Local Folk
The Rising Sun, Sunniside
The Rising Sun.
The Sun Inn, situated on the corner of Sun Street and Sunniside Road, was opened in 1841, William Wilson being the Licensee. He was succeeded by William Rutherford (1850), William Surtees (1856), Robert Storey (1861) – although his wife Dorothy ran the pub with the aid of her daughter whilst he worked at Marley Hill pit, - Robert Reuben Storey (1873), and James Davison (1879).
Margaret Davison, nee Brabban.
At this point the pub was now named the Rising Sun. James had married a widow, Mrs. Margaret Brabban (the daughter of Robert Storey), and when he died Margaret continued to run the pub, helped by her son William Brabban, until her death in 1907.
Then Joseph Davison became Licensee.
Joseph and Louisa Davison
with their children.
When he died in 1915 at the age of 39 years his wife, Louise, continued to run the pub. Their son, Jimmy Davison, took over in 1934 and along with his wife, Ivy (Johnson), ran the pub until 1955. Their son, Stuart Davison (married to Joan Strong), chose to follow an electrical career so Arthur and Doris Scorer left the Marquis of Granby to take over the tenancy. When Arthur died in 1978 Doris ran the pub until her retirement in 1983.
The Marquis of Granby in 1938.
Viv and Tom Brown, followed and during their time the pub was refurbished and an extension was made into the house next door.
For the rest of the century there were several landlords who were there a relatively short time. An exception was Harold Turner.
Fire Service
Dunston Fire Brigade-(Circa1904) in Beresford Street, Dunston. This was an unofficial fire service started by Jimmmy Goulburn
The officer in charge was Mr Jimmy Goulbourn (sitting on the waggon).
Dunston fire station, Dunston Road.
Ted Joynson
Ted Joynson, is well known on the region's athletic circuit thanks to a career spanning more than fifty years. Ted began running when he did his National Service in the Royal Artillery after the war. He began competing seriously in the army when he was became Regimental mile and three mile champion, and after his demob in 1948 he joined Gateshead Harriers and has competed ever since.
His army experience marked the start of a five-decade love affair that has left Ted as keen as ever to get to the winner's rostrum.
When Luke Edwards interviewed Ted in 1999 he wrote, "Ted is slim and athletic and moves around with an agility that makes a mockery of his pensioner status. He arrived a couple of minutes late for our meeting on an uncharacteristically warm day in the North East. It is no exaggeration to say that he literally bounds over to greet us. His mind is electric and he has an instantly likeable personality and a sharp sense of humour.
Running has been a part of his life for so long that to carry on in the sport comes naturally.
In 1953 he was club champion after running the 6.25 Chowdene race in 33.58 - 40 seconds inside the record. That year he finished 20th in the Morpeth to Newcastle race and 11th in the NE cross-country.
In 1954 Ted was picking up prizes in the local mile handicap races and he won the first ever Paarlauf held in this country with Stuart Wilkie. A Paarlauf is a complicated relay originating in Sweden, They ran 3 miles 345 yards in 50 minutes.
In 1955 Ted won the Gateshead four mile race and the trophy for being, "The most diligent runner in the club".
Ted continued to run until the early sixties but had a nine-year break from the sport while he gained engineering and teaching qualifications. Ted is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering Designers.
He took a teaching post at Gosforth High School and began running again in 1972 aged 47.
In 1973 Ted picked up the first of his many vet awards, first over 45 in the Croxdale "10". The next year he embarked on his campaign, which is far from over.
1974 1st British 50-54 years 1500 metre Championships
1975 50-54 age group
1976 1st British 5000
1st Northern 1500 and 5000
2nd British 1500 and 5000
1977 2nd British 1500
1st Northern 1500, 5000 and Marathon
3rd in the World Marathon in Gothenburg
1st World Vets Marathon - Hanover
3rd World Vets Cross Country
1st British Marathon - 2hrs 49mins
Emil Zatopek presented him with his medal.
1978 1st Northern 5000
1979 5th World 1500 in Toronto
1980 He won the commonwealth 25k in Edinburgh.
1981 Ted won medals in the British 800, 1500. and 5000 metres.
By 1984 Ted was in the over sixty-age group. He ran the London Marathon in three hours. He has run all over the world and has many stories to tell.
In the late sixties he did his winter training with Brendan Foster at Gateshead grammar school.
In 1985 Ted had a badly broken arm and shoulder when he got pushed over at the start of the North Shields Road Races. Typically he fought back and won two silvers in the British 800 and 1500 and bronze in the 5000 at Meadow Bank in 1985.
The high point of 1999 was when he was one of three local athletes chosen to carry the torch at the opening ceremony of his 5th Veterans Olympics held at Gateshead International Stadium in 1999.
The low point was when a car knocked him down whilst taking part in a Marathon in Malta. The routes are usually clearly marked and well stewarded. The woman driver was very apologetic and nearly fainted when Ted said he was continuing the race.
Further on he had a near miss with a bus and a speeding taxi. Ted stresses that he was wearing a bright orange vest so should have been clearly seen.
He has competed in 89 Marathons- 12 London Marathons, 35 Morpeth Road Races and has over 4,000 medals.
Ted is still running. "As a pensioner I'm proving that you can really go for it in your later years. There is nothing to stop you."
His daughter Linda and grandson Christopher Lamb are also runners.
It is his ultimate ambition to run a marathon when he is 100.
Photo gallery
Miss Melvin
Miss Melvin was a Headmistress of Whickham Front Street Infant School. She lived in Whaggs Lane and survived into her 90s.
Thomas Blythe
Tommy owned Birtley Bricks, the bricks were stamped BBB, he lived in Dinsdale House, Burnthouse Lane, Whickham. There are brick pillars on the opposite side of the lane where his garden gate was, steps led to this gate and there were owls on each, the garden which was behind the gate is no longer there. He was a very jolly fellow and well liked in the neighbourhood.
Joseph Wilkinson
'Pop Joe' as he was called, owned a mineral water factory in Gateshead at Tyne Road East. He lived at Chase Park House in Whickham. On the estate wall in Front Street he built shops.
The house he built in Millfield Road, is now known as Whickham Villa Nursing Home. Chase Park House was sold to the Council. It was used during the 2nd World War for the war effort and pulled down afterwards.
Lily Butler
Lily was a noted milliner with a clothes shop in Whickham, ladies came from as far away as Hexham to buy her hats. She married late in life to Billy Fishburn, the postmaster. Unfortunately, he only lived a few years after the marriage. She then retired and went to live in a bungalow at the top of Carr's Bank. Lily was a very nice person and well liked in the area.
Lily Butler's shop window
in the 1960's
Thomas Easey
Tom Easey lived at West Farm, so-called because it was West of Dunston and Gateshead. He was a gentleman farmer and was famous for winning two races at Blaydon Races in one day on the horse called Spoiled.
Tom drove a 4-in-hand for Venture Coaches because it was thought to be a prestigious thing to do. Venture Coaches were owned by the Priestman family, who lived in Shotley Bridge. They also owned Priestman Collieries, some of which were in Whickham District. Their horses, whose names all began with "V" were kept at Ravensworth.
Colonel and Mrs Woodley Thompson
Mrs. Thompson insisted on being called Mrs. Col. Thompson, she had one of the first cars in the district and a chauffeur, Jack Hare, to drive it. She would not allow smoking in the house, even her husband had to go into the conservatory to smoke.
Mrs. Betty Oloman born on a farm in Burnopfield delivered milk to Whickham district by horse and cart. One day some children were pestering the horses when Mrs. Col. Thompson was walking down from Whickham Park dressed as she usually was in tweeds, pork-pie hat and a walking stick. She berated the children and then turned on Betty, trying to insist that Betty went to the police as soon as she had finished her round as she, Mrs. Col. Thompson, would not tolerate this kind of behaviour in Whickham.
During the summer, if it was a hot day, the servants at Whickham Park opened the kitchen window, Betty would then pass the cans of milk over the window-sill, it saved her going round to the back door. One day she was seen by Mrs.Col. Thompson and was 'court-martialled' on the spot.
Mrs Ismay
Mrs. Ismay lived in Woodhouse Lane, Clockburn, Whickham, it was an ash track at the bottom end of what is now Whickham Golf Course near the Holmside Abbey ruins. She had a sweet shop in her front room and a vegetable stall in the garden. She was taken to court and fined for not having a licence to sell, she told the Magistrates she had never had a licence and was doing a good trade and didn't see why she needed one. There was no water or electricity in the cottage and water was drawn from a well.
Ganny Willis
Ganny Willis lived next door to Pink House. She was the widow of a First World War naval captain. Between the wars she started a sweet shop in her kitchen, the sweets displayed on the kitchen table. Children would sneak in and try to steal the sweets. She became noted for chasing children along Front Street.
The School Board Man
I don’t know if they still exist but up until the 60s at least, one of the most feared officials for school kids was the School Board Man. The role of this gentleman was to wander the streets looking for kids who were playing truant (or playing the wag as we used to say)..
In the 50s and 60s in Swalwell, the School Board Man was a gentleman called Mr. Foster. A short, bald, bespectacled and moustached character in a Burberry raincoat, Foster would lurk around corners waiting to pounce on unsuspecting truants. If caught, you were generally dragged by the ear to your parents who would be lectured to by Foster on the erring ways of truants with a warning to ensure that you attended school.
On many occasions Foster would be spotted in the distance and we would run like hell to ensure that he didn’t catch us. He would never chase you but would yell after you that he would get you next time - he often did! Foster disappeared sometime in the 60s and was never replaced.
Does anyone else remember him?
From David Newton now resident in The Philippines.
Jack the Porter
Jack Lightfoot, a porter at Swalwell Station, was moved to Shotley Bridge but as he still shouted "Swaaalwell" when trains were approaching, he was soon moved back again!
Mr Robert Boyd
Robert Boyd and family moved to 5, Prospect Terrace in 1932. He built a wooden hut in his garden measuring 8ft by 10ft and continued his cobbling business there. Later, with help, he moved the hut in sections to his selected site opposite the Methodist Chapel, Sun Street. There it stayed. Robert retired in 1961 but son Ernie carried on the business. Ernie spent 56 years as a cobbler aided by Brother Jimmy who spent 30 years in the business.
Ernie carried out repairs for generations of some families and dealt with famous people like Lord Gort, Hughie Gallagher the footballer, Dr. Miller and Father Pickering of Byermoor. His little hut was bulging at the seams with shoes at all stages of repair, identified with chalk. He liked nothing better than a little chat! Ernie retired in 1986. The Burdon Park Luxury Housing Complex surrounded his little hut but there it remained until 1993 when he allowed it to be demolished so that an existing garden could be extended.
Margaret Robinson
In the early 1920s, Mrs Margaret Robinson kept a shop in her back room of Napier House. She made toffee apples and sold them to day trippers at Washingwell.
John and Bella Lister
In 1914 John and Bella Lister retired from Grange farm, Whickham to Grange House, Streetgate.
Billy Kendall (born 1906)
Mr Kendall was born in 1906 at High Row, Marley Hill. 
At the age of 14 he went down Marley Hill Pit for 10 shillings a week, working shifts of 9 to 10 hours. He worked at the pit for 48 years.
In 1938 he sat his Deputies Certificate, after being coached by a teacher from Marley Hill School. He also had to take a hearing and sight test.
As a deputy he had to take a Glenny Lamp down the pit to test for gas - the smaller the flame the more gas there was. He had to go down on Sundays to take measurements.
Eventually Bill became a Training Officer at Marley Hill Colliery following a 3 months safety-training course at Middlesbrough. He had to take the trainees for six weeks to the Morrison Busty at Annfield Plain. He retired at 64 years.
Bill was Secretary of Marley Hill Welfare Hall, which is now Marley Hill Community Centre.
Bill remembers:-
* the grass on the football pitch being withered as the result of its proximity to the acid plant at the Chemical Works.
*Elizabeth Kendall, nee Simpson had a shop in her house. She made meat pies for sale and sold basic foods, black bullets and yeast, as most women baked their own bread.
*Once a week the storeman from Burnopfield CWS coming round with his horse and cart selling everyday necessities.
*Eating chocolate sandwiches and ones with just sugar in them.
*When canaries were used to check for gas.
*When the pit ponies were pensioned off.
*Allotments, pigeons, leeks and chrysanthemums.
*The many deaths and accidents down the mines, particularly one when a man had his leg blown off.
*When the pits were taken over by the N C B in 1947.
*He is still known as his nickname of Lovely, which came about when he was an overman. If he wanted to compliment some one on their work he would say "lovely, lovely".
Mrs Ellis, caretaker at Marley Hill School (born 1908)
Mrs Ellis started in 1945 and was there for 18½ years.
There were 10 outside toilets, which regularly froze in the winter.
