Hewson Street

A Memory of Sheriff Hill.

Adding to yesterday's input about Hewson Street in Sheriff Hill; I remember it so well! From the west end, at the square where Billy Howarth had his coal business, I remeber Alan Freeland, and his mother 'Boxer.' Then 'Nutty' and 'Ginger Wood. The next along was a Mr Lewis who had a secondhand shop down Gateshead, then Audrey Reece, whose grandfather was the local bookie, and below them lived the Erringtons (their son Bob was in the Navy and made a rescue mission up the Yangtze River). Next were the Angles and then Eleanor Veitch, and below them my grandparents Jim and Violet Armstrong, and my aunt Jean (who still lives in Sheriff Hill). Then the Hoggs, and he lost an eye working at 'Clarkies,' and above them a great aunt Annie Wales, who was widowed in the First World War. Her son Freddy lived all of his life in Sheriff Hill. Then there were the twins, John and Maureen Hall (no relation - although I met up with John years later when we were both working in Zambia). Then Mary Fleming (or Foster) and that's about as far along as I recall. Everyone used the back lane to access the houses as the front had a sidewalk, but then it was just their air raid shelters, and the 'bankies' down to Blue Quarries Road and Hodkin Park. Further along Windy Nook Road there were 'bankies' there, opposite the QE, and I remember there was a Boy Scout Shed on the 'bankies.' Further along there were the 'Aged Miners' Cottages.
On the Windy Nook Road, I only remember the Cloughs, my great-grandmother Annie Wales, and Beryl Bourne. I went to Sheriff Hill Primary School and moved from Windy Nook Road to Glynwood Gardens when I was 11, and after passing the 11+, went to Whitehall Road school. (Incidentally Glynwood School wasn't built then and we used to play football in the field there.) My father worked at Heworth Colliery until it closed, and then worked at Washington 'F' Colliery until his retirement.

Robert Hall, Katy, TEXAS