Blackhall Colliery, Cleveland

Summers in Blackhall

My Grandma - Bertha Lanaghan - lived in Third Street for over 50 years. She made hookey rugs as big as a room from old blankets, coats, etc whatever she could get, to sell for extra money. She dyed the wool three colours, navy, red & light blue and drew all her own designs on the sacking in ink before she started. They were beautiful and It was the only kind of carpet I knew until I was in my 20's because they never wore out. During WW2 I believe my sister and I spent some time there and she went to schoolalthough I was too young to remember. I remember the Hewitt familyand the Halls. From about 1945 when my Grandpa who worked in The Pit was killed by the train when coming home from Blackhall Rocks in the blackout we came up every summer in the school holidays. We lived in London where my mum had been sent to work at the age of 14. No one had any other kind of holidays in those days. My Uncle Bob also worked in the Pit. I only remember sunny days (as you do) and we spent each day out of doors along Top Bank and the beach. It was years before I knew that some beaches had yellow sand! We would pass the Colliery and cross the railway passing the wood yard where the pit props were cut. I loved the smell of that wood and it still comes back to me at times. along with the sound of the huge circular saws. We walked along to the cliff edge with the buckets that carried the slack to tip into the sea. It was all very innocent and I seem to think that sometimes we stayed out all day with just a jam sandwich and a bottle of home made ginger beer. I was terrified of the old wooden bridge across the Dean (Hesleden?) and my big sister would have to hold my hand tight and say 'don't look down' because you could see between the wooden boards. I have no idea where we were going when we crossed! We would have to keep off the 'back' streets on Mondays when the washing was strung out and sometimes my sister had to stay in to help turn the mangle. What a job it was for my Grandma who was very short, to carry the huge hot water bucket from the fireplace to the yard. The fireplace was blackleaded on a daily(?) basis and the front step every morning. Tuesday I think was ironing day. Another day was for baking. Once a week we would get fish and chips from Middle Street for our evening meal. I can remember the two bakers shops and I've never had a tea cake that was as good. If we kids were really well off - say we had collected pop bottles to take back at a penny each - we would take a bowl to Pieroni's ice cream parlour and they filled it for sixpence with that soft ice cream we now call Whippy, and buy a bottle of Dandelion and Burdock - run home and make ice cream sodas. Sheer heaven. One year I was sent to one of the two (?) shoe shops for shoes for me because they were cheaper than in London and I had to tell the lady I had to take them home for my Grandma to see and check before she would pay. Can you imagine doing that now? We made lanterns out of jam jars and left over bits of candle with a piece of string for a handle round the neck . WE went to the cinema when there was money - my mum called it The Bug Hutch - as you sometimes came out with a flea on your ankle! Occasionally we would go into Hartlepool on the bus and I don't remember anything but the smell of the home made boiled sweets in the covered market. Does anyone else remember pineapple rock? In recent years I have been surprised at how the wind blows all the time but I don't remember that from my childhood. Sadly, my mum's baby brother. my Uncle Bob died last December so my last link has gone, apart from some of his very dear, very good friends who helped me at the time and still do. He never missed a year visiting us in London all the time my mum was alive, coming down on his 25 year old motor bike as recently as 2006 at the age of nearly 80! My mum = also Bertha - was 93 when she died in 2004. On the whole everywhere looked better although in other ways it is just the same - things for sale have changed and of course the cinema has gone and the wheel monument in its place and so many take-aways. Doesn't anyone cook any more? I'd love to see inside one of the two up two down houses to see what they do with them now. WE were never allowed to use the parlour - the front room - even though there was a piano - except to go up to bed and when my Grandpa was laid out and neighbours came to pay their respects before the funeral. The Catholic Church was in a different place too so I suppose other things have moved that I don't remember. There was something with a corrugated roof painted a reddish colour but I can't remember if it was the Church or cinema. When it rained you couldn't hear a word! Happy times when there was work, and pride even though people didn't have many material goods.

