Shields was a great place to grow up in.
[How long have you lived here?]
All my life, 73 years. I was born in Frater House, which is on Hawkey’s Lane, it’s now a government building but it was an off shot of the maternity ward of the hospital and I was born there. My family lived in Donkin Terrace, North Shields just up from Northumberland Park. I lived there until I was 25-26 and got married and moved out and I now live just outside of Billy Mill, end of the Coast Road, so I still live in Shields as such.
Northumberland Park pond in 1900s
It was fantastic. We had no health and safety, we did all sorts of crazy things. I mean, we lived next door to Northumberland Park so we played in the park and in those days it was a feature in the town, it had loads of gardeners, greenhouses and loads of flower displays, it was really beautiful. It had wardens in there to keep the people like me out and we used to sneak in and play there. There used to a big duck pond there, every part of the park had a name. There was top field, daisy field, the rocks, you know we all had our little places. But there’s a tunnel that still exists which goes from the duck pond underneath the main road and ends up at the golf club and we used to sneak through there as kids.
Also in the park, top of Tanners Bank there used to be a drycleaners and in the wall part of the drycleaners there used to be an air raid shelter. It’s no longer there and the drycleaners have gone and everything’s been covered up, but we used to play in there. We used to go down to the fish quay, play on the sands at the fish quay. Occasionally you might go down to Tynemouth and play in the castle.
When Shields was a vibrant centre, we had proper shops you know you had The Globe shoe shop if you wanted boots that’s where you went. You had Fairbairn’s, you had Woolworths, you had Hardy Freeman and Willis if you wanted your clothes. There was WIlliamson Hoggs which were the chemist but they used to grind coffee, and you’d get the smell of the coffee coming through all the time.
Shields was a great place to grow up in. You could go into the library at the bottom of Shields, you had a town square, not like the one we’ve got now it was an actual square that the buses went around, you had a fountain in there that used to light up, it was great, absolutely great.
The boats used to come in on the quay, you could always get some herring off the lads on the quay as kids. You could go down there and maybe give them a hand to stack boxes or something and you’d get a load of fish for doing it or you would get a few pennies off them, things like that. No electronic games, lucky if you had a television, everybody had a wireless, nobody had a radio, we all had wirelesses in those days. It was just a great place to grow.
I grew up with all me mates, mates I’ve still got now, they came to Linskill and the highlight when I was a child every Christmas, King Edwards boys and girls came to LInskill to see a movie, they put a picture show on for the kids. Remember, I’m going back to 1955-56, girls lived upstairs, boys lived downstairs, they never met at school they had separate yards and everything. They were lucky the girls had indoor toilets the boys didn’t, you had to go outside in the winter and break the ice if you wanted to use the toilet. Oh, yeah it was great fun, it was a wonderful place but now it’s changed out of all recognition.
We used to get all the boats come in the river. Shipbuilding on the Tyne starting from Smiths dock you could go al the way up the river, get the ferry across at Walker and all the way down the river and never leave a shipyard. We used to get time off as apprentices because they would launch a ship from Swans, you got the day off. Everybody went down to the bank side to watch the ship being launched.
Can you remember going to the Plaza and you hired a tent and a windbreak, and you got changed in the tent. We used to go down as a family and there was a cast of thousands and everybody had sand sandwiches, no matter what you made it was always sand sandwiches, and everybody went swimming and we never seemed to have any problem at all. We would go down to King Edwards Bay and I hate to say this, climb up the drift face to get into the castle. I’m a member of Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade and one of things we do is go down and stop the kids from trying to climb in the castle and it never occurred to me when I was like, 7,8,9 and 10 we were down there you know.
My favourite place probably was Northumberland Park. We had so much fun there. In the winter you could take your sled in there, they didn’t like it, but we used to go across to the golf course and sled. You could go down the bank on a bit of cardboard, you’d go and get a bit of cardboard box off somebody and literally go down the grass on that, crazy. Rope swings, I used to climb trees, we used to build dens in there it was absolutely brilliant and it is still very nice but it’s not a patch on what it was unfortunately. I still take the kids down there; we still go down and feed the ducks and have a walk around. I take the little ones and say, “And this is the daisy field, these are the rocks,” and they go, “They’re just fields granda.” “Well, you don’t understand son because you’ve got all this electronic stuff.” We didn’t have it, you picked a stick up and it was a machine gun, you picked a stone up and it was a hand grenade, you just had great fun.
When I look back, I’ve done enough. Would I do it all again, yes. Would I serve my time as an engineer, yes. Would I miss cycling from North Shields to Hebburn in the winter, yes because that’s what you did, you became trained. My father signed my life away for five years as an apprentice. He signed a legal document, basically he said to the company my son will attend for five years and for five years I attended and got paid. You stood in the queue, you went to the desk and you got your money in an envelope, there you go son, there’s your wages, there’s your £4 17s and 6p and then you went home and you gave your mother £4 because you had to pay your board. Yes, would I do it all again, yes.
[What do you hope the town will be like in 15 years time?]I’d like to see a shopping centre, Id’ like to see the shop rates and rents reduced to get people in there. You go in the shopping centre in Shields you’ve lost all of the big shops. You used to be able to go into Shields and get everything you wanted. The Betterware man used to come door to door and sell your brushes when the coal delivery was by horse and cart. The guy who did the coal where I lived in Donkin terrace used to come round on a Sunday with his horse and cart and sell ice creams.
Yeah, shopping for suits and clothes in Woods in Saville Street, watching the kids in Woolly’s nicking all the sweets, that was another classic one. Gruber’s the pork butcher on Tynemouth Road, oh that was brilliant. He did saveloys and sandwiches and he was a proper German, Gruber. Next door to him you had Atkinsons the fruit shop, Atkinsons had loads and loads of shops. My wife’s mother weas the manageress of the one in North Shields and that’s how I met my wife to be through that one. The Globe boot shop. Hill Carters the department store with a lift and their own money. Clarks toy shop and you could lay toys away for Christmas and pay a shilling a week and your toys were ready. Bell Brothers another department store. T&G Allens the stationers where you got proper pens and proper ink, Atkinsons fruit and veg yeah. Shields is a wonderful place it’s lost its heart, it’s lost it’s direction but that’s all. They will get it right, I’m sure they will.
Dave was interviewed as part of the North Shields 800 Voices project.