www. Alnmouth.org.uk

On 25^th and 26^th February [2005] Alnmouth celebrated its long and fascinating history in words, music and song and a lot of laughter with a show at the Hindmarsh Hall in the village. The show was written, produced and performed by residents of Alnmouth and the surrounding district and traced the history of Alnmouth over 4000 years since the first Bronze Age settlements. The programme contained over thirty separate performances, each illustrating a key point in the history of Alnmouth, and progressed through the time span linked by humorous and expert narration.

After the Bronze Age the influence of the Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans were graphically and amusingly illustrated and the religious ties with St Cuthbert and, more recently, John Wesley were highlighted. Key events such as the building of the Corn Road, the loss of the harbour and coming of the railway were also shown to have had a major impact on the way of life in the village. Attacks on the village by John Paul Jones and the Luftwaffe were also featured supported by splendid sound effects.

The establishment of village institutions such as the Boat Club, the Golf Club, the WI and more recently the Raft Race were all well covered in entertaining songs and sketches and the whole evening was thoroughly enjoyed by the audiences on both nights.

The Hindmarsh Hall, venue for the show, has in the last three years been refurbished externally and internally with the help of grants from several organisations and lots of hard work by the villagers and other supporters. The new lighting and sound systems, installed in the last few weeks, were put to very effective use by this impressive show which stirred a lot of memories.

Peter Annett

The Commodore of the Alnmouth Boating Club with acknowledgements to Gilbert and Sullivan	Hindmarsh Hall – venue for the show