Ballroom Dancing days

I was born in 1962  and at the age of 4yrs went to a dance school in blackhall called Hall dance school Does any one know Bob and Doris at the time they may not be alive now they were the Dance teachers at the time. I met some good friends and went all over the north east Dancing in competions. I won trophies gallore especially with girl called Carole Brumwell this was her maiden. She was the best person i ever danced with. We went to Blackpool in the late sixties to dance in the ballroom tower Bob Hall our dance teacher set up our Dance Formation team which we performed at Blackpool. I cannot remember how well we did But i can remember coming back with a cup that both Carole and i had won. We shared it for a year then we gave it back.
I have fond memories of my mother and me winning parent and child competion doing the Boston two step this was in Blackpool too.
Nearly every Sunday there was a comp somewhere in the North east and i can remember coming home tired and taking our hair full of pins out and putting them into a box ready for the next time all this was done in the private bus on our way home. The dance dresses were beautiful one better than another in the intervals i can remember running around the dance hall picking up the fallen sequins that had fallen off the dresses and putting the in to a tin ready for my next Ballgown. Has any one out there got some memories like that?
I had private lessons every Saturday and can remember going to the fish shop for some chips .( The fishshop is still there opposit the school ) or i would take some soup for myself and my little sister who danced as well. We did a show that people came to see South Pacific I was one of the Sailors. Bobs daughter Elaine Hall organised it She later went on to marry Ken Parks he was a Dance Judge at many organisations. He used to go around the Dance schools examining dancers.
I had a good childhood and have fond memories of my Dancing Days all around the North East and of Blackpool in the Winter Gardens and the Tower and of the many dance partners i had  Stewart Best from Hartlepool been my first ever. Rose Peacock and many others i cannot remember their name it was so long ago These are the kind of memories that stay forever i am so blessed

stephen holmes

I remember my friends and I found ,on blackhall beach some explosives, one of our group (no names no pack drill) made use of them to blow up one of the most popular caves at the rocks, I can still hear the shouts as the blast shower,d us with debris jerry johnson claimed it was the loudest noise he had ever heard.

Durham Photographic Memories

This wonderful photograph shows a beautiful convertible car, probably belonging to one of the landed gentry; the two delivery men enjoy a break whilst their horses tuck into their nosebags; and the little boy watches the cameraman at work. The spire of St Nicholas’s dominates the Market Place. In 1857 this Victorian church replaced an earlier church of St Nicholas, which dated from the 12th century - it had a tower. On the left, next to the Prudential Assurance building, is the Market Tavern, where the Miners Union was formed in 1871. In the foreground is the statue of Neptune on top of the octagonal pant (a northern word for a public fountain). Neptune was placed here in 1729 to symbolise an ambitious plan to turn Durham into an inland sea port; this would have resulted in the unthinkable - the joining of the rivers Tyne and Wear! Neptune’s neighbour is the statue of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who owned collieries around Durham and also constructed Seaham Harbour in 1828. The statue was sculpted by Raphael Monti, who reputedly committed suicide following the discovery of a flaw in his creation. According to legend, Monti had boasted that his statue was perfect, but a blind beggar man was feeling in the mouth of the horse and discovered that it had no tongue.

Durham Photographic Memories

Once a vital part of the city’s defences, the river in recent times has been used for more pleasurable purposes. Boating is a popular pastime, and the river is used by a variety of pleasure and competitive craft. In the foreground we see a couple of moored rowing boats that would be used to take lady friends for a gentle meander along the river on a fine, sunny afternoon, whereas on the river are a couple of skiffs that would be used for more competitive purposes.

Durham Photographic Memories

After climbing through the narrow streets of Durham, we suddenly come upon a dramatic opening into the light and space of Palace Green, dominated by the awesome cathedral. This great space was created by Bishop Flambard at the beginning of the 12th century: he decided to demolish the clutter of wooden houses and the market place because of the potential fire hazard to the castle and cathedral.