She was paid an extra 4 shillings for lime washing the toilets.
The meals for 150 pupils arrived in containers from Burnopfield Central Kitchen. There were 3 helpers.
Mr Bellerby, the Headmaster, lived in the School House for which he paid 2 guineas a week rent.
4 tons of coke was delivered to the school each month. It was dumped in the yard and she had to shovel it into the boiler house. There was often a heap of coke lying in the schoolyard.
Mrs Elllis helped at the Coronation celebrations in 1953, which was held in Marley Hill Welfare Hall. The Burnopfield Co op loaned a television set for the day and it poured down with rain. Mrs Ellis was responsible for the staff toilets.
Her salary when she retired was £4.14.6d per week with 2 days extra pay for her length of service!
Mrs. Nellie Ralph
Nellie sold fish and chips from her scullery that she had cooked in her set-pot!
Mrs Polly Wringer
Polly had a shop in her front room selling sweets and pop. When she was she ninety had a boy friend who was ninety three. He used to visit her in his pony and trap.
Mr. Jack Johnson
Jack was born in 1901 and died in 1980. He was a well-known character in the area being the butcher in Reed's shop. He used to slaughter animals in a yard at the back of the shop. Jack was a very cheery person who always had time to ' pass the time of day' with you. When he retired he became 'Lollipop Man' for the children at Marley Hill School never failing to be on duty in all weathers.
Granny Dawson
The legendary Granny Dawson was a regular sight in Dunston early in the century. She spent a lifetime working at her family's Market Lane Dairy, herding and milking cows and delivering their milk from her float seven days a week.
Mr Morrison
Mr. Morrison was the owner and manager of the Imperial Cinema known locally as the 'Bottom Hall'. It opened twice-nightly six nights a week, changing films each Monday and Thursday, and had a film and a short as well as the Pathe News. Films were then classified into A and B films.
There was also a Saturday matinee for children, which was very popular; entry was one penny or two pence for the back two rows, which had plush seats. Some parents gave their children two pence with the intention of keeping them away from the riff-raff in the penny seats- little did they know that one penny was spent on sweets and their offspring met their friends in the penny seats!
When there was a film on involving cavalry and Indians or cowboys chasing baddies, the row of the stamping feet and the yelling was deafening! Mr Morrison did a wonderful job of controlling the children and the fleas, by continuously walking around shouting chocolates, chewing gum and cigarettes or squirting 'Flit' everywhere.
Before the Second World War,at Christmas-time, every child was given an orange. He also provided the tea at the Dunston Church School Christmas party.
Billy Griggs, 1903-1989
Billy Griggs moved to Wellington Road from Blyth when he was just three years old, and spent almost all his lifetime as a barber, having started as a lather boy when he was ten. When his employer went off to fight during The First World War, Billy gained experience in all aspects of the business. When his employer returned and forced him to take a cut in wages, Billy at the age of 16, decided to strike out on his own.
He opened for business in a wooden hut in Railway Street, where he stayed until it was demolished. He then converted the front room of his home into a shop. Dunston's "Billy the Barber" was cutting hair in this shop until he was 80. Even after retirement he continued to trim hair for his family. In 1983, Billy and his wife Hilda celebrated their Diamond Wedding. Billy died in 1989, aged 86.
Joe Chucks
Joe Chucks a well-known character in the twenties lived in Athol Street.
He was a sawdust man. He collected sawdust from the sawmill and supplied local butchers shops and pubs.
At the annual carnival he entertained the crowds with his antics on the slippery pole. He regularly took part in the annual road race in Dunston when he again entertained the crowds. On these occasions he wore shorts and had his head shaved and painted like an Easter Egg. He usually came in last, which was not surprising as he had frequent stops for liquid refreshments. One year he won the race, but it was said that he took a short cut through the Park!
He also played football. Perhaps you have a story to tell about his exploits during this activity!
Joe had a friend called Teddy Whipps. Teddy had a wooden leg, which he sometimes removed and used as an offensive weapon!
Tom Brymar
In the 20s Tom Brymar, who was known for his odd sayings and manners, ran the smallest ferry across the Tyne. Tom's ferry, a small rowing boat operated from near Clayton & Davie the ship breakers, to Vickers Armstrongs. He would row across for only a penny; by the Second World War he charged 6d. Between trips he was to be found at The Skiff Public House.
At one time he owned a motorbike and was involved in an accident.
Alex Johnson, teacher at Whickham County School, Front Street from 1949-1962.
After nearly seven years of war I returned home, went to Training College and finally in September 1949 I began teaching at Whickham County School. The Headmaster was Mr Ron Kennedy, a perfect gentleman, and a friend of Mr. Maurice Chevalier, the famous French singer and actor.
The staff was made up of Mr. Emmerson, Mr. Kempton, Mr. Ruddick, Mr. Bramley, Mrs Winskell, Miss Hutchinson, Miss Harbit, Miss Longstaffe and Miss Veitch with Miss Boyd as Cookery Teacher. I was given the 10+B Class which I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as being Physical Education Master.
I loved the children of Whickham and loved teaching. I was seldom home straight after school for I ran a Puppet Club, an Adopted Ship Club, a Nature Club, Athletics and a Football Team.
The children made most of my puppets and I have them still today. All the pupils enjoyed our shows and we gave shows to hospital children. I would pile children into my Ford 10 Prefect, put the puppets into the boot of the car, balance the theatre on the top of the car and away we went. The star of the show (the witch) was Eunice Sharp.
I adopted a ship on behalf of the School It was M.V. Laganfield, an oil tanker, and although it gave me lots of work, it also gave the children lots of pleasure. We plotted the ship’s voyages on a large scale map in my classroom and the children wrote letters to the crew.
When it docked in the Tyne there was great excitement for we all went down to see it.
The crew were mostly Chinese and allowed the children to “take over�? the vessel. A lovely meal was always provided and the children took gifts to their favourite crewmembers.
The Chinese visited Whickham and the fathers of the pupils introduced the visitors to the delights of Whickham Social Club. Mr. Fatkin, the Chief Engineer, presented a model of the ship to the School, and it hung in the school for many years.
Every Christmas the crew made a collection amongst themselves and sent me a large sum of money to give the club members a party, which I did and which was always greatly enjoyed.
In 1955 I took a party of schoolchildren to Blankenberg in Belgium and in 1960 I took 50 children to Italy to Rome to see the Olympic Games and to have a seaside holiday in Rimini.
Rimini 1960
In 1962 I had booked a trip to Spain, and although I had left the school to start my own private school I promised to fulfil my obligations.
In 1993 we had a reunion perhaps one day we can have another?
Reunion 1993
To hear the full story of Mr. Johnson’s time at Whickham School you can buy the audio CD or cassette Miscellany of Memories Part 2, available now.
The Whickham Boys.
The Whickham Boys were a group of men who frequented the Woodmans Pub, especially on a Sunday Night when they were not performing at one of their many charitable functions. They came about because Whickham Choir, a choir with strong choral traditions disbanded in 1958.
Some of the members wanted to continue singing so they decided they would not only try and recruit new members, they would also change their musical careers by singing songs from the shows with a little comedy thrown in as well.
This they did quite successfully for many years, raising thousands of pounds in the process for their many charities. Many organisations in the region benefited from their kindness and hard work, the biggest beneficiary was the Edith Brough Children's Home at Whickham.
Mr Boulton
Mr Boulton lived at Stronsey in Broom Lane and was the first man in Whickham to have a telephone. The number being Whickham 1.
Dr. Bennett
An eminent eye surgeon who lived at Westacres in Grange Lane. He was the first surgeon to replace the retina in eyes at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. A popular man, who doffed his black trilby hat to everyone he met.
William and Norman Baty
Bill and Norman are brothers who still live in Whickham. In their younger days they were well known international cyclists. They are still very much involved in cycling, even taking part in 100 mile rides.
Norman had a cycle shop in Dunston. It was opposite the Cross Keys Public House and next to Roberts the Printers. These have now been demolished.
John Hogget
He owned Hogget's Food Products, a factory off Redheugh Bridge, he was noted for having produced the first flavoured potato crisps. He kept horses in a field on Broom Lane where the Health Club is now. He died on the 2nd February, 1980, aged 69.
William McKeag
William McKeag lived in Whickham at the corner of Millfield and Cornmoor Roads. He was a Solicitor, a Member of Parliament for Durham City and became chairman of Newcastle United Football Club. He was an Alderman and twice Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne. He always wore a pince-nez. He was a well-known figure in the district.
Lord Armstrong
Lord Armstrong was born and brought up in Shieldfield in Newcastle but was sent to a Dame School at Beech House, Front Street, Whickham.
William Bourne 1848-1926
William Bourn was a local historian and published histories of Whickham and other villages in this area. He was born in Whickham and attended Whickham Parochial School until 13 years of age when he left to work in Newalls Rope Works in Dunston. He later worked at Stephensons Engineering Works and Armstrongs Elswick Works both in Newcastle. In 1891 he was appointed School Attendance Officer until l913 when he retired through ill-health. He contributed to the Monthly Chronicle and the Parish Magazine as well as writing histories of local villages and families.
Thomas Heron 1899-1977
'Skipper' Heron became Scoutmaster of 1st Whickham (St. Mary's) Scout Troop in 1916. Skipper was awarded the Medal of Merit for outstanding service in 1937 and appointed District Scout Leader in 1949. The Silver Acorn, one of the Scout Association's highest awards for dedicated service to scouting was awarded to him in 1955. He retired from scouting in 1976, a presentation was made to him in January 1977and he died in July 1977.
One of the biggest events of his scouting life was a play presented in St. Mary's church hall in Whickham in 1923 to raise money for the troupe to attend the Empire Jamboree. The Jamboree was attended by scouts from 25 countries as well as the founder of scouting Lord Baden-Powell and author Rudyard Kipling.
Miss Margaret Dryburgh 1890-1945
A Dutch woman sparked off a far-reaching chain of events when she donated a collection of music manuscripts to California's Stanford University ten years ago. For the meticulously handwritten manuscripts were far removed from any usual musical composition.
They were choral arrangements sung by 30 Dutch, British and Australian woman imprisoned by the Japanese during the Second World War. To cope with captivity the woman formed a choral group in their prison camp on Sumatra, Indonesia. The inspiration for this was Margaret Dryburgh.
Margaret was born in Sunderland, the daughter of the Reverend and Mrs. W. Dryburgh. The family moved to Swalwell in the 1900's where he was the minister at the Presbyterian Church at the Ebeneezer Chapel in Market Lane. The family was very well liked in the village and they were all keen and talented musicians. Margaret became a qualified teacher and taught for a short time at the village school before going to China in 1919 as a missionary.
When war with Japan started, contact was lost, but in April 1942, after the fall of Singapore, she was found to be in Sumatra in a Japanese prisoner of war camp for women and children. 
Soon she began arrangements of classical works for a 'Voice Orchestra', where types of humming sounds were used for each instrument. She taught the other inmates how to produce these sounds and concerts were put on to raise morale. From memory Margaret Dryburgh wrote down pages of music from baroque to contemporary with the help of Norah Chambers, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London.
With only their memories to guide them they reproduced musical scores for over 30 orchestral and piano works by composers, which included Handel, Brahms, Chopin and Beethoven. Even the Japanese soldiers were amazed at the women's talent and used to listen at the door when they sang their services. The Saturday night gatherings grew so large and loud, that the guards peering in at the windows and climbing on to the dustbins, for a better view could not ignore them. They took to inviting themselves, sitting in the front row on cane chairs while the woman sat on the ground.
One of the pieces written by Margaret was the 'Captives Hymn', which was sung every Sunday at worship in the camp. 
Its main feature was the absence of bitterness or hatred of their captors, despite the dreadful conditions they endured.
Together the two women rearranged the scores for choral singing, condensing a 15-minute movement of a symphony into a 5- minute choral work without losing its sense of balance and flow. Unless needed for vocal ease, the new scores remained faithful to the original keys.
The choice of syllabuses to be sung was left to Norah Chambers. To keep the programme a surprise for the other captives, she rehearsed the orchestra in a sooty shed behind the kitchen, without so much as a pitch pipe for an aid.
Constant hunger and disease took their toll and Margaret died on April 21st 1945 after reciting Psalm 23, a matter of months before the war ended. She was buried on 23rd April 1945 among the rubber trees of "Belau Camp on Sumatra. On March 2nd 1951 Margaret was reburied in the Dutch War Grave Cemetery in Java. 
A year after the compositions were handed over to Stanford University, a women's chorus in California performed them in a series of concerts.
The story of the women and their music captured the audiences' imagination. It is thanks to a Dutch survivor, Helen Colijn, that their amazing spirit and Margaret's story lives on in her book which was later made into a film. The film -makers contacted Bill Fletcher, who played the organ in the Swalwell Chapel where her father was minister, to find out about her Tyneside background. The film,' Song of Survival', was shown in Britain on Channel Four.
