Geordie that was close with southern relatives? (7)
I believe the answer is:
nephews
'relatives?' is the definition.
(nephew is a kind of relative)
'geordie that was close with southern' is the wordplay.
'geordie' becomes 'NE' (Geordies are from Tyneside in the North East).
'that was close' becomes 'phew' (both are said after narrowly avoiding danger).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'ne'+'phew'+'s'='NEPHEWS'
(Other definitions for nephews that I've seen before include "Male relatives" , "Kinsmen" , "Male kin" .)