Living In East Rainton As A Child

A Memory of East Rainton.

I was born in East Rainton at 30 Pontop Street, and have still great memories of the place. I had a brother George and sisters Dorothy, sadly my sister Betty passed away some years ago. I, like my siblings before me, attended East Rainton School, played football for both junior and senior teams, as well as cricket team and cross country running. My sister Betty never left the village, living on Stobley Moor Farm, which is now houses. I remember the shops, Joneses having the shop and fish shop, gone now and replaced by the Highfield Hotel. Remember going to the old co-op (now the mini center) with my mum, then there was Larks, Larky, as the kids called him, he ran the shop and an ice cream parlour. Great gentleman he was, organizing annual bus trips to the sea side. At 13 I delivered news papers in the old village, cycled along to Middle Rainton delivering papers to Yeomens Farm and up the street, the rectory where the vicar for East and West Rainton lived (both morning and night) even remember the old Coulsons fish shop at Middle Rainton. We moved to Quarry House Gardens, my mam dad and me. Here I stayed until I was 21, got married, and moved to Gilesgate. East Rainton was a place where everyone knew one another, certainly a great place to live as a kid. I coud go on forever about the people I knew and the times I had, but I would end up writing a book. East Rainton will always in my eyes be the place I will remember no matter where I live. Thanks East Rainton for the good friends I knew and the great memories I hold.

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