In December 1997, a film, called 'Paradise Road', was released that showed the women's struggle to survive a horrific time in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp in Sumatra during the Second World War, Margaret Dryburgh, was played by Pauline Collins.
Wards 9 and 10 at Dunston Hill Hospital were renamed 'The Margaret Dryburgh Ward' because of the hospital's connection with the Far Eastern Prisoners of War Association.
Michael Reed (nicknamed Mr. Venture)
Michael Reed, the son of Jack the only surviving Reed brother, was always interested in the business and as he got older was allowed to go to the shareholders meetings as his father's representative. He was not allowed to say anything but just to write everything down. Michael well remembers the day in 1969 when his father told him that he'd supported an approach from the Northern Bus Company to sell Venture Reed. He was very, very upset but it was a very good offer at a time when the future of Consett Iron Company, a major source of revenue, was in doubt.
Northern promised to retain the Venture name and livery, but this was discontinued a couple of years later and it seemed that the Venture had gone forever. In 1980, Michael was running a garage and car dealership when, he was visited by a member of the North East Bus Preservation Society. The subject turned to buses and of course Venture Buses and resulted in Michael becoming an N.E.B.P.S. member.
Shortly afterwards came the news that JPT 544, the sole complete survivor of 60 Daimler CVD 6 vehicles delivered to Venture from 1946 to 1948, had been found behind a London pub in a rather sorry state. Venture had converted this particular bus into a motor caravan for use by employees who took it on their holidays.
After wondering whether he really wanted a sick Daimler the vehicle was collected (on a low loader) by enthusiast Ted Heslop. The bus when it arrived was not a happy sight. Water had penetrated the roof and the interior was in a very poor state.
Time being at a premium he advertised for a coach-builder to come and do the work. The job centre sent over a Jack Farrel, a pattern maker by trade, which was not what he wanted but he said, " give me two weeks and I'll show you what I can do".
The result was that Jack was there for seven months and achieved fantastic results. The engine overhaul was done in house. Six years later l had realised half way through the project that the coach would have to pay for its self. He eventually acquired three more vehicles. The Daimler is very popular for weddings and other private hires. Michael or "Mr Venture", as he is nicknamed, has no plans to start bus services but his one ambition is to have a running day with all four surviving Venture vehicles operating from Consett to Newcastle.
William Anthony Hopper
William Anthony Hopper, resident of Steetgate, was the grandson of Andrew Hopper of Baldwin Flatts Farm, Dunston. He served in the Royal navy during the First World War and as a special constable during the Second World War.
He was an all round sportsman, playing in his younger days for Ashington F.C. when the club was a member of League Division III (North) and then was associated with Whickham Park A.F.C.
He served as a governor for both, Whickham Cottage Hospital and the R.V.I., Newcastle.
Will Fenwick
Will Fenwick lived at Westview and in 1910 was a travelling draper though earlier in his life he worked with his father at Marley Hill Pit. He was born at Streetgate in 1872 the son of Luke Fenwick, toll collector at Fuger Bar in 1871. Will was one of the stalwarts of Sunniside Methodist Chapel being a lay preacher, superintendent, class leader and society steward over many years. In 1937 he was serving on the management committee of Whickham Cottage Memorial Hospital.
Mr and Mrs Edward Reed
Mr and Mrs Edward Reed, parents of Reed Brothers, Motor Bus Proprietors lived at Haydon House which was built for them. Edward, an engineman at Marley Hill pit, died at Streetgate in 1915.
Joseph Harrison
Joseph Harrison (1876-1954) lived at Seaton and worked on the Tanfield Railway. In 1891 he was the switch lad at the bottom of Baker's Bank and lived as a boarder with Ed Shotton, platelayer, at the railway cottage, Fugar Bar. Joe was a prominent member of Sunniside Methodist Chapel and could spin a good yarn, especially to the young folk. His wife Betty (nee Wallace), baked tasty teacakes and sold them in her sweet shop at Seaton in the 1930s.
Rev. Alan Gales
The Rev. Gales was the longest serving vicar of St. Cuthbert's Church, Marley Hill from 1963 - 1994. He was very popular with all his parishioners, always being available and mixing freely in the community.
Mr. Vic Dillon
A well-known builder in the area, Mr. Dillon dedicated his life to the Federation Brewery and Sunniside Social Club in particular. He was on the board of management at the Northern Club Federation Brewery from 1968 and was Brewery Chairman from 1974 until his death in 1984.
Mr. Lawrence Dewhurst
Mr. Dewhurst was Headmaster of Marley Hill Council School from 1885 -1913. He was highly respected in the area and was involved in all aspects of life in the community. Even in retirement people would consult him for advice. Mr. & Mrs. Dewhurst and their 7 children were the first occupants of the School House. On retirement they moved to a new house on Metal Bank (Sunniside Road) called 'San Souci' (translated - 'care free'). He was organist of St. Cuthbert's 1883-1920 and died in 1926. He is buried in the churchyard. Dewhurst Terrace in Sunniside is named after him.
Dr Thomas Nicholson Wilthew
Doctor Thomas Nicholson Wilthew lived at Hillcrest until 1922 when he moved to Ravensworth Road, Dunston. He had a day surgery at Whickham in 1914 and another at Swalwell in 1934.
Charlie Challoner
Sergeant Major Charlie Challoner of Cyprus Crescent Dunston served in two world wars and was at one time Chairman of the Eleven Club and also of the Dunston branch of the British Legion.
William Ritchie.
William Ritchie worked on the railway. He lived in 31 Holly Avenue Dunston and served right through the First World War with the Northumberland Fusiliers. It was a railway battalion equipped by the railway and handed over as a battalion, complete with horses, wagons and men who were all railway workers. This battalion was recruited at York. In 1966 he was Chairman of the Eleven Club in Dunston and was also president of the Dunston branch of the British Legion. He used to spend Armistice day selling poppies in Dunston.
James Goulbourn, 1871-1955
James, a butcher by trade, was a very well-known and well-respected personality in Dunston at the beginning of the century. He was very involved in many aspects of the community and died aged 84 after a very active life.
As a young man he could be seen riding his bicycle around Dunston. He was still riding his bike at the age of eighty. He was the instigator of many organisations and events in the local community.
Here are some of his activities as told by his grandson Tom Goulbourn. As well as running his own butcher's shop he was; 21 years on Whickham Urban District Council, Captain of the first Dunston Fire Brigade, Captain of The Lord Collingwood Rifle Club, Founder of The Dunston Mechanics Institute (1913) which he always referred to as the "abode I love" (known locally as the Abode of Love) and founder of the now extinct Eleven Club.
He was a Special Constable from 1914 to 1945 when he was awarded a long service medal with two bars.
On the outbreak of the First World War he formed the Dunston Rifle Club into a company. This was the same as the Home Guard in the Second World War. He used to march them up and down Cloddy Lonnen, near where The Metro Centre is now. He led them on a pony, whilst a conveyance followed behind with a barrel of beer. They attended a rifle range to practise shooting.
James had a medal made for each of the members.
When they met in the Mechanics Club to celebrate the Armistice in 1918 James suggested they should form The Eleven Club which would meet each November the 11th to commemorate Armistice Day.
He also owned a horse drawn charabanc and a pony and trap. He used the charabanc to transport various groups around the district and on occasions decorated it for the Dunston Carnivals.
Gallery - James Goulbourn
Whickham U. D. Council 1910
Fire brigade 1904
Rifle Club
Rifle club Challenge cup
Garbutt Cup Certificate
The caravan
Carnival 1928
Carnival Certificate 1928
James Goulbourn and friend
Fred and Jean Howitt
...were the landlord and landlady of the Coachman's Public House and always had a good display of flowers around the pub.
Fred and Alan Martindale, a customer, built the large planters which stand outside. The stone they used was from Sam Curry’s Electrical shop on Front Street and the soil too was donated by David Foggin from the grounds of his property. Jean won first prize in the Britain in Bloom competition for the best kept commercial premises.
Fred restarted the Leek Club and won second prize in his second year.
In the late 1970’s The Coachmans was used as a school-room by the pupils of the Parochial School because of a caretakers strike. Television cameras took pictures to publicise the use of pubs during the strike. Jean said that the cleaners had their work cut out cleaning everything in the early morning before the children came. She also remembers the time after a refurbishment when there were no ladies toilet facilities in the bar area. The ladies had to go out of the bar and walk around the back of the pub and into the lounge area where there were toilets. Alterations were later made to access the toilets from the bar by knocking a hole in the wall between the bar and the snug.
Memories of Bill and Betty Oloman
Billy the youngest of four children to Mr and Mrs Oloman was born, in a house belonging to his grandparents, on the 22nd January 1922. Billy's grandfather was the coachman to Mr Hunter (of the Tyneside ship building family). The cottage was the Coachman's Cottage, Grange Farm, Burnthouse Lane. The Hunter's lived in a big house on Burnthouse Lane.
There was a fire at the big house. It was so badly damaged they did not bother to rebuild it. There was a small section which was habitable. An elderly brother and sister belonging to the Hunter family did stay there for a short time. They were quite elderly and died shortly after the fire. Billy said there were a number of houses along Burnthouse Lane including Laundry Cottage, Dinsdale House,(which was built by Blyths of Birtley Brickwork fame), Green Shutters and Appletree House.
Billy thought it quite amusing that his grandfather who was a teetotaller lived in a house which one day would become a pub.
Billy's father, William Oloman, was a time-served joiner and a clerk of works for various councils. During the war he worked as an assessor for the War Damage Commission.
Billy's father built a house on Grange Lane for his family to move into.This property is still standing and is near Westacres Avenue. The house was named 'Dryburgh' for Pastor William Dryburgh, who had been a Presbyterian Minister at the Ebenezer Chapel, Swalwell. The Oloman family, having been Presbyterians at one time, had great respect for this gentleman. Pastor William Dryburgh was the father of Margaret Dryburgh who had died in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp.(see People of Note,Swalwell)
Billy and Betty Roberts married in the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin on the 17th November 1942. Unfortunately they would only have three days together before Billy had to rejoin his regiment. They would not see each other again until December 1945 when Billy came home for a month's leave.
Betty's father had come to Whickham to work as a manager at Easey's farm. The whole family had to help out. When Betty got older she drove the milk cart delivering milk. She was offered the job of Dairy Maid with a cottage to live in so was able to provide a home for Billy when he returned from the war. The cottage on Windy hill was demolished to make way for The Broadway.
Betty and Billy have one daughter Wendy who was born in 1947 and a couple of grandchildren.
Bill and Betty have lived for several years in Park Cottage, School Lane, Whickham. They have been prominent members of the community all their lives. In 2002 they will celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary.
Park Cottage near the old
Parochial School buildingOnce confirmed into the Church of England, Billy became a very active member of the Parochial Church Council, Sides Person, Server, and Reader. Billy was Church Warden for St. Mary's for several years. Betty has always been a very active member of St. Mary's Parish Church, working on many things including several fundraising events.
Billy had the distinction of being the first Conservative Member on Whickham Urban District Council.
Billy Oloman died in Febraury 2007.
Memories of My Younger Days by Thelma Liddle
Betty Oloman's father worked at Easey's Farm in Whickham and Betty used to deliver milk by means of a horse drawn milk cart to local houses and the shops. The milk would be in big churns and the people would pour the milk from the churns into jugs. As Betty had to pass our house, in Cheviot View, to return to the farm, she would often give us a lift to school. This really was the treat for the day, going to school on the milk cart. Easey's Farm is where the riding stables are today.
In those days, north beyond Cheviot View, there were no houses. It was all just fields, which were called the Banky fields. Almost every winter, it never failed; the children were out on their sledges sliding down the hill.
After the war, in about 1945, Thelma remembered that they held bonfires on the Church Green; the Church Green was not what it is like today, in fact, the green was quite rough and not landscaped. There were bonfires there in November and they also held special bonfires there to celebrate both Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan day. Also bonfires were built in the Rectory field.
Thelma remembers seeing the one in the Rectory field. She said it was absolutely enormous and everybody was there. After that it sort of caught on. Every May they would have a May Queen. They would have a bonfire the night after the May Queen had been picked and the May Queen would go through the village on a decorated float.
Nearly every year one of the Scott's girls would be chosen to be May Queen. This went on for about eight or nine years. The bonfires held in November were also held on the Church green.
Ron and Thelma related a story which Skipper Heron told them about an incident when war had been declared. He and somebody else had hidden all the church silver and other church items so that if ever any Germans came up this way they would not be able to get the silver from the church. They hid it underneath the altar.
