My mother used to say if you go to the Fish Quay Sands and get drowned, I’ll murder you.
Fish Quay Sands, North Shields
There was an open-air pool at Tynemouth and Hawkey’s Lane. The Fish Quay Sands were quite near, and we took bread and jam sandwiches and a bottle of water. My mother used to say to me, if you go to the Fish Quay Sands and get drowned, I’ll murder you”. You had to shake all the sand out of your clothes before going home.
We were not allowed to go to King Edward’s Bay because it’s got a very deep shelf not far out and nasty under-currents. We used to walk at night along the Fish Quay right around the rocks into Tynemouth. We also used to go along to Noel’s Jetty and hail the ships asking where they were bound.