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Thank you for your replies - very interesting, and good to know that I'm not going mad after all! I may have to have a wander up that way to visit the old "Powder Monkey" bike track as I just assumed it had disappeared!
ARP?
Is there any kind of recognition/memorial to Big Hec in the North East? I have vivid memories of him appearing in pubs in the 80's with his sweet jar, demanding change. He collected masses of money for charity during that period, but died shortly after.
There is next to no mention of him on google etc.
It's a shame that someone who did so much, seems to have been forgotten...Yes, I was "mugged" by him more than once!!
Haven't heard about any memorial to him though.
IT IS ! !^^
I think this is the place you are looking for.
From - Bygone Jesmond, 1987 edition.
Is there any kind of recognition/memorial to Big Hec in the North East?
I have vivid memories of him appearing in pubs in the 80's with his sweet jar, demanding change. He collected masses of money for charity during that period, but died shortly after.
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There is next to no mention of him on google etc.
Big Hec
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Charity fundraiser Brian Dowson walking the Newcastle streets. January 1986 (Image: Mirrorpix)
He was a familiar larger-than-life figure in 1980s and 1990s Tyneside - and we knew him as Big Hec. It’s 20 years since Hec - real name Brian Dowson - died at the age of 38. The 6ft 8in, 20-stone gentle giant collected more than £1m for good causes.
Big Hec was famous for his size 18 boots and rattling his collection buckets all over Tyneside. Few who ventured into Tyneside’s drinking holes in the 1980s could have avoided being accosted for money by the towering figure.
He was a regular sight in the pubs of Newcastle , often filling his charity bucket before and after matches at St James Park. Hec would travel the length and breadth of the region raising cash for good causes.
He even turned to song in 1990, when he released his debut single, a cover version of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Were Made For Walking, in another fundraising drive
In March, 1996, after raising more than a million pounds for charity, Brian died at South Tyneside District Hospital of natural causes. His funeral at the independent Methodist Church, in Hedworth Lane, Boldon Colliery, was attended by hundreds of people. His ex-wife, Suzanne, said at the time: “Brian will be buried in his favourite outfit – his army suit and big boots.
“I will put a single red rose in the coffin and a picture of Brian with his dog. He treated the dog like the child he never had.”
In the months after his death, a memorial plaque to Hec was put up in Frederick Street, in Brian’s native South Shields. He was also immortalised as a Shakespearean hero in a poem by Desmond Graham, professor of poetry at Newcastle University. Dr Graham said: “I think Big Hec was a marvellous character. I used to see him collecting in a Newcastle pub called the Dog and Parrot and I simply tried to bring him to life. “I was always impressed with the way he tried to help out, even though some people wanted to bring him down.”
In 1998, he also became the subject of a play, called Big Hec, written by North East author Barry Stone and performed in South Shields and Blyth.
One reader wrote to the Chronicle, saying: “He was a lovely man with a heart as big as his boots. He was a gentle man who would help anyone. He will be sadly missed.” That was Big Hec - Brian Dowson - who passed away 20 years ago . . . By David Morton Newcastle Chronicle @ncjmedia
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/1006524581One character Prof Graham is happy to identify is Kent, "the good guy in King Lear". It is a moving portrait of Big Hec, (real name Brian Dowson) the larger-than-life charity collector who became a familiar figure around the streets of Newcastle until he died at the age of 38 in 1996. The towering six feet eight inch giant of a man with size 18 feet is said to have raised more than £1 million.
An interesting tidbit, cheers!http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/item/1006524581
My guess is if you contact that Professor he will share some of his research with you as he must have done some digging when writing the character.
^^
I think this is the place you are looking for. I used to live nearby, and I remember passing that stone wall at the bottom of Reid Park Road, daily, on my way across the Dene to Manor Park School.
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From - Bygone Jesmond, 1987 edition.
IT IS ! !
Thank you! The "Apple Tree Inn", yes, that's exactly what I wanted to know, and exactly the image I remember having seen. Much appreciated!
I think that was part of the Mayfair, but I'm not too sure. I didn't tend to go down that way before the Gate opened.Does anyone have any photos or know what the building on Newgate Street currently "sinners bar" was?