New exhibition to celebrate food at South Shields Museum, including Minchella, Colmans, Dicksons and Ocean Road curries

The team at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery are asking people in the borough to share their memories and memorabilia, for the forthcoming exhibition ‘Scran! A History of Food &

Drink in South Tyneside’.

The exhibition will open at the site in Ocean Road on June 24, charting the story of food and drink across South Tyneside, from traditional home-cooked dishes of yesteryear, to the origins of some of the borough’s most iconic eateries, including Colmans, Dicksons pork butchers and Minchella & Co.

Museum curator Adam Bell is asking people to contribute their food and drink memories, to feature in the new exhibition.

He is also on the hunt for anything that could be borrowed to display, such as old photos, menus, family recipe books and the like.

“Maybe people will have childhood memories of school dinners, or of fondly recalled meals and drinks that we maybe don’t see so much now,” he said.

“Do you remember trying your very first curry? “I’d also love to hear memories of the many small family shops that once proliferated, in the days before the big supermarkets came to dominate, from butchers and grocers, to bakers, confectioners, and more.”

The exhibition will also feature South Tyneside pubs and breweries from the past, as well as cafes, restaurants and works canteens.

But rather than focus purely on plenty, the exhibition will also include wartime food rationing, and in more recent times the rise of foodbanks to help combat food poverty and holiday hunger.

To share your food and drink memories, or if you have something to loan for display, e-mail exhibition curator Adam Bell [email protected] or phone South Shields Museum during the museum opening hours (0191 2115599).

The museum is presently open from 10am to 5pm on week days, and between 11am and 4pm on Saturdays, but is closed on Sundays.

The Victorian Pantry cafe, situated inside the museum, is also open Monday to Saturday.