Im From Auld Millfield

A Memory of Newburn.

This memory is from the year of the Coronation (1953), I was 10 then and the street parties were on, we had ours in Spencers Steel Works canteen and we got a Coronation mug. We went to sleep by the sound of the steam hammer at Spencers which went on day and night. We would walk along Walbottle Road and watch the men covered in sweat and muck and wearing an old torn vest or shirt and a sweat band around there necks putting the red hot steel through the steam hammer, we would shout in through the open barred hole in the wall "Any spare bait mister?" and we would always get a sandwich. I remember going to Kirtons brick works on winter nights and helping the watchman to put coals into the Kilns from the top, then going back the following day to see the Kilns opened up, the heat came blasting out, then the men went in to remove the bricks before they had time to cool. They would come out of the Kiln with hair and eyebrows all singed.I think they were on price work so the quicker they got the bricks out and stacked the more they made. Then there was the time when the blasting took place in the quarry and two men were killed, one man was from Throckley, I remember him very well as he had a hump on his back and was often the butt of a cruel joke. The other man was from Dene View, he was married and left his wife and two sons who I knew very well although they were a little older than me.
I had a paper round from Smith's shop at Newburn and my round started at Mr Henry Kirton's house at the bottom of Walbottle Bank and finished at the castle (as we knew it) where Dr Telford lived. I would take me Nanna's collie dog Glen on my round, when I finished I would cut across the fields, coming out at the bottom of Blucher path and get home in half the time. Anyway one dark night the fog came down and it was a real pea souper, off we went across the field but we lost all sense of direction and I'm starting to panic as we had been walking for what seemed like hours. I loved Glen, we were good buddies but on occasions he would follow me when I didn't want him to so I used to shout at him in a strong voice "Home Glen" and he went, so I put his lead on and said the words, he took me out of that field right to the bottom of Blucher path, he couldn't understand all the petting I gave him when he thought he'd done wrong by being sent home. We went down the burn where we fished for Sticklebacks and Robnies, played on the tip and the old haunted house. We had picnics on the Bancka which was off Blucher Path, and down the winning where we would build dams and cause a pool to swim in.
Millfield had one shop called Jackson's which had two grotesque wood-carved devils each side of the door top of Millfield Bank (where we had our swing opposite). There were also two house shops, one called Sewells at one end of the street and the other was Meggie Gribble's at the other end who I believe took it over from her parents, it was easy to pinch a couple of tatties for the bonner from Meggie's as she was a bit deaf and the tatties were in the outhouse.
I used to help Bob Wilson the lamp lighter to put new mantles in the gas lamps and change the time on the clocks depending on nightfall. I could scale them lamps better than anybody and mischievously used to sometimes turn the clocks so the lamps would come on at the wrong time.
We had the fruit man (called Limpy for obvious reasons), with his horse and cart, the vinegar man with horse and cart and a huge oak barrel on the cart where you filled your own bottle. My Uncle Bobby was the Newburn Co-op store butcher and - you guessed - sold meat off the back of the horse and cart, with a swarm of flies following behind. Uncle Tim was always good for some coppers when he came home drunk up Millfield Bank and threw coins to all the kids. We also had the knife & scissor sharpener, using pedal power to turn the grinding wheel. Mr Smith the milkman (from the dairy at the bottom of the bank) delivered milk by horse and cart, spot was the horse who seemed to live for ever. Bobby Haddock was the cobbler and had a shed as a shop at the end of the street to Smith's Dairy, he was a cripple and had two crutches. He sat on a plank of wood mending shoes, then spinning around to the lathe which had the polishers and buffers on. I spent many a school holiday helping him but never got paid, in fact when I used to take me Mam's shoes to be mended she had to pay. There was also a man who came around singing, wore a suit and tie and held his cap out at arm's length.
Mrs Waggot organised the bus trips to the coast during summer hols. The Conservative Club in Newburn held an outing for the members' families, we got a pack of sandwiches, a half crown and got the steam train from Newburn station to the coast. We also used to get the train from Newburn to Wylam and walk back down river beside Stephenson's cottage and camp next to the pine trees and swim in the river, in fact the river was one of the places where most of us learned to swim, though it was a bit foul then.
Newburn Drill hall was where I joined the army cadets, we went on maneuvers up the Dene with our 303 rifles and a dozen blanks to fire, but inside the drill hall where Bill Crighton was the caretaker there was a firing range and we would practice with live rounds with our 202 rifles. On occasion they held beauty contests there, we weren't allowed in then but used to peer through the windows,and my aunty Jill would often take part.
I remember one Sunday night there was a film on at the Imperial (where Mr Watt was the manager and big Wally was the chucker 'oot). The queue stretched almost to Newburn Bridge, and I remember the film was 'The Quiet Man'.