Community Engagement

Community Engagement Summary 

A local community engagement worker was given the following brief…

Engage residents of North Shields to hear ideas that can feed into the briefs we give to our mural artists. The general theme is ‘The spirit and story of North Shields’ and also ‘Past, Present and Future’. 

Method 

The worker spoke face-to-face with 61 local residents, of a wide spread of ages, engaging them in conversation as a form of gentle and informal survey, documenting their answers. It was made clear that their answers would form part of a written document, potentially (but not necessarily) informing the creative process of the next stage of murals across North Shields. 

Two questions were asked...

1. “What brings you joy about the past/present/future of North Shields?”

2. “What comes to mind with the words Spirit Of North Shields? What does it make you think or feel?” 

Their answers tended toward three clear categories. Most answers fell easily into one of them…

1. The sense of community 

2. The environment – the River and also local green spaces 

3. The local cultural scene 

Summary Data 

1. Community: Many residents named community as forming the “spirit of north shields” and spoke about bonds within the local community and of the strength of local character.

Key words: community/friendship/family 

2. Environment: Many residents named the river/coast as forming the “spirit of north shields” and spoke about the joy of the river, the coast and local green spaces.

Key river/coast terms: ferry/fishing/boats/beach/river walks/shipbuilding/parks/flowers/the Robins football pitch/community gardens

3. Culture: Many residents named the growing cultural scene as forming the “spirit of north shields” and spoke about the recent renewal of the local cultural scene. 

Key culture words: music scene /independent shops/cycling/football/cakes/theatre and choir groups