North East pensioner takes her resolution to market

A South Tyneside pensioner has stuck with her ambitious New Year’s resolution – and is now running her own market stall.

Seventy-nine-year-old Bridget Brosnan – a distant relative of movie star Pierce Brosnan - vowed at the end of last year that she was going to fulfil a long-held ambition.

And so at the beginning of 2013 Bridget decided to apply for a stall at South Shields market – and has been running it twice a week ever since.

“I decided that I was just spending too much time sitting around doing nothing,” said Bridget, who lives in sheltered accommodation at Glenthorpe House, West Stevenson Street, South Shields.

“And at New Year I thought, ‘I need to snap out of this’ and do something so I decided I’d do something I’d always been interested in and get a stall.”

Now the great grandmother runs her bric a brac stall every Friday and Saturday at the market, despite suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

“It’s a fantastic place and I really think it’s the heart of South Shields,” she said.

“Everyone is really friendly and the other stallholders are fantastic and really look out for me.”

Bridget, originally from Ireland, has lived in the area since her teens and the fact that some of her eight children are scattered across the globe is of huge benefit to her customers.

“One of my daughters lives in Canada and she sends me parcels of things to sell,” she said.

“And another one of my sons dabbles in antiques and he gives me things that he doesn’t want so I do pretty well.”

Bridget is delighted with the Love Shopping, Love South Tyneside campaign which aims to bring people into the borough to shop.

“It’s a fantastic area which is why we stayed here and there’s lots to do,” she said.

“The market brings people together and there’s so many great things to buy, people should always support it.”

Formerly a nurse, Bridget and her late husband ran a nursing home for many years.

“Really I should have done something like the stall a long time ago,” she said, “So I’m really glad I’m getting the opportunity now.”

She ensures that a share of her profits also goes to charity, shared between the British Heart Foundation and South Shields’ St Clare’s Hospice.

South Shields market runs every Monday, Friday and Saturday.