When you go out here and turn right and cross by the crossing over Benton Park Road there's the tram track. Now many years ago, long before my time, the trams ran from here (pause) straight through (pause) over Benton Road and right down to Wallsend. Now many a time I've walked down that track and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

(unclear) It's not where you're talking about, but there's trams on that, there.

Yes, that's the Central Station, yes.

Mm. Oh aye, well ts- a should knaa I used to work there y'knaa. I was on the railways

Were you?

Aye.

So was my father.

Aye.

But my father was at the (unclear) goods station

Aye (unclear) mean, aye. Well ah was at er Heaton and Gateshead on the tr- I was on the trains y'knaa, aye.

Mm.

Aye. Oh aye that's er (pause) that dizn't seem that long ago with them like

No.

I don't remember them, but I wouldn't (interruption) would I? (laughter)

(interruption) no (pause) 'cause that was er (pause) that was to do with the milk, wasn't that somewhere near the milk, milk float?

Well that's the entrance to the station there like

Yeah

That's the main entrance

Yeah, but further up this end was something to do with, I don't know, it was something to do with milk floats or what (pause) but it was quite interesting, yes.

It's mainly car parks (interruption) at (interruption) this end now, (interruption) isn't it?

(interruption) Aye, that's the Swing-

(interruption) Yes. Yes.

That's the Swing Bridge that like.

Yes, Armstrong's.

Swing Bridge

Armstrong's wonderful erection (pause) Purely for his own benefit of course (pause) yes, he was building the ships up further along up the river towards Elswick, the Elswick works and then he found that they were getting bigger and he had trouble getting them down the river, so he built the Swing Bridge so that when his ship was ready and came down the river, they could swing it open let him through. He wasn't daft you know.

Well there's the Tyne now.

Yes.

Oh, aye. It er

When you look at the Central Station and you look at the construction of the roof, yes but I mean that one you've got in there. Oh, the Grainger Market, yes. Yes now there was another arcade (interruption) further down, the Central Arcade, that was absolutely beautiful.

(interruption) The Central Arcade.

It's still the same now.

That's the place where you should bring people, let them see Newcastle. It is (interruption) wonderful there.

(interruption) 'Cause it's quite, it gets missed quite easily now, doesn't it.

Yes.

People are (unclear) they're just coming past

It's in such as awkward place now, but that is one place that should be preserved. I mean, that is part of our heritage.

Do you think Newcastle's changed a lot? I mean (interruption) I know there's

(interruption) a lot

Aye, well that's the indoor market isn't it the, what we call the indoor market like y'knaa

The Grainger Market

The Grainger Market, aye

And they're closing part of that now and demolishing it

It's the Green Market

The Green Market, yes

aye

That's going, but it's becoming part of Eldon Square I think

aye that's on the other side of the road from here

yes

yeah

Whereabouts in Newcastle were you from then?

Well I'm a Gatesheader like, I've lived over here a lot of years now, but I bilong Gateshead like, y'knaa

Well which parts of Newcastle were you living in when you came over here?

Now? Newcastle? Oh just up here, at the top aye

well I started off life in George Street and George Street runs down onto Scotswood Road where the cattle market is now. Well it's a car park now but erm that was quite an interesting place. My uncle, (NAME) (NAME) was the hairdresser, y'come down Westmoorland Road and his hairdressing shop was on the right hand side at the bottom. A lot of that is now butchers shops and wholesale butcher parts

my parents live erm the very top of the West Road near erm

General, next to the General Hospital

er it's past the General Hospital at the top near the Fox and hounds pub is if you know where (interruption) that is, just opposite there

(interruption) yeah

(interruption) aye, aye, aye

Yeah

Do you like, have you liked living in Newcastle?

Yes

Well if you're still (interruption) here now presumably you do!

(interruption) well, well, well this, this to me this is still Gates- this is still Newcastle this like

Well as I say I was a Gateshead lad first then, (interruption) then

(interruption) the funny thing I've discovered about Newcastle is that the number of students who come here (pause) do their term here (pause) meet a girl (pause) move from the area (pause) but they like to come back to Newcastle, it's amazing how many do that. My son in law did the same (pause) yes.

