History book takes look on Sunniside
ON Millennium Eve, Julie Ward decided to write a book about the history of Sunniside village, thinking it might take around six months.But six months turned into seven years as the book began to bring the past to life, and last Friday was the long awaited launch of Sunniside: History of a village.
The book is a collection of ³little² histories from the past 100 years of village life: it includes stories about the mine, the school, the street games, , the football team, the Wars, the farm life and the personal tragedies and triumphs of the residents.
Julie, who is a writer and performer, said: ³The launch night was brilliant with everybody squashed into the community centre.
³We had visitors from Norfolk and Nottingham who had connections to Sunniside, and we even sold 100 copies!² The book began life as an idea attached to the new war memorial in the village but soon escalated into something much more.
In the beginning, Julie put out the call for photographs and information on Sunniside history.
The response became the Tomorrow¹s History website which proved fruitful for the rest of the book.
People who had moved away from the village found the website and contacted Julie with more stories, anecdotes, and photographs.
One of the saddest moments in the book is a letter to Robert Arthur Proud, a Sunniside man who fought in World War One.
His nephew, Wes Proud, heard about the book through the ³Tomorrow¹s History² website and showed Julie the letter from Robert¹s sister Florie.
The letter talks about life in Sunniside, farming news, family members, the price of a foal, and expresses the hope that Robert is well and the War will end soon.
Sadly, Robert Proud was killed around the time the letter was sent, just a month before the War ended, and it is not known whether he received it.
Julie said: ³The lives of ordinary working people are not generally valued but something like this book touches people in the way that the lives of kings and queens do not.
³A lot of the material cannot be found anywhere else which makes it unique.² Julie confesses that she underestimated the expanse of work the book would
entail: ³I didn¹t know how hard it would be.
³It¹s a very small village with three streets and very little exists on the records, but despite that we have ended up with 84 pages.² The book is full of nice surprises too: At one time, the Sunniside Juniors football team was extremely feared and it is known that Bobby Robson played against them as a young lad and lost!
Researching the book and talking to residents has changed the way Julie sees the village.
She said: ³I can¹t go anywhere in the village without conjuring up pictures of how it would have been!² She adds: ³It was scary in a way to commit all the information to print.
³I live here, and that¹s hard, so it was important that the book was the best it could be and no stone was left unturned.²