Barbers Shop

I am a descendant of the Bell family (John Houghton Patterson). I was born at 3, Tees Street, Chopwell (a one up one down house) on 11th Feb 1941. As I got older we moved to a two bedroom house at 22, Humber Street. My mother was Annie Bell Houghton and her mother (my grandmother) was Rhoda Bell the sister of Aynsly (Ensley) mentioned above. The Bells were a large family of 14 siblings living in Mersey Street. Rhoda Bell married John James (Jack) Houghton who was killed on the Somme in 1916 and whose name is commemorated on the cenotaph situated opposite the old police station on Hall Road. She later re-married to Phil Bushby one time Chopwell miners' union secretary and local Blaydon councillor living at No 10, Scott Terrace. My mother Annie married George Patterson (miner) on Christmas Eve 1939. I certainly remember having my first haircut by Denby Smith at his barber's shop in Derwent Street. So many, many happy memories of my bringing up in Chopwell some of them centred on membership of the Methodist chapel YMCA youth club organised by Noel Richardson and his brother and Erik Kurnow. Also the boy scouts (scout hut at Whitenstall) where John Mills was the scoutmaster. Not forgetting a youth spent exploring Chopwell Wood plantation and swimming at the River Derwent High and Low Craggs at every opportunity with life-time friends Alan, Edward and younger brother Fred Wright.
I left Chopwell in 1961 gaining my first degree (and a wife) at Leicester Uni. then my Masters at Durham Uni. My wife hailed from Sudbury in Suffolk and we began our Teaching careers together in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. I remember the first time I took my then fiancé home to meet my parents and she whispered to me not to leave her alone with my father because she couldn't understand a word he was saying. Gaining promotion in 1966 we moved to Sunderland where I taught at Southmoor Boys' Technical Grammar School for 35 years retiring in 2001. After 62 years of marriage and 2 children we still live in Sunderland but I have always remained Black and White.
John Houghton Patterson