a tiny village then right on the riverside and moved up to Westerhope when I was approximately six weeks old I then lived in Westerhope right up until my marriage (pause) and moved away because my husband was in the Fleet Air Arm (pause) came back is that enough do you want to go

mm

further back than that but it's just to give you the (pause) sound more than anything

why you start right from the right from the very right from the very beginning because (pause) I'm the eldest of eight (pause) one of twins the other one died living in Hampstead Road in Benwell (pause) normal school Canning Street (pause) then when I finished school the war was on of course I was evacuated at Hexham and then when when the war finished I came back to Newcastle just in time to finish school fortunately the Wingrove tram depot was just at the top of the street so I got a job in the corporation as a point boy with the tram cars and trolley buses

days of the ancient Britons

yes (laughter) so (pause) when Wingrove depot closed they were going to send me over to Byker of course me living in the east end it was no good going over to Byker I would be travelling all day to get to work so I joined the United or Bell's as it was before the United took them over in the meantime I met (NAME) being a conductor on the buses

no I wasn't a conductor on the buses

no I was

you were a conductor on the buses

I was conducting on the on the United or Bell's

yeah but it was just I knew you as the conductor then I I actually met you when you were going to the dances wasn't it

yeah

that was when I really started (interruption) to remember you

we used to go to the village hop the toot as it's known as the institute the miners welfare at Westerhope there

yeah up there why don't you come back with what you did when you were up at Dukes Camp you know I mean you you were walked in three mile to the (pause) abbey for your

oh yes

church services

used to sing in the (interruption) choir at Hexham abbey

and marched back

did you

sorry

of course that was afore my voice broke (laughter) confirmed at Hexham (pause) but the the camp itself it just looked like a prisoner of war camp actually it was just a line of two lines of huts they were all named after trees the oak poplar beech (pause) the sycamore tree was of course the hospital department the doctor's

but you you were evacuated before that though weren't you

oh (interruption) I was

you went up to the west country (interruption) somewhere didn't you

at Wigton (pause) Wigton

Wigton mm

up near Carlisle

yeah

of course that was only six weeks I was only up there for six weeks

why

I don't know

oh they brought (interruption) your dad didn't bring you back (interruption)

(interruption) they just started (interruption) they just started to fetch everybody back because they thought the (pause) the trouble was over

mm

with the air raids and everything but there again they started again so we were all (pause) evacuated up to Hexham I know it seems funny now evacuated at Hexham what twenty mile away (pause) because there was a bomber came down in the high street in Hexham

was there

so it's not like as if it was out of the war zone like we were just out of the town where it was getting plastered (pause) (interruption) which

my childhood was very different I wasn't evacuated at all I (pause) mm (pause) I think my earliest recollection was my younger (pause) wey next brother being born I can remember being taken into Princess Mary's eh not allowed to go in of course that was definitely no it was forbidden eh (pause) being hoisted up on my uncle's shoulder to look over the window that was half painted to see a little bundle that was obviously my brother being held up by my dad that's about my earliest recollection ehm (pause) I can remember dad going away on football outings trips for the day and he came back one time with ehm a doll for me and eh a little steam engine for my brother and my brother wanted the doll (pause) oh and there was quite a to do because my brother wanted the doll he didn't want the steam engine he was a little bit young I think to appreciate the fact that it went back and forwards about two yards each way you know ehm (pause) and the doll was thrown and I had the doll for precisely twenty four hours I think he threw it and of course it was a cloth body and a boody head as you called them you know

yeah

the doll was shattered and I think that was became a (unclear) a (pause) distance between my brother and myself not that we're distanced but you know just

mm

that was my brother he's was definitely off the team for a long time ehm (pause) and we lived in a place called Anderson's Buildings which was just a small street beside the social club it was owned by Anderson's eh Hauliers then and he's since progressed to buses and things but he owned that and they were just little (pause) ehm one bedroomed flats that's all you could call them with a communal communal kitchen with the cold water very modern and up to date because you actually had cold water in the kitchen with a sink you know

oh

that you ehm the big cooker that both families had to do their cooking on (pause) and if they were both on the same shift at the pit it was rather awkward you know

mm

everybody wanted to cook together ehm (pause) dad used to come home black have a bath in a tin bath in front of the fire ehm (pause) we used to think that was great eh I can recollect being told about the ehm (pause) Duke abdication or the King's abdication apparently I had just learnt to read and I came in reading this headlines you know 'Prince of Wales is getting married' or something of that ilk ehm (pause) I can remember vaguely that but that's ehm (pause) was one of the party pieces later years when families were together and 'remember when (NAME) did this' you know ehm (pause) playing oh I went to the local school Westerhope school ehm we used to play with balls against the walls and skipping ropes and the fair used to come about twice a year to a minute field and we thought that was great absolutely great you went up in the morning and you made friends with the children there and you got free rides until it was about seven o'clock and that was a luxury you know you were really were somebody then and the lady on the end of the street had (pause) quite a large family and she used to (pause) used to make home made pies and steepy peas on a Saturday and they used to come from miles around for their pies and peas and their basins and the plates for their pies on a Saturday ehm (pause) and I used to think that was good used to swing on the garden gate watching people go in and out and in and out and you know you made tons of friends as you thought but (laughter) just used to speak to the little girl that was hanging on the gate

