Millies Memoirs
These were written by Millie during the last few years of her life. They are mostly set in Old Blaydon. Here is the Google Map link. The story ends at Angerton Gardens in the west end of Newcastle just after she married and John and Billie were born.
A 1920's map of George Street area is here and a similar map of teh Forge House area around Blaydon Burn is here
Father won a violin in a penny raffle – he wanted me to learn to play it, but I was too embarassed to handle it in front of anyone. He made me a cradle from the case of an old clock case. People round about used to bring all their metal utensils for father to mend (free) (he had a soldering iron and quite a lot of different kinds of tools for odd jobs.)
We lived in George St. (no. 20) a favourite was was down the chain bridge Road to the bridge. There was a bridge across the railway which we had to cross when the gates were closed. We would stand on the bridge and wait for a steam engine to pass under and enjoy being in the steam for a while.
A great treat was a penny ride in a horse and trap it would go out of George St along Railway St up Thomas Terrace along the top road and down George St again.
The names of some of the people who lived near us were; in the even numbers starting from No 2. Hepples, 6 Aunt Mary (where I went for my dinner every Sunday) No 8 Mrs Dopp who was very cantankerous. No 10, Mrs Campbell No 12 Mrs Stanley her and her husband were always arguing. 14 Mrs Airey. 16 Henny's who had a family of 5, Josie who played the violin, Tom, Eddie, Maggie who was my friend and Jenny [Jerry?] They were a nice family very musical. 18 an older couple called Waddington. We were in No 20, in No 22 Aunt Alice and Uncle George they had John, Jim and Hannah. They had two sons, Tom and Charlie, who were both killed in the First World War. Tom was in the Army and Charlie the navy. Uncle George worked at the Sandhole [?] and they ha 2 pensions which made them quite wealthy by our standards. My mother got Aunt Alice's (her sister) old clothes and I always wore Hannah's, which were quite nice. She was a very dainty person and I soon grew out of her things which was a shame. Jim was a cripple, he had had a kick on the leg when he was 11 years old. It never healed and turned into T.B.; He died I think at the age of 24.
A day out for us was a visit to Aunt Ada's who lived at Derwent View in Swalwell. I had 5 cousins (The Massey's) Uncle Ned was a stone mason he was a good gardener and won a lot of prizes for his produce. Aunt Ada and Uncle Ned had more sets of china cats than anyone I ever knew. Ther were very popular prizes then. Uncle Ned did a lot of poaching but was never caught.
Aunt Ada was my mother's younger sister. Uncle Ned was my Aunt Ada's second husband. Her first one was named Thorburne she had one son by him. His name was Charles. He played cricket for Swalwell. Eventually he married a Welsh girl and move to Askem in Yorkshire. The names of the Massey cousins were Nancy, jim, Evelyn, Ada and Betty. We were all good friends.
Going back to the names of the people in the street – I mean the back street, which was one side of George St and the other side was the back of John St. We didn't know many people in the front street. Next to Aunt Alice was Mrs Madison in 22 then the Malaby's in 24. There was Olive Kelly, Mrs Saul and Batey. Many years later I met one of the Batey Lads at a dance in Chapel house. In the homes opposite (John St Back Lane) were the Rymers, Benson. Nellie Benson was a friend of my sister. A Mr Kass who was a decorator, Addison, Hopper, Armstrong, Earl, Smith, Hewitson and a family called Farmer who used to sell pies and peas I don't think we ever bought any.
Along the bottom of George St ran Railway St the goods line was oin one side, at the end was the goods yard (Edward St end) We always played with our tops and whips on the railway side. At the corners of all the streets were shops. The shopkeeper's names were: Bottom corener of Edward St was Cans, George St Scots, John St Rochesters, Solomins (fish shop) James St, Johnsons - -the Arthrurs, Bottom of Thomas Trc the Butcher called Robinson. A pawnshop was in Thomas Yard.
A favourite haunt of ours was “The Tipps” by ours I mean Aggie Campbell, Maggie Henry, and her brother Jerry and Aggie's brother Harry and a few more five year olds. The Tips was where all the refuse was dumped. Churchill's Works are built on the sight now. I always got into trouble for playing there. We used to look for pieces of booty which was china or earthenware if we came across a piece of booty with a pattern on we were delighted, but if we found a piece of china with a gilt pattern we had found a fortune. We also looked for the “shops empties” where we might find a jar with sweets in that had gone hard or sticky and could not be sold. I wonder how we avoided getting poisoned or some disease. You must understand all the filth from the middens was tipped there.
