Did You Know That California Is Actually In Winlaton Up The Hill From Blaydon

A Memory of Blaydon.

Joe and Elsie Boyd had a house built in California, which is a road in Winlaton. At that time California was a mud track and it never did become California Road or Lane or Way... Joe 'the footballer' Boyd was my dad and he played for The Spen, a nursery team for Newcastle United. Joe was on trial for Newcastle and played with Sandy Much, a Scottish goalkeeper.

During the Second World War the German planes would fly up the Tyne valley trying to bomb Armstrong's armaments factory. Due to the barrage balloons, search lights and the ack ack guns, many of the planes flew past Scotswood bridge and dropped their bombs on the surrounding countryside including Blaydon and Winlaton. Guess they flew back to Germany and claimed a successful mission. The only cinema available to begin with was the room over the Co-Op shop in Winlaton, it was a make shift affair. Mr Fisher had orange boxes with ladders over them at the front for the kids to sit on, he eventually managed to build a new cinema called The Rex. When the warning siren went off for the air raids, the projector was switched off and Mr Fisher appeared on the stage. He would shout out, "its that man again" and we all had to run home and get in the air raid shelters.

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