I want to hear from people who met Jimmy Carter when he came to Wearside
It’s not often that one of the world’s most powerful people visits your neighbourhood.
We remember him today after the news that he has died aged 100.
‘Workers gathered at the windows to try and get a view of what was happening outside’
People had waited hours to see the presidential party which visited the Corning factory in Sunderland where Pyrex glass products were made.
President Carter stepped out of his limousine, waved and smiled at the crowd, and told them: “It is nice to be here. I am so happy.”
‘He was given enthusiastic cheers wherever he went’
It was a big day for some local people too. Andrew Thompson, 28, a leading British craftsman, presented the President with a glass sculpture of St George and the Dragon.
The Echo said at the time: “He was given enthusiastic cheers wherever he went.”
A chat with Vera
He was on a strict timetable which gave him exactly one hour and five minutes at Corning’s and it was adhered to.
In that time, he fitted in handshakes with the Mayor of Sunderland, Coun Charles Slater, and company executives. He enjoyed light refreshments in the boardroom and a walk round the factory.
He spoke to workers at all levels of the company and got to watch glass blowers as they went about their business.
He took time to speak to Vera Jobling, a process operator who was about to retire after 30 years with the company.
Hundreds waited outside to greet him
He shook the hands of several members of the crowd which had grown to several hundred outside the factory.
Later the same day, he went to Washington and the reception was just as tumultuous.
The Echo report at the time said: “It must have seemed like home from home.
‘The bands played a continuous selection of American favourites’
“The children waved their Stars and Stripes, and the bands played a continuous selection of American favourites.”
The report added: “Thousands turned out to show him a little of their own brand of Northern comforts for the man from the Southern states.”
He was there to see the ancestral home of the forefathers of America’s first President and he posed for photographs on the lawn of the Old Hall.
‘To Ian from Jimmy Carter 6/5/77’
He received another gift when 12-year-old Ian McAree presented him with an old miner’s lamp. In return, the President gave Ian an oil painting of Mount Vernon.
On the back, it said: “To Ian from Jimmy Carter 6/5/77.”
Ian was the youngest member of the village’s miners band where he played the cornet.
A special performance of Gresford
He asked the conductor George Rowells to play the miners hymn Gresford, and the band obliged.
The Echo report added: “Vantage points were at a premium in the village and people clambered into trees and on to walls and garage roofs to get a good view.”
Tell us if you were one of the people who turned out to see the VIP visitor, or perhaps even got to meet him
Email [email protected]