mm

ehm (pause) we (pause) I suppose played the normal games and (pause) we were stuck in the one bedroomed flat (pause) ehm and just as mam war was declared I remember war being declared and we were all round at grandmother's who lived in Beaumont Terrace which was the long colliery row in the village there's a (pause) hundred and hundred and fifty about a hundred and fifty houses colliery rows gran lived in there and ehm (pause) we all collected there on the Sunday morning the day war was broke out and gran wringing her hands and crying and the end of the world had come which I suppose she thought it had we thought it was great hearing the sirens you know eh we all went off home and mam built an air raid shelter or a shelter of some description under the stairs in the flat

mm

and she'd got it all done and my mam was very particular you know everything had to be just so hadn't much money obviously but still everything had to be just right and we I thought we had the best shelter in the whole of Westerhope you know under the stairs and she just got that finished when the chap from the council came and said she'd been given a three bedroomed house and I think mam was very disappointed (interruption) that she wasn't (laughter) going to be able to use this shelter (laughter) I think we were too ehm (pause) moved into a flash council house ehm which was absolutely terrific I mean you had indoor plumbing you know a toilet and a bath ehm (pause) got made new friends obviously ehm still went to the same school and then they started building a well I had we had a green at the bottom of our street the street was separated by a green they built air raid shelters on there that were never used incidentally never used ehm not because there weren't any air raids there obviously were but nobody wanted to go down and (pause) be in these brick affairs ehm (pause) we used to play in them around them and on them (laughter) yeah many a good hiding for that eh

(laughter) (pause) did you (unclear)

(unclear)

because dad was ehm the local (pause) ehm come on air raid warden weren't they

uh-huh

air raid warden (unclear) air raid warden so once again (NAME) it was very important because her dad was the air raid warden mm-hm 'don't do that' many a clout I got from the kids because I started being the big girl and saying 'I can I'll send my dad for you' you know 'you haven't got to play in there' I could play in but they couldn't

of course once she starts yapping like you know I can't get a word in edgeways

yes (interruption) obviously well come on butt in (laughter)

(laughter) (pause) what do you remember then when you when war started

well I can remember one big thing when the (pause) ice cream cone factory went up everybody had free ice cream cones for weeks on end after that

oh really

down Condercum Road

oh

just ice cream cones

just the ice they used to make the ice cream cones there course when the biggest part of my life that I remember was after finishing school and starting work of course Cannon Street school (pause) was built actually speaking of it it held soldiers in it during World War One

oh I (interruption) apologize

oh that stupid phone

did you switch off

aye

I've switched it back on again though

(unclear)

see I could have had I could have had a lot of words there

you did but we didn't get them (laughter)

it's all right it's just people (interruption) think I work twenty four hours a day seven days a week

he was telling me about (pause) he was telling me about the dances he said that you met at a dance

we did

yeah

yeah (NAME) used to dance every night of the week though from what I can gather ehm (pause) obviously being a young man he was allowed to go well I don't know whether he was allowed he just went all over but I wasn't you see I was kept on a rein ehm (pause) nice girls didn't go down to Newcastle on a night time to dance you know and if you went to the pictures you went straight from work and you were home about nine o'clock I had to be in at ten o'clock every night eh unless I was at a dance (pause) where my dad was ehm my dad being on the committee at the institute was obviously on the door or doing something and ehm (pause) I could stay out until eleven or one o'clock sometimes if it was a whist drive and dance didn't used to finish until one I could stay out then but then of course mam used to go to the whist drives and just stay on (pause) ehm

actually I didn't find out until later (NAME)'s mam and my father used to go to the whist drives together

well

but they all (interruption) knew

(unclear)

long before we ever started going around with each other

yeah yeah (interruption) we didn't know that

so it was funny that like you know

ehm (pause) that was actually wor wedding reception wasn't it

aye

that ehm (pause) mam my mam and pop knew each other or (interruption) (unclear)

'oh hello what you doing here' (laughter)

(laughter) mm but we used to go dancing locally sometimes if there's when I was a little bit older eh four or five of us would maybe go down (pause) to Scotswood but there had to be a team of us you were never allowed to go on your own and I forgotten when I was still at school about the last twelve months of school this little village called North Walbottle we used to call it High Pit eh and they had a little hut it would be about twice the size of this and on a Wednesday night they used to have a dance (pause) eh from seven till half past nine and I was allowed to go to that because relatives lived all around so one would see me come off the bus and the other one would make sure they saw me get on the bus you know

mm

ehm (pause) but that was the lads used to stand (interruption) in a corner and be

typical village everybody else knew everybody else

pardon

typical village everybody knew everybody (interruption) else

well that's right I mean that's what Westerhope used to be like everybody knew everybody else there in Westerhope I mean it's it's a it's a town now to what it was

oh I know

it was literally a village

it was safe being out at night then was it

yeah

ehm (pause) we we (pause) I mean we used to got to the pictures in town with each each other I mean the girls the big thing when I left school was to get a job the girls if they weren't at secondary school the big thing was to get a job in Andrews Liversalts factory

right

that was it now if you didn't quite manage that you then went to Sinclair's factory right and they were the two anybody that did anything else was certainly strange ehm (pause) and we all used to meet up together about five o'clock and go to the pictures and if the lads were I mean most of the lads worked in the shipyards or in the pits and if the lads were able they would be there too and we'd all go in a gang and walk home

mm-hm

you know and you never thought twice about walking home whether you had the money for your bus fare or not you just set off and you walked home you didn't bother and my husband (interruption) wasn't in amongst this I only knew my husband (pause) I only courted my husband from the January to the March wasn't it (interruption)