They also attended many evenings down at the Old Scout Hut. One in particular, which stands out, is when Skipper Heron showed them some wonderful old slides of the Life of Whickham. These slides, by the way, were not the plastic film of today, but made of glass.
The scout hut was a popular place for dances and social gatherings, typical old fashioned dances and socials where the girls all sat on one side of the room waiting to be asked to dance and the lads on the other. The Miners Welfare, now Whickham Sales room, held dances and this was the most popular place for holding wedding receptions.
There was a sweet shop called Donaldson's where they bought their sweets. It was absolutely wonderful when the sweets came off ration and we could have the choice of the shop.
Bill (William ) Thew. Morpeth U3A
"Living in the Colliery houses, Broadpool Green, an idyllic spot built in the middle of a "Parkland" with surrounding fields, trees, copses and views to Sheriff Hill and Penshaw Monument."
"A night watchman together with his coke brazier and canvas shelter. He was an elderly man who stayed there all night tending the red oil lamps along the road workings.
When the snow arrived it was everyone to the "Chapel Fields", these being the fields between Whickham and Swalwell. What a ride this was and what a walk back."
The Church Green wasn't green and was a rough surface where the annual "Hoppings" came and where all other events were celebrated, such as the Coronation of George VI with singing, processions and bonfires etc.
In Church Chare the large hall was used for Silent Films and when the chairs were moved for roller skating.
"The Woodman's Arms Public House was a house with two rooms, the bar and the singing room or best end."
"The Gibside Estate was used during the last war as a training ground for the Army and the Home Guard for grenade and Sten gun practise etc., the canteen being in the now derelict hall."
" When Gateshead Council took over Whickham Urban District Council the village lost its identity and became a suburb."
I enjoyed my childhood in Whickham, and these are just a few of my recollections.
John Handy (born 1904) remembers
After leaving school in July 1919, having difficulties finding work and finally finding work in October as an office boy at Hall Laidlers Shorthand School, Grainger Street, Newcastle.
Walking to Swalwell Station each morning to catch the 8.40 train to Newcastle, then running to Grainger Street, arriving just in time at 9am. returning in the evening and finding the walk up the hill so much harder!
His father giving up his job at Armstrong Whitworths to build three terrace houses in Whaggs Lane, living in one of them and eventually buying houses in Dunston the rents of which supplied their income (supplemented by occasional building jobs)
Leisure time spent as scorer at Whickham Cricket Club and travelling by bicycle to away matches at Swalwell, Blaydon and Ryton whilst the others travelled by open topped charabanc- very uncomfortable!..
Progress from a bicycle at 21 to a 2 stroke motor cycle made at Scotts of Elswick, then moving on to a BSA.
A Whickham man named Taylor, who lived in Burnside Lane making cars on Scotswood Road, made perhaps 40 and then gave up. Finally progressing to a car himself when he married and moved to Newcastle.
Working as a supervisor of the shorthand writers (all male who had to achieve 200 words a minute and worked at courts in the area and various Government Enquirers in the North of England) receiving and arranging the typing of the text.
Retirement 1971.
Returning to a new bungalow at Whickham, built on land he had known as a farm and seeing many, many changes. Finding new houses, roads, shops, schools and many local landmarks gone. Whickham at least twice the size.
"I have seen many changes since 1971 but still enjoy living in Whickham where I intend to end my days".
Stan Wallace remembers his parents
His parents were Elizabeth and Nicholas (known as Cissie and Nick).
Cissie was the oldest of ten and more or less responsible for the nine siblings. As a young girl she worked at Carr's Pawnshop and at Miss Barnard's Drapers Shop on Ravensworth Road.
Nicholas's mother a widow remarried when he was fourteen. His stepfather did not want him in the home so he moved into lodgings.
Before he married Cissie he worked at Dunston pit, then joined the army and was sent to France but was sent home to work in the pit (it was the only bit of luck he had!). At that time Nicholas worked at Dunston Colliery. On losing his job at Dunston he went to work at Backworth Colliery.
They moved into rooms behind a Butcher Shop next to the Plough Pub in Killingworth Village. Unfortunately he was soon again out of work. When she wanted to visit her mother she had to push her two small sons in a pram to the Teams where her mother lived. Eventually they got a rented house in Clavering Avenue, Dunston where Derwent Tower now stands, but still no work.
In addition to all the mundane house chores, his mother did washing for other people.
Some of you will know what the "Means Test" was in those days. It meant you were given "dole" if you were not working.
One local man who was on this tribunal had the gall to call my father 'work-shy'. Nothing could be further from the truth! He cobbled boots and shoes, cut all our hair. I was never in a barber's shop until after I was married.
He had an allotment garden where he had hens and ducks and grew all of his own vegetables. My brother and I sold these from door to door in Dunston, getting a penny here and a half-penny there. It all helped!
He made beautiful furniture which is still in use to this day sixty years on. There was a treadle lathe in the bedroom where he turned the legs for tables and chairs. I can still smell the everlasting glue pot always on the boil on the gas stove. When it was dark nights, my brother and I helped father to carry planks of oak wood from Newcastle, along the 'Rabbit Banks' to Dunston. This was necessary in case anyone informed the dreaded ' Means Test'
Except for six weeks work labouring making the bowling green at the new Dunston Park, he was on the dole for thirteen years.
After this period of idleness he got on the short list for a dustman's job for Whickham Council. He was a short man and being desperate for a job, any job, I remember him standing in front of the mantelpiece after stuffing newspaper into his shoes to gain extra height because the minimum height for a bin-man was 5'3" and he was just under.
Imagine a short list for a bin-man's job.
He didn't get the job but the next time that it came up he got it. Whether joining the Labour Party had anything to do with it I don't know.
Later in his life I got him a job as a crane driver at J.W. Ellis, Swalwell.
Father died aged 82 and mother died aged 85. I have fond memories.
Photograph supplied by Audrey Simpson nee Wallace.
Bill Urwin's Memories of Dunston. (born 17th May 1916).
Bill now retired lives in Whickham, he remembers the early days when he lived in Dunston.
His parents lived in Davidson Street when they were first married. Bill was born in 1916 Davidson Street, and moved to Dunston Road (previously known as Asylum Lane) just before he started school. He lived just below Park Terrace which consisted of seven pairs of flats originally built for the workers at the Asylum. Dunston Road at that time was just a rough track.
He attended Dunston Church School from 1922 until 1934 when the school closed and he transfer red to the Hill School for his last two years. Whilst at the Church School, the head teacher died, and the whole school attended the funeral. The Reverend McIntosh took the service.
When he left school in 1936, as there were no jobs he was sent to ‘sign on’ and told to attend the “Dole School" with several others at Blaydon.
They received no ‘Dole Money’ but a voucher for the return bus fare from Dunston. They spent half a day being shown how to make bread tins with loose bottoms from sheet metal then spent three and a half days playing football because there was nothing else for them to do.
So back to looking for a job again!
He sometimes worked at Kennedy’s Market Garden which was on the site of the old asylum and was run by two brothers, George the businessman and Billy the gardener. The Kennedy’s lived in part of the old asylum, which at that time was lit by paraffin lamps. They used the pavilion, (which in asylum times was used as a dance hall for the inmates) for storage and bringing on plants. The pay was penny hapny per hour.
At other times he worked for Jack Havis who had a small dairy herd and paid twopence per day. If Billy Kennedy found out you had been working for Jack Havis he would not give you any more work. Jack and his sister Mabel, delivered milk daily by pony and trap, the milk being transported in large urns and measured out in gill, pint or quart measuring jugs into the customer’s own container.
He remembers :-
Morrison, the owner and manager of the Imperial Cinema known locally as the ‘Bottom Hall’. For more information see People and Cinemas sections.
The Albert Picture Palace known as the "top hall". 
In the 1920’s Mr. Clark, the manager at the Staithes built the white house that is still on Dunston Road, it was modelled on the main building of the asylum and was near to the site of the asylum.
The two ferries across the Tyne that the workers used to get to the factory. See Transport section for more information.
In 1926 the miners digging for coal in the Banky fields and as a result of this a workable seam was found that became known as the Watergate Seam.
The dedication of the War Memorial on Remembrance Day when Dunston Brass Band and the Silver Band performed and the Scouts and Guides marched, there as well as civic dignitaries
Dunston Silver Band playing each Sunday night opposite the Hill School in summer.
The Dunston Silver Band was third one year at the Durham Festival.
Dunston Band had a banner and the name was spelt DUNSEL probably a miss-spelling of Dunseil the original name for Dunston.
Dunston Park was opened in 1930. The work to develop the park was carried out by men on the dole! Prior to the opening, people used to walk over the spare ground to get to Ravensworth Road.
When the Ambulance Station was built on Dunston Road,(where the present petrol station now stands), in 1939 because of the coming war.
During the Second World War there were wardens working as lookouts from the top of the Power Station using ordinary binoculars. They worked in shifts, two at a time, looking out for enemy planes. It was thought that Dunston riverside area and Vickers Armstrongs on the north bank of the Tyne were targets for the German planes.
Extra staff were taken on at the Power Station some came down from Scotland and some were European Refugees. Local people were encouraged to offer lodgings
At the end of each shift outside the Power Station children would wait to ask the men if they had any bait. This also happened outside Vickers Armstrong where the children there would shout- “sportingmanorbaitleft�?- obviously the bait for themselves and the Sporting Man for their unemployed dad! The sandwiches were almost always bread and jam.
During the war Bill was exempt from the forces because he was in a reserved occupation making tanks etc., and when ships were damaged and sent to Dartmouth for repair, he was one of a team sent from Newcastle to repair them.
He was on duty for St. John and helped, despite working 12 hour shifts at Vickers, to ferry wounded personnel from Newcastle Central Station to various hospitals in the area.
He also worked at Dunston Hill Hospital when able to.
Bill was employed at Vickers Armstrongs’ from 1932 until November 1980, when he retired. Four members of his family were employed there, three brothers and their father. They all served and gained their apprenticeships as Fitters and Turners.
He was a member of St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, for forty-seven and a half years. Being the longest serving member in the north, he received a certificate for long service from the Lord Lieutenant of the County to commemorate this. He already had a certificate for forty-five years service.
For the full story listen to it on our Audio CD
Maisie (born 1908) remembers. (Maisie lived in Dunston until 1954.)
Running messages for neighbours and receiving half a slice of jam and bread as a reward and being sent back to return the money and apologise, on the occasion she accepted a halfpenny!
Playing games in the street. Her favourites were Ring a ring a roses, cannon, hidey, skipping and knocky nine doors!
Going to the matinees at the Imperial and Albert Hall cinemas- entry was 1d or 2d.
Working as a telephonist at the Coke Works, then owned by Mr. Reichswald.
Earning 25/- a week ( a big wage for a women in the 1920s) which went to her mother who returned 5/- pocket money. (She lived at home until her marriage in 1937).
Saving 1/- a week to buy bedding, crockery, ornaments for her bottom drawer.
The many foreign ships coming into Dunston Staiths.
Tramcars the only transport.
Dr. Foster travelling to visit his patients on a bicycle.
Standing in the back yard in a queue in all weathers to see the doctor at the surgery.
Washing day! Getting up early to light a fire under the setpot, ladelling the boiling water into the poss-tub, then "bang, bang, bang" with the poss-stick.
Wearing artificial silk stockings and only once affording to buy a pure silk pair!
Her father working as a trimmer at the Staiths.
Maisie remembers a hard, but very happy life " We didn't have much but we had happy times, making our own pleasure".
"We were not ashamed of what we were, or what we had not".
"It's what you do that matters!"
Maisie Kay (Mary Jackson) born December 1908, interviewed January 2000.
Florence Wood's Memories of her father and of Dunston Hill Hospital
My father, William Henry Thompson, was born in West Hartlepool on the 31st March, 1894, the eldest of six children. He left school at 14 and went to live and work on a Yorkshire farm.
When the First World War broke out in 1914 he volunteered immediately and joined the Green Howards. He was in the second contingent to arrive in France, when the first army arrived, the Kaiser, when informed of the number of men in it, said 'that contemptible little army', these men then became known as the 'old contemptibles'.
The second army was much bigger so no comment was made about them. The second army marched across France to the front line, with full pack. They became tired and thirsty and so stopped at street pumps for water, only to find that some of the French had chained these pumps so the British army could not get water. They continued tired and thirsty until they reached their camp for the night.
Sometime in 1916 my father was wounded in the leg and after being sent to the field hospital was sent to England to recuperate for a few weeks and then sent back to France. In 1918 he was wounded in the arm and while he was lying semi-conscious in a shell hole with his arm outside it, a stray bullet hit him in the wrist. This time during his recuperation in England the war ended, so he did not go back to France.
At some point during the war, the Germans sent gas over the British lines which badly affected my father's lungs . In later years because of his weakened lungs, he developed pleurisy every winter and pneumonia a few times. The doctor informed my mother that his body was at least 20 years older than his age because of what he went through during the war.
