I love this story about the package at South Shields Post Office - for a group of swans

This is one of the most heart warming stories you are likely to see and it shows just how caring the people of the borough really are.

‘They could not move or fly because they were covered in oil’

Back in 1947, the story got out that a number of swans were in difficult at Tyne Dock.

They could not move or fly because they were covered in oil and an appeal went out through the Shields Gazette for donations of lard, fat, butter or margarine.

Dr Hugh Blair, a South Shields ornithologist, suggested that the only way to free the birds was to use some animal fat. And he wondered if some kind people would forego their ration to help the birds.

This was no small ask in 1947, because Britain was still subject to rationing after the Second World War and households only had meagre supplies to live on themselves.

‘The people of South Tyneside sent seven packages of supplies’

But up stepped the people of South Tyneside who sent seven packages of supplies to South Shields Post Office.

They were addressed to ‘The Swans at Tyne Dock' and came from people who had made a wonderful sacrifice.

But there was another headache once the packages arrived. No one had been assigned the job of oiling the swans, and the packages were still at the Post Office awaiting delivery.

‘The King, technically speaking, should receive the fat’

Dr Blair said in 1947: "If the swans do not belong to anyone, then I suppose the correct procedure would be for the Post Office to send the fat to Buckingham Palace, for – under an old decree, which I do not think has been revoked – swans are royal birds and the King, technically speaking, should receive the fat.’

We wonder how the story ended and whether it has been passed down the generations to the people of South Shields today.

If anyone knows, tell us more by emailing [email protected]