Hundreds of residents across the North East gathered to watch the Queen's Baton Relay as it made its way through the region ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Games. The relay kicked off in Marsden on Friday morning before it made its way through Whitley Bay, Blyth, Alnwick, Gateshead and finally Newcastle.
Starting at Souter Lighthouse, the baton was carried through Whitley Bay and Blyth town centre with a celebration event held at Market Square afterwards. It then travelled through the centre of Alnwick, starting at The Alnwick Garden and finishing outside Alnwick Castle.
The relay then kicked off from the iconic Angel of the North, and the baton made its way through Low Fell at 4.20pm on Friday to Saltwell Park where people enjoyed a range of sports taster activities.
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Birmingham 2022 is hosting the 16th official Queen's Baton Relay and the mascot, Perry, made a rare appearance at the park - one of only a very few appearances he will make across the 25 days of the relay. The baton completed its journey through Gateshead before crossing the River Tyne by boat. It was then carried up to Grey’s Monument before descending back to the Quayside.
And to welcome the baton into the city, Newcastle City Council organised an end-of-day celebration at Wesley Square. Katie Barker, captain of Newcastle United Women carried the baton on behalf of the city on its final leg of the day along the Quayside.
Speaking at the event, Katie said: "It's absolutely amazing to be here today and it's so nice to see so many people turn up. I'm so proud to be here."
Representatives of Newcastle Eagles, Tyne Bridge Harriers and Hat Trick, the Elswick-based community sports development programme, were on hand to allow attendees to try their hand at versions of Commonwealth games sports. This included basketball shootouts and free throws, running bleep tests, foam javelin throwing, standing long jumps and much more with prizes for those achieving the best scores.
Metro Radio also provided entertainment for the event while street food stalls and other refreshments from Urban Garden made the event have a real festival feel. Those nominated to be baton bearers described it as a "fantastic experience" and said the North East came out in full swing to support those carrying the baton.
One baton bearer, Marianne Dudds, from Blaydon who is training to become a mental health nurse, said: "It's been absolutely amazing, what a fantastic experience it's been and I'm absolutely honoured to be nominated. I still don't know who nominated me so I still feel really overwhelmed but it's just been fantastic.
"We've been supported all the way, I think the North East has done us proud, everyone came out and cheered us on, it was lovely."
Anne Wilson, from Whitley Bay, coordinator of the All Runs Club whose member Dennis was nominated, said: "It was lovely, I'm glad more people came out by the time it came through but it was really, really nice. We were all delighted for Dennis and he also runs for St Oswald's Hospice so my husband has got his hospice T-shirt on for support, he well deserves it."
Dennis Hewitt, baton bearer and All Runs club member, from Birtley, said it was "great fun" and said the atmosphere was similar to that of the Great North Run.
He said: "It was great fun, we thought the weather was going to be terrible, at Gateshead stadium, when we were getting the briefing, the rain just came down but luckily the sun came back out again and there was quite a crowd out there.
"There were quite a lot of people along the route clapping, applauding and waving, it was great fun, I really enjoyed it. It was a bit like the Great North Run atmosphere. I love anything like this and I'd love to get involved again."
Another baton bearer, Heather Solan, said being nominated to carry the baton was "surreal". She said: "I felt really proud today carrying the baton, it's a little bit surreal, I was a little bit nervous but I couldn't stop smiling. People were telling us to smile but they didn't need to, I couldn't stop smiling anyway!
"The Huntington's Disease Association nominated me because I do charity work and raise money for them. We've got Huntington in our family and it's not a very well-known disease so we're just trying to raise money and raise a bit more awareness so we can hopefully find a cure.
"We've done things like the London Marathon, the Three Peaks so we do a lot of different events throughout the year and get as many people involved as we can and we've been quite successful with it."
The Mayor of South Tyneside, Councillor Pat Hay added: "It has been a huge honour for South Tyneside to play a key part in the Queen’s Baton Relay in the run-up to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
"I was delighted to see the Queen’s Baton begin its journey in South Tyneside at a special celebration event with schoolchildren at Souter Lighthouse and then again as our amazing baton bearers carried it along South Shields seafront.
"Those individuals chosen as baton bearers have done so much for their local areas and it was especially wonderful that some of the outstanding members of our South Tyneside community were among those involved.
"It was an incredibly proud moment for us, and for our baton bearers - a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’m sure they will treasure forever."
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