Getting to Know Derek

How did Berwick first come into your life, and what made it home?

When our sons were very young, my late wife Hazel and I used to holiday in a cottage in Norham, and I got to know Berwick quite well. I ran a model and craft shop in my home city of Durham and was involved in organising several trade exhibitions and public events. My Combined Arts Degree in History, Theology and Philosophy from Durham University led to my giving lectures and some work as an adult education tutor. In 1983, the City of Durham Council informed us that they planned to demolish the shop I rented to develop the site. No affordable alternative premises were available, and we were faced with losing both our business and our home as a result. Later that year, we made what we expected to be our last holiday visit to Berwick. Friends who worked at the Barracks suggested we should consider moving to the town and setting up a similar business here.

Within three weeks of moving from Durham, I joined a committee organising the first Berwick Festival to be staged since the 1950s. It provided an opportunity for me to make use of my experience while getting to know local people.

As well as helping to organise the programme of events, I volunteered to lead a series of guided walks on the town ramparts.

The 1984 Berwick Festival led to a totally unexpected career change for me, which has lasted for more than 40 years.

A Life’s Work in Berwick

How did your working life here begin, and what have been some of the defining chapters?

1984–85: Events Co-ordinator and Member of Berwick Borough Festival Committee

1988 (April): Established Time to Explore Guided Tours with my late wife Hazel.

1996–1999: Project Co-ordinator for Marketing Partnership 2000: A partnership of businesses and organisations throughout North Northumberland generating activities to promote tourism and local food initiatives under the branding of “The Secret Kingdom”.

1997–2000: Event Co-ordinator and member of Berwick May Fair Committee.

2003 (March to December): Project Manager, “Union of the Crowns 400”: A cross-border programme of historical re-enactments, cultural and sporting events and projects involving schools, clubs and community organisations from North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland. The year-long Festival began with a recreation on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of King James VI of Scotland and the events during his three-day stay in Berwick before he journeyed to London to be Crowned as James I of England. The programme for the weekend involved a cavalcade of costumed riders, led by “King James”, crossing the Border at Lamberton and entering the town to be greeted by some 800 re-enactors and 17th century musicians representing the garrison of Berwick in 1603, and the firing of sixteen cannon from the Ramparts.

2004 (March to May): Project Manager, “Royal Charter 400”: A programme of events marking the granting to the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in 1604, of the Royal Charter of King James VI/I. The four-month programme concluded with a parade of the Coldstream Guards, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, the three regiments that had been granted the Freedom of Berwick-upon-Tweed, exercising their right to march through the town “with drums beating, Colours flying and bayonets fixed”. This was the only time that all three regiments had exercised their rights on the same day.

2005 (September): Project Co-ordinator, “The Eve of Trafalgar”: A weekend event marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar with various events recreating life in the town in that year.

2005 (November): Project Co-ordinator, “Berwick at War; 1939–45”: A weekend of events presented with Berwick Borough Museum and Archives to mark the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II.

2005–2011: Co-ordinator, Berwick Farmers’ Market

2006: Project Manager, “Berwick’s Food Heritage”: A year-long programme of activities, events and food experiences celebrating the area’s heritage and traditions of farming, fishing and food production.

2006 (September): Co-ordinator, “War with Russia”: A weekend of light-hearted activities imagining a Russian invasion of the town during the Crimean War.

2007–2008: Project Manager, “The Golden Age of Northumbria”: A programme of cultural events, school projects and historical re-enactments throughout North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, celebrating the area’s rich historical and religious heritage from the Anglo-Saxon period.

2008–2014: Co-ordinator, Berwick Farmers’ Market

2009: Project Manager, “Berwick’s Food Heritage”: A year-long project in association with Berwick Slow Food celebrating all aspects of the food heritage of Berwick-upon-Tweed

2012–2019: Co-ordinator, Mouth of the Tweed Project and Festivals: An initiative to celebrate and promote the food-related attractions, food and drink producers and hospitality businesses located within a 15 mile radius of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on both sides of the Border.

2013: Co-ordinator for the “Tweed Guider Project”: An initiative of the Spittal Improvement Trust to encourage the celebration of the local history.