Another great event was the Winlaton Sword Dancers. They often came round. There was a place which we called the Spike. The real name was Blaydon Haughs. All the factories were there – The Chemical works, Pattersons, Harrimans [?], Douglasses, The Glass Works, and one or two more. The main Carlisle – Newcastle line was between the Spike and Chain Bridge Road.
There were about four rows of houses there. Pioneer St, Townley St, Patterson St and I think Douglass St. My uncle George's sister lived in Patterson St. Her name was Mrs Niven, she had been a friend of my mothers in their younger days – her daughter Hannah married a chap called Hadden and I think they became friend's of Aunty Ivy's when they moved south.
As one walked on to the Spike there was a place called the castle where a lot of families lived it was like a tenement block although built like a castle. I never got to know if it was a real castle or not. I knew one or two girls who lived “down the spike” their names were Ruth Thorpe, Hannah Robson, Josephine Younger. A hunch backed man called Jack Lewis he later became a newsagent, his shop was in Thomas Ter. Another person we knew was a Mrs Hogg. She became a councilor.
Our shoes were mended by a man called Mr Tummulty he lived in Townley St and mended the boots and cloggs in his kitchen. The local hoppings were help on the spike, a great event.
I don't ever remember anyone going on holiday it was just not done. They hadn't the money. A day at South Shields was the only holiday most of the people got, usually organized by the Sunday School or someone would run a charabanc trip for the people of the street and if we went with the Sunday School our fares were paid then we got a bag of cakes for our meal. If we had any money to spend we would buy our parents some mint Rock or pineapple flavoured rock, if one had enough cash a little ornament with the towns coat of arms would be taken home. My mother had a few, but aunt Alice had dozens. If her daughter Hannah still has them she could make a lot of money as they are now very valuable.
When we moved to the Forge House we thought it was lovely, we had a garden. It was an old house owned by the colliery. There was no gas or electricity and a long walk to school. The people next door were called Priestley. There was Mrs Priestley who was very keen on the Salvation Army, her son Jimmie who was the scout master, a daughter Mavis who was a maid to the Redpaths. Mr Redpath was the manager of the Bessie Drift. Then Mrs Priestly had a grandson called Norman who was illegitimate, his mothers name was Aggie, her husband's name Dick Simpson, they had quite a big family. Norman's father was Jimmie Howie who married Susie Forster. They had a son Jimmie and a daughter Annie who became my pal. We were good pals from being about 9 until she died at the age of about 70. We didn't see much of each other after I moved to Fenham, when I married I remember when she found out about Norman who was in our particular gang. She was so very upset – thought she was telling me such a secret. He was a nice lad, he married a girl from Greenside but he was killed in a pit accident.
Mavis Priestley married a lad from Greenside – Wilf Whitfield. Mavis eventually became a registrar at Throckley. The other boys in our group were Leo Taylor, Joe Lamabey, Billie Wrenford from Winlaton, Charlie Harbottle, Andy Flynne – Blaydon Burn, Sago [?] Hurst and Billie Newton – Path head. The were all pit lads except Billie Newton whose parents farmed at Pathead. (The Home Farm for Stella Hall) there was another farm at Path head the farmer there was a Dick Gibson, it must have been a poor farm as Dick delivered the pit coal to the miners. Dick married a widow who had two daughters the younger one was Susie Tunstall a bonny girl she was chosen as the Glooper Queen (Radio). The road [?] hill that ran from Blaydon to Pathead was called the Summerhill at the bottom left hand side was the Vetenarys. Then a shop owned by Mr Slack two family of Howils were next. Another group on the left side ere the homes of his friend and a Mrs Robinson. The houses on the right side were posh I remember the Smalls, Henderson, Mews, Spoors, a school teacher and her mother I can't remember their names. Then there was the Harris' – George a cousin of my mother (their daughter went to Central High). Greensills (2 familys lived in the two top houses) Then house [?]: Pathead was a row of houses called the Sandhole. They were practically in the sandhole. I remember a man being buried while working there I think his name was Billie Patterson. 3 families that lived there were Aistens, McKenna, and the Bousefields.
