Meet The Team
Janet Brown
Janet is a former honorary secretary of the Association of Northumberland Local History Societies. She was appointed the Co-ordinator from its inception in 1988 of the A.N.L.H.S. War Memorials Project in Northumberland and Newcastle. This preceded the National Inventory of War Memorials (now War Memorials Archive) by six months. When she retired she was made an Honorary Life Vice-President of A.N.L.H.S.
Janet is a founder member of the British Association for Local History; Vice-President and Honorary Life Member of the Morpeth Antiquarian Society and Vice-Chairman of the Northumbrian Language Society. She was Honorary Treasurer of the Morpeth Northumbrian Gathering for many years. She is the author and editor of several books.
She was Co-ordinator from 1999 of the War Memorials Group recording project in Tyne and Wear and North Durham. She became Chairman when this developed into the North East War Memorials Project in 2004. Janet is also a Volunteer for the War Memorials Trust.
Dorothy Hall
Dorothy was a Primary School teacher in Chester le Street and Kibblesworth for many years. In 1998 she was part of Chester le Street’s Millennium project to research the War Memorials of the area. Dorothy joined the Imperial War Museum’s volunteers and eventually met Janet Brown. When NEWMP was set up in 2004 she became the secretary.
Dorothy retired from teaching in 2005 and became Chair and Project Manager of Chester le Street Heritage Group. She has written books about Chester le Street, Chester Moor, Waldridge as well as Kibblesworth.
James Pasby
James is a volunteer field worker for the War Memorials Trust and the UK National Inventory of War Memorials (now the War Memorials Archive) under the auspices of the IWM. He has also archived and data-based information from War Diaries at Durham County Archives.
James has always had an avid interest in Military subjects ever since he spotted a World War 2 Pillbox in his home town when very young.
James believes researching and recording War Memorial information is very rewarding and can be a very humbling experience. “Knowledge shared is not lost”.
Ian Johnson
Ian worked for a major retailer in Newcastle for over forty years before retiring from that role in November 2019. Ian started to research the Bainbridge Department Store War Memorials in 2010, which led to the publishing of two ‘Fallen Heroes’ Books. The money raised through the sales of the two books was donated to the NEWMP.
This led Ian to research the History of the Newcastle Commercial Battalion 16th Northumberland Fusiliers and raise funds for a memorial to the battalion which was unveiled on the Somme battlefield in the village of Authuille in 2015.
Ian’s book on the History of the Newcastle Commercials was published by Pen and Sword in 2021.
Jean Atkinson
Jean was part of the technical team at AEI Cables for almost 39 years before opting for early retirement when the factory closed.
Researching her family history led to her interest in War Memorials and military research, after discovering the stories of her own relatives who had served.
She also has a keen interest in local history and is chairperson of the Birtley Heritage Group – ‘volunteering is a very rewarding experience’.
John L Dixon
John is a retired Public Finance Accountant, having worked in Local Government, the N.H.S. and the Police, with a spell in Hong Kong with their Hospital Authority. His final role was Project Manager for PSNC’s Community Medicine Management Project back in the UK.
He was the first Treasurer and Website Co-ordinator for NEWMP
John is the Lead Researcher for the 70th Infantry Brigade Memorial History 1939 – 1944, which forms part of the NEWMP Website.
