Alison Stenning

@alisonstenning.bsky.social

7475 Followers 1279 Following

Geographer - Professor - Mum - Playing - #playstreets - Cycling - #kidicalmass - #WarOnCars - Walking - Noticing - Green - North Tyneside - North Shields - UK

The sun setting in the background, with dunes, Tynemouth outdoor pool, and Longsands beach.
A nurdle drop off point by King Eddie’s, Tynemouth
Nurdles strewn between rocks, entwined with seaweed.
Full text at https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1G3toY7tpDo-1jlNG9ZPap2mI38W0Pzummbl0GD8P_lk/mobilebasic
A green mesh bag with some white nurdles (and a bit of seaweed)
Strips of nurdles all along the Fish Quay beach at North Shields
A line of volunteers working to clear the tide line of nurdles, on Tynemouth Longsands from 6 this morning. Photo from WhatsApp group.
There is a major volunteer effort kicking early in off from 6am Monday morning Longsands at the High Tide Line starting from Crusoe's to clear nurdle plastic pollution from our beaches and everyone in Tynemouth has a part of play. More teams being assembled and will branch off to other beaches so watch out for information including Monday Afternoon after the second High Tide. Based on expert advice the organisers have come to the conclusion that: • The insurers contractors are equipped and staffed only to handle the Fish Quay and nearly all of the equipment needed in the North East unlikely to be here for days. We can leave the Fish Quay to them but Tynemouth needs to step up, nobody else will. • The Tides this week, in particular Monday and Tuesday, are such that there is a golden opportunity to put a dent in this which otherwise we will regret. Residents here would never forgive ourselves if we let that happen. • With each High Tide this week more and more pellets will refloat and form the nice neat lines along the High Tide mark, easy for volunteers to sweep up. • It's been possible to locally manufacture enough filtering bags this weekend to support a big effort. Enough people who have already been volunteering have developed experience using them. • There's scope for others less experienced to sweep up material with just a couple of minutes training (without touching a single pellet). You brush/scrape it, they will filter out the pellets. So, if you have some time to spare before work, please come down. Don't expect perfection but do come and help. A few do's and don'ts: [Rest of alt-text attached to second identical pic]
A yellow North Tyneside Council sign reading: Caution Plastic pellets have washed ashore. Please do not handle them. Keep dogs on leads and prevent them from ingesting any pellets
Nurdles in a dock on North Shields Fish Quay
ACTION- An estimated 1.25 billion (25tonnes) plastic pellets (nurdles) spilled in the river Tyne a week ago and are now all over our beaches, river, in our seas. According to experts this is being classed as the biggest plastic pollution disaster in European history. Two actions to potentially take: You can join a community WhatsApp group that has been running this past week to help with the nurdle clean up please see this link https://chat.whatsapp.com/KXTZ6z069si0vNqNOnrc1f There are individual beach groups set up and there has been an unofficial request for help specifically on Monday and Tuesday. No organisation is leading this as hands are all tied by Environment Agency advice. Volunteers on the ground and myself strongly believe that @ntcouncilteam have not grasped the emergency level of this catastrophe and the response has been insufficient and late. So whilst volunteers are needed (and you must join the group to know more about this please) we need to put the pressure on the council to absolutely do more. Money should not be an issue, the environment should. join a specific beach clean effort through community chat or just head down. Find out more via WhatsApp. Large mesh bags are effective with shovels or where appropriate still dustpan and brush, techniques developing daily. Leave next to council bins in bin bags. Write to your MP, Councillor and the Mayor - all three and tell them you want to see a large scale effort going out at the appropriate times based on the tides to collect the nurdles. We are absolutely not seeing this. People are needed specifically Monday and Tuesday for a large scale clean up and we expect to see the council responding with numbers and the appropriate gear and equipment.
Guardian headline from Weds 22nd July reading: “One billion plastic pellets spilled into River Tyne after two ships collide Up to 25 tonnes of nurdles, the raw material for plastic manutacturing, have spread further than initially feared” With an image of a beach covered in nurdles.
Children play in all the spaces of an alley between terraced houses in Elswick, Newcastle, 1978.
"The last few trains will be in service week commencing 22 June until 5.30pm on the Friday, 26 June. Customers may still see the occasional 599 around the Metro system after this date, but this is their last guaranteed chance to travel on one. The bulk of our services are now provided by the new Stadler trains.”
An old Tyne and Wear metro
In the brilliant Swiss research cited by Lenore Skenazy (If you want your kids to thrive this summer, don't just turn off their phones - open your front door, too, 15 July), young children playing unsupervised was culturally accepted and normal. The children in the Swiss study who did not play outside independently were prevented from doing so by traffic. Yes, we need to relieve parents of the horrendous pressure of cultural expectation that children will always be supervised, but parents can't open their doors for children to go out and play in traffic. Urban transport policies and residential design need to respect outdoor play as a vital necessity for children.
A seagull perched on a chimney, with blue skies and a telegraph pole in the background.
Housemartins flying into and out of the eaves of a terraced house.
A map showing the shrinking 'roaming distances' of four generations of 8 year olds in a single family in Sheffield, from 6 miles to 300 yards.
Odgers' response to concerns about adolescents' time and energy being wasted by addictive algorithms is that governments should be building better communities and physical spaces for children to play and learn; this could be funded, she says, "with a big old tax on tech".
Andy Burnham and Ed Balls playing on swings at the launch of the 2008 National Play Strategy.
