'Concrete crocodiles' to join Washington's 60th birthday celebrations

Home grown culture is to help celebrate 60 years of the new Washington becoming a new town.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded Sunderland Culture £72,600 for Washington Heritage Partnership’s project, The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass, to celebrate Washington becoming a new town on July 24, 1964.

The crocodiles refer to the sculptures which were dotted around the new town including in Fatfield, Barmston and the pond in Princess Anne Park; the "underpass" to the many subways created when Washington’s road network was built.

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass features three projects.

Podcasts. Starting in April, a fortnightly community group will co-create ten 15-minute oral history podcasts, telling stories where people hear their voices reflected back.

These will be edited into two omnibus “radio ballads”, one showcased at the Washington 60 celebration in July, a second released at the end of the project.

Songwriting. Each podcast will incorporate sounds and songs about the collected oral histories. Some songs will be written by professionals; others developed through community sessions with a young people’s group at Arts Centre Washington.

Photomontage. Graphic design company Baseline Shift will facilitate storytelling photomontage workshops between April and June. Participants will be encouraged to bring in photographs.

These will be supplemented by collections in libraries and history groups. The workshops will lead to a large-scale banner unveiling over the weekend of July 20-21 and a touring exhibition of local venues.

Dr Jude Murphy, the partnership co-ordinator, said: “The project will empower local people to share, record, archive and celebrate a time of pivotal change in their communities. We will record people’s collective experiences of life in Washington New Town via oral histories, music and visuals.

“We will recruit volunteers and participants via six story sharing roadshows in community settings such as clubs, pubs, community centres, schools and shopping centres.

“There will be a lot going on in the months ahead and we’ll be releasing the dates and community venues for the events once we’ve confirmed them.

"We’ll also be working toward a publication about the project which will feature stories and photographs collected, and will hopefully be out in December. We’re grateful to National Lottery players who have made this great project possible.”

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/washingtonheritagepartnership.