Childhood In Chopwell. South Terrace
A Memory of Chopwell.
Born in 21 south terrace chopwell had a few friends with whom I played football on the green every night then into the street under the lights till mom called me in . Then the boys were mad at me because I had the ball, game over. I started to play cricket for the juniors at around 13 or14 yrs old ,this was a great memory for me. There was a garage with big lorries that wasn’t far from my house and my Uncle Tom worked for them and my cousin Tom and I used to go on some trips with him. We loved that. We use to go on the green to the pigeon lofts sometimes and we had a great time there I think the boy was a Noble who had a shop on the green. The butchers was called noble and I used to go there to see Linda.
Many more names are just not registering as of yet.....John Baum, bill bailey, Pattinson who I use to play tennis with.
Will try and get back there in the next year or so for a look at the village.
Enjoyed my time there Peter Scott.
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I was born in Chopwell in 1941 in Tees Street and later on lived in Humber Street. I gained my first degree at Leicester Uni 1962 and later on my Masters at Durham Uni. Whilst at Leicester I also gained a wife, Elisabeth who hailed from a business family in Sudbury, Suffolk. The contrast in environments could not have been more stark, revealing and evident. We married and started teaching together at the same school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Accepting a promotion we moved to Sunderland which proved a real cultural shock for Elisabeth. As time moved on we added two children and later three grandchildren to the family. The grandchildren live in Exeter (where my daughter is a professor at Exeter Uni) and on a recent visit 'up north' I took them to see where I was brought up. Armed with photos of Chopwell Colliery we had a 'then and now' experience and they were amazed and unbelieving when they were shown 22, Humber Street, coal house doors etc. etc. How things change over time but I will never forget a happy, fulfilling childhood in Chopwell.
John Houghton Patterson
Anecdote - A few years ago whilst attending a conference near Northampton I got talking to another delegate during a coffee break. Recognising my accent he asked what part of the North east I was from. I replied a small pit village outside Newcastle and that he wouldn't have heard of it. The guy (Mr. Lee) lived in Devon and when I mentioned Chopwell I was 'gobsmacked' when he replied that his nephew George Lee (my tennis partner) had lived in Scott Terrace next door to my grandmother. Mr Lee had lived at Hamsterley and worked at Chopwell Colliery. They say fact is stranger than fiction. The sons and daughters of Chopwell have spread world wide. I wonder how my old school friend Mark Christer is doing after emigrating to Australia to be with his younger brother Alan. Their mother kept a corner shop in Belfour terrace. My good friend Stan Rutherford left for Canada as did another acquaintance Geoffrey Laws. Where are they now?
John Patterson