I'm looking back on the day a Canadian camera crew came to South Tyneside for stories about the recession

The borough was making headlines in north America. A Canadian camera crew was here to film a documentary on the impact the recession was having on the lives of local residents.

The mayor of the day, Vincent Fitzpatrick, was interviewed on the steps of South Shields Town Hall.

Documentary presenter Clark Todd said: “We chose the North East because of its history of economic depression. This area in particular was known as the place of wooden ships and iron men.

“The wooden ships have gone and the iron men are going.”

All that was happening in March 1981 and, at the other end of the scale, a South Tyneside hero stepped in to save a cash-strapped football club in the same month.

Jarrow engineering boss Bob Grogan took over struggling Second Division club Cardiff City.

The amazing deal made the club a subsidiary of his firm Kenton Utilities, of Springwell Road.

If he had not made his bold move, Cardiff would have been struggling to see out the season with debts of almost £1m, a story in the Shields Gazette reported in 1981.

“It added: “The salvage deal came after bankers refused to honour any more of the club’s cheques because of a £575,000 overdraft. Fifty-two-year-old Mr Grogan had stepped in an immediately pledged to wipe out the debt.”

To give you more of a reminder of March 1981;

Jason Robards and Alec Guinness were starring in Raise The Titanic at the Focus Cinema in South Shields.

And for dedicated followers of hair fashion, a new arrival was on the way. Cutz in Westoe Road was offering male hair grooming.

Share your own memories of South Tyneside life in the early 1980s by emailing [email protected]