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Sisters relive childhood in Beamish replica town

BBC Linda Gilmore and Brenda O’NeillBBC
The sisters said they were impressed with the attention to detail including an ashtray and lighter their father would have used in the 1950s
  • The Remaking Beamish Project features a 1950s-style replica town including two council houses
  • One was based on the childhood home of two Sunderland sisters
  • The other was styled on the house of a Polish immigrant who settled in Ashington
  • Museum staff said making the town based on memories was "emotive" and they hoped it would be a popular attraction

Two sisters have had their childhood home recreated in a 1950s replica town at Beamish Museum.

Linda Gilmore and Brenda O’Neill’s former house on Rochdale Road, Sunderland, was chosen to be recreated after winning a public vote.

The sisters worked alongside staff at the museum down to the last detail, including a fireplace with brass and an ashtray and lighter that their father would have used.

Two houses from the era, as well as a police office and a bowling green, are open to the public.

Ashtray and lighter
Staff wanted to create 1950s homes down to the last detail including an ashtray and lighter from the period

Ms O'Neill said: "My dad was a smoker and the ashtray and lighter are there exactly as they would have been at the time.

"How many people get this when they can go back to their nana's or mam's house as it was when you were a child and relive it?

"I just think it's wonderful."

Ms Gilmore said: "Even the brass on the fireplace is the same.

"I remember we used to polish it as children."

Replica 1950s kitchen
Staff at the museum said they hoped the "emotive" attraction would prove popular with visitors

'Positive immigration'

Rhiannon Hiles, chief executive at the County Durham attraction, said: "This project is really exciting and very emotive spending time with the folks whose memories have helped us create this space and bring it all here."

One of the houses helps tell the story of post-war Polish migration.

Roman Malecki was one of the estimated 200,000 Poles who arrived in Britain after fighting alongside the Allied Forces.

He later became a miner in Ashington, Northumberland.

His son Ray Malecki, whose childhood home is the second replica house in the town, said: "This is a representation of the experiences of my dad who was in the Polish Army.

"There were thousands of men in similar circumstances many of whom ended up working down the coal mines like my dad, or other industries.

"They settled in this country and it's a very positive migration story."

Ray Malecki
Ray Malecki said the replica of his childhood home highlighted a "positive immigration story"

The exhibit is part of the Remaking Beamish project, which is the biggest development in the museum's history.

Staff said it took more than a decade to get funding and build the replica town.

The project was awarded £10.9m by the National Lottery Fund in 2016.

Lounge
Making the replica town is the biggest project Beamish has ever undertaken, staff said

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