John Dobbin painting

INTRO: Welcome to Tees Voices, telling the stories of the people in our NHS community.

ELLIOT: My name’s Elliot Kennedy. In the studio today, I’m joined with Alison Grange, who is the collections engagement manager at Hopetown in Darlington. You’re here to talk about the John Dobbins painting that sits in North Tees at the moment.

ALISON: Yes, that’s right. And so it’s an image that we have in our collection that we’ve shared with the hospital and it’s on display currently.

ELLIOT: And tell us a little bit about what the painting is.

ALISON: Um so the painting is of the opening of the Stockton Downtown Railway. It depicts the 27 of September 1825 and it’s the first day the first run of locomotion across the line and it represent the the opening of the Stockton Darlington Railway which obviously we’re celebrating the 200th anniversary of this year. It really was the coming together of a lot of different ideas and technologies to form something that would transform transport as we know it.

ELLIOT: And for those who aren’t aware that the painting actually depicts locomotion number one going over Skerne Bridge in Darlington. And if you haven’t seen it before, you’ve probably seen it on the back of a five pound note some time ago.

ALISON: Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. So, it depicts locomotion number one going over Skerne bridge in Darlington. Yeah.

ELLIOT: It’s been a very long year for Hopetown Darlington since opening. How’s the reviews gone? And tell us a bit more about visitors attractions.

ALISON: The reviews are doing really well. People seem to really enjoy the site. Love how we’ve refreshed it and expanded the site from what it was before. The site is a visitor attraction celebrating Darlington’s pioneering railway history and heritage. There are three historic buildings on site.

We’ve got the Goodshed then which is our welcome cafe and shop area. North Road Station Museum which tells the story of the Stockton and Darlington Railway from its inception through to it being built and how it impacted the region and the country.

And it also includes our immersive ride experiment which is a time traveling ride which is really fun and great for all the family.
 
The carriage works is another historic railway building which houses our collection. Most of our collection is on display to everybody so everybody can see what weird and wonderful objects we have.

And then we’ve also got the A1 live engineering shed which visitors can view whenever we’re open. So they’re building the P2 Prince of Wales steam locomotive in there at the minute. So when visitors come to site they can see what they’re working on.

And we’ve also got Wagon Woods which is our railway themed play area.
ELLIOT: Going back to the painting exactly who was John Dobbins.

ALISON: So John Dobbin was a Darlington-born landscape artist. Born in Darlington didn’t follow into his father’s trade in Pease’s Mill wanted to go off and do his own thing. So he traveled Europe and he he was lucky enough to exhibit at the Royal Academy in his lifetime as well and Darlington very much remained his home though and it features in many of his works. And John Dobin was actually at the opening of the Stockton Down Railway in 1825 as a child. We think he was about 10 years old when it when it opened. And he was commissioned to paint the watercolor for the 50th anniversary of the railway in 1875. So he’s painting from what he remembered from that day and from notes that his parents made about the day as well.

ELLIOT: And where can people see the painting and some of his other stuff? So some of his other work belongs to the Borough Art Collection. So sometimes you can see that at Crown Street Library in Darlington. They have changing exhibitions in there.

But the original watercolor of the opening day you can see at Hopetown Darlington in North Road Station Museum. And we’ve also animated it. So you can see the original and an animation where locomotion number one actually travels over Skerne bridge and you can hear bands playing and that see the birds flying and things like that.

ELLIOT: It’s been a big year here at Hopetown and with the Stockton Dancing 200 Festival. What are the big events that’s happening over the next few weeks?
ALISON: So this Saturday on the 20th of September, we’ve got the Titans of Steam Gala opening, which is a two-week steam gala at Hopetown. We’ve got visitors such as Flying Scotsman and Sir Nigel Grizzly, the A4 at different times.
And Tornado will be on site as well, as well as other different steam locomotives. And then on Saturday night, we’ve got the Ghost Train. So the Ghost Train will start in Darlington Town Center and be a procession up to Hopetown. And we’re having a night at the museum where the museum will be open till 10p.m. as well.

And then next week on the 27th of September, is the big replica journey, kind of the highlight of the festival, which is actually a three-day event. So, a replica locomotion number one will set off from Shildon on the 26th on the Friday.
It’ll be in Darlington going across Skerne bridge on Saturday, the 27th, and then it’ll go through to Stockton on the 28th.

ELLIOT: And where exactly is the museum?

ALISON: So, the museum is on North Road in Darlington, just near Morrisons.

ELLIOT: Can people pre-book or can they come along on the day?

ALISON: So, we’re recommending for the big events for people to book online. So, the 27th is already completely sold out. The anniversary journey and site visits are completely sold out. I think the ghost train night of the museum evening is almost sold out. So, if if everybody would like to pre-book, just head to our website.

ELLIOT: What’s the website’s address again?

ALISON: www.hopetown.co.uk

ELLIOT: Thank you, Allison.

ALISON: Thank you.

OUTRO: Thank you for joining us. Till next time, you’ve been listening to Tees Voices.