The first long country walk I ever did was on that road which took us to Greenside. Bob decided we should go and visit Aunt Millie. I still remember the lovely flowers and hearing corn crakes for the first time. Aunt Millie was my father's eldest sister – he did have half sisters I think also brothers but Grandfather had kept two homes going his first family were much older than his second – the second got nothing. Aunt Sally was his younger sister she had 4 children their names were John, Mary, Jo and Nancy. They were Catholics their surname being Murray. I don't know who they married. They lived in James St when they were young then moved to Blaydon Burn. The other son – my father's youngest brother was William. He lived in Leeds his wife's name was Hannah they had one son Billie he was about five years younger than me. I was never much struck with Aunt Hannah but I loved my Uncle Bill.
When I was about sixteen I went to stay with my uncle in Leeds. They had got me a job in a factory at Harehills near them. I was going to be a tailoress. I went there in the Oct. but was back home in Dec. My parents wanted me back home because they missed me. I wasnot sorry to be back. In those days there wasn't any jobs to be had at Blaydon . There was always plenty of work for women in Leeds.
My uncle used to take me to see a variety show every Friday night at a place called “The Palace Of Variety” In later years the old time music hall used to be televised from there. When the show was finished he always called at a pub for a pint of beer and left cousin Billie and I outside waiting for him. My parents were never told about this – they would not have been pleased. Uncle Bill was a bit of a tearaway when he was young. My father said the summonses use to come in from the police for Bill being drunk and disorderly more frequently than the grocery bills.
My grandmother must have had a worrying time with him evidently he had no evil in him, just daftness most of his pals were Irish Navvies. My father used to tell a tale about him and his pal. They pawned a pair of men's drawers (underwear) for 1/6 altered the pawnticket which had only the word drawers on and the pledge 1/6 (one and six) they altered the 1/6 to 7/6 and sold it to an Irish pal who was getting married. Now I thought that was very funny. The couple thought they were getting a chest of drawers (my Gran made it up to them by giving them a chest out of his room).
When my father and his family were young they played with Cowens who were very wealthy they used to persuade John Cowen to hide cash in a hole somewhere and they used to go and take it another thing they did was to help the Vicar to pick his apples. They would have their sister standing at an open attic window of their home which was near the tree, more apples were caught by Sally than went into the Vicars bag, they must have had a hilarious time.
In those days they had to pay when they went to school. The eldest (Aunt Millie) used to be in charge of the cash, more often than not it got lost. She used to threaten them with a good hiding if they spilt on her. Knowing Aunt Millie it is hard to imagine her being like that. Aunt Millie never changed her name when she married a George Robson who lived at Greenside – his mothers name was Tipplady, I think they were fairly well to do. Their childrens names were Sally, John, George and Florie. Sally wasn't married but she had two sons one called Joe another Angus. She would never give the name of their father. She was very much older than my sister who was sixteen years older than I. They lived on the main road through Greenside on the right towards the pit. They owned their house so they must have had cash. I remember they had lovely furniture made by my grandfather one piece that I likd was a four poster bed it was the only four poster I had ever seen in an ordinary house.
When I returned home from Leeds Bobby Tulip asked me to work in his shop. The address of this place was 38 Bridge Street near the Horse Crofts [?] opposite the Black Bull. The bridge that now crosses the burn (near the New Inn which I think now is Swan's Removals) was not built then. When they started to build the bridge nearly all Bridge St was demolished. Previous to this Bob Tulip bought a business at Forest Hall – he left me to manage the Blaydon Shop which was a little gold mine. It was through working for Bobby I got a job at Barnet Bros Wholesale warehouse. One of Barnets traders[?] got me an interview with the boss Issie Barnett. All that was said at the interview was 'If you have worked for Bob Tulip you will do for me, when can you start' ! I enjoyed working there. It was much easier than what I had been doing.
Bob Tulip had 3 sisters Alice, Betty and Phyllis. Alice married Billie Jackson they had a shop at the top of Robert St Scotswood, Betty was a good dancer married someone called Elsdon – they represented North London in the “Come Dancing” on television. Before she was married she danced in Competition in the north with Albert Dalrymple, they were North Eastern Champions. Albert was engaged to Phyllis. It was through Phyll that I met Bill Dal. She was a beautiful girl, he jilted her for Jean Johnson who was older than him and not so nice. Phyll was a lot younger, was a hairdresser.