I've got a lot of friends who went to university elsewhere in the country and they like they like to come back to Newcastle definitely

Yes

When they get their holidays they'll always make their way back up here

and that's the other thing where ever you go you'll always meet a Geordie (pause) it's a fact mind

someone was telling me that er when I was working in a pub, someone was saying they were off climbing some remote mountain in some remote country and there was a Geordie (interruption) living on the side of a mountain and he'd, side of his hou-

(interruption) you'll here some

he'd got em er brown ale er cans and like hammered them flat and made the side of his house out of them and you could see them for miles (interruption) down the road

(interruption) aye ha ha

no it's funny though, I mean I went in the forces I was in for four years and (pause) I started off in Wales and then I moved to Cambridgeshire and from Cambridgeshire I got an exchange posting up here to Church Fenton (pause) and I thought oh lovely, I'll have a nice home run. Get home every weekend, that was great. Next thing I know you're posted overseas, oh charming! So I was away to Libya and it's amazing how there as soon as someone starts talking to you Hey it's a Geordie! And from there I went through to Egypt and even the Egyptians, they would recognise a a Geordie

So, well presumably you think the Geordie dialect stands out quite a bit?

It does

Aye

and the funny thing is, we can go five mile up the coast and we can't understand a word they are talking about

do you, I mean can you can you like work out where someone's from like around here other parts of Tyneside, Sunderland for (interruption) example if you hear someone if you hear someone from (interruption) Sunderland do you know they're from (interruption) Sunderland?

(interruption) sometimes (interruption) yes a Mackem

(interruption) Mackem

Mackem and Tackem

Yeah

heh heh heh heh

Do you like any other dialects or like Sunderland, do you like the sound of someone from Sunderland? Or

well

Well it's like

it's like every other dialect you know it's it's their heritage but erm

because there's a lot of dialects that people just, they hate they just really don't like them

I'll tell you something else as well, you can go to any sort of club, nightclub where there's entertainers and as soon as they start playing the Blaydon Races God the place just lifts! (pause) well I I used to go up to (pause) Rothbury House which is one of Saffer's respite homes and there was a lady there used to play the accordion and her husband sat and played the drums and I said to her one day 'do you know the wa- Waters of Tyne?', you know, a Geordie song. 'no' so I sort of said the words to her and she says I'll try and find it and next time she came she did she had it and even some the people on Tyneside don't know it (pause) 'I cannot get to my love if I were deed, the waters of Tyne lie between him and me (pause) Then ferry men ferry man ferry me over the Tyne to my honey, and for your labours I will give you one penny.' It's it's it's rather a nice song

There's a lot of songs that people know from the North East and to be honest I don't really know any from anywhere else in the country to be honest

No no. Oh aye they'll all sing Cushy Butterfield, and wished lad haad thee gobs I'll tell ye boot the worm (pause) the Lampton Worm (pause) aye 'One Sunday night once fish- Lampton went a-fishing in the Wear. He catched a fish upon he's hook he thawt looked very queer. He was ne feshed to tek it yem so he hoyed it doon the well (pause) now this queer worm it growed and growed and growed an aaful size, greet big heetin' heed and greet big mooth and greet big goggly eyes (pause) and when at night it roamed about (pause) across the moors it swallied little bairns alive and milked a dozen coos' (pause) aye, it's it's funny how some people can remember the words and others just can't

Do you know any songs from round here?

Songs?

Aye

Any Geordie songs

Just the Blaydon Races and all that like

Aye and Cushy Butterfield

Aye Cushy Butterfield aye

Do you think people in the rest of the country like our accent?

I don't know if they like the accent (interruption) but I will tell you something

(interruption) no

you go down to London, open your mouth and speak and if you're looking for a job you'll get it because they know one thing about the Geordies: they're good workers, damn good workers yes. You'll never have a job getting a job would you?

mm no

Not if you speak Geordie

What jobs have you done? You said you were on

railways aye

well

What was that like? Did you did you like it or

(unclear) and a driver. I was on the trains y'knaa, the London to Edinburgh, Carlisle y'knaa

Did you enjoy it or was it just

oh er well fourteen when I started it like y'knaa

Fourteen?

fourteen. Well I left school then, you used to leave school at fourteen in them days like

yeah

I'm twenty-one and I'm still at sch- university so

yeah ah (interruption) things are a lot different now

(interruption) I haven't escaped yet

no well I think I think I've had a really interesting life

what jobs have you done?

oh dear me!