It was then found that his arm, wounded at the elbow, had not been set properly at the field hospital, so the ends of the bones did not join completely. The ends of the bones not joined together began to decay and so he had inflammation and great pain for the rest of his life. The wrist and leg wounds healed completely but bits of shrapnel worked their way out of his leg right up to the year he died.
In 1935 he was sent to Dunston Hill Hospital as it was thought they would find something to relieve the pain and inflammation. My mother visited him there every week. There were many men in the hospital who lived there all their lives as they had no-where else to go. Some had relatives, but because they were badly wounded or shell shocked, the relatives would not have them back. All the men wore blue suits in the hospital. After a few months he returned home but wasn't much better, so he was sent back in l937. Again my mother visited him every week, and on one memorable occasion took we three children with her. I remember the train journey to Newcastle and then a bus from Marlborough Crescent to Whickham. We were made a great fuss of by the men as they rarely saw children. One very cheerful man had had his legs amputated at the knees and he could move faster on his stumps than most of the other men on their feet. He would jump from the floor to his bed and then jump from bed to bed around the ward. He had a wonderful spirit and kept the ward entertained with his antics and jokes. Again my father returned home after a few months but never returned to the hospital because of the Second World War. He died in 1958 aged 64, which was quite a long life considering his health and experiences. He and my mother were married 35 years but she was a widow for 45 years as she lived until she was 101 years old.
John Handy, born 1904, remembers.
Whaggs Lane as a mud track with very few houses, following his older sister to the Parochial School when she returned from lunch and the teacher allowing him to sit in a corner of the classroom, a large space divided by chairs into two classes.
Starting his school life officially at the new primary school on Front Street in 1910 and his sister joining him there.
Seeing Dr. Andy Smith riding his horse to visit patients.
Yearly visits to the culvert near Duckpool Lane to see young foxes, also seeing ducks on the pond.
Wandering freely on Gibside and Ravensworth Estates.
Making bats and balls with which to play cricket.
Playing football in winter with local lads in the Junior Football League and on one occasion with the Queen Mother on one of her visits to Gibside!
Royalty regularly visiting Gibside, travelling from Newcastle Central Station by coach.
Wearing clogs during the First World War.
Playing Knocky Door Neighbour and Jack Shine a Low, name for Miner's lamp.
Attending the annual flower show and games in a field at the bottom of Rectory Lane.
In his last year at school helping the Head Teacher with his war work, i.e. selling savings bonds etc.
Val McSkimmings remembers .
"My grandfather, a pitman sitting on his back doorstep in Lonnen Drive, Swalwell cleaning his boots with Dubbin."
"When I was six years old, sitting on our back doorstep with my brothers and sisters waiting for our grandfather to call on his way home from his shift at Blaydon Burn pit. He always saved some of the jam sandwiches from his bait to give to his grandchildren. We waited and waited but he didn't come that day. Later we were told that he was dead, killed by a roof fall at the pit."
"My mother telling me about her and auntie Elsie walking to Swalwell Bridge to catch the Venture bus (because it was cheaper) to travel to Robertsons in Newcastle, where they both worked as dressmakers. They did this to save a ½p a journey, one old penny a day. The money they saved was used to pay for a week holiday at Whitley Bay!"
A Sad Childhood Memory.
On February, the 13th 1933, Thomas Lynn (61), an unemployed miner and his wife Mary Jane Lynn (63), were found dead by their son in the upstairs room at 5, Cook's Buildings where they had lived for over 40 years. They were both suffering from terrible injuries. The state of the room indicated that there had been a grim struggle though the neighbours had heard nothing.
Henry Cotterell (21) employed as a putter at Whickham Colliery, occupied the same house as Mr and Mrs Lynn. Henry and his wife returned home about 11 o'clock to find the house in darkness. He knocked on the door but it was not answered, he kicked the door but there was no response. He went to his sister's house, Mrs Howell, who lived a few doors away in the same building. He obtained a key and a knife and returned. With the knife he pushed the key out of the lock but the key he had did not fit.
He then sought out his brother-in-law, George Lynn, who lived in the same street and he also informed Police Constable Atkinson who was on duty in the village. George managed to get the window open and discovered the tragedy.Constable Atkinson then forced the door open.
When Constable Edward Atkinson burst open the door a terrible spectacle met his eyes. Lying face downwards behind the door was the body of Mrs Lynn, she had head injuries caused by a blunt instrument - a heavy poker smeared with blood was found on the floor. In a corner was the body of her husband, his throat had been cut and the main artery severed and at his side was a blood stained table knife.
There were signs of a struggle, broken crockery scattered around the room and other signs of disorder.
It is thought that Mr Lynn was suffering from *nystagmus and had been receiving compensation. He was employed by Whickham Colliery but had not worked for the last two years.
When the funeral took place, Mrs Lynn's body was taken into church and then buried in consecrated ground. Mr Lynn's body was left at the bottom of the steps before the church and was not buried in consecrated ground.
Alma Willis lived near Mr and Mrs Lynn as a child and knew them well, she remembers her father saying at the time, "He didn't murder his wife, he took her with him."
*(Nystagmus Rapid involuntary movements of the eyes, that may be from side to side, up and down or rotary. It may be congenital and is associated with poor sight. It also occurs in disorders of the part of the brain responsible for eye movements and their co-ordination and in disorders of the organ of balance in the ear or the associated parts of the brain.)
Tess Larmour (born 7th January 1923).
She spent the Second World War Years in the ATS.
Tess remembers sad and happy times.
When the German Coke works employed 200 people and the acid plant and the tar beds were another source of employment.
Tthe miners in Middle Row, back -to -back houses with six shared toilets at the end of each street.
The deputies living in Post Office Row and these houses had "proper" toilets.
The pit communities were very close, everyone helping each other.
How the miners’ lives revolved around the pit, the chapel and their allotments.
How the women’s lives revolved around the pit, the children and their home, they had to rise early for washing, cleaning, cooking. They led very busy lives but always made time to tidy up and to get washed and changed before their man came home from the pit. They had to have the hot water ready for the bath at the end of the shift. In an evening the women’s entertainment was to sit outside in the street and chat to their neighbours.
The fear when the pit siren sounded and everyone gathering at the pit yard for news of casualties. The ambulance was kept at the Hobson Colliery and unfortunately was frequently in use.
1949 she remembers the wages robbery at Marley Hill pit.
Social life revolving around the Primitive and Wesleyan Chapels.
One of her earliest chapel memories is learning and saying her “piece�? for the Easter Anniversary.
Making mistletoes with holly and mistletoe at Christmas, the smell of the fruit and vegetables at Harvest Festivals and the yearly chapel trip.
The yearly school trip on the first Friday in July when the children and their mothers filled two buses.
Polly Winger who had a shop in her front room selling sweets and pop who, when she was ninety had a boy friend who was ninety three and used to visit her in his pony and trap.
Nellie Ralph selling fish and chips from her scullery on Fridays that she had cooked in her set-pot. She still managed to have a wash as good as anyone else.
Tess moved from Marley Hill when she was eight years old.
Violet Watts born 1912.
The cokeworks at Marley Hill
Violet moved to Bensham when 8 months old but spent a great deal of time with her grandparents at Marley Hill until going to work in London in 1932. Her Grandfather worked at Marley Hill Cokeworks (known as the "German Cokeworks"). She remembers watching him looking after his pigeons and him sitting on the back doorstep knitting socks.
Services Beyond the Call of Duty
William Richardson was born in Sunniside on the 25th of August 1905. He married Ethel Miller in Christ Church, Dunston in 1927; they were married for fifty-four years, having one daughter Thelma. William died in 1982 at the age of seventy-seven.
He was a motor vehicle engineer for Northern General Transport Company in Bensham, Gateshead. William and a group of his friends and acquaintances from Northern General Transport Company joined the T.A prior to the outbreak of the Second World War so when the call for recruitment came, they were amongst the first to sign up for the services. He would serve with the 8th army, working in REME, rising to the position of Sergeant Major.
He was one of the last people to leave Dunkirk. Back in Dover they received a wonderful welcome home. According to Mr Richardson, they would have thought they had actually won the war instead of losing it.
William served in the British Expeditionary Force in France and later with the 1st and 8th Armies in North Africa and Italy.
He was a Warrant Officer (Class One) Armament Artificer in a large Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Field Workshop, under the command of Brigadier W S Tope.
William rode on his motorbike scouting, this was ahead of the General Army, for places to set up workshops to enable REME to repair all the broken vehicles, tanks, lorries, etc. which could be repaired. A couple of times William went over enemy lines. This allowed him to advise the army of the dangers ahead. He warned them about pulling back a little because he didn't want them to lose the workshops.
The men of REME were the first in the camps, they were able to notify the army of fairly safe places to stay: and then when the Army was finished, REME had to blast everything, they destroyed equipment to prevent the Germans from using it; cleared up and got away on their motorbikes as fast as they could. These men were the first in and the last out; they really were on the front line of the war.
When they were departing Salerno Landing, William and his colleagues should have left on the second last boat, but because of orders requesting them to stay, they actually left on the very last boat. To their shock and horror, they discovered that the 2nd last boat had been sunk.
They passed a lot of casualities from the sunken boat on their way out, the men were struggling in very oily waters; William and his fellow soldiers helped with the rescue of those who were still alive.
Mr.William Richardson was not only mentioned twice in Despatches, the first 'mention' being gained for his work in North Africa and the second for the Salerno Landing; he was also awarded an MBE, (Member of the British Empire) for distinguished Conduct and services beyond the call of duty whilst serving with his regiment, the 8th Army.
The letter from the War Office telling Thelma's father that he had been awarded the M.B.E was written by Colonel J.C. Elwes Directorate of Mechanical Engineering Allied Force Headquarters CMF on the 23rd of June 1945, and was published in the London Gazette on the 28th of June 1945.
It stated: -
The Under-Secretary of State for War presents his compliments and by Command of the Army Council has the honour to transmit the enclosed Awards granted for services during the war of 1939-45 It is noted from records held by this office that you have been awarded the MBE, Africa Star, with 1st Army Clasp, 1939-45 Star. B.E.F. 12th September 1939 to 19th June 1940, Italy Star...C.M.F. 10th April 1944 to 8th May 1945.
William Oloman
Bill Oloman was in the Territorial Army from March 1939. Billy did his peacetime training in Low Fell once a week. Each year the TA went away for two weeks to various camps, including Halton in Lancashire.
He was called up on August 28th 1939, just a few weeks before war was declared and he joined the Royal Engineers where he rose to Company Sergeant Major. He was demobbed in May 1946.
In December 1942 he was posted to North Africa and sailed, December 22nd 1942 on the Strathalan, which had been a P&O Liner. The ship was torpedoed, he was picked up and taken to Oran then straight onto another troop ship where they were put straight onto another troop ship and taken to Algiers. They than followed the war through North Africa finishing in Tunis. When the campaign finished about September/October 1943. The aqueduct had been bombed, as engineers it was their job to get electricity and water back to various towns and villages.
In December 1943 Billy went to Italy, they landed in Taranto and went straight up country to Bari, where they were for only a few days before going to a place called Cervinaro which was not far from Monte Casino.
The troop was there for four to five months, again repairing aqueducts, reinstating water supplies, electricity and generally getting utilities back to normal Bill said "In our company we were like a contracting firm, all self contained sections. As a Sergeant, I was in charge of B section which was responsible for the oil and water pipeline (only because I was a Heating Engineer). When I became a company Sergeant Major I was in charge of them all! "
From there, Billy went to Naples, but they were only there a few months. In Naples they rebuilt the Royal Palace (which the Yanks had hit with bombs about six times) it was then used as the NAFFI. After Bill left Naples he went to Palestine.
The only time that Bill and his fellow soldiers came under dangerous fire was in Medjez-elbab in North Africa, when they were building a bridge. As they were engineers they relied on the infantry to give them cover. Usually Bill's unit only moved into an area after it had been made safe.
Bill and his men stayed in North Africa approximately 12 months, about the same time in Italy, then they moved on to Palestine where they built camps for housing recruits.
The men did quite a bit of maintenance on oil lines in Palestine, The men really had nothing much to do with the people of Palestine as there was trouble, even in 1944 between the Jews and the Arabs. Apparently the Jews left Palestine before the Germans came, leaving all their land and property. When they came back, the Arabs had taken over everything.
The Arabs, in fact planted orange trees and lemon trees. When the Jews returned, the Arabs refused to allow the Jews to reclaim their property; stating that they had worked hard to make the orchards, so fighting started.
Billy did get a months leave from Palestine in December 1945, but went back to Palestine for another few months until he was de-mobbed in May 1946.
