Sharing stories is what helps us to connect with others, find out what we have in common, and transfer our experiences. Even if the stories we share highlight our differences, it helps to build understanding of each other, a key ingredient for a wonderful friendship.
At Teams and Bensham Community Care, sharing stories and memories is one of our favourite things to do. In this blog, we share with you some of the amazing stories that our equally amazing beneficiaries have shared with us over the years, including our local memory book, designed by local artist, Richard Bliss, in 2014.
From working, socialising, war and family life, the memories take us as far back as 1940's Gateshead.
Gloria's Story - work, shopping and an unlikely oven-dweller
Joseph & Billy's Story - army, lodgings and a few pints
Margaret's Story - Walnut Whips in the 1940s, Bombings and a Charming Airman
Doreen's Story - The Jazz Band
Alice's Story - Running Cattle and Showbusiness
Gloria's Story
"I had to pay 1d to get across the bridge."
I’ve done all sorts in my working life, and I always worked! When I was very young I cleaned at the lead works on the other side of the old Redheugh Bridge. I had to pay 1d to get across the bridge, and 1d to get back to Gateshead.
After that, I worked in Mark Tony’s in Newcastle washing the dishes. It was hard work! From there I worked at Barons on 7th Avenue on the Team Valley, and at Mary Harris Gowns, then Jackson’s the Tailors up on Jackson Street in Gateshead. I finished up working at Lyndhurst School on Beacon Lough Road. I loved it there but they made you retire at 65. I could have gone on working there forever!
"A big bag of broken biscuits"
As for the shops, well, Shephard’s comes to mind straight away. I could spend all day there. My grandma would get a Provi (Provident) Ticket and get everything for Christmas out of Shepherds, including food from downstairs. Woolworths was great too, you could get a bag of broken biscuits for 6d. Littlewoods was a lovely shop too. You got all sorts of nice clothes in there, and a good fried breakfast from the café.
"It used to sleep in the oven."
I don’t remember the pet shop or the dolls hospital on the High Street like my friends here at the lunch club can, but my husband had a monkey when we were first married. I didn’t like it at all! It used to sleep in the oven, with the door open of course. It was warm in there and the monkey loved it. He also had a hen that he kept in the coal house. Mind, it didn’t lay any eggs so I soon got shot of that as well!
Joseph and Billy's Story
"Can you remember the Sarsparilla Shop?"
Joseph: I joined the army at 15 and had been sent to The Palestine as one of the British Troops who were both withdrawing ahead of the expiry of the British Mandate in 1948, but we were also occasionally intervening as the war between Israel and the Arab states began to take it's grip on the area. When I got back to Gateshead I worked on the old Redheugh Bridge and then as a security guard when the new houses were being built on the Gateshead banks of the Tyne. Can you remember the Sarsaparilla shop? Or the Ginger Beer Shop as I called it back then. The market in Gateshead was always busy. I'd buy fruit, mostly oranges, but you could get your week's shopping there, and a nice cup of tea at the cafe.
"I preferred a drop of the harder stuff."
Billy: I preferred a drop of the harder stuff. I went to the Blue Bell and the Metropole on Gateshead High Street. I worked as a porter at the Dunston Hill Hospital for 33 years. On a Friday night when I finished work I would go out in my hospital uniform, black tie and a blue shirt then get a bus to wherever I was lodging. I remember Mrs Scott's boarding house on Queens Terrace and living on Denmark Street. I'd have my tea at 5pm, and then at 6:45pm I'd go out to the pub. I didn't stay long, I'd be home by 7:30pm.
Margaret's Story
"I was sorting nuts for the Walnut Whips."
I was born in York and worked at the Rowntrees Factory. At 14 years old I was sorting nuts for the Walnut Whips.
I stayed at Rowntrees until the war came, but you couldn't get the sugar so I got laid off. After that I took pretty much any job that was going.
"There was a bomb coming out of a plane."
You cannot believe what it was like living through the war. I once saw a bomb coming out of a plane. My and my sister were sitting in a taxi outside York station, I told the driver to look up at the plane. The next thing we knew, there was a bomb coming out of the plane. Firemen came running, shouting to get under cover. Everyone was running for the shelters, but I could see the bomb falling and through to myself, there's nothing I can do, if it hits, it hits.
