Grimsby and Cleethorpes Watkin Days

Mr Grimsby & Mr Cleethorpes

Sir Edward Watkin MP (1819-1901) developed the small port of Grimsby into what became the biggest fishing port in the world, rescued the little village of Cleethorpes from destruction by the North Sea and transformed it into a national holiday resort.

Now the amazing achievements of the man they called ‘Mr Grimsby and Mr Cleethorpes’ are being celebrated for the first time in two great Watkin Days:

Watkin Day Grimsby on Tuesday 18 July

Watkin Day Cleethorpes on Wednesday 19 July

Organised by members of the new Watkin Group of North East Lincolnshire, a branch of the national Watkin Society. These are free to attend events (except*).

watkinsociety.org.uk

WATKIN DAY GRIMSBY – Tuesday 18 July

[PLEASE NOTE THAT BOOKINGS ARE REQUIRED FOR THE GRIMSBY TALKS, SEE BELOW FOR BOOKING INFO]

1.30pm The celebrations start at the great new café COFFEE ON THE DOCKS, 2 Auckland Road DN31 3RP.  Car parking is free.  The Chair of the Watkin Society, Geoff Scargill, will introduce the Day followed by talks and a guided walk:

John Trevitt, Curator of Immingham Museum, and Paul King, published author of books on transport in the local area, will focus on Watkin’s fantastic contribution to the development of Grimsby Docks and the critically important heritage of the MS&L and the local railway network.  Their talk will highlight Watkin’s role and the importance of the railways to the development of Grimsby as the World’s Premier Fishing Port and the dramatic growth of the Commercial Docks’ coal, timber and European passenger steamer traffic.

Steve Ridlington will talk about his WE1 Heritage company’s valuable work on restoring heritage buildings in the Kasbah district of the docks and will lead a walk round the area.

3pm  We will then visit the Statue of Prince Albert, which now stands facing the Dock Offices.  The statue was paid for by Watkin and unveiled by the future King Edward VII on 22 July 1879 to commemorate the opening of the new Union Dock.

7pm  Geoff  Scargill will give an illustrated talk in the Banqueting Room of Grimsby Town Hall entitled ‘’The Last Laugh of the Railway King’, another in his popular series about the amazing Edward Watkin.  This time he will not only describe the mark that Watkin left in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, but also his incredible achievements and failures in the rest of Britain and abroad.

The event will be chaired by Cllr. Steve Beasant, who has just completed his year in office as Mayor of Grimsby and is the Patron of the Watkin Group.  There will be light refreshments and an exhibition of books and photos connected with Watkin locally.  These have been kindly loaned by the Local History Library and Archives in Grimsby.

The exhibition will be moved to Cleethorpes.

WATKIN DAY CLEETHORPES – Wednesday 19 July

10.30am onwards  The Watkin Exhibition will move to the Local History section on the lower ground floor of Grimsby Library.  There will be a short introductory talk about Watkin, then an opportunity to browse at your leisure the wealth of fascinating material available in the Library.

1.30  Meet in the Number One Pub, which is in the original 1863 Cleethorpes Station buildings, DN35 8AX.  There is a car park opposite. (Pay at the machine.)

We will make up two groups.  The first will hear a talk by John Trevitt and Paul King  They will highlight Watkin and the MS&L Railway’s contribution to the development of Cleethorpes as a resort.

The other group will have a walking tour of much of Watkin’s Cleethorpes, the area from the station to Brighton Street slipway, led by local historian Trevor Ekins.  After taking time for refreshments, (the pub will be open) the groups will swap over.

7pm  Quiz Night at The Number One.  *There will be a £1 entrance fee, which will go towards the prize for the winning team.  You can come along as an individual or make up a team on the night.  There will be questions on general knowledge, local history, railways and maybe one or two Watkin related, as well as a ‘Where Is This?’ picture quiz.  There will be a Grand Raffle and a rare opportunity to hear music provided by mine host Dave Snook on the Number One Pianola.

Booking is not required for the Cleethorpes Day or the quiz, but numbers for the Grimsby Day at the docks are strictly limited.  Geoff’s evening talk is open to all.  Please book by text only to 07729 058326 and kindly let us know if you change your mind so we can reallocate.