My Time In Peterlee Starting In 1955

A Memory of Peterlee.

My family and I moved to Peterlee in the Autumn of 1955. We lived in Thorntree Gill. Petelee was quite new then. We could see the North Sea from my parent's bedroom window.
At that time there were no schools, churches, hospitals, few stores, etc. My sister and I attended school in Horden. We walked to school with our friends, and usually had a good time coming and going. The school was old and the toilets were outside. Lunches were served in the hallways, and we ate in our classrooms. Miss Nickoles was the Headmistress of the senior girls school. I thought she was a stern woman, but I liked her.
There were fields all around to play in and fly kites. Castle Eden Dene was close by, and what a wonderful place to visit. People were even allowed to go off the path. I loved to walk from the beach in Hoden right through to the little church in Castle Eden; which was left unlocked back then. The wild flowers, wild life, and the caves were a wonder.
I remember the time when a whale beached on Horden Shoreline. It was huge. The smell was not too good.
Later we moved to Manor Way. At that time there was only a narrow pathway between Manor Way and Thorntree Gill. I was there when they started to build the town shopping center. It was one row of shops. As of now the only ones I remember were Woolworths, a shoe shop, a butcher shop, and a clothing shop. There were a few more. Some of the shops had offices above them. After, they built the Church of England, not too far from the shops; I went to the youth club they had there. later they built the Catholic Church, doctor's offices, and what was the beginning of a commumity college. The Working Men's Club was built during that time too.
In a few years I saw many changes take place; what had once been fields became streets lined with houses and flats, schools sprang up, factories were built and people came from different parts of the county and country to live there.

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