Hamsterley Mill, Tyne And Wear

Happy Times

I lived in Crawcrook until I was 13 years old, then we moved to Coventry, that was about 1955/56. My dad was a miner and had to leave because of the pit closing. I remember happy times playing out down the channels and paddling in the Tyne, going to Whitley Bay for holidays. I went back this year (2009) twice and... [more]

Childhood:W.Websters village shop

I was born in 1951. My parents owned the W Websters store in Barmoor Lane. I believe the old premises is now known as Orchard Cottage. I remember the sandshoes for sale dangling from the rafters and the butter was weighed out. My older sister helped serve sometimes after school. Dad set up a train set for Christmas for village folk... [more]

Ryton Willows

My first visit to Ryton was when my mother took me and my sister to Ryton Willows during the war years. The train from Gateshead station stopped at the Willows and I recall next to the station was a  place for eating your own meals which had to be brought. I can't recall any facilities for tea or meals service. The... [more]

School days

I was born at Crookhill, just outside Ryton and went to Hookergate Grammar School in 1956. When the Ferndene pool was opened we were taken by bus from school to the pool where we were given swimming lessons. My memory is of having to jump from the HIGH diving board and being absolutely terrified as it was just so high. Looking... [more]

Childhood: Newcastle v Birmingham

I remember going to my grandparents' house in Low Row, Addison. It was a colliery village and it was always a treat to go there in my summer holidays. The house was basically a two up, two down but the downstairs back room was where we slept, with my mum and dad and baby brother. The house had no electricity, just... [more]

FIRST JOB

It was 1958 and I had just left school at Walbottle Secondary. Me and my best pal Wes Coulthard (who I'm sad to say has since passed away) went on our first holiday together before starting down the Pit. We went with his parents Jimmy and Polly to Middleton Towers in Morcambe, it was just like a Butlins camp and bye,... [more]

The Local Dances and Playing Pool

In the mid 1950s to early 1960s there were local dance halls, one at Newburn which was down Station Road, take a left towards the bridge and it was just there on the left side opposite the level crossings near enough. It was a wooden hut as far as I can remeber, I was too young to get in but I... [more]

Pea-Shooter and Buses

It was about 1953 when we discovered pluffers and ca caws. The pluffer was a device we used for a pea-shooter shooter, this was a straight stem from a weed and it was about an inch or so in diamater, hollow through the centre and collected from Millfield tip where they grew in abundance. We would cut a length measuring about... [more]