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.

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