Everyone ate fish that day and it had to be fresh.
Good Friday on the Fish Quay at North Shields was one of the busiest days of the year, because everyone ate fish that day and it had to be fresh – there weren’t many other ways of storing food in those days. The Cullercoats’ fish women would get onto the trains to sell their fish in the outlying towns and villages such as Shiremoor and West Allotment. I think the fish lady that came to Backworth was called Lizzie.
Editor’s Note: The sound clip that accompanies this memory gives more detail about some traditions that went with eating fish on Good Friday, especially the way it was a family occasion.