Lorna (Lorna married Jack Jackman Bill's Cousin) was an apprentice of Phylls. Her maiden name was Hargreaves from Sherif Hill. At one time Phyllis was a chorus girl at the Empire Theatre with Frankie Franks a well known entertainer in the distant past.
I remember a family that lived in a yard behind the Black Bull called Murphy. They were Irish. Another family called Batey lived there, both not very nice people. From the Bull down to the New Sun lived Fishers, Rogers, Kendals and Herbetsons my friend Annie Howey married John Herbertson and his brother Elijah married someone called Christine Armstrong (I think).
Opposite the Bull was Charlton's shop, at the corner of Cochrane St Annie Howey and I were friendly with Irene Charlton who often looked after the shop. We did quite well out of it really. She usually looked after the shop on a Sunday afternoon – well on a Sunday night, we all asked to go up to Ryton to an area called Westfield Lane where a lot of the young people met. Annie and I had our bus fare but Irene would always find sixpence in her shoe or glove which paid our fare to Ryton. If we knew the conductor on the bus we always got a free ride the fare from Blaydon to Ryton was 2d.
Irene married a boy from Ryton called Curly Oliver. We didn't know many people from Ryton. The names I remember were George Dempsey, Miceal Dempsey, Lorna Richardson and Mary Armstrong – she died when she was nineteen. They lived in the council houses op. The Post office near the Ryton Hotel.
Ryton was always a nice area. Westfield Lane was down by the church through the village. Another haunt for young people was “Round the bridges” This was a road that ran from the chain bridge to Shibden Road, but we were not so keen on that place, I always met Brother Bob there with his pal who was named Doodle Surrey, I never knew what his real Christian name was. Bob and Doodle were bosom pals. In later life very much later, I must have been 50, Brother Bob visited us at Western Av (as drunk as a lord) about midnight one Sat night and wanted to know why I had married Bill Dalrymple as Doodle Surrey had been very keen on me. What an honour I had missed.
About 1934 1928 1930(sic) Anne Howey's parents bought a small general dealers shop in partnership with a relative of theirs. They bought it for Annie. It was opposite the New Inn opposite where Tim Herbertson lived. We thoroughly enjoyed that shop. How it ever paid (I don't think it ever did) I don't know. It had a tiny little place at the back in which there was a combustion stove and about a ton of coke. That was where we all spent most of our time when Annie was in charge. We had real good meals there – five lads – all pit lads and two girls.
We didn't have much money but we had a very good life Annies parents were fairly well off. Her father had a war pension and worked for her Grandfather Howey as a bookie. We used to do very well off her Uncle Albert. He used to give us a “treat” to the pictures every week or he would pay our train fares to Hexham on a Sunday. Excursions were run regularly there some times we would borrow from him – I don't think we ever paid him back. Another source of cash was empty Brown Ale bottles. Annie's father was a heavy drinker but drank at home every day – very rarely in the pub. I used to think Annie was very lucky her parents were much younger than mine and they always had plenty money – and she had a Granny Forster. I don't think I was envious but I did envy her her Granny – I never had one. Many years later I told her how I had envied having a Gran she told me she used to envy me because there was never any fighting in our house. Her parents were always doing so.
After Annie met Tom Herbertson I didn't really make any close friends. At work I was friendly with Peggy Dunning. She lived at a place called the Planting at the top end (north west) of Greenside which wasn't very far from Prudhoe where he boyfriend lived – he lived on the main road, I can't remember where. When she married she lived on a new estate way up above the old baths I am sure the estate was called Holmside. She became Mrs John Routlidge, he worked for Langstaffs, he drove the bread van. They had one daughter. Peggy worked at Barnetts, she worked on the drapery floor, and when I got engaged she got me many bargains for my “bottom draw” The names of some o fthe people that worked there were Edit Taylor, Francis Franks (Jewish) Olive Brookes, Miss McCabe, Doris McClaire, Miss McEwen, Percy Wade (manager -we were always able to visit[?] him when we bought anything). Others that worked there were Jimmy Knox, Annie Irving (she joined the Land Army during the War) Gladys Ritchley, Jenny Bryden, Miss March, Benny Wyre, there was a big staff but I cannot remember all their names.