(interruption) (unclear) (interruption) aye

ehm (pause) that was all but I mean I I

do you want to know how it happened

yes

(laughter) wey I used to be on the buses and of course (NAME) used to leave the her work there and she used to get the five o'clock bus from Newgate Street up to Westerhope and if I was conducting on that bus we used to have the big fat jerry (pause) driver (NAME) so I don't know if you know or not like but a conductor was in charge of the bus not the driver

yeah

so we told the driver when to go and of course I used to sit looking at my watch 'crikey if she doesn't come round that corner in a couple of minutes she's going to miss the bus' nine times out of ten it were a minute past five she would come belting round the corner I was standing with my hand on the bell ready to start (NAME) was looking back because he knew what time it was (pause) so as soon as (NAME) got on the bus I rang the bell and of course the bus used to go away

talk the wash house though because the buses (interruption) were full

oh aye

obviously at the time but there was always a place for (NAME) (interruption) on them

(laughter)

(laughter) (pause) and then eh (pause) that bus used to go on to Stamfordham so sometimes if it was a middle shift finishing at eight o'clock we used to run up to Stamfordham and I used to say to (NAME) 'oh well come up to Stamfordham for a run (pause) and then come back to town we'll have a (pause) tea or go go home' or something like that (pause) of course nine times out of ten we used to go home have a cup of tea but coming back (pause) we used to take the workers from Newcastle up to Stamfordham and the bus used to just turn round and come back empty

mm

of course (NAME) and I sitting in the back of the bus there (NAME) used to switch the lights out

(laughter)

of course we were canoodling in the back of the bus weren't we

that's right because it was the beginning of the year it was dark about five o'clock (laughter) that's right

so

that's true

of course that went round the depot like wild fire (pause) 'aye what have you been doing' we were all the same get back to the (pause) a bit more modern (pause) on the corporation all the time until Wingrove closed then went on to United (pause) and then eighteen year old I joined the RAF well I was in the ATC (pause) in the eh Training Corps and then went into the RAF I was an air frame mechanic on Lancaster Bombers (pause) finished my eighteen month in the airforce come home (pause) went on to the United again back on buses in the meantime there was people there was a (pause) that's when polio was on the go

oh yeah mm

and there was a shortage of staff at Wooler depot up near Coldstream

hang on hang on hang on (pause) you've missed out about three or four years there

how

because you went on your National Service

aye

right you did your National Service and you came out now you would come out obviously around about twenty

yeah

right so you went back to United

uh-huh

because you were top decking with (pause) (NAME)

aye (interruption) I know

(NAME) (NAME)

(NAME) (NAME) aye

and that was the time I met you

uh-huh

right (interruption) you had applied to go into the Fleet Air Arm because you couldn't settle back home

aye that's (pause) aye

well at least (interruption) that's what he told me

being used to service life I I just didn't fancy (interruption) settling down

well they were all used to service life I just the kids I suppose the kids underneath you were getting a bit bigger and a bit more cheeky I should imagine ehm

so I went and joined (interruption) the Fleet Air Arm

and you went into the Fleet Air Arm because that's why we (pause) got married so quick

aye

because you had got word the (interruption) one week

aye aye but uh-huh

wait a minute

uh-huh

well if this is different it's been different now for forty two years it's the tale I've got you got word the one week that you were to go away the following Monday

Monday morning uh-huh

you came down to The Chronicle offices to seek me and waltzed me up to the registry office because I wasn't twenty one and you got us into Saville Row (pause) before you really said what you were going to do and I had said well this can't be done because you've got to ask my dad's my mam's permission because I'm not twenty one yet but we still went in and got the forms and we came home that night now that must have been a a (pause) Monday or a Tuesday because we were married inside a week we were married (interruption) on the Saturday morning

mm

that was afore I says I ever says 'will you marry us' (laughter)

eh because you never ever asked us

did I not oh well

no you never ever asked us you just waltzed us up the registry office and I said 'where we going' 'you'll see you'll see you'll see'

(laughter)

'I've got to gan away on Monday morning and we're getting married before we gan' was what you said to me right

aye

and then you had to go home and ask my dad's permission and my dad's comment was 'you might as well I've kept her long enough' that was my dad's comment and we were married on the Saturday morning

aye (pause) married on the Saturday

and then we went to the (pause) we went on the Saturday afternoon to the navy office which was up Scotswood or or up that way somewhere (interruption) wasn't it and you told them that you were changing the next of kin (pause) because we'd been married that morning and the chap said 'well you seem a sensible lad you don't have to go down with the lads on the Monday but I want you down at Pompey on the Tuesday' (interruption)