I was still at school and my father managed to get me a job as an apprentice joiner because I was always interested in woodwork so I went as an apprentice joiner to this joinery firm John Heron's, Skinnerburn Road which is was down from Scotswood Road down toward the river and I started off there and when I got to twenty-one I got called up for national service, I went in the RAF. Did four years, came out, I did the four years because when I went in I said I want to be a joiner I want to go and work with wood. Well the Mosquito was still flying then and that was a wooden aircraft so (pause) so they put me in as an air-frame fitter but I had to do four years to be an air-frame fitter. They said either that or the army and I thought no way the army so I went as an air-frame fitter and I did my four years, came out (pause) and actually I came up here South Gosforth just up the road on the right there was a building firm there called Gosforth Joineries and I went there and I said 'any chance of a start?' Right. Asked all the details you know, I told him what I'd done. So I started there and after a while I got a little bit bored with it, some of it was very interesting but a lot of it was just repetition and then I went down to Irwins, the shop-fitters which it just beside St James' football park and I went it there, there was two of us went in, saw the foreman, said 'any chance of a start'. 'no' he says 'I I don't want two men' he says 'have you had any experience at shop fitting' said 'well I've done a very little bit but not much, just a bit

Ah ha

'No' he said 'I'm sorry I couldn't start two of you' so we walked outside. So I said to me pal 'well, do you mind splitting up?' He says 'no not at all' a actually he wasn't fussy about getting a job. So I went back up and I saw the foreman and said 'excuse me, you said to me something before which I thought was rather silly' I said 'you said unless you've got any experience I'm not interested' I said 'now look, if you don't give the people the likes of me a chance who want to improve themselves you're not going to get any shopfitters so as some die out you're not going to have any to replace' he says 'ah-ha' oh he says 'well I couldn't start two of you' I says 'well I'm willing to start on me own' he says 'right' So I got a start and were working at Fenwick's and a lot of the big shops in Newcastle doing shop fitting and then we started doing smaller ones and after a while I got sent out on my own and I quite enjoyed that and then my friend started working for a company called Draftseal and they were doing acoustic ceilings and he said 'oh it's good money here' So I went with him and I started to work for Draftseal and I worked for oh about two year with them but it was a lot of travelling and I was married. I had one small daughter and I was getting sick of the travelling, so, I mean once they said 'right you've got a car I want you to take this chap and you're going to go down to Harwell, the atomic station, you're going to work there' said 'right' So we got in the car and I drove down to that area, we found digs, went onto the site to see the foreman. He says 'right start tonight, nightshift' 'oh' I says 'hey just a second, I've just driven down from Newcastle' 'That's all right' he says 'come on you're not going to miss nightshift, it's easy work' So we started there and we worked nightshift. Couple of days later he said 'Right we've got a little job down at erm Bath would you go and do that job, it's a Sunday job?' Right. Into the car away through to Bath, had to go and find the material, go to the bank, put the stuff there, go and get some scaffolding, bring that up to the job and we worked all night on the bank to get it finished for the next day. Got it finished went back to Harwell, he says 'right, come on, nightshift' 'hey' I says 'we've just worked all night in the bank, now we've driven back here and you want us?' He says 'Come on, come on we need you' So I went and worked nightshift. We finished nightshift, we came back to the digs, I sat on the bottom of the bed and (NAME) says 'Are you going to have a bath or me?' I says 'Go on you can have yours' I lit a cigarette, next thing I know I could feel somebody going like this. I'd lit the cigarette, fell back on the bed I was so tired, dropped the cigarette on to me chest and me shirt was actually burning, so if (NAME) hadn't o- come back from his bath I would've probably been severely burnt. But em we soon got sick of that. And then I came back up here, went to Thomas Irwin, the shopfitters, said 'any chance of a start?' 'Yes' So back to shopfitting and I quite enjoyed that then I came up, to Benton area, and saw a firm there, Sadler Brothers. And they were doing all sorts of work building work, supermarkets, so I started working for them and went down to Beverley and they had dug into the hillside with a big machine to put the foundations in for the new supermarket. Next thing we knew there was a land slide. They had dug away so much soil they had forgot about this line of cottages and the cottages started slipping. So their kitchens and bathrooms and everything were cracking open so they put in an insurance claim the company and er got everything sorted out and my employer said 'right, (NAME) every Thursday I want you to go down to Beverley er down to Whitby and er we've got a local firm who are doing the repair work for all these cottages. I want you to take the job sheets and work out everything through there. If there's any problems, sort it out on the spot with the builder, if there's any snags sort it out somehow.' So I kept going every Thursday down there to Whitby, and we gradually rebuilt these cottages. Which is a very very interesting job. It was a nice run down as well over the moors.

