You are here:
Newburn
Newburn maps
Historic maps of Newburn and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Newburn maps
Newburn area books
Displaying 1 of 1 books about Newburn and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Newburn
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Newburn.
There are 52 shared memories to read.
Add your memory of Newburn
or of a photo of Newburn.
J.T.BELLS
This is the year I started on the building sites in 1963, I got a job on J. T. Bell's site in Whickam, the site hadn't been running long then as it was in the first stage. All the lads were mainly from Newburn, Lemington, and Throckley. If you needed a job more than likely you would go to the Union Jack Club on Hexham Road, Throckley where the McDonna brothers had their foothold and big Hughie was the main man for a job as he was Mr Bell's top man. I started on the Mixers along with an old school pal, John Hogg from Lemington, who had a BSA 500 motorbike and he used to pick me up at old Scotswood bridge because we started at 7.30am along with Davey Crow the tractor driver. Ali Newton and little Jackie Cock Ryan who were on the concrete mixers started the same time, the reason being John and me would get the batches of mortar out for the brickies coming in... Read more
COOKSONS LEADWORKS PART 2
1965. During my time working here I carried out a number of different jobs, one was to make Zinc ingots, my shift would start with my furnace fired up and there next to it would be my "charge" this would be a pile of old Zinc ornaments the sort you will see on antiques road show now, there was every size of every subject, some damaged some not, we were allowed to buy stuff that came in at scrap value but these ornaments were not in favour. I remember buying brand new pans that came in straight from the factory as seconds with maybe a scratch or a small dent these were purchased for small change through the accounts office. Another job I did was working on the baler, this was a three man team on two 12 hour shifts night and day, I became the charge hand in our team. The baler was a huge press about 6 feet long 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep it had... Read more
COOKSONS LEAD WORKS PART 1
1965. Wes and me got back from the Smoke wi nought and needed a job, he got started at the leather works on Scotchy Road and I got started at the Lead Works which is now the site of the Arena. There were two sides to this place, the lead smelting side and the aluminium smelting side, I got into the aluminium side which pleased me as the lead side was a bit naughty with all the fumes and protective clothing including masks. There was a permanent nurse there who would take blood every month to check your count and if there was any sign of lead in your blood you were sacked, the get out clause was if you had it you were not wearing your mask. I knew quite a few people who were sacked and went back a few months later when clear and got their job back. The aluminium side had its drawbacks as well, we were on 12 hour shifts and I had a smelting... Read more
What we Ate
Eeh! Remember potted meat? You could eat it as it was or put it on bread for a sandwich, where is it now? Then there was dripping which was quite solid and spread like margarine on your bread for sandwiches. I worked in Leeds on the university in the late 1960s and early 1970s and when I got there I never had digs, my pal Tommy Bishop from the west end was with me so I called to see my Aunt Lilly and Uncle Jack who lived in Gipton and stayed there for a week till we got sorted. Yes! You're right, we got dripping and bread for our bait off her for a full week. Tommy found it disgusting but it wasn't that bad when you got plenty salt on it. Licorice root was lovely, you could chew it forever, in fact I got some of this recently at a chemist in Wylam but it didn't taste the same. Christmas was a great time to get some exotic fruit... Read more
OFF TO THE SMOKE PART 2
1964: While working here we would go to two different pubs in Southgate, one at each end of the high street, it was in these pubs we met a local group of lads and lasses who were from very wealthy backgrounds, and they all took a shine to us. We were from totally different backgrounds and we must have seemed like a couple of aliens who had landed in their midst with a language very hard to understand. The main lad called Dave was going out with a girl called Sue and they were forbidden to see each other as he was about 20 and she was still at school aged 14. They used to borrow our little cabin now and then (what do you mean why). We were in the pub one Friday night straight from work, with the wellies and all, as we had been concreting that day. The gang were going down Ladbroke Grove to some posh house where there was a party. We said "Hang on... Read more
THE DELTA
This memory of 1961, and me and me pal Wes Coulthard started work at the Delta Rolling Mills (this was over Scotswood Bridge towards Blaydon, left along the river by the Skiff Inn). It was hard work but the dosh was better than other places. We started on the East Mill which rolled flat bars maybe up to 60 feet long when finished through the process of the rolling.
I remember Phil and Lennie Scott who were brothers, Gambo, whose name was Eddie, Alan Bingham keep fit lad, Chappers, Ted, Geordie Ray, Junior Armstrong, Snoz Holmes,and a couple of others who slip my mind at the moment, the furnace men, and Jackie, our foreman who was a powerfully built man with bandy legs. As time has passed by some are no longer here, Wes and me were living Longbenton at this time and used to get the 61 bus from Scotswood bridge to go home along Scotswood road with a crowd of Elswick lads, not before calling into the... Read more
CHRISTMAS
This is about Christmas Day 57 years ago, and how things have changed, even though we had nowt it was still a very exciting time, as it is now, but money was tight and we could only have the presents that each family could afford, what I mean by this is there wasn't such a thing as credit like today, when you buy now pay later. We always had our stockings on the end of the bed, filled with nowt fancy, just a handful of nuts, a few sweets, an orange and apple and maybe a tanner (silver sixpence) if you were lucky. The crackers were hand-made as were the decorations, or streamers as they were known then, paper chains were a favourite. We would sit for hours making these in front of the coal fire on long winter nights, the glue was a bit of flour and water mixed. Then there was the alcohol, home-made of course, Ginger Wine and Ginger Beer from the ginger beer plant that every... Read more
NEWBURN SHOPS
As I told you, in Millfield there was only one shop, 'Jacksons', and two houses, Sewells and Gribbles, both in Victoria Terace where they turned their front parlour into shops. Sewells was run by Anne Veitche's mother, a nice lady, who lived straight opposite in Albert Terrace. All main shoppping was done in Newburn. There were two shops on Warkworth Crescent, Coffees and Lewins who I believe were related. I can't remember who ran which but one was a little general dealers and the other was a wool shop, I'm sure this was Lewins, anyway I was forever in the wool shop getting stuff for me ma who was always knitting. When Christmas was just around the corner the wool shop had an Aladdin's Cave downstairs, set out with all the latest toys, but he never let us down on our own, I can still picture the scene, and the smell of the new toys. I remember buying my jeans from here and new ones had come on the market,... Read more