(interruption) uh-huh (interruption) so I had to go down to Lee-on-Solent on my own on the Tuesday

that's right

oh

of course going for the train (pause) being (NAME) like the rest of the clerks never on time dashing away to the Central Station for the train down to Lee I had to leave her and run on ahead otherwise I would miss the train of course she was just coming across the the bridge (interruption) when the train was pulling out (interruption)

(interruption) bridge (interruption) yeah but eh

so you see that was (interruption) (unclear)

(unclear) get wor facts right it wasn't my fault it was your bus's fault because it ran late

ah well

and there's no such things as getting on a taxi then taxis were for the rich people they weren't for us

no

didn't have taxis I mean you only had taxis if it was a wedding or a funeral

(laughter)

ehm (pause) I but that was that

so (pause) well my Fleet Air Arm time was (pause) air frame mechanic again (pause) only on Seahawks and attackers the jets of the Fleet Air Arm

mm-hm

so I spent a couple of year there and then the eldest son was born (pause) so (pause) got out the Fleet Air Arm and started my family life went back on to the United again

up to Wooler

up to Wooler depot because that was (pause) we had a house (pause) oh we didn't have an house in Newcastle we were living with her mother

mm-hm

in between her mother and my mother (pause) so in the meantime we were renting in the papers there was a house vacant at Wooler depot so applied for the house went up to Millfield which is a small village just outside of Wooler (pause) stayed up at Wooler until I was twentyish

howay man

well it was

until you were what

twenty one because I had to be twenty one if I was driving to be able to go on to driving

(laughter) you had to be over twenty one before you could go the Fleet Air Arm man

was I (pause) oh well all the same I stayed on the buses at Wooler depot there (pause) until I was eligible for driving so that meant that I had to come back to Newcastle again (pause) so (pause) we packed up the house at Wooler came back to Newcastle went into an old (pause) tenement building (pause) in eh where was it Dobson Street

oh oh heavens what did they call it Buxton (interruption) Street

Buxton Street

Buxton Street just beside the G P the old GPO (pause) ehm (pause) yards down (interruption) Gibson Street going onto the quay it was down there (interruption)

(interruption) and there there was (interruption) so we

we lived in Wooler and we had electric lights indoor plumbing everything then we came to this little two roomed affair that you had to come out on a communal landing to go into the bedroom

mm

the place next door had been bombed so there was just like a crater between us and (pause) the next one there were three families well three families a little old lady downstairs there was us with two kids then ehm (pause) and then the (NAME) upstairs with two kids

uh-huh

then and it was like something (pause) it was Dickensian really wasn't it

aye

horrible horrible but things were very difficult in the city we didn't buy because we didn't think we could afford to buy did we

no

yet had we known what we knew now we possibly would have done ehm but we didn't buy we stayed on the council list ehm (pause) now when I came back when we came back to Newcastle I was expecting our (NAME) then so there was three of us went (interruption) there was three kids went over to Buxton Street (NAME) was still in his pram (pause) when we went over there because our (NAME) had just started school because I had to take him down to the school on the (pause) quay (interruption)

(interruption) aye (pause) aye (interruption) on the quayside

and then my mam said that was the one my grandma taught at as a pupil teacher so I thought I had priority rights there as well ehm (pause) but we were there for (pause) three three year they had said if you recall going there 'you'll not be there six months'

but we were there for three year

three year three and a half years something like that

mm

ehm and then we only got out I think then because the fireplace collapsed ehm (pause) the fireplace had collapsed the big big black fire grate had fallen into the living room well it was the living room the sleeping room the everything room had fallen into the room and ehm (pause) our (NAME) was playing on the carpet actually just how it missed him I'll never know it did that and I went up to the telephone booth and phoned the council and they came out and they put a little bedroom fireplace in now this room that we lived in was twice the size of this massive as old poor houses were

mm

but they put a little bedroom fireplace in and the hole that was left around they just bricked up so I dashed into the Grainger Market quick and bought a (laughter) a bottle of red cardinal so we were red cardinal over the place (laughter) however ehm (pause) we went out to a ehm (pause) (NAME)'s brother used to come and spend weekends he was in the Raf then and by that time his dad and mam had moved down Stafford to a smallholding and ehm (pause) (NAME) used to come and stay with us because obviously all his mates were in Newcastle so he used to come and spend (pause) ehm my house used to be (NAME)'s lodging house however ehm (pause) we had got invitations somehow to a dance in Wallsend hadn't we

mm-hm

and we'd gone out and left (NAME) looking after the kids and we came back in that night and (NAME) had a fire half way up the chimney eh and of course I we used to sleep in the little bedroom and (NAME) used to sleep on the bed settee in the in the living room communal room and ehm (pause) we went off to bed you got up four o'clock the next morning to get ready for work and he came back and he said '(NAME) I can not put my foot to the floor in that room' (pause) well you're half asleep at that time in the morning you're telling him to keep quiet in case he woke the other kids up and he's 'I'm telling you I can not put my foot to the floor' (pause) so we got up and we went through and he couldn't and (laughter) the fire was still embers you know there was a terrific smell of burning and having said all this (NAME) his brother was a fireman in the Raf he slept through the lot

