Illy Owley

A Memory of Thornley.

My name is Andrew Tate, I was born in Thornlaw South at my grandparents house in 1944. I was a twin and my brother was called Alexander [Aleck]. I have quite a few memories of Thornley, I remember watching a cricket match in the Illey Owley. The players asked my father Billy, to be the umpire and during the game a dog ran onto the pitch and cocked it`s leg on the wicket and ran off, can`t remember the score. We used to try and catch Dragonflies on a pond. We used to pinch turnips out of a field at the top of the Illy Owley but one year they started to fill it in with colliery waste and all the turnips went brown. We used to slide down the pit heap on old shovels. My cousin was called Margaret Williams, her dad was run over by tubs at Kelloe pit, and later died. There was only one comunal tap in the street. We were in the picture house one night and it was struck by lightening, the electric was cut off at Kelloe pit and the men were trapped underground for a few hours. When my grandfather eventually got home the fish shop owner gave him free fish and chips. We used to catch leeches in the gassy gutter. My uncle was Harry Elwood, landlord of the pub 'Over the Beck' and then 'The Coronation'.

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