"A charming airman"
I got mixed up with a charming airman, and he took me to Gateshead in 1947. I met Sidney at a dance in Leeds, we were married for 62 years and had our daughter, Judith. Signey got a job as the official photographer at Clarke Chapmans on the Team Valley. Once I had Judith, I gave up work and devoted my time to looking after my family.
Doreen's Story
"One thing led to another"
I ran the junior jazz band, the Team Valley Highlanders. My son had gone along and then my other children joined in. My husband used to take them, and one thing led to another and me and my husband took over running the band.
"On hot days the kids would pass out"
My husband thought it would be good to see them in tartan, we wanted the Black Watch, so we wrote to the regiment to see if we could use it, and they agreed. At first they had these fur hats, but we soon found out that on hot days the kids would pass out, so we had to think of something else. I saw a fella from the bakery and he had on this kind of paper tam o'shanter hat, so I said to him could I have a look at it to see how it was made. He said to me I could have it so I took it home and took it to bits, and used it as a pattern for a cotton hat. The new hats had a ribbon down the back and a red pom-pom on top
"They just sat down in front of the bus."
We went all over the place in the bus, we’d got the bus because I’d been talking to my husband’s auntie, saying how expensive it was to hire the buses. She asked how much it would cost to buy one, and then she just gave us the money, and my husband drove the bus. We used to go to Wales to Abergavenny, we teamed up with the Abergavenny Tornadoes and they would come here, and we would march down there. When the Welsh lot came here they didn’t want to go home, they just sat down in front of the bus.
Alice's Story
"We would shout 'Murder, Murder."
I lived on Grahamsley Street, it came off Gateshead High Street. There were two bars, The Gloucester and The William. There was also Rooney’s Rag shop at the bottom. And the Killing Shop up near the quarry. I remember they would run the cattle through Gateshead to the killing shop and we would shout ‘Murder, Murder’. The quarry was where the travellers would settle for the winter. I would hear the music every night from the travellers, singing and playing the Andrews Sisters.
A magic lantern show.
I would go to Laws Sarsaparilla Shop, sometimes with the traveller girls who were friends with from school. Billy Laws had the shop, sometimes the father would put on a magic lantern show in the upstairs.
My Dad was a coalman, he stabled his horse at the back of Grahamsley Street, it’s funny to think that, because it was near where the Civic Centre is now.
We got coffee on a silver tray.
People we're better off in the 1950's and we got all the stars coming to Gateshead. I remember seeing Nat King Cole at Black’s Regal in Gateshead, the tickets were £1, we were in the third row from the front. My friend is in Australia now, but she swooned when he started to sing. We used to go down to London to see the big shows too. We’d go to the Victoria Palace and the Palladium to see the Crazy Gang and Flannagan and Allen. We went to see South Pacific at the Palladium and we saw Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth. We got coffee on a silver tray at the interval. My friend said ‘Alice, go to the ladies, they’re just throwing free cigarettes at you in there’.
We hope you enjoyed reading the stories as much as we enjoyed hearing them. If you enjoyed this, you might also want to take a look at our other blogs that are full of nostalgia.
Teams and Bensham Community Care is a registered charity supporting older people in Gateshead to alleviate and prevent the ill-effects of isolation and vulnerability. For three decades, we have provided lunch clubs, men’s groups, art and activities every weekday in our welcoming and accessible centre for up to 25 people each day. We're closed at the moment due to the Coronavirus Pandemic but you can now arrange a priority call back for when we're able to reopen. For more information, visit our website or call 0191 4900945.
First time I've read this and they all strike a cord in my memories of Gateshead. Alice's story is very familiar as she was the half sister of my husband. So much of her story I remember from the things he has told me, especially Nat King Cole in Gateshead and I can remember the travellers and the fair at Grahamsley Street we called it the Quarry. Alice and her friend were great singers, great harmony just like the Andrew sisters.
Happy day`s,born 7/5/1949 at the Q E Hospital,i lived at 6 grainger street teams,spent 5 years at prest street school, spent my first 10 years of life in grainger street, six of us in a two bedroomed house,gas lighting until 1956,then in 1960 had to move to leam lane estate,not a good move,looking back those years in the teams were very happy times,now living in the outback (Consett) but still a teams lad at heart !
Arthur Richardson.