he slept through the lot he never knew anything about it

ehm (pause) so I said 'you'd better go and ring the police ring the fire brigade somebody' I didn't know who to ring and he did this and they landed and apparently when they had the fire had fallen they hadn't made sure that ehm (pause) everything was out or there was no glowing embers or whatever before they bricked the darn thing up again and of course with it being an (interruption) old house with big beams the beams had been smouldering and smouldering for months actually we were very fortunate you know I mean because the whole lot could have collapsed you know

with it being an old house (pause) mm-hm (pause) just like blown up

mm

so that was on the the Tuesday Tuesday we went to this dance affair Wednesday we had the council the firemen and the police so we had to move all the furniture (pause) into the little bedroom (pause) at the back I went to stay with my aunt with (NAME) the baby who lived in Byker he went (laughter) to his mother's (laughter) and the other two kids came out to my mother's that was right

so we were spread out

ah but that (interruption) was only for a week because we got word on wor tenth wedding anniversary that this house was here

(unclear)

oh

if we wanted it if we (interruption) wanted it

if we wanted it

(laughter)

mm-hm mm

so we came out here and I I this was the end of it I mean (pause) these weren't built there was just this finger (pause) stretched out the other side of the road nothing around it this was (interruption) stretched out

like that (pause) the square wasn't here there was just this this actual row of houses here (interruption) this side

(unclear) had just finished all mud and

there was no shops or anything

no

no there was nowt nothing at all but it was like Buckingham Palace to us

yeah

you know

of course there was

ehm and we all came in at the same time and with me being brought up in the village I mean I knew exactly where I was coming to but the rest of the street had been born and brought up in the town or the a as (NAME)'ll tell you on Wednesday she thought she was when she came out here she thought she was coming out to (pause) Siberia you know

yeah yeah

ehm (pause) so I was quite happy obviously when I came back here my mam just lived five minutes away up the road you know so

mm

but it looked funny coming into the house at first we got the key opened the front door of course that door was open for ventilation this door when they when they with the house being brand new to air the place out all the doors were left open

mm

of course I walked into that door looked at this place because this is the house as the house is as it was when it was built we haven't done anything to it and of course seeing the front window straight to the back window and no room

mm

I said 'well where's the living room where's the'

you're a bit (unclear) aren't you

eh

you'd lived in one room we'd all lived in one room

aye I know (interruption) that but it it seemed funny having having a room right from the front of the house to the back of the house

just you were not used to a through room

yeah

hey it (interruption) was marvellous marvellous (interruption)

(interruption) open space (interruption) under floor heating (pause) of course there was no radiators then there was a electric fire (pause) a two bar fire there

in the wall

in the wall

mm-hm

mm

of course it used to cost a fortune to have the electric bar on of course as I say it was under floor heating it used to be grand in a morning when you came down you could come down in your bare feet

mm

walk around and everything like that but the minute you opened the door (pause) that was your heat away you'd lost all your heat

mm

after a year or two the house started to move of course they were all built up on (pause) pit shale (pause) you know the

yes

coal shingles and all the rest of it from the pit heaps

mm-hm

of course throughout the blooming centuries the (pause) the pit heaps had (pause) dropped and of course the ground was moving so we'd been in here about how long about five

it was active shale that was what we (interruption) were built on

active shale aye

and a actually it wasn't a few year it was it's quite a few years ehm (pause) our (NAME) was about ten (pause) eh it'd be about seventeen years after (NAME) I mean it it's (pause) pretty recent ehm (pause) what it's thirteen years ago since it happened moved us out and (pause) infilled it all and put us back but I

of course (interruption) how how we found that out

I I I don't know if (pause) ehm I think (pause) you're interested more in wor childhood and what happened are you or do you just want to hear us rambling on or

just whatever (laughter)

just

I don't mind

just rambling on

just rambling on

ehm

so

(unclear) (interruption) they did this

how's it changed now then round here now compared to when you first moved in

oh

well a year or two back it was really a rough (pause) estate we had all the robberies and all the break ins and (pause) but now it seems although mind (pause) saying that the majority of them now they're all (pause) teenagers and married theirselves twenty year olds so it seems to have quietened down a lot

mm

to what it used to be of course the young ones nowadays they're getting their bunch (pause) ten or twelve kids round round the corner outside the the pakis' or the chinkies'

mm

and they stand and talk all night

mm

but eh

don't you think that's that's that's it happened (NAME) when we were kids it used to happen you used to (interruption) get yourself into a little click (interruption)

