Return of The Rocket
EXHIBITION PLAN TO BRING BACK HISTORIC ENGINE
STEPHENSON’S Rocket could return to Tyneside if the region is successful in its bid to host the Great Exhibition of the North.
Newcastle Gates head has submitted a bid to host the multi million-pound celebration of the North and will now battle Blackpool, Bradford and Sheffield for the honour.
The Government-backed twomonth cultural exhibition – planned to take place in the summer of 2018 – will celebrate the best of art, culture and design across the North of England.
And if the Newcastle Gates head bid is successful, George Stephenson’s pioneering Rocket could come back to Tyneside.
Iain Watson, director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums which has been a leading partner in developing the bid, said: “As part of Newcastle Gate head’ s Great Exhibition of the North, we’d like to secure and exhibit international and national loans alongside regional treasures which help to demonstrate the North’s ambition and influence.
“In line with this aspiration, we’re exploring the possibility of bringing Robert Stephenson’s early steam locomotive, the Rocket, back to its birthplace.
“The Rocket was designed in 1829 and built at the Forth Street Works of Stephenson’s company in Newcastle and although it wasn’t the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce one of the most advanced locomotives of its day. It became the template for most steam engines in the following 150 years and is currently displayed in the Science Museum in London, with whom we have a strong relationship.
“Should we win the bid, we will proactively pursue these discussions further and are really excited about the prospect of bringing the Rocket home.”
The Great Exhibition of the North is a Government initiative which promises a boost to investment, tourism and prestige.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport is to contribute £5m towards the exhibition which is envisaged as a showcase for the creative, cultural and design sectors across the whole of the North of England.
The Government has also pledged a further £15m to a legacy fund to attract further cultural investment in the North, defined as stretching from coast to coast.
It is envisaged that the exhibition, due to take place in 2018, will last for at least two months.
Whoever lands the exhibition will be charged to represent the whole region.
The NewcastleGateshead bid is being co-ordinated by NewcastleGateshead Initiative, working in close partnership with Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, BALTIC and Sage Gateshead and with wide support from the North East Cultural Partnership, Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council as well as cultural organisations, venues and businesses in the region.
Each shortlisted destination will make a presentation to the DCMS on September 9.
The overall winner is to be announced in the autumn.