What was your job like? Did you did you do much or was like?

(unclear) we- well I first started as a cl- used to clean the engines and then y- were a fireman and then (unclear) were made a driver

What were your shifts like?

What were shifts? Well put it this way, I've started work any time you can mention on the clock (unclear)

Cleaning the boilers and that out?

When I first started, then I become a (interruption) fireman and then I become a driver after that like y'knaa

(interruption) yes

And er as I say I've started any time you can mention on the clock y'knaa. During the night and all that y'knaa, two o'clock, three o'clock y'knaa four o'clock like y'knaa

Is that the only job you had or did you have others later on or, like after the train driving did you move, did you do any other jobs?

No no no, I retired then like k'naa. Aye (pause) But er oh it was a good life like y'knaa y-

Yeah

y- y- you mixed people like, y'knaa you mixed them up and you got to -- as I say on the railways when I used to go to London, Edinburgh, Carlisle y'knaa. York and all that.

Then you've got your passes your (unclear)

(interruption) oh I've I've I've still got them now

You've still got them now?

I've still got them now. I get, I get ten a year. I can go anywhere in the country I want

You can even go across to Jersey can't you?

Well y- you've got to pay on the boat the -- on the boat like y'knaa er

Yes

PTS up (unclear) well, (interruption) it's all right y'knaa

(interruption) yes but it's only a percentage of what everybody else would pay

Aye, aye. Well (interruption) I I don't bother with the passes now like y'knaa, I mean

(interruption) So does

No

Unless something cropped up like, then y'knaa (pause) Ten a year like, good saving like y'knaa (pause)

Well my daughter's partner, he works for, it's not LNER now

Aye

But he works for the railway and the daughter's going down to Southampton

Aye

At the end of this month

Aye

and she's got a pass

Aye, she'll get a pass, aye that's right aye.

And er, she says it wonderful, you just go there, you know, it's first class. And I wander up and down and 'would you like a coffee?' and all this. Oh she says it's it's a doddle.

Was there any places you didn't like going or (laughter) when you were, like any destinations that were a bit er?

Well, likes of, used to go to place called Newport that's in er Middlesbrough way, I didn't like that that road like, y'knaa wi- (pause) all the collieries and all that like. Used to go to the collieries and

Yeah

Ah it was a good life like (pause) mind it's all the, it's all in the mind now like heh.

So this was the steam train wasn't it?

Well, the steam when I first started like. Aye

Ah ha

Then the diesels come in like y'knaa the

Yeah

(unclear) have you got any there with the diesels on? (pause) Ah you might not, no. No

I did s- there was one picture I had that well I didn't end up printing it but it's you know from the Central Station when you're on the platforms and you looking towards the castle keep

Aye

You can see all the er (interruption) crossing over

(interruption) the biggest junction in (interruption) the world isn't it?

(interruption) biggest crossing aye.

