Part 16

A Memory of Middle Rainton.

Conclusion
On my last visit it was hard to see where the village was. The small triangular field is now a park but it looks so small. The place I remember seemed so much larger than Small Park that is now there.
Having been raised in a small village throughout the 40's and into the 50's we may not have had many possessions, but what little we did have was appreciated. Above all though, we valued our family, our friends and our community, after all we were all in the same boat together.

John Harvey 2008.

More about the Wilson’s.

As you know, Margaret had 12 children; 2 girls and ten boys. One baby died at birth, George, Mathew, William, Robert, John, Charles, Thomas, Peter, Ralph, Nora, and Ann.

Her husband, George, had died about 1925 I do believe, so she was left to raise the family on her own. No social security then. She did this by running a wet fish trade. Buying the fish at the quay, bringing it home, and her sons selling it while she got on with running the house.

George was probably the eldest, named after his dad, Then Billy, ending up with Ralph who was the youngest, and if she had a favorite, then it was Ralph.

Ralph, Peter and Tommy never married or left home. Ann married Joe Smiles, but she lived at home with her husband all her life. Peter and Ralph sold the fish, Tommy and Joe were pitmen.

Billy and George were almost certainly bribed to stay close by being given help to purchase their homes across the street from her. They had a matching pair of houses next door to each other, 2up 2 down, as she did like her family close, probably as a result of her responsibilities.

George married, and had a son and daughter, who were still at home unmarried in 1957 when I left. George was a cantankerous old sod, who had no time for kids, namely me, saying I had no right to be there, but he got short shrift from Gran on that.

Billy, known as Billy Buck, as he was supposed to be one for the ladies in his earlier days, married Liza, who I take it was Elizabeth, but always called Liza. He was more Ralph’s build, about 5ft 8” tall, and about 14 stone, a happy go lucky sort of bloke, easy to get on with and went his own way. He worked at a few things; he would sell fish from his own horse and cart, collect scrap, and sell that, kept pigs, chickens, ducks, and made something from them. Never rich, but then never short of money. If he had earned enough then he would go to the pub for a few pints, but I never saw him drunk, and he certainly looked after his wife and children first.
He had quite a large yard, halfway up Front Street on the other side of the road, with lots of sheds. He had a large 4-wheeled cart that he used to go to Murton each week (about 8 miles each way) to the large bakery there. He had the contract to collect the old bread, cakes etc, which came to a large load, and would be brought home to feed the pigs and chickens. A small bribe got a few good cakes that went in as well (large). I did ok from him with these cakes, as they were the only ones we had at that time.
Liza was quite small, say 5ft 2”, slim say 9 stone and healthy, but she never travelled far. She listened to the wireless and bought the Sunderland Echo daily. We bought The Mail, and each evening about 8 pm I would be asked to take our Mail to swap with her Echo. She was a GOOD cook, and made great ginger bread scones, and would always give me a couple of them. But I was young and was a bit of a bugger to her, not nasty but played pranks.

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