(interruption) oh aye (interruption) a little gang

a little gang and you would stand and natter ehm I mean you'd talk about everything under the sun I think times have changed and the fact that (pause) the kids (pause) ehm (pause) are a lot more streetwise than we were they know a lot more than we did I mean we didn't know anything about (pause) the well the the drug scene wasn't on there the sex scene well I'm not saying the sex scene wasn't on the sex scene's been on since (pause) the world began but it just wasn't discussed talked about and (pause) it wasn't free and open I mean you you (pause) if you knew about okay let's talk about menopause about ehm puberty things like that this was something you talked about like this I mean

yeah

you didn't talk openly on anything like that you you just didn't know if you were when you were kids your parents went to hospitals or mothers well mothers didn't go to maternity hospitals you know not until ehm (pause) the nineteen forties I mean it just wasn't done you had your family in the house

in the house

but you still for all you had your had your family in the house ehm (pause) as far as I can recollect (pause) the other children didn't really know what was going on

mm

now there was a fuss and whatever but they didn't know what was going on you didn't talk about things like that you were far too busy going out into the fields and climbing trees and

mm

playing knocky nine doors or swinging on ropes from trees you didn't worry about going and (pause) banging somebody's window or having a there's there's too much (pause) people want too much too quickly now and we're just as guilty it's no good blaming the kids for everything because the adults are just as guilty I mean there was nobody had a car

no

I I mean the fellow that had a car in the village was the doctor you know but eh (pause) you know and you made your own entertainments you would sit for hours making things or playing base on the (pause) pavement you know

mm

you'd you didn't even have proper chalk you found a bit of brick or a bit of stone that you could write with you know I mean just the posh people had chalk

mm

get a box of chalks for your birthday or a tin of paints water paints I mean you couldn't do that now no things have definitely changed and I can't say (interruption) it's all for the better in my opinion

I think (pause) they think nothing nothing about asking for a computer for a Christmas present or (interruption) something like that

well I well that's it but you see that you can't blame the kids for that

no

kids aren't to blame for that it's the adults that's to blame for that you know I mean if you didn't have when you were when we were kids you just didn't have and that was it and you saved up your bit pocket money if you got pocket money

uh-huh

until you had it you know I used to get things and and (pause) 'oh this is great' I remember being enraptured one Christmas because I had a ehm (pause) you'll probably not can remember but during the war there wasn't wool there wasn't stuff but just at the end of the war there was this big rug wool

mm

you know

mm

and it was coming out in other colours than (pause) khaki and there was this scarlet oh it was horrible horrible red I mean I like red but this was horrible orangy red and an aunt had managed to get hold of a ball of this now I don't know you didn't ask questions where it had come from and

back of a wagon

she made us a little handbag (pause) out of this and she must have found the zip off a pair of trousers my uncle (NAME)'s trousers because it was a great big hacky zip with this (laughter) rug wool cross stitch handbag and lined with the pocket of a pair of trousers as well and I thought I was the bee's knees that Christmas because I had that and I got on a bus to go to Throckley with the handbag (pause) with my threepence in my purse for my half return to Throckley

mm

and didn't the zip (pause) stick

(laughter)

on the bus and I was panic stricken in case they put me off the bus because I'd I mean I would be about thirteen I wasn't (pause) a baby you know and I was going down to my aunt's in Throckley big deal to show her this handbag and to see what I was going to get from them for Christmas let's be (laughter) quite honest (laughter) and the zip stuck (pause) and I mean (laughter) I've walked from Throckley and back many a time since but I thought once again I was going to be put off this bus in the wilds of Siberia and I would be lost for ever and I I mean as it happened (pause) (interruption) as (NAME) said all the bus drivers and conductors knew each other you know

uh-huh

mm

and knew who we were knew the kids in the village the it didn't happen

mm

and then I had to go to my auntie (NAME)'s and get this handbag cut open well I that was tragedy I mean she just had to nick it I didn't know what it would just have to nick it so she could get this

mm

(unclear) out tragedy that was my lovely handbag (laughter)

do you remember things like that

oh terrible

aye

or is it

all (pause) fortunately my my mam my dad was a cabinet maker (pause) by trade so I was very posh I used to have steam engines and

oh right

then eh made out of wood of course but saying that my dad used to make chassis (pause) for steam engines little models

right

he used to be in the model engineers

(unclear)

and he used to make small (pause) wey about a couple of foot long (pause) engines for them that used to go to the model shows

oh

and of course we weren't allowed to touch the the lathe or anything (pause) but he used to make all model engines of course I was fortunate there with him having all the woodwork and everything like that and the material then the saws to do it with making different things

mm

aeroplanes houses (pause) you know wooden houses and (pause) anything we wanted made out of wood our dad would make us it

right

so I was all right

mm

but eh

bikes was your thing though (interruption) wasn't it

bikes

(unclear)

I used to go cycling for miles (pause) in fact there's one of my bikes still outside at Paisley

(laughter)

up in Scotland

(laughter)

I got a puncture and I had to leave it there

(laughter)

and it's still up there I don't know where it is now

oh you did you used to cycle miles with the kids

aye

was that your main sport then

yeah cycling and dancing

do you follow the football

no actually why I used to go to Newcastle un follow Newcastle I used to go down to the match not very often like because with us being on the points (pause) I was nine times out of ten I was working when the football match was on

mm

but eh oh I've been to the matches a few times there again

you're not a fanatic though are you

I'm not a fanatic at it not like the son

(unclear)

the youngest son

yeah

oh he's murder if there's a match on anywhere he'll go to it he thinks nothing of going down to Leicester or something like that to see Newcastle play

mm

he's been down to London a few (interruption) times

got that off his mother though his mother was well (interruption) into football

aye

wasn't she my dad (pause) and my brothers all played football my dad used to look after the local (pause) the pitmen's team

mm

you know the kids the pit and (pause) we used to have to wash the strips eh and the lads used to come on a Tuesday night to select the team (pause) and then play football I was brought up football you see I was the only girl I had three brothers I

