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Tyneside World War Two women workers memories sought

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Women workers standing next to springs for artillery at Quin's bedding factory, Newcastle, January 1945Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
Over the course of the project TWAM will be working with artists, young people, schools and care homes

Memories from women who lived and worked in Newcastle during World War Two are being sought for an exhibition.

Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums (TWAM) are researching women's experiences during WW2 from those who worked in the factories or shipyards to those who joined the Women's Land Army.

They will feature in an exhibition at the Discovery Museum in 2022.

TWAM keeper of history, Kylea Little said it was important to document the stories of a "hugely significant time".

IWM DB 67 Unknown women worker at a Newcastle ShipyardIWM DB 67
Kylea Little said: "We have so few stories of women's experiences during this hugely significant time."

"This photo was taken by the Ministry of Information wartime photographer Cecil Beaton at a Newcastle shipyard, yet there isn't any information about the woman in the photograph, who she was or anything about her life.

"Did your female relatives or friends work in the shipyards or any of the Tyneside factories? Did they join the Women's Royal Naval Service or the Auxiliary Territorial Service, or the Women's Land Army?

"We urge you to share these stories with us."

The research is part of a national partnership with Imperial War Museums and the Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme which aims to uncover underrepresented local stories to record for future generations.

The project culminates next year with a touring installation.

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