In our first chapter we brought you a mixture of memories of Walnut Whips, Bombs in York, local pubs and unusual pets (and their sleeping arrangements!). In Chapter 2, we brought you a wonderful conversation about Gateshead High street memories.
In our 3rd instalment, we go as far back as the 1940's to talk about the working life of the women who attend Teams and Bensham Community Care lunch club.
Ada
"I was a bit of a gadabout"
“I was born on Bolam Street, it’s a bus stop now, but I’ve not moved far, just up to Lobley Hill. I met my husband, Wilfred, at Victoria School, and then we both worked on the Team Valley. I was a bit of a gad about, if I didn’t like a job I would just up and get another one. I started at the Ropery on the Valley, but I didn’t like that so I got a job with the flour men, and then from there I went to brush making. I liked starting something new, it made work interesting.
"Get on the scooter and go off to Blackpool"
I loved dancing when I was younger, I would go to the Oxford and off to Blackpool at the Weekends. Me and Wilfred would get on the scooter and go off to Blackpool.”
“You mean you’d get the scooter to the station?”
“No all the way to Blackpool! Wilfed would drive and I’d be on the back. I was hardly in the house in them days. We went to Spain too, not that many people went abroad then. I worked all my life, so we didn’t go short.”
Rosaline
"I was a seamstress at Barons"
“Even as a little girl I used to carry round a bit of a fancy handbag, and as soon as I went out to work I started to buy a few fancy bits of jewellery. I was a seamstress at Barons on the Team Valley. I did hand-sewing on men’s suits, sewing button holes, later on they did it by machine, but when I started you had to do it by hand. I remember doing some very fancy hand-sewing on smart blue men’s suits. My mam had worked on the trading estate as well, in the sewing factories.
"I never got a big win"
I liked to go out to the clubs, mostly for the bingo, but I never got a big win. I liked the cinema too, the Rex and the Ravensworth, I didn’t have a favourite star, but I used to love the pictures. Sometimes we would go over to the town for a night out at the pictures. There aren’t so many now.”
Gladys
"I shouldn't say I hated it"
“I sewed button holes too. It was hard work. I started work at Albert Gills, but I hated it. Well I shouldn’t say that I hated it, my mother always said – 'You dislike it, not hate it' – but I ‘disliked’ it enough to move to Mary Harris. I loved it there, and went on working there until I got married to John. We had two boys and two girls.
"I was evacuated to Hunswick"
"Before I was married I was always up at the Central Hall on West Street, it was part of the Methodist Church. There was all sorts going on. I was in the Girl Guides until I was 18 and that’s what got me to the Central Hall. Mind I was evacuated to Hunwick near Bishop Auckland. I loved it there, out in the country. I still prefer the country, even though I’ve lived at Lobley Hill for over fifty years. Until a year ago I would take the dog out walking all over. I’ve always had a dog, I love animals. I miss my dog now.”
Florence
"I went to work as a tool sharpener"
“I’m from Dunston born and bred, and that’s still where I live. My first job was in the soap works at Dunston. Then I moved to Barons, and when the war came we started to make army and air force uniforms. Then there was a call up to work in the munitions factory, so I went to work as a tool sharpener. It was precision work, it had to be absolutely ‘right’ or it would mean problems for the men down the line and you couldn’t afford any scrap.”
"The men we're away so we had to step in"
“It was traditionally men’s work, but the men were away so we had to step in. Women didn’t do that kind of engineering work before the war, but as the men were called up we had to train to do their jobs. The older men would be very helpful, and the younger ones before they got called up too. That’s where I met Jack. He had to take me up to the office to see the manager."
"I was one of the first post-war home helps"
"Jack was a tool-maker and we married in 1948, and then i had to give up work as a tool-sharpener. I returned to dress making then I stopped work for a bit when Ian was born in 1951, but I went back to work as a Home Help. I was one of the first post-war home helps to be employed by Durham County Council. I was a home help for 26, years first for Durham County Council and then for Gateshead Council. I really enjoyed helping other people, I didn’t want to retire at 60 but back then you had to."
Edna
"I wanted to work in a shop"
"I have 11 siblings, 7 sisters and 3 brothers. I was born on Marion Street in Bensham and went to school on Victoria Road. My brothers and sisters still live around here, we get to see each other, we can either walk or get a bus. My eldest sister still lives in our family house. I was a smart girl and didn’t want to work in a factory, so at age 14 I got my first job in Liptons The Grocer. I wanted to work in a shop so I felt good about working there. The other women in the shop were older than me, but I loved it, talking to the customers all the time."
"We didn't get up to any larks"
"I started out in the Liptons on West Street in Gateshead, it was next to Harry ‘Boot King’. It was a well known shoe shop. The Liptons was only a small one, but I got moved over to the Liptons on Clayton Street. It was a proper grocer’s shop. Shelves all around. You had to keep yourself and the shop really smart and tidy. Although there was men in the shop at Clayton Street, we didn’t get up to any larks."
"I got tempted by the bigger wages"
"Lipton’s customers were very nice people, there was no ‘tickin’ on’, everything was paid for there and then. After Lipton’s I got tempted by the bigger wages at the Ropery on the Team Valley, so I moved over there. I met my first husband there, he was a maintenance technician. I was only 21 and he was a good bit older than me. We got divorced and I wasn’t married for a long time but then I married Hugh."
Brenda
"I was a Tracer in various engineering firms"
“The men would draw things in pencil and it would be all rubbings out and changes, and it was our job to trace the final drawing to make the blueprint for whatever was being engineered. We would put the men’s drawings on the board and we would make sense of them and then we would ink them in.”
"My husband said it was up to me"
"I started off working on the Team Valley, but then moved across the water to be a tracer at Parsons, the big works in Newcastle. Even after I got married I carried on working. I was quite experienced by then, my husband said it was up to me if I wanted to work, and it was quite well paid, it was definitely worth going out for!”
"I had to sign the official secrets act."
At one point I worked on secret engineering drawings for the RAF at Forest Hall. I had to sign the official secrets act to work at Forest Hall. It was all men and boys up there, but I went for the interview and got the gob as a Tracer for the RAF. I became a Civil Servant. It was all very different, a lot of security, I had to have a security card and show it to a man just to get into the office. The office moved somewhere down the country and they wanted me to go with them, but I couldn’t really go, I had my husband here so I had to stay.”
If you enjoyed this, you might also want to take a look at our other blogs that are full of nostalgia.
Memories of Gateshead - Chapter 1
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.
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