mm

I was only

mm

only girl so you either mucked in or you were you were out altogether you know

that's right

ehm (pause) yeah football tennis then I got the craze I would play tennis that didn't last very long but I I I did and then I used to go bowling with my mam but not ten pin green bowling

mm

ehm (pause) she got interested if (pause) I did eh (pause) and then what we used to go old time dancing my mam and I (pause) ehm not the old time modern sequence old time dancing we we joined a club and I I suppose I just went there (pause) because I could get out another night because come hell or high water (pause) my mother used to do her washing on a Tuesday I used to come in from work and when my mam finished washing that was it she was finished washing the soap and the scrubbing brush were still on the bench the washer was still full the boiler was still full (pause) and you got soup that day because she put it on in the morning and it was there all day and as you was as I was having soup broth it wasn't soup it was broth and as I was having my broth my mam would light the gas boiler to heat up the nice hot soapy water hinny so that you could wash the scullery and the toilet and the (pause) oh let's be honest the scullery and the lavvie and the bathroom with the nice hot soapy water

mm-hm

so if had the Queen asked us for dinner that night I couldn't have gone because I had (pause) the bathroom the scullery the toilet and the back step to do

mm

that was on a Tuesday night then on a Thursday night I had my bedroom to do which was fair comment I had my bedroom to do but somehow my bedroom always used to manage to include the stairs and the downstairs lobby always and of course there wasn't hoovers then there were just the little whisks 'the hard brush for the carpet and the soft one for the stair end (NAME)' and that was me on a Thursday night so when it happened my mother got an electric washer I think my dad bought it to placate her because she had all these strips football strips to wash

(laughter)

so anyway my mam got an electric washer so that was great and we she found this dance club thing (pause) that did old time I mean I think there was only a dozen of we (interruption) used to be there but we used to go

aye

(unclear)

old time dancing on a Tuesday night so that was another night I get out you see I mean I wasn't that I was particularly enthusiastic about old time dancing at the time but it grew on you especially if that was either you went to the old time dancing with your mam or you sat in (pause) listening to the radio because there was no television then obviously and listening to the lads squabbling amongst theirselves ehm (pause) so that's what we did

did you carry on dancing together after you were married

yes

aye yes

yes

still enjoyed doing it

still enjoyed it aye

well (pause) we did we did yes we used to go

even even (interruption) when

lots of places for dances (interruption) didn't we

oh aye

but he was a competition dancer you see I mean (interruption) he used to go in competitions

I used to go in for the competitions like

really

local ones of course I mean there was no (interruption) Victor Sylvester stuff

oh (unclear) well I didn't make my millions (laughter)

but ehm (pause) quite a lot of things when we were first married and set up little things (interruption) that he had that were presents and prizes for competition dancing but I never I liked dancing obviously but I never

uh-huh

mm

she couldn't fit (interruption) her dress

we used to argue a lot when we danced

aye we we could never do a tango together

no

so you had

never

another partner for the competitions

never

oh I had all the partners uh-huh

mm

but used to dance quite a lot goodness knows whether of course that still remains to be seen I'm going to dance at my son's wedding next year (laughter)

oh right

(laughter)

so are they all married

yeah he's the last one to go

mm

aye (pause) eh no they're all

actually speaking this is his three piece suite

(laughter)

are you minding it

uh-huh

I'll go (NAME) I'll let the lady talk to you

aye from from when he moved out back home again

mm

so 'oh could you keep the three piece suite until I get married and get settled down' so I put it in you know this is his (pause) I thought 'oh crikey I don't like that three piece suite' because you're you're sitting down on it it's comfortable once you're on to it but it's awkward trying to get up and

yes (unclear)

no

so have you got grandchildren as well

yeah we've got eh (pause) a granddaughter at (pause) Heaton and a grandson at Heaton a granddaughter at Hebburn (pause) a grandson and granddaughter down at Lemington

oh

all these kids

then of course this oh his club card come back

right yes

then eh (pause) (NAME)'s busy knitting just now for (pause) what we call the French connection (pause) people eh (NAME) lives across in Paris

oh right

so (pause) they're having a bairn (pause) of course we don't know what it is yet because it's not due until July

ah that's right that's right

and of course all I think about knitting (pause) knit everything white and then just put a pink ribbon on or a blue ribbon on to whatever it is of course (pause) little do I know

you're ignorant

I'm not ignorant

you're ignorant

(laughter)

you are (pause) ignorant oh it's it's it's (pause) I don't know exactly what you wanted us to say if you'd said what you wanted us to say I I you know

well

we've had a good time we had a good time during the war too

mm

well I did (pause) and ehm soldiers took over the soldiers took over the school and took over the institute so you had only the two hours' schooling a week

oh (unclear)

eh which was great eh I mean you had bags to do at home

(unclear)

but ehm two hours' schooling a week because you were in the chapel ehm (pause) used to go there used to have a whale of a time playing around and (pause) making tents and making tree houses that was when there was tons of trees around about because this used to be wor stamping area you see you know I mean there was a little little dene up (pause) further up the road here