There was a Barney McKay who was the biggest rogue I ever knew. He later had a son who made a fortune out of records, I am sure he had something to do with Virgin Records. They were Jews, Barney was a cousin of Phyllis Speeckes who lived op. us in Normount[?] (next door to Mrs Wilson) We often came in contact with him at functions at the Old Assembly Rooms.
After Dad [Billy Dalrymple] started dancing we went to a lot of dances. It too a lot of courage for him to walk onto a dance floor – he used to shake like a leaf but once he got used he really enjoyed dancing. It was one of the most sensible things we ever did. We have made lots of friends from all over the country.
The hall we liked most was Wallsend Memorial Hall where a chap called Alf Kershaw played the music. He would play any tune we asked for he was a wonderful musician. When that hall closed we went to the Empress Ballroom at Whitley Bay. The band there was Harry Atkinson's. The hall was a lovely place, one of the best dance floors in the country. All the “Come Dancing” that was televised came from there.
There were two dance floors in that building. The upstairs was a circular floor, the floor there was not as good as the one downstairs. The Empress' was owned by a Mr Robinson he also owned the White City (or Spanish City). Bingo became the rage and that put paid to the dances they became Bingo Halls. The couples we went round with were George & Nancy Nicolson (Gateshead) Joe & Edith Cockleton (Walker) Bill and Hilda Purvis (Earsdon) John & Ethel Marsh (Whickham). It didn't matter where we went dancing in the North we would meet some one we knew.
Now we are old we find dancing is good exercise and it gets us out into company. It is so easy to stay in and stagante. When we got married we rented a flat in Angerton Gds. (23). The rent was 17/6. We had £120 in the bank. After we had furnished the flat we had £20 left. We bought a 3 piece, sideboard, table and chairs, china cabinet, standard lamp, round coffee table and a walnut bedroom suite and of course carpets. I was a good buyer in those days, everything we bought was less than wholesale for many years I would not pay full price for things. If you paid cash you could always bring the price down.
We loved living in Angerton Gardens. We were all people of the same age married about the same time the result – when the children came along they were all of an age. There seemed to be more boys than girls. Our Bill's pals were David Brough, Ian Miller, John Dixon, George Hall, a little boy called Ian Longstaffe who used to trail round after them. When Bill & David were about 3yrs they went into Lanstaffe's garden, picked all the flowers, knocked on Mrs Longstaffes door and asked if they wanted to buy any flowers. Another day David came trotting into our house with a hand full of very young rhubarb and asked me to make a pudding for him. When asked where the rhubarb had come from he said “Bungers Garden” I didn't think Mrs Bunger was very pleased about it!
Names of people I remember in Angerton were Bowles, Hall, Forester, Wright, O'Conner, Amos, Bell, Broyden, Gibson, Ryan Bunger, Glass, Baber, Dixon, Miller Black (A family of that name) Brough, Wilson Baker, James and Blackburn.
Marjorie Bowles lost her husband at the beginning of the war, he was a pilot in the R.A.F. Their baby was born about the time Fred was killed her name was Freda (named after her dad). She was a lovely little girl – she married Adamson whom she divorced later. Adamson later became head man for Leach [?] the builder.
I remember living at the Forge the house was situated on the Lonnen that led to the Dochindale Woods the back faced the “store field” where the Co-op kept their horses. All transport was drawn on horses. We spent hours riding them. They were put into the field at 5.30 and taken out in the morning at seven. We did all our sledging in that field except when we got older we sledged from the Low Town end of Winlaton to High Blaydon (it was an offence to sledge on footpaths).
My friend Annie wasn't keen on sledging. She was on a sledge about twice in her life. The second time she went with her cousin on the Low Town and run[?] When they finished at the bottom of the Horse Crofts (op. The Black Bull at Blaydon) a policeman was passing. He took their names and they had to go to court, luckily the magistrate was a local man he said it was a place where he had sledged many times himself – so they got off but had to pay 7/6 costs. She never sledged again.
I must admit I have had some nice friends and always enjoyed life. Considering we had very little money when we were young we were very happy. I have been very lucky. I got a husband who was second to none and two lovely lads.
Then on a loose page:
Underground shelter at Kenton where the Ministry offices were. A plane was bombed and fell in Westerhope. The exact spot is down Greenway there is a little copse leading to West Meadows? Jingling Gate.