Longbenton was one big, muddy building site!
In the late 1950s Longbenton was one big (muddy) building site and the youngsters on the estate loved to watch the builders at work. I remember on one occasion one of the children got his wellingtons stuck in the mud and had to be lifted out by one of the builders, leaving his wellingtons behind. This was around where Monks Park Way and Mendip Way is now. Later in the day someone had to come back and retrieve the wellingtons – it wasn’t much fun!
Other people can remember when the first house to be completed on the estate, next to the Rocket near the roundabout, used to keep a stock of wellingtons for visitors to use when they came to look at their new homes. At that time there was one telephone box on the estate. By 1968 there was a six month wait to get a private line connected and even then it was a party line, shared with another family.