The following is an extract taken from 'The Northumbrian' Issue No. 51 August September 1999 entitled 'A shelter from the stormy blast' by Stewart Bonney.

The handful of surviving coble fishermen at Beadnell feared that their little harbour was doomed to extinction when storms breached its outer south wall during the winter of 1997. Given to the village fishermen's association in 1947 by Sir John Craster, the 200-year-old harbour had long been in need of repair, but pleas to the authorities for financial help had then fallen on deaf ears.

As the fishermen surveyed the gaping hole in the harbour wall on that cold winter morning, the prospect of raising enough money to repair this historic symbol of Northumberland's coastal heritage seemed bleak. But as the sad news quickly spread, the fishermen found to their surprise that other villagers were ready to fight to save 'their harbour' and when a local newspaper gloomily forecast that the harbour might be 'developed' as a water-sports centre, two determined women - Carole Ann Field and Tina Mulvey - decided action was needed.

Tina, whose husband David runs 'The Village Pantry' shop in the old village centre, sent out leaflets asking anyone who was willing to help to turn up at the harbour for an impromptu meeting. "I expected about half a dozen people might come," Tina said, "but as I drove down to the harbour I noticed quite a few people making their way down, including one lady being pushed there in a wheelchair and someone else struggling along on crutches". Carole was busy preparing breakfasts at her harbourside guesthouse 'Beach Court' when she saw "dozens of people passing my window". Although it was a wild and windy morning, Tina and Carole were delighted to find that more than 80 people thought as strongly about saving the harbour as they did.

A committee was formed, a public meeting organised and an ambitious fundraising campaign - 'Harbour In Trouble' - begun. Taking what turned out to be almost a year off from her work making soft furnishings, Tina began bombarding all sorts of people with letters. Helped by Ashlynn Middleton, actors and actresses with North East connections were asked to donate items for a charity auction and among those who responded were Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Gina McKee and Rosie Rowell, while other attractive 'lots' were donated by the Duke of Northumberland, Alan Shearer and Dire Straits keyboard player Alan Clarke - who donated one of the group's gold discs. And while the fundraising team plunged into a bureaucratic maze to find out if public funding could be obtained for the harbour repairs, villager Ian Stewart came up with the idea of asking people to pay £25 each to sponsor replacement harbour stones. Carole says: "This has been incredibly popular. We can't inscribe every donor's name on individual stones, but we are going to erect a commemorative plaque on which they will all be remembered". Tina added: "Money has just poured in. Some stones are in memory of the village's old fishing families, but many are from families who have been coming here on holiday for three generations. The response from people all over the country has been fantastic. One chap who had happy memories of playing in the harbour as a little boy has sponsored 40 stones".

Among the many villagers who have played an active part in fundraising efforts - including a supper and music night and a weekend-long exhibition about the history of the village - are fishermen's wives May Douglas and Kathleen Dixon, whose husbands Stephen and John are part of the veteran band of Beadnell fishermen completed by Jack Douglas, 'Twinny' John Douglas and Billy Hume. When the idea of holding a big harbourside party was first mooted, Tina had personally telephoned or written to celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein, Aynsley Harriott and Gary Rhodes and contacted the producers of all the popular cookery programmes. Months later a member of the BBC's 'Food and Drink' programme telephoned Tina and said they were interested in featuring the event - and offered the services of chef Paul Rankin to supervise the mass barbecue one weekend in September.
Dozens of villagers volunteered their help and Tina particularly singles out the organisational work undertaken by Jennifer Hall "while the rest of us were tied up with the television people".

As the venue for the day-long fundraising was the exposed harbour itself, wind and rain could easily have put a wet blanket on the event but good weather prevailed. The party - attended by virtually every soul in the village - went on far into the night and the harbour appeal fund was boosted by several thousand pounds. Later that month the first tangible sign that the harbour was going to be saved came with the positioning of a rock collar to temporarily plug the holed wall and protect it from further storm damage as winter approached. Then there was more good news. Following inspections and surveys by local authority officials and an engineer from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a favourable decision was made allocating government money to the project under the heading of coastal protection.

As she stood looking across the harbour, Carole Ann Field said: "This will mean that the money raised can be used for ongoing maintenance, which will guarantee Beadnell Harbour will last for another 200 years".

In September 2000 the contractors and machinery arrived. Some six months later (with additional funding from the Beadnell Harbour Fishermen and Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council), Beadnell Harbour was finally and fully restored and on April 11th 2001 was officially re-opened by The Worshipful The Mayor of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Cllr Graham Exley. To progress matters further a Private Limited Company 'Beadnell Harbour Appeal Fund' was then incorporated on 30th August 2001 to administer the funds raised.

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