Shiremoor and District Children's Treat

A yearly children's gala at Shiremoor, North Tyneside, begun in July 1907 by men from the local pit and held every year since except 2020; more than two thousand children took part in the first.

The mining history in this record

In 1907 a group of men from the local pit at Shiremoor started a treat, a gala for the children of the village and the villages around it, and over two thousand local children took part in the first, in July 1907; another account dates the tradition to 1906 and credits it to the miners of Shiremoor, raising money each year for gifts for local children. It belonged to a wider Northumberland tradition. Alongside the Miners' Picnic, children's days spread through the county's mining villages in the 1880s, after the Mundella Act of 1880 made schooling compulsory in principle, and the villages raised their own money for them; the first was held at Holywell in 1885.

Known locally as the Children's Treat, it has been organised by miners' families since 1907. The amateur filmmaker Harry Leighton filmed it on Super 8 every year from 1973 to 1981. His 1974 film shows the field being made ready, a march led by juvenile jazz bands, a box of cakes handed to each child at the gate, and the Geordie author Scott Dobson and the Newcastle United footballer Jimmy Smith as guests; in 1980 the comedian Bobby Thompson rode in the march.

People

Harry Leighton filmed the Treat from 1973 to 1981. Guests seen in his films include the author Scott Dobson and the footballer Jimmy Smith in 1974 and the comedian Bobby Thompson in 1980.

Legacy today

The Treat is still held every year, run by a committee of local people, on a field on Earsdon Road near the Grey Horse after the original field on Algernon Drive was built over. Local schools march to it behind a band and their school banner, and the day has an art competition, a dance display, football, netball and hockey, a tea tent and a funfair; each child gets a free Treat Ticket for an ice cream and a souvenir. It was cancelled for the first time in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The Treat was started in 1907 by a group of men from the local pit. (later recollection) ^1,2
• Over two thousand local children took part in the first Shiremoor and District Treat, in July 1907. (later recollection) ³
• The Treat has been organised by miners' families since 1907. (later recollection) ³
• Harry Leighton filmed the Treat on Super 8 from 1973 to 1981. (documented fact) ³
• The Treat has been held every year since 1907 except 2020, when it was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. (documented fact) ¹
• The miners of Shiremoor began the Children's Treat as a yearly tradition in 1906, raising money for gifts for local children each July. (documented fact, disputed) ⁴

Mines

• Shire Moor Colliery — Tyne and Wear
  Started in 1907 by men from the local pit at Shiremoor; in 1907 that was the Blue Bell Pit, worked by Backworth Collieries until 1915. The sources say only 'the local pit'.

Sources

1. (secondary) Shiremoor — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Shiremoor Children's Treat 1980 — BFI Player
3. (primary) Shiremoor Children's Treat 1974 — Yorkshire and North East Film Archive
4. (secondary) Shiremoor, Longbenton and Killingworth (England's North East) — England's North East (David Simpson)

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026