceeding.
The short discussion of his photographs deepened my understanding of north-east heavy industry and of Ian’s photographic methods, centred upon black-and-white photography to deepen the authenticity of his images. No sooner had it started, the exhibition was over. I really enjoyed the experience and felt that I had gained a deep understanding of the man and his work. He kindly signed a copy of the book which accompanied the exhibition (see images; no other photography was allowed).
Many thanks to Elaine for getting my book signed, Chris for the photography and Jan for manipulating the site. Thanks to Wikimedia Commons for the photograph of Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens Back to some real vintage rock next time.
Jimmy Burns is not only a massive punk hoarder and collector, he is also a real gent. We first touched base a few years ago when Jimmy contacted me through my blog and shared some images of posters which he had, of punk concerts I had been to in the past. Jimmy then kindly let me use these images on my blog. Last year Jimmy invited me to see his exhibition of memorabilia at Newcastle Central library. Well, he is back there again, with a second exhibition Punk No. 2 of marvellous memorabilia. The exhibition runs from October 8 until November 10.
Once again, Jimmy met me at the library and give me a private personal tour of his exhibition, which is as before, excellent and well worth visiting. My carer Jan and I arrived early and went upstairs in the lift to the space where his collection is currently on display. Jimmy soon joined us and took me around the exhibition space, explaining the details of the wonderful treasure trove of punk memorabilia which she has assembled for his second exhibition. What he revealed to me was another unique collection of memorabilia. Jimmy has a massive collection and this is only one small part of it.
Punk No. 2 exhibition once again takes the visitor through the history of punk, this time including posters from around the country as well as for concerts in the north-east. This includes very rare posters of punk bands including Sex Pistols posters from early gigs, there legendary Anarchy tour, early Clash concerts and posters of other major punk acts such as Joy Division, the Damned and many others. If you go along, you will also see part of Jimmy’s massive collection of flyers, tickets and very rare original vinyl records from around the world.
To say that Jimmy has assembled a unique collection of punk items which not only covers the north-east but is of national importance, is an understatement. I very much doubt that anyone else in the UK has assembled such a collection. And as before, only part of his collection is currently on display in the library. Jimmy has put this together largely through personal connections he has made over the years. He is touch with collectors around the world and is constantly trading with others to try and find other items to add to his collection.
We were soon chatting as before about punk concerts that we had both been to “back in the day” and rare items that we would both love to own, such as a ticket for the cancelled Sex Pistols Anarchy 1976 concert at Newcastle City Hall. I had a ticket and sadly returned it to claim my money back when the concert was cancelled. Big mistake.
Jan and I were once again knocked out by a fabulous exhibition and by Jimmy’s passion for anything to do with vintage punk rock. Thank you once again Jimmy for spending time with us, talking us through the exhibition and sharing happy memories with me. I really appreciate it and look forward to chatting with you more in the future. Good luck with the exhibition. I’m sure that many people will go to see it and that it will be well received. If you are interested in punk rock then I would urge you to go along and visit the exhibition while it is currently on display in Newcastle Central library.
The exhibition runs until November 10. I would urge you to go along and see it. Many thanks to Jan for taking the photos. Apologies for the reflection (the memorabilia is all safely housed behind glass) which has come out on some of the images.
“Jools and Paul Donnelly have been avid collectors of all things vintage since the late 70s with a particular focus on the 1960s mod scene. Both Jools and Paul have a passion for mod culture and since first meeting they have combined their collection some of which will form part of this exhibition at Newcastle City Library. The collection includes vintage ladies and men’s mod clothing, shoes and accessories, ‘mod’ magazines, records and books. Their love of the 60s era motivated them to successfully lobby Newcastle Council for a heritage plaque at the site of the legendary 
Jools And Paul kindly invited me to their exhibition at Newcastle Library which, I must say, is pretty impressive to say the least. The couple have amassed an excellent and extensive collection of all things mod in Newcastle in the 1960s. The exhibition brought back lots of memories of my own early teenage years in Sunderland when I would go to Sunderland Top Rank Suite (the Rink) on a Saturday morning and dance along (yes, I had the bottle to dance in those days, which I lost somewhere along the path of life) to great pop/mod classics as Small Faces “All or Nothing”, Love Affair’s “Everlasting Love” and Barry Ryan’s epic operatic “Eloise”. I thought I was a young mod in my hipsters and Paisley “Rave” shirt. I even got dressed specially for the occasion, wearing a Vivian Westwood T-shirt with lovely ballerinas all over it, my best new Beatles Chelsea winklepicker boots and a pair of tiny round John Lennon sunglasses. You can never keep an old mod down! Jools and Paul kindly stood next to me for some selfies. Many thanks.
The exhibition contains records, 60s magazines and classic clothing from the era. Much respect! Encouraged by their collection, I went home, straight on to eBay, and bought a couple of folders containing Record Song Books from “back in the day”. The exhibition runs until the end of the month and I recommend you go along and see it. Aye, it takes you back. Wonderful.
Many thanks to Jools and Paul for signing my copy of their excellent book which tells the story of everything mod in 1960s Newcastle. Wonderful! It’s a great read and takes me right back to the 60s and many of the bands I wish I had seen back in the day! Never mind I have tried to catch up since
North East, they tell us their story, a story of what it was really like to be young in those glory years of Newcastle’s musical history. Newcastle in the 1960s was known as a ‘Mod Mecca’ the book describes the mod haunts, the clubs, the scooters, the music and of course their love of clothes. Covering also Newcastle’s Beat and jazz scene and the early days of The Animals. But above all this is the story of the thrill of being a teenager and of their sheer joy for life spent in a Newcastle that sadly no longer exists. For anyone who has an interest in the mod scene and of the social history of 1950s and 60s, Newcastle this book is a must.”
Jimmy Burns is not only a massive punk hoarder and collector, he is also a real gent. We first touched base some time ago when Jimmy contacted me through the blog and shared some images of posters which he had, of punk concerts I had been to in the past. Jimmy then kindly let me use these images on my blog. Since then we have kept in touch and I was delighted when he told me that part of his massive punk memorabilia collection was to be displayed in 
Newcastle Mayfair. Happy days.
urrently on display in Newcastle Central library.
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