Bicentenary News and Virtual Celebrations
Friends UCB – Newsletter – July 2020(4)
Read all about the Bridge’s Bicentenary – as well as a full account of the events of 200 years ago – by clicking the link above. The Covid-19 restrictions mean that celebrations at the Bridge will be restricted but why not take the opportunity to pay it a visit on its special day, before it is closed shortly to undergo a complete restoration.
It’s excellent news that The Spencer Group of Hull – a company with a great track record in bridge repair and restoration – have won the contract to carry out the works. The Bridge is likely to close next month and the works are scheduled to be completed by November 2021.
Let’s hope and plan for a belated celebration when the Bridge is reinstated in all its glory!
Visit our Publications page for details of a newly-published book Spanning the Centuries – an illustrated anthology of essays, edited by our Patron Roland Paxton, reflecting the influence and heritage of the Union Bridge
Virtual Celebrations to mark the Bicentenary
Although the planned on-site celebrations have had to be shelved a day of digital celebrations is being planned by our Union Bridge Project partners, Museums Northumberland. There’ll be a range of online activities sharing the history and heritage of the Bridge, including the premiere of a specially-commissioned film.
Visit unionchainbridge,org from 10am on the 26th July and the Berwick Museum and Art Gallery Facebook page. Among the highlights of the day will be a short film especially commissioned for the Bicentenary and produced by professional filmmaker Hayley Repton, featuring drone footage of the Bridge, costumed interpreters and the poem “The Union Chain Bridge” by William Molle, the Chairman of the Turnpike Trustees who commissioned the Bridge, narrated by local volunteers.
The website will also offer downloadable activities for children, including the opportunity to make a model Union Bridge; people’s shared memories of the Bridge, while a number of families in the Paxton and Horncliffe areas will receive a free Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) kit to encourage a new generation of engineers and bridge enthusiasts.