Sounds like the charabanc will have to come ouit for an outing to Kew :D

Lord Mayor's Camp Amble, 1940
 

Another photo from the Alan J collection:


Lord Mayor's Camp Amble, 1940

There's a photo of the Amble charabanc parked outside the Blue Bell in one of Morrison's 'Amble' books. We'll look the bee's knees in that for sure. :D

We've been trying to work out the direction of view on that. Not easy.
The cameraman is possibly on the road near the cemetery, looking towards where 'Manders' and the Caravan site is now?? (just a guess could be totally wrong)

Looking at the field boundaries and the 1954 map, could it be from the south west?

Quite possible. The photographer would want the sun on his back to get the best shot. Those bright surfaces on the fence posts in the foreground are not facing north, probably south. He could be standing where you say.

The 1940 picture got me thinking as the roofs are not shiny and new.So I simply googled it and found a number of references from pre-war children in Newcastle spending time at The Lord Mayor's Camp in Amble from 1938. The huts seem to have been built for another reason than to house displaced persons/pows. Anyone know the reason for building? what was the purpose?

one of the references - http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.co...-02/0950573327


and here is the record of a lively afternoon in 1941 -

Tuesday, 3rd June 1941 D640

15.00.. Northumberland.. An enemy plane passed over Boulmer [NU2614] dropped bombs and machine-gunned the village. Believed to be a UXB near Boulmer.

15.00.. Northumberland.. One HE at Foxton [NU2511] between Alnmouth/Boulmer.

15.01.. Northumberland.. A plane heading north machine-gunned Hauxley Pit Screens [NU2803]; Amble Coastguard Station [NU2704]; Amble Camp (Lord Mayor's Camp); foot of Queen Street; Brickworks; Station [NU2604]; a train in the station; a signal box; High Street, Amble; then Longhaughton Village [NU2415]. A Spitfire was seen chasing the plane. A corporal in the RAF Marine Section was seriously injured by machine-gun fire at North Side, Amble and was taken to the RAF Station, Acklington. A soldier was slightly hurt in High Street, Alnmouth. A lady of Scotsgap received a slight burn to the face and neck. The guard on the train, was struck on the top of the head by a bullet and taken to Alnwick Infirmary.

Day 640. All times DST. Blackout ends: 04.33, begins: 23.35
Public Alert: 15.01, All-Clear: 16.18

That could be its original purpose, a holiday camp for the poor kids of Tyneside built by that 'Poor Children's Holiday Association' . It looks like a big charity in its day going back to pre WW1

Lord Mayor's Camp
 

There's a lovely article in the Morpeth Herald in 1947 when someone stole curtains from the concert hall in the Lord Mayor's Camp. The camp belonged to Newcastle under the auspices of the Lord Mayor's Camp Committee, Town Hall, Newcastle.
The chairman of the magistrates said "It is a very mean trick to have stolen from the Lord Mayor's Camp, where people go for health and enjoyment."
I would guess that the camp might have been established in the 1930s to get children/adults out of the poorer parts of the Toon, but I'll bow to the pre Great War probability.

I believe there are still the holes from the strafing in the wall on the corner of Bridge Street/Queen Street.

I only mean the charity or a number of similar city charities appear to be in existence much earlier. Run the term 'Poor Children's Holiday Association' through the newspaper archive and you'll see what I mean.
I'm suggesting they were a well established charity with the money to do such things as build the Amble camp.

As you were Janwhin, yes could be 1930s!

I'm surprised we cannot find an article on its construction in the newspaper archive now it appears to be pre-war. (thus not 'secret')

Surely it would be a worthwhile story for the Newcastle Press?

Bit of a hole in the newspaper archive between 1915 and 1940:(

Ah yes you mentioned that before. I'm sure someone is beavering away to fill in the gaps.
Just thinking that title - "Lord Mayor's" - should have been a clue to its origin with the city.

Tried to see if anything turned up in newspapers elsewhere in the country, lots of interesting diversions about other things happening in Amble but nothing helpful on this topic.
A mention in a Hull newspaper in the 1930s about their lord mayor setting up camps for poor children and visiting them. lots of children having fun but quite a few on potato peeling duty :)

and a reference here (pdf slow to load)

http://www.tomorrows-history.com/pro...s/wjs31-40.pdf

Tom Dugdale, 4th paragraph.

1938-39


[edit to add]

1936 Construction of Sewer for the Lord Mayor's Camp Amble. docs at the National Archives:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...?uri=C10783506

That is what I was told while walking by with great uncle Frank Rowell - the gable end of Young's Sports as it was in the early seventies, at the junction of Queenst / Bridge St.Think it may have been re-rendered since. Also a junior school friend caused mirth when he said his grandparents toilet was shot up on the terrace between the back of Percy st and St Cuthbert's av on the same raid.

I know of an Amble resident whose "father in law" was billetted at the Lord Mayor's camp prior to going to El Alamein in 1942! Not sure if he was Scottish though - will ask the informant next time I see him!

The Divisions would be continuously supplying drafts of men to other units off on war service (in particular at this time North Africa) - their numbers being made up from new recruits. I would think it's likely north east men would end up in these divisions as well?

I've been looking for the Amble Home Guard Battalion war diary, "16th Northumberland (Amble) Battalion, Home Guard" in the online indexes to the archives, and it looks like it's missing. Shame if that's the case. I think later they became involved with the operation of the coast battery with the 313 Battery 510 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery.