Middlesbrough Remembered
The Streets
The House
"Cooper" Common
Excuse me but where is Middlesbrough?
Walk from North Ormesby
Sources and Resources
Only a Short Time in History
Memories of Parliament Road
Welford Street
Football on the Roof
St Patrick's Church
The Tees (Newport) Bridge
Don't Mention the War?
Laws Street Block
Dorman Museum
Albert Park and 'Owld 'Enry
An Ayresome Childhood
Street Games
The Shops
St Paul's School
Victoria St/Greta St Now
Newport School
The 'New' Newport School
Archibald Schools
Newport Bombing 15 April 1942
Closing of St Paul's School
Ayresome School
More Memories of Parliament Rd.
Round and About King George Street
Cinemas
Tees Poem
Middlesbrough Welsh
Memories of Duncombe Street
Honeymans of Cannon Street
Marilyn's Memories
Sun Sea & Sand
Fox Heads Page 1
Why DOGGY Town??
Fox Heads Page 2
Memories of St Paul's
A Mohawk in Middlesbrough
Remembering Craven Street
Marsh Road School
Pauline's Memories
Luftwaffe Over Middlesbrough
First World War Shell Explodes in Middlesbrough
Queries:Can You Help?
St Columba's Parish in the Sixties
More Street Games
Memories Baxter Street
Judith's Middlesbrough Childhood
Pine Street
Links for Newport, Middlesbrough
Guestbook
Mail Form
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Out & About
Cheryl's Holiday Memories
I was born in North Ormesby in 1950 and, from my early childhood, I recall having severe bouts of bronchitis, the most memorable of which was when the 'new' Queen visited, I was off school ill and so wasn't able to join in with my classmates, as they lined the road, and waved their little Union Jacks! The nearest I got was, when we knew the entourage was approaching Cargo Fleet Lane, Mum opened the old sash window in her bedroom, at the front of the house, and hung on to me while I furiously waved a flag, in a childishly innocent, vain hope, that Queen Elizabeth the 2nd who I could see in the distance - would actually see me!
My doctor told Mum that I needed more fresh air, and that plenty of days out in Redcar or Saltburn would be beneficial, or trips over the moors. We first had a Triumph motorbike and sidecar. I remember the registration was AEF 138. My brother is 7 years older than me, and was occasionally allowed to ride pillion. This instilled a love of motorbikes, which he has retained to this day, although the Moto Guzzi he has now, is sadly, sitting in the garage just gathering dust and in need of difficult to find parts and costly repair.
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Barker's Field at Coatham
We enjoyed very many family days out, just along the coast to Redcar or Saltburn, or further afield over the moors or to Whitby or Scarborough.
Then, Mum & Dad bought two huts on Barkers Field, also known as
Coatham Holiday Camp,
Number 83 was a two roomed hut. One room was a bedroom with a double bed and a bunk bed. There was a curtain dividing them off and a large wooden ex army wardrobe and an old set of wooden drawers, the other room had a coal fired range which we could cook on and kept the room really cosy on a cold night. There was an old leatherette settee a table and four chairs and cupboards and shelves to store pots and pans.
The other hut, number 78, was a lot smaller and had just one room with a curtain across the bed, to divide it from the living area. It was let out to holidaymakers, and this helped to pay the site rent for the one which we lived in. There was a camp shop which we bought some of our food from, but we bought most of it in Redcar.
We had no facilities for washing clothes at the hut, Mum would handwash a few essential items in the toilet block, and use the old mangle in there to squeeze as much water from them as possible, then hang them to dry outside. Every week she would go home with Dad while I was at school, to wash bedding and other larger items in the washing machine, and to check the post etc. We had an old heavy iron which she heated up on the stove top, and also some curling tongs which were pushed into the red hot coals, to put ringlets in my hair. |
Summer Schooling in Warrenby and Coatham
We used to live on Barker's Field most of the summer months. My Dad went to work as normal, and I went to school in Warrenby just over the bridge. I also went to the Church School in Coatham Road for a while. It was so overcrowded that two pupils sat on the piano stool and used the piano as a desk. The playground was across Coatham High Street at the 'back' of the school, we had to be seen across the road by a teacher and had to stay there until they came back for us.
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Tea time on the Beach
Often Mum would collect me from school and we'd go straight down onto the beach for a picnic tea, most of our weekends were also spent on the beach, just a ten minute walk away from the hut. Cold or rainy days in the hut were always spent around the cosy stove, reading books, sewing, doing crosswords or jigsaws. We would buy bread and teacakes from Davisons in Redcar High Street, and open the range door to toast them, simple pleasures and such good memories! So I suppose my summers were like one long holiday...interspersed with schooldays!
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A Cuppa with Larry
My brother had an autograph book and would hang around at the theatre stage door to fill his book, I can't remember them all but I know he has Ken Dodd’s autograph. He also used to play the harmonica, and when his idol Larry Adler appeared on stage in Redcar, he managed to get his autograph and also got to play harmonica with him on the stage. Another celebrity who played a season there was Billy Breen, who later changed his name to Larry Grayson. While he was on stage that summer, he brought his own huge touring caravan onto Barkers Field to live in, right next to our hut! We got to know him quite well and he would pop in for a cuppa with us often. He was a very genuine, kind and generous man, he would ask me in and show me how he put his make up on before a performance, and let me try some of it out too, I was fascinated
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Venturing Further Afield
| Eventually my Dad bought a Reliant Robin, pale blue of course....weren't they all! I remembered the registration began with HDC, but I wasn't sure of the rest until I found an old photograph. I believe that DC was a local registration? This was much more practical if the weather took a turn for the worse, as at least we were all under cover, much warmer and drier, and Dad still didn't need a full driving licence for it. We travelled further afield in the Robin and, when Dad passed his driving test, he then said he wanted something bigger and better. We hired a Renault Dauphine for a week to see if he liked it, and....it was dreadful! I was sat in the back and I could feel the engine pulsating behind me, I couldn't travel very far before throwing up..... needless to say - we didn't buy one! |  |
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| We did travel short distances in it that week, and I managed to get as far as Whitby without losing my lunch, with lots of stops on the way. So we kept the Reliant Robin a while longer, and spent weekends at Robin Hoods Bay, Whitby, Staithes, etc. sometimes taking a tent and camping overnight if the weather was good. Sometimes we used to stay in a caravan somewhere near Fylingdales, I think it was called The Flask Inn Caravan Site. It was a really nice site, plenty of fresh air and near to Whitby. When we went to Whitby, we would sometimes remove the seats from the car (they just lifted out) and take them down to the beach to sit on. I had forgotten all about this until I found an old photo of us sitting on them by the harbour wall. |  |
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Blackpool
Of course, we also used to go to Blackpool most years to see the illuminations, I have many happy memories of that! My Mum worked in Blackpool as a Nanny in her early twenties so she knew it quite well. We found a guest house which had a self catering caravan in the back yard, it was plumbed into the mains water and sewage, had mains electricity, and we used the back yard gate as our entrance, so it was really self contained. Although a lot of Blackpool is so tacky, the illuminations were really wonderful to me as a child, and I enjoyed every minute of the Tower Ballroom Wurlitzer and watching the dancers there. We usually booked to see a show at one of the theatres, they all seemed to be child friendly in those days - sadly, not so now! Travelling on the trams was also a treat, we always had a trip from one end of the illuminations to the other, especially if it was raining! It was an exciting vibrant place for a child, we took our own daughter when she was about 8 and she thoroughly enjoyed it, but the atmosphere is so very different now, there are a lot more drunks about, and lots of hen and stag parties, definitely not as child friendly as it used to be when I was small. Sadly, a sign of the times I suppose!
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