2015: Project Manager, “Berwick 900”: A major year-long festival involving local schools and community groups and committees organising the calendar of annual events in the town to create a programme marking 900 years of Berwick’s turbulent history and its rich farming and fishing, artistic and cultural heritage.

2018: Co-ordinator, “Defending the Border”: A weekend of exhibitions, talks and re-enactments organised in conjunction with “Carham 1,000”, a series of events along the River Tweed commemorating the Battle of Carham in 1018, that effectively led to the River Tweed being set as the Border between England and Scotland.

2024 (August): Project Co-ordinator, “Berwick Bridge 400”: A programme of events culminating in a weekend of activities in Berwick and Tweedmouth to celebrate the opening to traffic of Berwick Bridge in 1624.

The Standout Moment

Looking back, which project means the most to you?

Of all the projects I have worked on in Berwick since 1984, the Union of The Crowns 400 Festival in 2003 was perhaps my proudest achievement and certainly the most ambitious and most widely publicised event, both nationally and internationally. The recreation of the three-day visit of King James VI/I to Berwick in 1603 involved assembling over 800 costumed participants from the English Civil War Society, including two dozen horse riders and sixteen reproduction period cannon, together with musicians from the York Waits performing on instruments that would have been played in the 17th century.

What are some of your favourite memories from working in Berwick?

Among many occasions, I have probably three favourite memories and experiences from working in Berwick.

Firstly, one of our stewards came to me during the arrival of King James for the Union of The Crowns event on 5th April 2004 and told me he had seen a lady who was watching the procession from the Scotsgate but was in obvious distress. I rushed to the spot to find her with tears in her eyes. Expressing my concern to her, the lady reassured me that she was simply moved to tears by the whole occasion. “It was just like being transported back to that day”, she said.

Secondly, following the parade of the three regiments exercising the Freedom Right to march through the town on the final day of the Royal Charter 400 Festival in 2004, I was introduced at the Barracks to Michael Rose, Colonel of The Coldstream Guards, who complimented me on the success of the day and suggested that I had “achieved more than the Ministry of Defence in bringing together elements of four battalions from Germany, London and Northern Ireland on the correct day and at the right time!”. I suspect he was jesting, but I accepted the compliment with some pride.

Thirdly, and perhaps most touchingly, while planning the Mayor’s Parade as part of the Berwick 900 Festival in 2015, I approached a number of community groups to encourage them to take part in some way by representing a favourite aspect of Berwick, past or present. The lady organising the Surestart Group in Tweedmouth was interested, but could not imagine how their children and parents could come up with anything appropriate. The only suggestion she could make was Berwick’s swans. I told her I could offer a small amount from the Community Chest I had built into the project budget that would enable them to work on a craft project to make paper swans. She was uncertain how they could actually take part in the procession itself, but I insisted that they would be as welcome as the pipe bands, riders, scouts, cadets and various costumed participants. It gave me immense satisfaction to see those children, with their parent or carer, some pushing babies in buggies, but each carrying their paper swan. Afterwards, one of the Surestart helpers came to thank me, saying that “no-one ever really asked them to take part in something like this”.

Derek on Berwick

What do you think people often overlook about the town?

One thing that many local people perhaps do not realise or appreciate is the variety of small independent shops in our town. People tend naturally to concentrate on the empty premises in the High Street, but it is well worth a little time exploring the likes of Bridge Street, West Street and Castlegate to better appreciate that the town actually has a lot more to offer compared with many much larger places.

Then & Forward

How has Berwick changed, and what excites you about its future?

Much has changed in Berwick since I moved here from Durham City in 1983, but less so than most of the other places I have visited throughout Britain on holiday or through my business as a tour guide.

The town has a unique past, and its great days are perhaps long gone, but today and into the future, Berwick and its hinterland have so much to offer people looking for a welcoming community in which to settle, build a business or merely to escape from the “rat race” for a few days or weeks.

Best view in town? One thing no visitor should miss?

No visitor can gain an appreciation of Berwick’s turbulent history, scenic location and architectural splendour in one day unless they complete the circuit of the Elizabethan ramparts and riverside walls, with or without the services of a tour guide.

If time is short, the very best view is from Meg’s Mount that provides a magnificent panorama of the town, the River Tweed, its estuary and the views across to the Cheviots and down the Northumberland coast to Holy Island and Bamburgh.