Its beginnings 95 years ago were low-key - but it would develop into an event that would be one of the biggest of its kind ever held on Tyneside.
The Evening Chronicle on March 20, 1928, reported: "From today, citizens of Newcastle will see tangible evidence of the preparations for the 1929 North East Coast Exhibition to be held on the Town Moor. The first sod was cut on the spot which is to form the Grand Court. The ceremony was performed by the Duke of Northumberland. There was a representative gathering, including the civic chiefs of Newcastle and neighbouring boroughs."
The passage of time has all but erased any living memories of the momentous event, but many of our Geordie forebears who were alive during those inter-war years will have trodden around the Town Moor site during the five-month extravaganza in the spring and summer of 1929.
