Exhibition of Hartlepool worker gives unique insight into shipyards

A new exhibition in Hartlepool gives a unique insight into the world of North East shipyards.
Lauren MarsdenLauren Marsden
Lauren Marsden

Lauren Marsden has used photographs that her father Phillip Marsden took during his time working at Richardson Westgarth in Hartlepool and Smith’s Dock.

She found the photographs after Philip, a precision engineer, died in 2015 and says they revealed a side of his life she had not seen before. Lauren, 23, said: “He was a very keen photographer and had a massive box full of photographs.

Phillip Marsden. Picture by FRANK REIDPhillip Marsden. Picture by FRANK REID
Phillip Marsden. Picture by FRANK REID
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“I came across these pictures that I had never seen before and that inspired me to do the project.”

Lauren has used some of Philip’s original photographs and combined them with her own ‘precision engineered’ pictures to convey a sense of accuracy and detail like that of her father’s work.

Philip worked at Richardson Westgarth shipbuilders between 1978 and 1981.

After the business closed, he joined many other workers who went to Smith’s Dock.

Lauren’s exhibition, entitled Conjoined Realities, is on at Hartlepool Central Library, now until Monday, June 5.