All of the lines crossing over all the

It's nice to go in the castle and go right up onto the ramparts and look down

Yeah

I took a photograph up there and I was really pleased with that

Yeah. I should go up and do that myself actually (laughter) yeah

I used to remember how many how many crossings there was like but er the had a lot like y'knaa

I couldn't tell you either. Erm,

Never mind, it was a good life y'knaa I mean

Yeah

well I, I didn't knaa ought else you see, y'knaa?

yeah (pause) Well like I say I, I went up to this firm at Benton (pause) and (pause) I did a lot of different jobs there, pubs, supermarkets and everything, and then they asked me to be a supervisor, which I did. Which was a lot of stress. There were four of us supervisors and sort of three of them (pause) we used to get, you could call, panics. You know like a pub will ring up and say there's a wagon just run into the back wall, can you sort it out. So, the supervisor who looked after the public houses would say er '(NAME), here. You see to that.' And like a fool I was taking it. So at the finish it got so bad that the clerk that works on the breweries wouldn't ring for them, they would ring for me. And I finished up having a nervous breakdown through it. But, I kept going and went back on the tools, quite happy, and then work started getting worse. And next thing I knew, the bank refused to allow the company credit. So they went into liquidation, and the re-salers came in and the re-saler said right, there was seven of us still working. We had various jobs and they said 'right, you seven are still working, but when your job finishes, you're paid off then.' So you just conscientiously carried on, did the job, and then you got paid off. So they said 'right, so once you reach the er s- been paid off like this, you get so much wages for so many weeks, in other words, we're telling you you're on like so many weeks holiday. If you get a job, that money stops, so we're literally telling you that you're on holiday.' So that was fair enough. Well there was a lot of jobs I was doing at weekend, you know little fiddle jobs. And I got quite a few of those. So next thing I knew, we're called in 'right, the bank has refused credit, we're closing the firm down (unclear) You will get a little bit money but not very much. So, I was talking to a chap and I was doing a job for him one weekend and he said 'have you heard about the enterprise allowance scheme?' I said 'no' He says 'well I'm a member of the enterprise allowance scheme, I'm employed by them' He says 'You will go to a lecture and sit through the lecture and they explain all about running your own business. And if you are prepared to start, on your own, you will be paid forty pound a fortnight (pause) to start your own business.' So a said 'oh' He says 'course mind there'll be plenty of back-pocket jobs, you know, like this one.' And I'm looking, I'm thinking, he's telling me to start in busine- and he's telling me to fiddle already!

Aye

So, anyhow, I said 'right' He says 'well would you like to go in the next seminar?' Said 'yes' So I went on it (pause) and er, that was great. Well with being a supervisor, I more or less knew how to run the business. So I got the necessary books, and I wanted to make sure I stayed under VAT. Because once you went und- or if you -- if you earned over, I think it was over fifteen thousand a year, you -- you qualified for VAT. And that was a right headache, so I said 'right, in other words, I stay below fifteen thousand' So every week I did my own paperwork, worked out my bills, receipts, did the whole lot. Went to an accountant, he took one look at my box, I had a box file, looked at it, he says 'oh boy, I'll tell you what' he says, 'I will have no problem at all with your books' He says 'this is wonderful' So I just kept on like that and I ran my own business for ten years, and I've got, you know I had a real good clientele. In fact, even now when I go out somebo- sa- 'ey (NAME) are you still doing a little bit?' I can do you know I I want me (unclear) no, no. Because I had a stroke so I've lost the use of this left arm and the lef- well this left arm will never move again, but I've still got this one. Even now I've got my hand saw upstairs and I went along to Lord hire and hired an electric drill and I did a little bit joining work in here. Well even yesterday, one of the residents, a television went kaput. So the relatives came along (NAME) 'you got any screwdrivers?' 'yes, what do you want? Want a Philips or an ordinary' Got them out the draw, 'there you are.' 'oh lovely' I sat there one day, my music centre that went off, blown a fuse. So I sat with another plug and I took the plug adrift, took the fuse out, took the other one out and put it in the music centre and reassembled the whole lot. You try doing that with one hand. God (unclear) I bet it took me an hour and a half to do it, but I did it. I had the plug in between my knees like this and I'm trying to unscrew it take the fuse out, but, I wouldn't give up.

Do you think, like jobs around here, well obviously some jobs have definitely disappeared now but, do you think the type of job people do in Newcastle has changed a lot, over the years or?

