Gainers Terrace

A Memory of Wallsend.

I was born at number 13 on 4/9/1950 and was happy there until my mam died, then me dad and I moved in with Sylvia and Fred in Woodbine Ave. I went back up home in 2006 and it had all gone, streets in my memory alone. I used to watch the ships being built from the bedroom window in number 13 and my dad Harry was a stager at Swan Hunters, then at Clelands in Willington Quay. He used to drink in the Ship Inn and I remember ginger beer in the snug. My brother Brian left on his fateful last journey on the eve of his 21st birthday two years before my mam took her own life in 1960, an event which radically affected not just my life but the whole family. I remember sitting on our doorstep waiting for my dad to come home from the shipyard. Ummm happy days!!!

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