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Sunderland Bridge
Sunderland Bridge maps
Historic maps of Sunderland Bridge and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Sunderland Bridge maps
Sunderland Bridge photos
We have no photos of Sunderland Bridge, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Langley Moor| Brancepeth| Coxhoe| Durham| Ferryhill| Ushaw Moor| Sherburn| Willington| Sherburn Hill| Witton Gilbert| Langley Park| Finchale Priory| Thornley| Bishop Auckland| Sedgefield| Easington Lane
Sunderland Bridge area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about Sunderland Bridge and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Sunderland Bridge
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County Durham memories
Shincliffe Colliery, Quality Street
My mother was born at 5 Quality Street in 1944, her name is Sheila Morris. Does anyone have any memories of this area or photos? Thanks.
The Rink
Surely someone remembers Spennymoor Rink in the 1950s or am I the only one left? That last dance! 'Cherry Blossom Pink' etc played by that superb trumpet, the Teddy Boys. The fights, they were not so great! What about the pub next door. Was it the railway or something? Three Newcastle Brown Ales and a rum and pep then off to the dance. The late one... 12 Midnight till 4 am was it, the late buses or if you missed them that long walk to whereever. It seems like yesterday, a hundred years ago.
John Tully
Spennymoor Rink.
Dancing the night away at the rink, from 10pm until 2am on Friday nights, was the highlight of my teenage years. My boyfriend played in saxophone and clarinet in the resident band. Had some great times, felt so grown up staying out so late. George Pennington was my boyfriend's name. I have lived in Australia for the past 41 years but have never forgotten my nights at the rink. I lived in Leeholm but travelled to the rink every week. I would give anything to have just one more night dancing at the rink. Saw Johhny Dankworth and Emile Ford at the rink.
Music at The Rink
I played guitar with a skiffle group in a talent competition at the Rink during the 1950s. Frankie Vaughan appeared there and I saw the Temperance Seven and Screaming Lord Sutch, amongst others, on the Rink stage. Many of the country's biggest stars appeared in Spennymoor in those days - a tradition which continued after the Rink became a Variety Club. Everything revolved around the Friday dance (10pm until 2am) and my most treasured memory is of the Friday afternoon when Bandleader Matt Bell knocked on my parents' door at 5pm and invited me to play piano with his band at the Rink that very evening. His regular pianist had been taken ill and later that day (in the late 1950s) it was a great thrill to realise that I was playing with my favourite local band on that long, elevated stage. I was helped along by the bass player who showed me how to handle the musical score during the dancing! I subsequently played... Read more
West Cornforth
I remember the donkey wood, the pit ponies that used to roam in the wood. The old picture house now has the lop house at the time at the bottom of the pit bank. Also the hills and the holes where we used to play as kids. Back to back houses down old Cornforth. Johnson barbers at Slake Terrace. The tar beds where the gipsy used to stop. The big old lime pond. And Bolton cafe where all the lads and lassies met to listen to the juke box in the late 1950s. The old coal yard half way up the pit bank, picking coal up off the pit heaps. The old coke ovens on the way to Ferry Hill station. Good memory of Doggy. I was born in Laburnum Road in 1946.
Spennymoor Rink
I was interested in Doris's memory of the rink in that her boyfriend at the time was George Pennington, sax player. I knew Geoge and we played together from time to time in dance bands at the Rink. One band I remember was Bob Forbet. I played drums. Also another local band was Fernley Mitchell. It all seems light years ago but, yes, great memories. I remember one Friday night there was a group turned up to play in the interval who turned out to be the Shadows. They were just starting out. The guitar was just starting to be a recognised instrument and one or two of the older musicians in the band we saying 'Well, it will never catch on'. Thank you Spennymoor Rink for the great memories.
The Big Meeting
i was born 1957, so my memories are after that, my parents used to take us each year to the big meeting,where all the collierys had big banners and each had there own brass bands,they would progress allong th streets of durham loud,colourfull,proud as punch,all in there sunday best,,a fine day out for the whole city ,vilage after village all the people singing allong to the bands,my grandfather james george jolly did many drawings and paintings in oils of the proceedings,,
