Charity founder Shuley Alam and Formula One boss Sir Frank Williams to receive blue plaques in South Tyneside
Blue plaques honouring three worthy but very different recipients are to be put up in South Tyneside during the coming months.
A plaque for Shuley Alam, founder and CEO of Compact for Race Equality South Tyneside (CREST), is to be unveiled at the organisation’s headquarters in Fowler Street, South Shields.
Shuley inspired women and the BAME community and was a trustee of the Customs House. She passed away in 2020 aged just 46 following a battle with cancer.
Sir Frank Williams, was born in South Shields and spent his early childhood in Jarrow. He had a long and successful career in Formula One before he died in 2021. The location of his plaque is yet to be announced.
Third to be honoured is the South Shields Sea Cadets building on Comical Corner. It was formerly used by the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves and was the site of the training ship HMS Satellite.
Currently home to the Sea Scouts and Cadets, it is also the location of the historical penny ferry crossing.
Cllr Joan Atkinson, deputy leader of South Tyneside Council, said: “These special blue plaques honour significant people and places that have added real cultural or civic value to South Tyneside or have played a key role in helping to shape it's history and heritage to what it is today.
“We are delighted to be able to celebrate the life and work of Shuley Alam in this way and pay a lasting tribute to the incredible legacy she left behind.
"It is particularly fitting that we announce today (28 October), on what would have been her 49th birthday, our intention to dedicate a blue plaque to Shuley in future.
“In raising more blue plaques across the borough this year, we also give rightful recognition to the outstanding sporting achievements of Sir Frank Williams and the huge importance of the Sea Cadets building to the borough's rich and proud maritime heritage.”
Under South Tyneside's Blue Plaque Scheme, the public can nominate individuals and structures to be recognised for their importance to local history and heritage.
There are currently 30 blue plaques across the borough.
In 2022 plaques have been unveiled in honour of Eileen O'Shaughnessy, educator and first wife of George Orwell, photographer and historian Amy Flagg and South Shields showman Gary Gillespie Davison.