3. The top requirement is clear: cleaner, safer and tidier public spaces The most consistent and urgent message across all groups is the need for cleaner, safer, and better-maintained streets and public spaces. This stands significantly above all other issues and cuts across demographics and geographies. This includes concerns relating to: litter and environmental quality, safety and anti-social behaviour and maintenance of roads, pavements and public areas.
Three chalked animals (cats?) and a hopscotch on a pavement
High Borrans is not a one-off. It sits inside a longer, quieter trend of local authority outdoor centres closing, being sold or transferred as councils face impossible budget choices between statutory services and everything else. Local government’s dilemma is real. But national government is asking schools to deliver more enrichment and more outdoor experience at exactly the moment local government capacity to provide it is shrinking. Somewhere between Whitehall’s ambition and the town hall’s balance sheet, young people are the ones losing out.
The text of a Conservative motion submitted to North Tyneside Council querying the decision to close High Borrans outdoor education centre
A goal set up outside a house on a green space
From the Mayoral Child Poverty Strategy: Widen opportunities for older young people by expanding youth provision and access to year-round low and no-cost activities.
Fifteen towns will now compete for the inaugural UK Town of Culture 2028 title. The shortlisted towns are: • Small towns: Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, and Stockton Town Centre Ward • Medium towns: Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot • Large towns: Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham
A Google map of all the towns that have applied for Town of Culture, with England barely visible under the markers. Map viewable at https://google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1Su- 761mY3NPLpd4d948m5ppY7R- bslw&||=55.44600583318667%2C- 2.9390424999999887&z=4
A slightly dilapidated basketball hoop attached to a wall in a back lane.
A link to the news article about High Borrans on the Friends of Facebook page, with the following text: Dear fellow schools, institutes and adventure seekers. Today the charity have found out that High Borrans Outdoor Education Centre, that provides outdoor residential and adventuours experiences is set to close in November 2026. Words cannot describe the impact this would have on the children of North Tyneside. Hopefully, there will be a consultation period for comments from the public, organisations and institutions that use the centre. As a charity we cannot stress enough the importance of outdoor education for social development, environmental awareness and adventure. We will keep the page up to date with ongoing information in relation to the centre. Thank you for all the support over the years and the support during this time. Article with more detail below. How about this! Post below all your memories, pictures and
Three pink peonies in full bloom, with some stocks.
A short clip of Northumberland Square, North Shields, full of people in the sun.
Blue plastic barriers and a handwritten sign notifying of a street party, with bunting overhanging the street
A thermal image of a playground with the surface bright orange/yellow, showing surface temperatures of 53 degrees.
A new, boxed set of Ikea Data cutlery, 24 pieces selling on eBay for £250.
“Under the paving stones, the beach" (or Sous les pavés, la plage!) is an iconic slogan from the May 1968 student and worker uprisings in Paris.
The DFDS ferry from IJmuiden arriving in North Shields, through the mouth of the Tyne under a very grey sky
"Because I do think that for too many young people, they go to university, they will see their tutors a couple of times in a year and then they'll get some online lectures delivered, and then they're asked for...nearly [£10,000]. I don't think that's OK.
A blue Öland chair and a red Lamino chair, both designed by Yngve Ekström.
Show Your Stripes for Newcastle upon Tyne, showing temperature change since 1950 https://showyourstripes.info/s/europe/unitedkingdom/newcastleupontyne
Canatrice Bakery, North King St, North Shields
Playgrounds also bring wider benefits for families and communities, creating places to meet, spend time outdoors, and feel connected to the neighbourhoods we call home. This government is investing in the everyday infrastructure that helps children thrive, building on the strengths already present in local communities. Neighbourhoods already offer a strong foundation of spaces, relationships and local knowledge that support children’s opportunities to play, with playgrounds a vital part of this wider infrastructure.
Pinky-orange skies below blue with white clouds, criss-crossed by cables and, in the foreground, the silhouettes of houses and trailing plants.
My foot (in socks and Birkies - apologies) walking along a street I know well, but haven’t routinely walked before.
An excerpt from Emma Cullen’s poem Envoi in Chalk, available in full here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/poem-of-the-week-envoi-in-chalk-1.4093441
A yellow, chalked play trail inviting passers by to JUMP, STRIKE A POSE, BE LIKE A MONSTER, GIGGLE, DANCE, LEAP, SPIN, and JUMP (again). There’s a PLAY HERE sign in the background attached to a brick wall.
A play street sign on a street in Heaton, Newcastle reading: Play Street 8 am to sunset except for access
A map of a dual carriageway with underpasses planned for North Shields in the late 60s/early 70s, with the approximate location of The Nook (play streets) marked in red.
A small (but wide) road with green verges and a Play Street sign to the left reading: Play Street 8am to sunset except for access
Black and white street art with a distorted metro train and the words: Joining markets, castles, meadows, shiels, roads, lanes, head and feet.
Bits of geranium with roots in a case, waiting to be transplanted to my new house.
Some bits of geranium with roots in a vase, waiting to be transplanted to my new house.
A front garden full of geraniums, astrantia, buttercups and more, with a choisya (Mexican orange) to the right of the pic and a flowering cherry at the rear.
The front cover of the New Statesmen “Historic Landslide Collector’s Edition” with Tony Blair standing in front of a crowd waving Union Jacks.