bluebell bluebell wood

we used to go scrumpying apples at the big house in the in the village you know ehm (pause) the soldiers were in the chapel hall as well if I can remember yes we we were taught in the vestry at the chapel during the war two hours a week all of us and we used to go to the Saturday morning matinees that was (pause) essential that I'll have your threepence for that threepence put you in the posh seats tuppence downstairs and you had to have threepence you had to go in the posh seats ehm (pause) dad was always interested in (pause) what I would assume now would be local politics ehm (pause) he was always in the middle of something my dad you know and he used to get to places that you'd normally maybe (pause) couldn't get or wouldn't get (interruption) and he used

of course he was a councillor for Westerhope

pardon

was he

he was a councillor for Westerhope

oh aye but not until after we were married and living (interruption) down here I mean it wasn't until his latter years he did that but ehm (pause) (interruption)

(interruption) oh aye (interruption)

(NAME) (NAME) and him

ehm well (interruption) (unclear)

both worked at the same pit

oh right

the same colliery

he used to organize help to organize the ehm you know you used to have you have to have your holidays at home during the war and you used to organize fete days and races and

mm

things like that he was always in the thick of that ehm so actually (pause) the war didn't really bother us much other than the lack of sweets and

mm

ehm having to make pease pudding my mother used to make pease pudding on a Thursday night because we hadn't any butter or margarine left until they got the groceries on the Saturday and you had pease pudding and bread you know

mm-hm

ehm (pause) eh dried egg (pause) (laughter) I remember trying to make (pause) toffee with dried egg and it should have been (laughter)

mm

buttered milk (laughter) and I tried to cover the dried egg box over with the dried egg and of course obviously my mother discovered it but nobody had touched it nobody had touched it I once tried to make cinder toffee while she was out (NAME) and I this is the next brother to me (NAME) and I were making cinder toffee when my mam was out at the shops and my mam had a very distinctive red beret and you used to see her coming you know and I'm in the middle of making this cinder toffee and our (NAME)'s tootling out the window (pause) for my mam coming and he yelled (unclear) 'my mam's coming' so I threw all the cinder toffee down the sink well you know what happened

(laughter)

mm

and when she got up to the bottom of the street it wasn't my mother at all it was somebody else that had had the (laughter) audacity to buy a (laughter) red green beret (laughter)

oh

(laughter) and it took us ages to clear the toffee and chip and boiling water and oh we used all sorts to try and get rid of this toffee down the sink this was during the war well of course this was rations you were using that you shouldn't have used (laughter) you know (laughter)

(unclear) sugar

and oh (laughter) (pause) and them my eh (pause) swimming we all decided they opened Fenham baths (pause) and for a while it was just open during the war it was only open as far as I can recollect only open for the soldiers

yeah

you see and then they opened it to the school kids so about ten of us used to go and of course I didn't have a swimming costume so what they used to do they used to issue the pit men with extra clothing and amongst this extra clothing was

sheet beetle metre I beat it gate paint fatal later I hate it eighty eight bet bent felt fettle better I met him hat ant battle batter drag it cart and can't carter pot totter bottle font salt I got it caught daughter chortle haunt I bought it boat total motor I wrote it put footer (pause) put it in boot Bootle hooter bite title mitre pint bite it out fount outer pit bitter brittle print I hit it hilt beak wreck back I seek it I wreck it I back it bank lamp leap cap steep it lap it apron maton matron micro Metro leprosy petrol acrid atlas hopper butter hacker topple bottle hackle whisper custard after whisker doctor chapter jumper hunter bunker appear attend occur appearance attendance occurrence alpine altar polka staircase half past half cut automatic Jupiter epileptic sheet read breeze key gate made may boat load (pause) go boot brewed booze brew out loud cow (pause) sight side size sigh sighed knife five knives dive dial Friday diary (pause) I've got to do it tomorrow I had to put it off he meant what he said he's booking separate tables for supper a simple sentence pick up a packet of fire lighters pack it in or beat it he's putting it off he's put in a bid jump up on the tractor he won't do it that in a hurry and put a comma in it

metre I beat it gate paint fatal later I hate it eighty eight bet bent felt fettle better I met him hat ant battle batter drag it drat it cart can't carter pot totter bottle font salt I got it caught daughter chortlie (pause) haunt I bought it boat total motor I wrote it put footer put it in boot Bootle hooter bite title mitre pint bite it out fount outer pit bitter bittle print I hit it hilt beak neck wreck back I seek it I wreck it I back it bank lamp leap cap steep it lap it apron matron micro Metro leprosy petrol acrid atlas hopper butter hacker topple bottle hackle (pause) whisper custard after whisker doctor chapter jumper hunter bunker appear attend occur appearance attendance occurrence (pause) alpine altar polka staircase half past half cut automatic Jupiter epileptic sheet read breeze key gate made may boat load go boot brewed booze brew out loud cow sight side size sigh sighted (pause) no sighed knife five knives dive dial Friday diary (pause) I've got to do it tomorrow I had to put it off he meant what he said he's booking separate tables for supper a simple semple sentence pick up a packet of fire lighters pick it or beat it he's putting it off he put he put it in a bud in a bid jump up on the tractor he won't do it that in a hurry and put a comma in it

another one you should've done there