Benfieldside School

Hello,John...My name is Karen Munns (nee Bell)...and I was also born in Bridgehill and attended Benfieldside School. You do not state which years you went to the school but for me,they were around 1953-1963,attending from infants,through juniors into Secondary Modern as it was then known.
Rather like yourself,though in very different circumstances,disruption occurred when my parents moved from Bridgehill/Blackhill to the Isle of Wight in 1963.
At the time,it was devastating to a 14 year old and two younger brothers...all we had ever known was going to be lost!
Dad had been with Consett Iron Company since leaving the Royal Navy..he can be seen in videos on YouTube from clips of Men of Consett...Alan Bell,who sadly died last year,aged 91.....a Leadgate man born and bred.

There is far too much life-story and history to be recalled in one small space here but nonetheless,it is lovely that Francis Frith have enabled a facility where others can reminisce,even if they are strangers but whose home roots somehow connect them.

At times simply remembering the smallest things from Consett,Bridgehill,Blackhill and Shotley Bridge..The Grove and Moorside can bring on the greatest emotional heartache,even though I've been gone longer now than I ever was there but I truly believe your childhood memories and place of your birth forever stay within you as being the "real you" no matter where you go on the globe.

I hope you are well and happy and it was nice to find someone from my "home"...we never lose our birth roots,do we,John?,wherever we end up.

Warm Wishes,
Karen.

Poor bloke, being given up as a child to live with his grandmother. Happens all to often. Some "mother's" just shouldn't have children, wouldn't you agree Mrs Munns?

I started at Benfieldside in 1955 and I am not sure if I stayed there until 1962 and my grandmother's name was Agnes Bell.

Really interesting to read these comments as my late husband, Bill Sheldon, lived in Consett. All the places named, my husband talked about-Shotley Bridge, Leadgate, Benfieldside, etc. Bill's mother died when he was 11 years old and when his father remarried, his new wife would only have his young sister (5) to live with them, so Bill was virtually brought up by his sister Irene. He put himself into an apprenticeship at the Consett Ironworks where he became a fitter/turner. His brother Raymond , some ten years older, after being a Bevin Boy during the war, was a bus driver with the local bus company in Consett. I only visited Consett for two brief visits for family bereavements. When my husband passed away, we played The Blayden Races following the service for him, as he was always singing that. He is now At Rest in a small cemetery in Tasmania.

I started at Benfieldside in 1955