Jason Button

A Cleadon-based theatre group is preparing Lifeboat, its first musical, about the formation of South Shields’ first lifeboat team. Written and directed by Ron Bell, with Ray Craig as musical director, the production adapts a play the pair previously staged in the 1990s. The updated version includes a town crier, restored songs and a new song, and will be performed at The Little Theatre from September 8 to 12, 2026.

The newly formed Arbeia Rising campaign group plans to contact councils and heritage bodies across the North East to raise the profile of Arbeia Roman Fort in South Shields. It proposes improved branding, signage and wayfinding from the Tyne Tunnel, ferry terminals, and walking and cycling routes, arguing that attracting more visitors would benefit local cafés, shops and other businesses.

Mundles Farm on Mundles Lane in East Boldon will open its sunflower attraction on Friday, 7 August, after the crop blossomed earlier than expected. The site will be open from 10am to 5pm on weekdays and 11am to 6pm on weekends, with entry costing £2.50 and sunflower stems available for £1. No booking is required, and plans for a later pumpkin patch have not yet been confirmed.

A cleanup team working at Littlehaven Beach in South Shields has warned volunteers and members of the public not to place dog-waste bags in collections of plastic nurdles. The bags must be sifted by the cleanup team, complicating efforts to remove pellets that reached South Tyneside beaches after a collision at the Port of Tyne.

The Tyne Rivers Trust has warned that the Port of Tyne nurdle spill could create long-term ecological problems, with plastic pellets potentially remaining in the river, estuary and coastline for months or years. Chief executive Sophia Stovall said the full effects on fish, wildlife and habitats are not yet known and that complete recovery of the pellets will be difficult. The trust praised North East residents and volunteers for helping remove nurdles, while urging them to follow local-authority guidance and avoid entering the river.

The South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade recorded 37 call-outs in July, its busiest July on record, following a record-breaking June. Brigade leaders thanked volunteers and their families for supporting the team's round-the-clock emergency response.

Jarrow Hall in South Tyneside is welcoming four male ferrets and has asked visitors to suggest names through social media. The names will be announced the following week. The ferrets will join animals including goats, pigs, Dexter cattle and sheep at the attraction’s Anglo-Saxon farm, village and Bede Museum complex, which is also running weekend farm-club sessions during the summer holidays.