6 minute read
The Tanners and the Taxman
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NEWCASTLE UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB
It’s a long time since we witnessed dancing on the streets with so much jubilation in the City as was seen on 7th October, the day Newcastle United were finally taken over by a Saudi-led consortium of Amanda Staveley, Rueben Brothers headed by Jamie Rueben and new chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan of PCI Investment. It has been an uplift for the supporters and the whole city which was palpable on the 8th with everyone in the City Centre and beyond, smiling with that feel good factor. As landlords of the football ground and the training pitches, the Stewards Committee took a particular interest in developments, (like everyone else glued to the news channel hoping for the right result) and will look forward to building a good working relationship with the new owners over the coming months. It was really pleasing to hear that the new consortium is committed to not only improving the club but also the City and surrounding area. Hopefully we will be able to get together with the directors and have the opportunity to inform them that we are no ordinary landlords, the rent they pay does not go to a commercial business for profit, but to the Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne, a charity. Moreover, not a charity with a chief executive on a mega salary but an organisation with over 1800 committed Freemen run by 11 elected volunteer stewards on their behalf, tasked with looking after 900+ acres of Town Moors on behalf of the City and its residents; probably the biggest inner-city open space in the country if not the world and an organisation where the income is used to preserve, maintain and improve the Town Moors, affectionately referred to as the city lung. To echo our Chairman’s remarks, ‘we are the original environmental organisation’, an ethos embedded in legislation via the Town Moor Act 1988. After all we have been doing it for over 800 years. We are a fantastic and proud organisation in which all Freemen are encouraged to get involved and play a part whether directly or through their company, we would love to hear your thoughts.
Howay the Lads.
VISITOR’S TALES
For many years, Ian Miller was the Town Moor Money Charity Visitor, visiting recipients to assist with applications. He also and organised many social events such as coach trips and theatre visits.
I had visited Joyce’s mother and when she died I met Joyce for the first time. I discovered that she would qualify for Town Moor Money Charity as a Freeman’s daughter, single parent family on a low income. I said that she’d need her father’s oath paper and her full birth certificate to show she was his daughter and her marriage certificate to show her changed surname. She said that it would be embarrassing as she had been married four times – but the last time she hadn’t bothered to change her name, as he was a very old man who had just lost his wife and she was sorry for him.
She was small in height but large in girth and wore slack fitting clothes. Despite her alliances she was still poor and I represented her with her form at the trustees meeting. When I called to tell her she had qualified she said “let me give you a hug” and gave me a bear hug! I was surprised that her slack shapeless clothes contained so much woman and I attempted to put my arms around her, but they couldn’t meet – then I saw my reflection in a mirror and I almost burst out laughing as I thought we looked like sumo wrestlers! She broke off and saw the smile on my face and asked if I had enjoyed it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth! Her daughter was bright and attractive, a teenager still at school and when I called she would ask me if I would like a cup of tea and she would make it. Usually when I visited their elders, teenagers would turn up the TV or leave the room altogether. Two years later she had left school and was job seeking and doing a promising course, but three months later when I asked her mother if she had a job, Joyce gleefully said “she doesn’t need one now, she’s pregnant!” Joyce was smoking more each time I saw her and eventually I stopped going into her smoke-filled flat, with the excuse that I was running late and hadn’t much time to chat. She died shortly after and I heard that her daughter had a new partner and more children.
A SURPRISE CANADIAN COUSIN STRIKES GOLD IN HER QUEST TO BECOME A FREEMAN By Alan Bolam (Cordwainers)
My wife Linda and I returned from a family holiday in Scotland in late July 2021 to a letter from a lady claiming she might be a cousin of mine; Arlene (Bolam) Cameron. The letter went on to say her grandfather, Thomas Ryle Bolam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1889 then emigrated to Peterborough in Ontario, Canada, where he died in 1975.
She knew her father was a Freeman of the City as he had travelled from Canada to Newcastle many years ago to be sworn in. Arlene had searched the UK phonebook for Bolams she felt might fit the bill and had a recollection of the area after visiting when she was about 18, so she sent 2 speculative letters and hoped for the best.
I checked with my brother Les Bolam (also a Freeman) if he could recollect having ever heard of us having family in Canada. He could recall our father talked of his cousin in Canada and attached an extract of the 1891 Census, which identifies:
• Benjamin Bolam, aged 36 (our great grandfather) • His wife Elizabeth, aged 35 (our great grandmother) as living in Donnell
Street, Westgate, Newcastle, along with their children: • John, aged 10 (our grandfather) • Benjamin, aged 7 • George, aged 3 • Thomas, aged 1 (who we believe to be Arlene’s grandfather who emigrated to Canada) During further correspondence with Arlene, it emerged that her father Kenneth Bolam and her brother Alan Bolam (who coincidently shares my name!) were Freemen of the City and that she was visiting Newcastle in late September, and if we were related would love to arrange a meeting with us.
We invited Arlene and her husband Jamie to meet the family, and through Helen Birkett (Cordwainer and Stewards Committee) and Brenda Joyce at the Civic Centre, we visited the Silver Gallery and accidentally met the Lord Mayor (which impressed Arlene!) and then onto the Guild Hall, courtesy of Helen and Town Moor Superintendent, Kevin Batey.
Arlene and Jamie were very impressed with our City, the weather was fantastic and the people involved were hospitable and great ambassadors. Many thanks to Helen, Kevin and Brenda. Arlene will be returning to Newcastle next year to become a Freeman and to join the Cordwainers Company.