I asked Bill had he met anyone from Whickham on his travels. "I met one chap from Whickham who lived at Watergate, who was a bricklayer, he came to our unit for pre-vocational training."
Across Europe with "Monty".
Whilst Margaret Rayner was chopping down trees in the Timber Corp her brother, Bill Hall, was guarding Field Marshal Montgomery's headquarters.
When he left school in 1937, Bill was unable to find work on Tyneside but he managed to gain employment in Welwyn Garden City. Consequently, when in 1939 he was called up, he found himself serving in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. He was posted to "Monty's" headquarters where he carried out guard duties at the inner camp.
"Monty" preferred using caravans rather than a building. (The map caravan formerly belonged to Italian generals.) He liked to be surrounded by hedges and trees, which made task of guarding him more difficult! It was at times like a gypsy camp with Monty's two dogs (a wire haired terrier called Hitler and a cocker spaniel called Rommel) and a menagerie of other animals. When camped near Hamburg zoo these were peacocks, black swans and ducks from the local zoo they varied according to where they were.
Bill's personal view of "Monty" was that he was an infantryman who was a cavalryman at heart; a good soldier, too thoughtful to be an officer! He considered that "Monty" was very upset at the failure of the initiative at Arnhem. A nonconformist to some extent, Montgomery was an infantry officer but always wore a tank regiment Beret.
Bill himself was not keen on army regulations and considered himself an armed civilian. He reached the dizzy heights of lance corporal for one week! A printer in by trade, he had attended night classes in engineering for two years. One day in the mess an officer asked if any one was an engineer. A friend volunteered the information that Bill knew something about engineering! He was asked to draw a plan and he did so by pacing out the area in question. The officer was impressed. After that, he was responsible for making the plans for the advanced H.Q. until a draughtsman was brought in to carry out this duty.
On June 6th at 1pm., after leaving of the Isle of Wight, they sailed to the Normandy beaches and then journeyed through France, Holland, Belgium and into Germany. There, on May 4th 1945 at Deutsch Evern (near Luneburg), Field Marshal Montgomery accepted the surrender of all armed forces opposing 21 Army Group. Three days later Germany surrendered to the Allied Expeditionary Force and to the Soviet High Command, under which all forces would cease active operations at midnight 8/9 May 1945.
There were many interesting events along the way; at one camp "Monty" had his portrait painted. During a lull in the fighting King George V1 invested him as Sir Bernard Montgomery. Bill was in the guard of honour. The event was filmed a newsreel.
In Holland people were starving. Bill helped one family with 13 children; he gave them the left over bread from the mess. This family kept in touch for years with Bill by sending Christmas cards.
One night on guard duty (3 hours on - 3 hours off), he challenged two men who ran away. Later they turned out to be American airman who had escaped from a prisoner of war camp. They were taken to holding camp behind the lines then back to their camp in England.
The only time he came actually came under fire was during training with live ammunition! Bill has many, many more stories.
After the war, H.Q. became a regular army camp with white painted sentry boxes. Monty's reaction was "If these are for me take them away!" He did not care for army bull.
THE JOURNEY OF FIELD MARSHAL MONTGOMERY'S HEADQUARTERS IN N.W. EUROPE
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June 6th 1944 1 pm Standing off Beaches.
" 7th " FRANCE Moved to St Croix-sur-Mer.
" 8th " " " Croullet.
" 23rd " " " Blay.
Aug 3rd " " " Foret-de-Cerisy.
" 14th " " " Campeaux (near Beny Bocage)
" 19th " " " Proussy (near Conde-sur-Noireau)
" 25th " " " Avernes-sous Exmes
" 30th " " " Fontaine (near Evreux)
Sep 1st " " " Dangu (across Seine)
" 3rd " " " Conty
" 4th " " " Saulty (Pas de Calais)
" 6th " BELGUIM " Chateau Houtaing
" 8th " " " Everberg (BRUSSELS)
" 21st " " " Hechtel
" 27th " HOLLAND " Eindhoven
Nov 9th " BELGIUM " Zonhoven
Feb 7th 1945 HOLLAND " Geldrop
Mar 10th " " " Venlo (2 miles N.W.)
" 17th " GERMANY " Straelen
" 29th " " " Bonninghardt
" 31st " " " Brunen
Apr 3rd " " " Nottuln (West of Munster)
" 6th " " " Rheine (Bombed Barracks)
" 10th " " " Ostenwalde (West of Osnabrucke)
" 14th " " " Nienberg (River Wesel)
" 21st " " " Soltau
May 1st " " " Deutch Evern (near LUNEBURG)
" 4th " " Field Marshal Montgomery accepted
Surrender of all armed forces opposing 21
Army Group.
" 7th " " Germany surrendered to the Allied Ex-
peditionary Force and to the Soviet High
Command at 070241, under which all forces
will cease active operations at midnight
8/9 May 1945.
Anne Sloan - Working in an Aircraft Factory.
My name was Anne Joynson and I came up North when I was very young. We lived in Bensham. I had four brothers and three sisters. I went to Lady Vernon School at St. Cuthbert's. I left school when I was 14 and started straight away in Fashion.
First of all I worked at Henry Dodgson's and then I went over to Fenwicks. I liked Fenwicks. I loved Fenwicks in fact and I was very unhappy when I was called up. I thought the end of the world had come. I could see myself getting pushed into this factory and I had heard such stories about factory life.
However I was first sent to a training centre on the Team Valley Trading Estate for six months. There I met a friend who was a lot younger than me. We are still good friends today.
She was very good at the practical work and I was very poor at the practical work but I was good at the theory. The foreman just didn't like me and I didn't like him. Every time I took a piece of work up he wouldn't pass it.
I said, 'I am leaving, I'll get put in gaol, but I'm not coming back'.
So my friend said, 'Take this up.'
I said, 'I can't do that!'
But she said 'Go on'. I did and he passed it.
Jimmy White's was the No.1 factory on the Trading Estate. In fact it was an Aircraft Factory - aircraft components and we used to do the Halifax Bombers and the Spitfires. He picked six girls out to go and work for him. I was one of them and so was Jean, my friend. Well, she was great at it, she was very good.
They said to me 'I think you should go on inspection'. I landed in inspection and left poor Jean on the floor and we worked there until 1944 when I got married.
There were few people who knew how important the Trading Estate was. We were No I and there was a No 2 factory, which belonged to the White brothers. They were also making the same components as we were. It was so important really; when you left the factory it was a blank because you hadn't to talk about it, very secret. When we first went in it was a factory full of men but by the time we had been there a little over a year it was a factory of women all doing men's jobs so the men could go and do the fighting. It was marvellous to think that women who had only been at home could come and be trained to do such jobs. We did shift work - day shift and night shift - week and week about.
Even the Fashion world had to change over and there were many Fashion factories in the Team Valley. They had to turn straight over to army uniforms. Also there were a lot of other firms who had to turn over and do different war efforts.
There was a very good, big, gun factory. The Bren Gun Factory. The man himself was a Czech who had escaped during the war but all his family didn't. However he managed to bring out the formula that belonged to him and that's how it was called the Bren Gun factory because they called him Bren.
I really enjoyed working in the factory as I enjoyed the comradeship. You know when I worked in Fenwicks you couldn't speak - I mean you entered that door and that was it till you came out at night. I used to 'fire watch' in Fenwicks. Every Sunday we had to take our turns and go up watching the building. Everyone else did in the shops in Newcastle, not just Fenwicks. Everyone had to take part and mind there was no transport. You walked there and you walked back home. It was marvellous how everyone helped one another then you know.
When I worked in the Aircraft Factory we had to walk to the other side of the Team Valley to the Canteen. It was a very big canteen, everybody used it. I think the Government provided the food and paid the staff. In the factory it was 'Music while you work' in the morning and afternoon. It was lovely, such a big change from what I had been used to because all my life I had worked under restriction.
What a difference the War made to my life
Minnie Rutherford.
Minnie Rutherford was registered for war work when she was 19 and called up when she was 20 years old. She was put into the Land Army in Wolsingham near Bishop Auckland. There was one other girl there and they had to milk cows, make butter and even go shopping. It was the first time she had had a room to herself so she quite enjoyed it!
Mary Burdon Gilhespie.
Mary, born in Whickham in 1923, belonged to an old Whickham Family. She left school when she was 15 years of age. Her first job was at the Hadrian Stores. When she was sixteen she went for one of those really old fashioned interviews. She had to sit at a large table opposite a group of men who interviewed her to see if she was acceptable for a job in Whickham Co-operative Stores.
Mary got the job and started work in the Grocery Department on Fellside Road. In those days, you were quite privileged to get a position with the Co-operative Stores. As Mary said "To get a job with the Co-op in those days meant you are set for life"
Mary worked at the Co-op for four years before being called up in 1943. She had to go to Scotland to do her training, which she said was an event in itself. She had only once been to Scotland before, and that was when she went on a school trip to Edinburgh. Mary's journey involved her getting a train to Glasgow, changing trains there for the onward journey to Bewick, which was on the banks of Lock Lomond.
Mary's stay in Scotland was in December and January. She recalled what a beautiful place it was. Unfortunately for her and her fellow Wrens, it being winter, they had to go round in oilskins, clogs and sou'westers. Apparently the site had once been an American Naval Base with just Nissan Huts and oil stoves to keep them warm. Mary said it was dreadful and she would never forget the experience as long as she lived.
After her training in Scotland Mary was sent Rochester, which was not far from the Chatham Dockyards. She had all her injections and what not done there. As a young Wren, Mary remembers, the Royal Navy being very protective towards the young girls who were stationed there. If they went into Chatham and were caught by the MP's loitering, talking to anyone, more so Naval Personnel, they were in front of the Commodore the next day.
Mary was not in Chatham very long before moving to Staines in Middlesex. Here she worked in a former Lino Factory, which the Royal Navy had taken over. There were Men Ratings as well as the Wrens, working in the various departments, shipping, packing and office jobs; this was where Mary worked. From this factory the Navy were repairing and supplying spare parts and machinery for the ships including anchors and propellers which were then transported to Naval Bases abroad.
When in Rochester, Mary's accommodation was quite good. She and her fellow Wrens lived in one of the houses taken over by the Admiralty. There were four streets of Victorian houses, which were on two floors with attics and large cellars. They also had small gardens to front and back of the house. The Windows were blacked out on the inside and sandbagged half way up the windows on the outside. Mary and her fellow mates saw at first hand the raids in London, all the bombing and the doodlebugs. It was a terrible experienced she said.
In the house at Rochester, the Wrens, lived, slept, and washed. There was no furniture, only makeshift cupboards for clothes with curtains around them. No food was taken there as meals were served in the canteen at the Wrens quarters in Rochester. One or two Wrens were billeted there, but it was just a staging post before being transferred.
Mary was at Chatham about eighteen months before she went to Windsor. She and a number of her fellow Wrens actually lived in Clewer Park, a large house which stood in its own grounds, with the house backing onto the River Thames and Windsor Racecourse. Whilst in Windsor Mary was a messenger for the Navy and she used to go to The Admiralty in Trafalgar Square to deliver messages.
She used to get a pass to take her on the train from Staines to Windsor, where there was a civil defence place. This was all to do with the Admiralty. It was like the military supplies department. When signals came up from the Admiralty, into the teleprinter room she would deliver them to the different departments. She was one of the first in the section, apart from the Admiralty, to know that the Second World War had ended.
Mary came out of the Wrens in January 1946 after being with the Wrens just over two years. She never thought she would have been called up for the war. Her position as Wren Caygill was, in her opinion, just an ordinary jenny Wren who was a messenger.
Women at War - Caroline Chilvers
I was called up in 1940 because my husband was in the army and I had no children.
I had to go to the Dole Office on the Windmill Hills for a medical examination first. I had always worked in hotels but now I had no choice, I was told to go to the Royal Ordnance Factory in Birtley. I was there for four and a half years. I lived in Back Athol Street, Dunston, and had to walk to Victoria Road for the special bus that was provided for us. There were a lot of women from Dunston working there and we all wore clogs so made quite a clatter walking along. There were three shifts, 6 am until 2 pm, 2 pm until 10pm, and 10pm until 6 am. I didn't know what daylight was like on some shifts. I was paid £3 a week and that was a lot of money in those days. I felt like a millionaire! There were only women in the shop and we had a couple of air raids while we were at work. We had a canteen for our breaks. It was hard graft! I was on a machine making shells that weighed 40lbs and we had to lift them. I am only 5 feet tall. I am 88 now so it didn't do me any harm. We were told to tell anyone who asked that we were making tins for food.
Women at War - Florence Clark
Florence Clark also served in the W.A.A.F. during World War 2. She met and married George Wilson, a soldier, during the war.
Women at War - Elsie Harm
Elsie Harm served in the W.A.A.F. during World War 2. Elsie married Gordon Hartley on 5th March 1947.
