Newcastle Quayside, 1985(Image: Trevor Ermel)

Tyneside in the 1970s, '80s and '90s is recalled in a new book of stunning photographs

12 Dec 2024, 10:00 by David Morton · ChronicleLive

Striking images recalling Tyneside in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s taken by a talented North East photographer appear in a new book.

‘All My Yesterdays: Three decades of Tyneside photographs’ is the first published offering by Trevor Ermel. Born and bred in Gateshead, and now resident in Whitley Bay, Trevor began taking photographs of trains as a schoolboy in the 1960s.

As the 1970s dawned, his focus shifted more towards capturing street scenes and river views. Today, his resultant body of work is a powerful reminder of how much has changed on Tyneside, and how many former everyday scenes have vanished over the last four or five decades.

The book, which is self-published, contains many of Trevor’s favourite images. “In selecting pictures for this compilation, I decided to include only photos taken before 2000, a nice round number,” he says. “Anything after 2000, I class as being from the ‘modern’ era and outside the scope of this book - although strictly speaking, the year 2000 was almost a quarter of a century ago.”

He goes on: “Many of the pictures are unrepeatable today for the simple reason that the subjects no longer exist. As someone once said: ‘Today’s everyday scene is tomorrow’s history’.”

The photographs - colour and black and white - capture locations in Trevor’s home town, Gateshead, as well as Newcastle, and North and South Tyneside. From gritty views of down-at-heel terraced streets, to heavy industry on its last legs, to long-gone bus and railway stations, the images represent a vision of our region which has, in many instances, disappeared.

A long-time friend of Newcastle Chronicle and Journal, many of Trevor’s fabulous photographs have appeared in our newspapers and on our website, ChronicleLive, in recent years.

He says: “I’m still out and about taking photographs and, as far as equipment goes, these days I use a digital compact camera. When I took the photographs published in the book, I used a variety of cameras, including a Pentax 35mm for many of the colour images, and a Rolleiflex for some of the black and white pictures.

“When people comment on my photos, they often say that the old days were much better. Perhaps people were more neighbourly then, but I’m not sure if things really were better.”

‘All My Yesterdays: Three decades of Tyneside photographs’, by Trevor Ermel is priced at £19.95. It contains around 200 pictures, both colour and black and white.

You can buy the book at the Newcastle City Library shop, Gateshead Central Library gift shop, and Come View My Art, which is based at 120-122 Sheriffs Highway, Gateshead, NE9 5SD. Each outlet will be receiving a fresh supply of books early in the New Year.