South Shields building gets blue plaque for WW2 efforts

The T.S Collingwood Sea Cadets base in South Shields is "underwhelming" but important, cadets chairman John Eltringham said

An "austere and underwhelming" building which played an important role during World War Two has been given a blue plaque.

The T.S Collingwood Sea Cadets base in South Shields was used by the Royal Navy Volunteers Reserves in the war.

The Wapping Street building, built in 1936, provided support to the training ship, HMS Satellite.

Cadets chairman John Eltringham said it was the last remaining part of a ship that "trained thousands".

The blue plaque was unveiled this week with the mayor of South Tyneside, deputy lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, cadet staff, volunteers and supporters attending.

The blue plaque was unveiled earlier this week

"It made a huge contribution to the war effort in training naval gunners on armed merchant and Royal Navy ships, as well as being a part of the Tyne defences in its own right," Mr Eltringham said.

"It's in memory of this that the Blue Plaque is important, not only to us, but the maritime heritage of South Shields."

The building had trained seafarers for several decades until the HMS Satellite shore base closed in 1959 and the Royal Navy reserves disbanded.

Since then, the T.S Collingwood Sea Cadets - set up to help teacher younger people naval skills - have used the building.

In 2021, the original figurehead from the 1854-built ship was restored and is now housed at the site.

Mr Eltringham said he nominated the building to receive recognition from South Tyneside Council for its historical importance.

He said: "Anyone walking along the riverside from the Customs House to Littlehaven probably hasn't given the rather austere and underwhelming pre-war building at Comical Corner a second glance.

"But the truth is, it's the last remaining part of what was the shore-based drill ship HMS Satellite that trained thousands of seafarers during its time in service".

The council said there are more than 30 blue plaques across the district, marking the "significant contributions" of people and landmarks.