Thomas Dickinson's Memories
The first memory I have of world war two was when the proprietor of the local shop, Mr L. Jarron, came down the street shouting that war had been declared. Everyone was standing at their doors.
As the war progressed air raids became more frequent so the school I attended, Whickham County Council, introduced a code of practice which was that if an air raid finished after midnight you did not have to attend until 1pm the next day.
Air raid shelters were built next to the school and our gas masks were often tested for different kinds of gas that may have been used by the Germans. Barricade blocks were built on certain roads. These were made of concrete and there was just enough space for one vehicle to pass through. There was one on Broom Lane near my home and others at Fellside road and Sunniside.
The government introduced a scheme so that you could get extra clothing coupons if your feet were over a certain length but I never qualified.
As the war progressed, when you reached the age of 13 you were allowed to "potato pick" in the autumn. I think that it was for either 25p per day or 25p per week. It was hard work!
There were a few air raids when bombs were dropped in our area, notably one in Tait's farm field at the top of the street where I lived. A number of houses had their windows shattered. The day after the raid we used to go into the bomb craters to collect shrapnel (pieces of the bomb). In an air raid on Sunniside a bomb killed a Mr George Shanks. The bomb was a direct hit on his home.
My father was a coal miner and one of the shifts he worked finished at 11.30pm; if an air raid was on and they were bombing South Shields, he would take me to the bottom of the street and show me the flares, fires and guns being fired at the German aircraft.
There was an army camp on Fellside Road, which had an anti-aircraft gun; there was also one at Lobley Hill and the noise was terrific. There were also barrage balloons situated around the area, one in Beech Grove (below Whickham Church) and one at Fellside. There were also static water tanks where gallons of water were stored in case of fire from the bombs. During the blackout people were shouted at by the wardens, for showing lights from windows.
Once my mother took me to Whickham pictures, now the gym in Church Chare, and when we came out it was pitch black. Instead of walking up Broom Lane to our house we ended up in Duckpool Lane.
I never saw a banana, until near the end of the war. A schoolboy brought one into the schoolyard it was black. His father, a soldier, brought it from abroad.
At the end of the war we were all introduced to a famous person. It was Maurice Chevalier, the French singer and film star. He was introduced by our Head Master, Mr Kennedy, who had been a prisoner with him during the First World War and who had taught him to speak English.
I keep remembering things since starting this story such as when an air raid was in progress we either went to a public shelter which was about 75 yards from our house or to a single bed under the staircase which was supposed to be the safest place if we were bombed.
Sweets and chocolates were rationed to 4ozs a week so when we went to the pictures we used to buy a half-penny carrot at H. Hutchinson the fruiterers, Front Street, Whickham, now a bank.
Another event in the war was just after Dunkirk, hundreds of soldiers were sent to Whickham and district. I remember them seeing some of them sitting and lying in the fields below where The Gibside is now. My father once brought a couple of soldiers home for lunch.
Margaret Campbell remembers the war years.
"At the beginning World War 2 most of my friends were evacuated to villages in Co. Durham. My parents decided that we would be evacuated together. My father stayed at home, I went with my mother and sisters to stay with relatives at Salters Gate between Castleside and Tow Law. It was a street of houses in the middle of the moors, almost two miles walk to the nearest bus stop. We have very happy memories of all the things we did there. In later years, we were surprised to find we had been there only two weeks. After a fortnight, my father had had enough of being on his own so we all went back to Dunston. On our return we found that air raid shelters were being built. We only used the shelter in the street once. After one air raid my parents and grandparents decided to strengthen the large cupboard under the stairs. We always referred to it as the gas cupboard because it had a gas meter in there."
"Stronger beams were added and a platform bed built under the sloping roof. The three of us could just fit in there. There was an armchair in there where my mother or grandmother could sit. My mother made us all siren suits; these were one-piece suits to wear over our pyjamas. If the air raid warning went during the night, under the stairs we went, wearing our siren suits, and there we stayed until the all clear sounded. We were supposed to go straight to sleep! I do not remember how well we slept. We liked being there. We had a tin box with treats in and if we were in any length of time we might get a piece of chocolate or a Horlicks tablet or something we wouldn't have got if we'd stayed in bed!"
"I remember playing in the street with my sisters and I think some friends. We were playing some sort of chasing game because of course there was no traffic so we could run quite safely across the cobbles. Suddenly we heard a plane and a machine gun firing. It was above our heads, bullets were bouncing along the street. Our mother was shrieking at us to get in the house. She was very annoyed with us because we had not come straight into the house. Our main interest was looking round to see if we could pick up some shrapnel from the bullets coming at us. This would have given us high rating in school the next day. We almost got a thick ear for that one.
The next exciting thing that happened was, when, in the middle of an air raid a warden came along the street warning everyone to get out quick. My father was out on duty that night. The whole street was evacuated because a bomb, an unexploded bomb, had landed in the backyard next door to my grand parents, which was next door to us. So out we went, no time to take anything with us. "
"They turfed us all out, there we all were standing in the cobbled street underneath the streetlight. The adults started getting their heads together deciding what to do. We were lucky that we had an aunt who lived in another street of terraced flats about 100 or 150 yards away. My grandmother and we three children headed in that direction. I think my mother was trying to find my father to let him know what was happening. She arrived with some neighbours who had no had relatives nearby. Those who had, had rushed off in various directions but there were those wondering what to do next. No one was saying well use the church hall or anything. My mother and aunt went back again to see who had nowhere to go. They brought more people back I am not quite sure how many people were in the house that night but there were certainly 30 or more. We were all crammed in a large kitchen, sat around the walls or on the floor. My mother and aunt made tea continuously. It seemed to last all night. I do not remember having any sleep. There were people who we had hardly even spoken to before. We were quite excited and thought great we won't have to go to school the next day but in fact it was afternoon school so we did go."
"We were thinking we'd have to go in our siren suits but a warden came across and told us we could go back in the houses. It was all a false alarm. It turned out to be a dud shell from Big Bertha, the big gun at the top of Lobley Hill. It had gone down the drain. They managed to get it out, so we could all return to our homes. We had to go to school after all.
My aunt had no bread or biscuits left and certainly no tea. Later that day everyone was back at my aunt's house giving her tea and biscuits and anything they had, to thank her.
"There was one more exciting thing that happened. I have very strong memories of the soldiers rescued from the beaches at Dunkirk. There were all these dirty, tired, weary, very dispirited and hungry men and not enough army camps to take them. They went to various places overnight and then further a field.
Someone came round the doors saying that the Dunston Board School was going to be re opened to accommodate soldiers from Dunkirk. They asked people to offer a bath and a hot meal to one or two soldiers. It was a lot to ask people to do in an area like that in those days. The housing in the area was what is now grandly called Tyneside flats. They had no bathrooms or inside toilets, it was quite a performance to have a bath your self, never mind offering a bath to strangers. There certainly was not much food around with all the rationing.
We all turned out and lined the sides of Wellington Road at the time of their expected arrival. We sisters stood in a row beside my father, jumping up and down, before the convoy arrived.
I can still remember how tired and weary the soldiers looked. I am sure they had not had much to eat since they left. They certainly had not had a wash. They were probably in the same clothes as when they had left the beaches. They really did look terrible."
"We were getting anxious. People were shouting, Hi, mate, you just come with me, but my father just stood there just looking whilst we were dancing up and down. I do not know who it was in the end. I think it was one of my sisters, who shouted. I do not think my father ever did. Two soldiers said they would be pleased to come to our home.
We had to stay outside and play while my mother organised baths for the two men who came with us. We did not see an awful lot of these soldiers. The next day the soldiers came to thank us and gave us a tin of bully beef. We discovered later that my father had been too busy looking at the men because he knew that it was very likely his brother, our Uncle Frank, would have been on the beaches of Dunkirk. He thought he might have been in one of those army lorries in that convoy.
The soldiers were from various regiments, many in fact from Australia. My sisters said they knew as soon as they saw their hats. I only remember their faces."
"My next strong recollection is that we did have a big street party when the war ended. Trestle tables were put along the cobbles, everyone in the street contributed what they could. We had to remove to the tin mission, (the local church hall) because it rained, nothing changes!"
Mary Williams remembers the war years.
"I started work in 1939 having attended Commercial College and studied book-keeping, business economics, as well as shorthand and typing. In those days most accounts were kept by male members of staff, but they were soon all "called up", and because of my training I was transferred to Accounts. This was fortunate for me as when the official came, on one of his regular visits to interview all workers who had reached the age of 18, my papers were stamped "Exempt" as the company was then on war work and I was the Book-keeper!
I was given instructions to report to the First Aid Depot where I had to do training and stay overnight one night each week and also report immediately if the air raid siren sounded. My mother was aghast, as I was prone to fainting at the sight of blood. However, orders are orders. In the event, I was never put to the test."
The war continued - a round of work, evening classes and first -aid depot to the end of the war. The only bright spot was in October 1944 when, acting as bridesmaid for my cousin, I met my future husband, who like the bridegroom was also on leave. Alas, by the end of December he had been posted to the Middle East and remained there until June 1947, long after the end of the war without any home leaves. However, he did return, we were married and lived happily together for 40 years."
Memories of September 1939 - June 1944 by Jack Dixon
"Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill-at-ease,
My fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys."
(the words of a popular song of the early 1930's)
I can relate to the first line because that is what I was doing on Sunday 3rd September, 1939, at Ravensworth Road Methodist Chapel, Dunston. I was not weary or ill-at-ease but rather excited or maybe apprehensive? After the first hymn it was accepted that in a few moments we would be at war with Germany. I could not imagine what the future would be - the excitement maybe because of the unknown, and apprehension of how the war would affect me. Shortly after 11 a.m. the preacher closed the service with a prayer, and a few minutes later the air raid sirens sound. What a weird, frightening sound and a sound which still remains with me. I left the chapel and made my way home.
No buses, no people, complete eerie silence. Maybe people were afraid to come out, imagining the skies would be black with planes (as we had been told). They would have to be fast ones to be over Dunston so soon!! It proved to be a false alarm - the first of many. The evening service was held at Wood Street Methodist Chapel - again I was on the organ seat complete with cardboard box containing gas mask!
Listened to the 9 p.m. news on radio - the ATHENIA had been torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life - men, women and children. Now the meaning of war hit me and excitement left me. Days went by and the term 'phoney war' expressed the situation. British troops were in France but no action had taken place. Sirens were often sounded but mostly false alarms. Christmas came but festivities were very limited. Eventually the real war started. May 1940 - the German army swept through to the Channel ports. Miraculously, more than 300,000 troops were evacuated from Dunkirk. All equipment, arms etc were left behind, mostly destroyed. Great Britain now faced invasion - the phoney war was over. Factories went into full-time, and there was now a greater sense of urgency and determination. We had to face the fact that there was every possibility on invasion. I was now in the LDV (later to be famous as 'Dad's Army') and on patrol at nights if the sirens sounded. One night, or rather at 2 a.m. in the morning, whilst listening to 2 old soldiers telling of their experiences of WW1 (World War 1) and making my hair stand on end, a messenger arrived on a bicycle. "Report to Headquarters immediately - paratroopers have been sighted dropping nearby". Fear not, I was heavily armed with a cudgel!!?! What a farce! It transpired that a balloon had been broken from its moorings and passed through a searchlight
On now to Wednesday, July 3rd 1940. A plane had been droning around for some time and it was evident from the sound of the engines that it was a German - no sirens had been sounded. Left the office at 5 p.m. to cycle home and approaching the barrage balloon site the plane dived out of the clouds machine gunning the balloon. I could clearly see the Swastika markings. Terrified, I jumped off my bike and dived into the hedge. The plane flew towards the bridges over the Tyne and I saw a huge flash and clouds of smoke and dust. My first experience of seeing a bomb dropped. Many more were to follow in the next 12 months. When I got home my father handed me a buff envelope marked 'O.H.M.S. and I did not need to open it to know that it was my 'calling up papers' - "Report to Dingle Vale Schools".
Liverpool, Thursday July 11th. Mixed feelings. What would it be like leaving home? I knew the misery of homesickness from school camps and Boy Scout Camps. I had a good home life, good pals and a great interest in piano and organ playing. All this would be lost. The next few days were grim, the waiting and uncertainty were worst. Wednesday July 10th 10 p.m. dreading the farewells at the Central Station, Newcastle. Only in later years did I realise what it must have been like for my parents to see me disappearing over the bridge to Platform 9 then returning home and worse still, a few days later when the case containing my clothes arrived.
