Kibblesworth memories
Here are memories of Kibblesworth and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Kibblesworth or a Kibblesworth photo.
Memories of my Life in Kibblesworth(nee Graham)
I was born in Kibblesworth in 1945 but my parents and I moved back to our flat in the Redheugh Area of Gateshead when I was about two or three. But mam put me on the bus every Sunday morning to travel to the primative Methodist Church Sunday school. Peggy Balmer would meet the bus and take me to sunday school. Afterwards I would climb the bank up to Short Row to Gran Wards for tea and the rest of the family would arrive for tea and a game of cards afterwards. The last hour would be spent by my parents at the Plough before returning home on the last bus. All my school holidays were spent in the parks of Kibblesworth the middle park with its islands being the favourite. Then in 1953, after my sister Jacqueline was born, we were rehoused as part of the slum clearance to Wrekenton. I was 8 by then and found the Wrekenton schools a shock to the system. ... Read more
The Watsons
Terry Watson worked down the old pit as a coal hewer until his untimely death in January 1964 at the age of 53. I used to have a drink with him and his long time friend Jimmy Walker who was our Lodge Chairman at the time. We spent Sunday mornings in the Stirling House on Saltwell Road. Terry lived only yards away from the pub. Another Terry Watson was married to my cousin Pauline May many years ago but sometime in the sixties. Terry was Chairman of the Kibblesworth Club at the time. His brother, Tony was a long distance runner in his younger days. Both Terry and Tony are now Councillors on the Birtley Parish Council.
The Watsons
Does anyone remember the Watson family? My mam was Maud, she had six brothers, George, Bob, Harry, Tony, Terry and Bernard. Their father worked in Kib Pittand drank in the Lamsley Arms.
Potts Ancestry Kibblesworth
My father Edward Potts was born in Kibblesworth in 1900 his brothers were William Potts, Noble Potts and his sister was Hilda Potts.
All the brothers were miners in Kibblesworth. When dad married we moved to Birtley but used to visit Uncle William fairly regularly usually on a Sunday when we would walk from Birtley and up the railway wagon line into the village. It made our walk a little shorter. Uncle William and aunt Nancy lived in Gardner Square and I remember the large grass park in front of the house.
Dad's family was very large as Grandma Eliza had first married Joseph Eltringham and had a family, Joseph died and she then married my grandfather William Potts and they had a family. His first marriage was to Dorothy Ann Woodhouse and they had a family.
Altogether with the 3 families there was about 17 children. No wonder I never knew who was who.
Frederick John Potts married Dorothy Ann Robson and... Read more
Kibblesworth
I was born in Kibblesworth in 1940. My dad left when I was 6 weeks old to fight in the Second World War. After years in a prisoner of war camp in Japan he arrived home when I was 5 years old. I went to Kibblesworth primary school from 1945 till 1951 when I went to Chester le Street Secondary Modern sShool. A special aunty was Mary Wilson, and Uncle Jack (Alan's parents). I still keep in touch with Alan via e-mail. Friends I remember from school days were Pauline Kay, Glynis Bell and Elspeth Brown Kibblesworth has lots of good memories of when you were able to play out at nights and your parents did not need to worry. Special events were the Sunday School Anniversaries when we all got special outfits. I also remember playing tennis at the Welfare and dances at the Institute. In 1974 I moved to BC, Canada, with my husband and 2 children but I still remember my days in the village. My maiden name was... Read more
Memories of A Childhood in Kibblesworth
I was born Patricia Ann Storey in Lindfield, Haywards Heath in Sussex in January 1949 and was first brought to Kibblesworth in February 1951 aged 2 after I was adopted by Thomas and Margaret Thurgood who lived in Gardiner Square. I was to live there for 25 of the most wonderful years of my life until I married in August 1976.
When I was 6 years old, my adopted mam (Maggie) died and I was taken, without my dad's consent, to a children's home in Whickham by the district nurse who was looking after my mam. My dad, who was furious, was advised to leave me there until after the funeral. In fact the people who advised him (neighbours) told him to leave me there indefinitely, but I remember him saying 'I took her out of a home and she isn't going back into one'. I was to stay there for 2 of the most horrendous weeks of my life. I can still today (I'm now 60) remember every... Read more
Memories of Tyne and Wear
Happy Memories
Living in Low Fell the Ravensworth Arms was our 'local' and a circle of friends was formed in the late 1960s and we still remain friends 40 years on, although only two still live in Lamesley.
My parents met their friends and I met my late husband. It was a wonderful atmosphere and spanned the age range - like an extension of your living room with an extended family.
We married in St Andrews Church in 1970, our two childen were subsequently christened there and six years later when we relocated to the Lake District and bought a cottage which needed a name, 'Lamesley Cottage' was the perfect one.
I have a memorial bench for my parents in Saltwell Park and my husband's ashes are on a Northumbrian beach so on our frequent visits across the Pennines we always come via Lamesley...
My School Years
I started at Eighton Banks Primary School in 1952 aged five, having been moved from the slum clearance of the Teams, Ghd. To be in open countryside after the lung-choking life of the industrial Teams was absolute heaven.
The headmistress was Miss Smith. My teacher was called Miss Forster, I believe. I loved playing on the old "camp" at the back of the school, (before it became an animal shelter) with my good friends George Harrison who lived on Longbank in a detached stone house, his mother and father were very good to me, she would give me food and clothing, Tim Shield who lived in Springfield Avenue, Eighton Banks, (his mother was a teacher at the school), someone called Michael, a girl called Violet who lived in a bungalow off Wrekenton "Long Bank", Angela Belford and many more.
The school was first established in two cottages in 1832 as a "Charitable" school, called Barrington Charitable school, then in 1867 the existing building was built, still... Read more
Eighton Lodge
Does anyone remember the mother and baby home called Eighton Lodge.
Memories of Wrekenton A Mining Village in Gateshead
Memories of Wrekenton a mining village in Gateshead, County Durham from my late mother and my memories from the 1950’s
My mother was born in Wakes Yard in a mining village called Wrekenton, a village close to the village of Springwell, Gateshead, County Durham, she lived at Eighton Terrace a cobbled street with 2 rows of sandstone built houses, darkly stained due to pollution from coal fired chimneys over the ages, she was an orphan with her 2 sisters, being brought up by there grandmother on there mothers side, a Hannah Watson. Mother’s grandfather was James Leslie Watson and he was a coalminer who worked down nearby Springwell Colliery.
In the war years, there were many shortages, people had to make do with want they had and economise, if you broke a cup, you had to make do with drinking out of a jam jar if there wasn’t a replacement, it was the same with the tea rations, often it was mixed with dried bramble leaves to... Read more
Childhood in Wreckenton
I started school at St Oswald's RC in 1944. We lived on Tanfield Road. I remember the head teacher was called Miss Wilfred, and later we had a headmaster called Mr Clancy. I remember when the war finished and we had to parade around the school yard and salute the Union flag. I remember the winter of 1947 and the snow too deep to walk in and it seemed like it would never go away. We spent our childhood playing in the fields at the back of the house which was known to us as Micky King's field. Beyond that were rolling hillocks of heath grass which led on to moor and gorse we called the whinys and the camp. We would often walk the two miles or so to Shadons Hill and drink water from the well there. I am told that that hill holds a lot of untold history, the first miners meeting there at some time in the1 830s. And it was the spot where... Read more
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