Our main image takes us back 50 years to January 1972, and provides a fine, unimpaired view up the River Tyne from Felling towards Gateshead and Newcastle.
It was a time when the river, as it flowed through industrial Tyneside, was still a hive of activity, its sides lined with shipyards, ship repair yards, factories, coal staiths, power stations - and flour mills.
One of those was Gateshead's Baltic Flour Mill which closed in 1981, reopening in 2002 after a £35m redevelopment as the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
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And in our 1972 photograph, we see Spillers Mill over the water in Newcastle, with a ship berthed next to it, and with the cranes hard at work.
Completed in 1938, the giant flour mill supplied the baking industry for decades, including making flour for Greggs.
The site was also where Home Pride flour was made, famous for Fred, their bowler-hatted mascot. Remember the 1970s television adverts?
Wheat arrived here from Europe, Canada, the US and Australia. At its peak in the 1970s more than 500 staff worked here providing the flour for one in every 10 loaves baked in the UK.
Operations ceased in 2007, but unlike the other former flour mill building upriver, the Baltic, the iconic Spillers structure was bulldozed in 2011.
The American owners of the building, ADM, told the Chronicle at the time: “For reasons of safety and security we would like to clear the buildings from the site.
“We have had discussions with English Heritage who have determined that the mill is not of significant historic importance.
“We plan to clear the property of its existing buildings and expect to be finished by the end of this year.”
The site would host the annual Evolution music festival. In 2015, we reported on plans for the building of a £10m sub-sea engineering test centre at the site - while in 2018, plans were revealed for the 'the Whey Aye', Europe's tallest big wheel.
Over the last 50 years, meanwhile, the immediate riverside area in our 1972 photograph has seen the growth of bushes and shrubbery - but the nearby Schooner bar on Gateshead's South Shore Road, obscured by greenery in the 2022 photo, is still going strong, also operating these days as a popular venue for local bands and singers.
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