The journey to Liverpool seemed to be never ending as I had never been further than Saltburn! Duly arrived at Lime Street Station 8 a.m. Apart from Joe Thomson (Swalwell) I had palled up with Jack Stenhouse (Benwell). The three of us found a cafe, thick chipped tea mugs and bacon sandwiches! "How do we get to Dingle Vale School?" we asked the Chinese owner. "Tlam Clar (Chinese accent) with notice Aigburth on flont". For about two miles we rumbled and clattered our way, and there was the school. Documented and issued with clothing etc. then escorted to a classroom. "Sorry lads" said the Sgt. "No palliasses yet, you will get used to sleeping on the floor!." Night came but sleep did not. There were 30 of us and it was talk, talk and more talk, and lots of fun until the Orderly Officer came and ordered "SILENCE!" After three days we dispersed to various houses in the area (there were 300 soldiers in the Company). Beautiful stone built houses, the owners evidently well off, had moved to safer areas and the army took possession.
Joe, Jack and I were in a room on the third floor, (comfort now because we had palliasses). Every morning we were marched to the school which was about a mile away for breakfast followed by the inevitable Square Bashing. I was happy and enjoying a completely new life. Exercise, discipline and comradeship, and a feeling of pride. Walking out in the evening in your best battledress (even if it was not a perfect fit) shoulders back and saluting officers, great. One morning on parade the Officer in charge said that personnel were required to form headquarters staff to control the intake of 300 recruits every Thursday. Cooks, admin, quartermaster etc. were needed and if anyone was interested to step forward otherwise instead of volunteering you would be ordered. I was pushed forward by Joe, and the Officer assumed I was volunteering. "Report to QM Captain Gosling at 2 pm." So at 2 pm I was giving an account of what I had done in Civvy Street, and I ended up in the QM Stores Office. This was start of the worst period of my six years service. Good fellows to work with, Taffy, Smithy, Ray and Stan but the work was so futile and useless. We had ledgers to control the input of clothing etc and issues of same. If the stock remaining did not tally they were simply written off!
As the weeks went by air raids became almost nightly and heavier. Sitting in the Trocadero Cinema one Saturday evening (September 15th) and listening to the Wurlitzer Organist who, later was called up, joined our unit, and eventually played the organ for our wedding, when suddenly he stopped and a notice was flashed on the screen ALL SERVICE MEN REPORT TO THEIR UNITS IMMEDIATELY. No trouble getting lifts to the school where chaos reigned. Report to the armoury was the order. Issued with rifle and five rounds and marched in groups of ten to the banks of the Mersey. Word passed that invasion was imminent and two German battleships were at the mouth of the Mersey! We lay there all night and I'm sure everybody thought the same as me, what will a rifle and five bullets do to a battleship?! At 2 pm on Sunday we were stood down. Rumours were flying around and many weeks later it was disclosed that invasion barges had been sighted in the Channel but it was not clear whether it was an exercise or the real thing. I remember once standing on the landing stage waiting for the Ferry to New Brighton when suddenly there was the sound of a bomb dropping. The piercing whistle got louder and I felt it was going to land on my back. Instead all I got was a soaking. The bomb dropped in the water near the landing stage. That bomb evidently did not have my name on it.
May 5th 1940 was the start of a week of continuous bombing every night from 7 pm till 4 am for 6 nights. I was now billeted in 99 Colebrook Road with Taffy, Smithy, Ray and Stan which was an extra storeroom for Army clothing and blankets etc. This street was only 100 yards from a huge oil storage depot - 30 tanks in all. On May 7th two tanks received direct hits and night was turned into day. There was a direct hit on No. 104 but fortunately most of the inhabitants had cleared off to Sefton Park as they felt safer there. The noise of bombs and anti-aircraft fire was deafening. The sky over the city was red. I went into Liverpool on the Saturday - fires still burning on the dock side and ships sunk by the docks. Lewis's Store completely burned out, Bryant & May's factory burning and scores of people outside the Town Hall scanning the notices of names of the dead and unidentified. There was an air of sadness and despair.
The powers-that be decided that Liverpool was not a safe place and it took them 12 months to realise that, so we were moved to Pheasey Farm Estate, Great Barr, about five miles from Birmingham. This was a huge council house estate which had just been completed at the beginning of the war but commandeered by the Army. Leaving Liverpool was a wrench despite the bombing. It is a wonderful city and I have memories which will never fade. Some happy ones, some sad. I think of the little boy who used to play with us in the evenings. We did not see him for a while but when we did on crutches - he had lost a foot. I think of the brave firemen who night after night tackled the huge fires. I think of the times I walked up the hill to the Anglican Cathedral and sat there and prayed not only for myself but for all affected by bombing. Air raids are so terrifying as you can't see your enemy, you know he is up there but you are helpless.
JULY 1941 saw us settled into our new camp and this was to alter my career and also my life. I felt that I must get out of the boring job so I requested an interview with the QM who was also in charge of Transport. I took the bull by the horns as it were and asked for a transfer to the Transport staff. As luck would have it, there was a vacancy and so I became a driver. I was so happy driving cars and lorries of all sizes. One afternoon I was detailed to go to Great Barr station to pick up an ATS Corporal and thirty other ranks. On arrival at the station there they were, all very smart. Something about the corporal attracted me immediately - standing there so smart and lovely, not only physically, but something else which was hard to describe. Whatever it was I had no doubt whatsoever that some day, if she would have me, I wanted her to be my wife. Love at first sight - call it what you will. As we talked on the way back to camp I found that she was from Birmingham (but no Birmingham accent) and was to work in the QM stores. What a stroke of luck - it meant I would see her almost every day! I was so afraid to ask her for a date so asked my pal, Taffy, to do that. "Surely he can ask me himself" was the answer. So I plucked up courage and the reply was "Yes, I would like that". Remember she was a corporal and I was a driver so officially we were not allowed to hold hands but I think we broke the rules a few times! Clifton Cinema, Perry Bar, was our first date and beginning of a wonderful courtship. After a few months she(Jessie) was posted to Lichfield on an NCO's course. I missed her so much. Eric, one of the drivers (who eventually married one of the ATS and we kept in contact long after the war ended) came to the rescue. There was an old motor cycle without a pillion seat in the garage and Eric said he would take me to Lichfield one evening. I put my greatcoat on the back mudguard and away we went. I often think how did we have the nerve to do it - goodness knows what would have happened if we had been stopped by the Redcaps! Jessie was delighted and it wasn't long before she returned to camp - this time a Sergeant.
Our next move was to Oldham where we got engaged, and then three months at Heysham, near Morecambe After that it was on to Prestatyn which was formerly Pontins Holiday Camp. We planned to get married but Army regulations stated that a married couple could not be on the same camp.. If we had gone ahead we would have been separated, so we agreed that it was better to be together and hope that some day the stupid regulation would be cancelled. Out of the blue it was when a few months later the Commandant of the ATS paid a visit to the camp. Questions were invited from the NCO's so up got Sergeant Hobson and asked was it not better for a married couple to be together in time of war than separated. The Commandant claimed that she was not aware of this rule (likely story) but would look into it. A few weeks later the regulation was cancelled so we were able to go ahead with our plans. The date was set - Saturday, June 17th 1944 at Trinity Church, Prestatyn. A glorious sunny day and understandably, a nervous one. The start of another chapter in my life.
Killed on the Last Day
Nick Timbey was a non-commissioned officer with the Scots Fusiliers survived Dunkirk only to be killed on the Dutch/German border on the last day of the war. The whole village was devastated by the news.
Killed in Action WW2
Frank Calder, the last photograph to his wife before he was posted to France, 1940. He did not return from the beaches of Dunkirk.
A Son Killed in Each War
Ann Keen nee Scott Remembers
I know a great deal about Mr & Mrs Robert Scott's sons, even although one was killed twenty years before I was born and the other was killed when I was three years old. You see one was my Uncle Fred and the other was my Dad, Robert "Bob" Scott. My Granny, Margaret Humble Scott nee Elfert, kept their memories alive for me. In the days of large families my grandparents had only two sons.
Killed in Action WW1
Frederick Ernest who was born in 1894 was a great scouter. He was a member of the 19th Dunston Christ Church Boy Scouts and had the distinction of winning the Silver Wolf. This is the highest award a Scout can win and he was the first boy in the North of England to obtain this much-coveted honour. It was not until 1979 that anyone else in the Gateshead area was awarded this honour.
He served in the 1st (Northumberland) Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, in the First World War. He died on Thursday 24th October 1918 aged 24 and was buried with honour at Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France. [View Memorial on Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.]
Killed in Action WW2
Robert Norman was born in 1903 and served in the Merchant Navy, rising to the rank of Chief Engineer. He died on Wednesday 13th November 1940 aged 37 and was buried with honour at Swalwell (Garden House) Cemetery, Co Durham. [View Memorial on Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.]
I last saw my Father at Greenock, where his ship was in dry dock being fitted out against the magnetic mines laid by the Germans. His ship sailed for Falmouth where it was blown up by a different type of mine, which a German submarine had laid during the night.
My Granny hated the Germans. They killed both of her sons. The ironic part of this is that her Father, Christian Ernst Frederic Elfert, was a German who at the age of sixteen had run away to sea and ended up marrying Mary Francis Humble of North Shields.
Florence Wood's Memories of her father
My father, William Henry Thompson, was born in West Hartlepool on the 31st March, 1894, the eldest of six children. He left school at 14 and went to live and work on a Yorkshire farm.
When the First World War broke out in 1914 he volunteered immediately and joined the Green Howards. He was in the second contingent to arrive in France, when the first army arrived, the Kaiser, when informed of the number of men in it, said 'that contemptible little army', these men then became known as the 'old contemptibles'.
The second army was much bigger so no comment was made about them. The second army marched across France to the front line, with full pack. They became tired and thirsty and so stopped at street pumps for water, only to find that some of the French had chained these pumps so the British army could not get water. They continued tired and thirsty until they reached their camp for the night.
Sometime in 1916 my father was wounded in the leg and after being sent to the field hospital was sent to England to recuperate for a few weeks and then sent back to France. In 1918 he was wounded in the arm and while he was lying semi-conscious in a shell hole with his arm outside it, a stray bullet hit him in the wrist. This time during his recuperation in England the war ended, so he did not go back to France.
At some point during the war, the Germans sent gas over the British lines which badly affected my father's lungs . In later years because of his weakened lungs, he developed pleurisy every winter and pneumonia a few times. The doctor informed my mother that his body was at least 20 years older than his age because of what he went through during the war.
It was then found that his arm, wounded at the elbow, had not been set properly at the field hospital, so the ends of the bones did not join completely. The ends of the bones not joined together began to decay and so he had inflammation and great pain for the rest of his life. The wrist and leg wounds healed completely but bits of shrapnel worked their way out of his leg right up to the year he died.
Mrs E. Kempton remembers Swalwell School During WWI
As Emily Ryle, I began Swalwell School in April 1915 and as many of my contemporaries will recall, we had a lovable, but firm, teacher in the reception class. Miss Ada Morrison was "mother" to generations of Swalwell children. This was during the First World War and we were taught at a very early age to knit double khaki scarves for the soldiers. Food was in very short supply and I well remember queuing, before school, for meat and jam. What a thrill it was to get a large jar of rhubarb and ginger jam! I remember clearly the day when Mr Sutcliffe, headmaster of the "big" school, paid a visit, dressed in his officer's uniform.
Part of the Peace Celebrations was a fancy dress parade by scholars in the schoolyard and on this occasion, each boy and girl received a Peace mug, which I still treasure.
[Mrs Kempton's mother, Emily Home, taught in the Infants Dept. at Swalwell School from 1895-98.]
Sergeant James Firth V.C. - Boer War hero
Sergeant James Firth, a Swalwell resident, though originally from near Sheffield, lived in Quality Row and enlisted in the Duke of Wellington's West Riding regiment in July 1889; winning the Victoria Cross on 14 February 1900, during the Boer War, when he rescued two men from enemy fire by carrying them to safety.
The citation reads, "At Plewmans Farm near Arundel, Cape Colony February 24th 1900, Sergeant Firth gained the Victoria Cross for two acts of bravery and devotion" "Lance Corporal Blackman had been wounded, and was lying not more than one hundred yards from the enemy, who were keeping up a severe hail of fire on all around" "Sergeant Firth scorning the bullets aimed at him and his brigade, advanced to the stricken corporal and carried him to the cover of their own lines". Shortly afterwards, second Lieutenant T H B Wilson fell dangerously wounded, in spite of the proximity of the Boers who had advanced quite close to the firing line, Firth carried the Officer over the crest of the ridge to shelter, receiving a bullet through the eye and nose, whilst engaged in this humane act".
In 1900, Sergeant Firth was discharged as medically unfit from the services. He applied for service again in 1914 at the outbreak of World War One, but he was turned down on medical grounds. After a long period of disability he died of tuberculosis in May 1921. He probably attended Swalwell School and a presentation was made to him by the villagers on his return from South Africa.