I know I've mentioned Kieran Carter's adventures in local history before (and will, no doubt, do so again), but if you're interested in any aspect of the history of the top right-hand corner of England you really should be a regular visitor to the young man's excellent 'North East Heritage Library' (NEHL). There are two ways in: with the homepage proper being here, and the Patreon gateway here.
Kieran is a lovely chap and his endeavours remind me of my own efforts to popularise the subject matter through my old mail order magazine, The North-Easterner, during 1994-2004. That all seems like a very long time ago now, and I know there are still a few of you out there who subscribed to the journal (you know who you are!). Unlike me and my old-school launch in the mid-1990s, Mr Carter is having to deal with the intricacies of the digital age. I started with a typewriter with no wordprocessing capabilities - and I didn't even have access to the burgeoning Internet until a year into my venture!
OK, then, enough of the bad old good old days.
I was prompted to mention the NEHL again on account of a couple of Newcastle-related articles I have recently spotted there. The first is a sideways look at the town's famous (infamous?) siege of 1644 by Miriam Bibby - a fellow Novocastrian and far better qualified than me when it comes to the study of history. Then there was a more recent look at outsiders' views on Novocastrians through history by Sue Hope, who herself has a long history of writing in the field.*
Anyway, I just thought I'd point out the existence of the NEHL on the off chance that you may not have yet come across it. And do try to offer Kieran your support by joining his band of Patreon followers. There are several levels of financial support you can offer - and being once myself in desperate pursuit of such support during my publishing days I can fully appreciate what a struggle it can be at times. Kieran is young, keen and remarkably knowledgeable - so let's reward him with a bit of support.
* Readers may be interested in my own published booklet on the subject - see left-hand column for further info.
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