Changed a tremendous amount

Aye well as I saw like the factory work like started to, there's not many it's all dying out now like. There'll be a lot of office staff and all that in the town and all that y'knaa and the

and a lot to do with computers

Aye, aye

Do you think office staff, do you think that's probably the most common job now or

Yes. Short ha- well I don't think there's short hand typists now. I think a lot is to do with audio typing isn't it?

yeah well I

My daughter, well my daughter is doing that, like, part-time. And she just plugs the earphones in and just types

Yeah, that what I'll be doing as soon as we finish! (laughter)

That's what you'll be doing

Well, you should have my brother, he (unclear) he's in charge of the the, the drivers at Newcastle. He's in charge of the Newcastle station. We- the dri- just for the driving staff y'knaa. Aye.

Well I had to laugh at that erm, the general you know, the American Stormin' Norman. He was on television one day, he says 'do you know what it is, a few weeks ago, I could just say one word, GO, and thousands of men would go forward and they're machines and give their lives' he says 'and I've tried now for three weeks and can I hell get a plumber!?' And I thought that was typical, they're they're just not taking apprentices. So in a few years time, it will be absolutely desperate to find someone to do any work

There's been headlines like that around quite a bit, that we don't have plumbers any more and

No

And there's not enough, certain jobs like that it's

Well my grandson, when he was about five-year-old, I used to assemble you know, units, kitchen units and that in my garage. 'Granda, can I help?' 'Yes' And I had one of these little power screwdrivers, just a a battery-powered. Here, I'll start the screw off, I said 'right tighten that one' and he loved doing it. So there came a a youth training scheme and he went there, he says 'I want to be a joiner' And the chap in charge said 'well, why do you want to be a joiner?' He says 'well years ago when I was little, I used to go in the garage and help my granddad, and I loved it.' 'right' he says 'ok we'll take you on in trial.' He's now an apprentice joiner and he's working on houses and everything (pause) But, those sort of trades are dying out. But the point is, no matter how clever they get with electricity, you'll never get a machine that will go and fit and hang a door in a house. Never (pause) You can be the cleverest person with the best brain in the world but you'll never do that (pause) However, that's progress (pause) If that's what you want to call it. Progress in inverted commas.

What kind of er things did you do when you were well not working (laughter) did you do much else or

What to entertainment you mean like or

Yeah

We -- football matches and drinking

You still do any of that now?

Well I like I like a pint but not as, I divven't bother much now like y'knaa, have a (pause) (unclear) take you to the pub next door like so, I'll have a pint then but I

Just the one here yeah?

aye

In The Victory

The Vic- the Victory, aye (pause) (interruption) But I divven't (unclear) and just go it myself and drinking loads or ought like that like

(interruption) It's a terrible (unclear) dark pub in -- it there

What's that there?

Very dark

aye, aye it's an old, it's an old pub like y'knaa

I often think when you look at some of these buildings round here, if only the brickwork could talk, what a story they would tell you. Now just along the road on Matthew Bank, there's a pub there called the millstone

Yeah. The one on the on the left on the

On the left. Now if you look as you get there, there's a bank down the back and there's a huge building at the back. Now I've got an electric scooter upstairs and I I like to run along, you know, run to different places. And I went along one day and I went down the bank and I was looking at the building and I thought, I wonder what this was before? So when I was in, not so long since I said, 'the building at the back,' I says 'what was that?' She says 'oh that's the stables' So I take it that the coaches would come along here, go down there and possibly change horses.

Because when you come down er Jesmond Dene, if you're on th- walking along the river, you can see that through the trees and it just looks out of place a big building standing over the other side, it's er.

What, the Jesmond Dene Hotel?

N- er if you're just walking down (interruption) on the other side of the river, and that and

(interruption) oh yes. Yes the er, the hall, the old hall

and you can see the stables, well I didn't know they were stables until five minutes ago (pause) Do you go down Jesmond Dene much, either of you, do you?

Well, (interruption) aye I'll still go in the summer (interruption) like

(interruption) not now that was a Sunday afternoon walk wasn't it?

Aye, I divven't bother going now like, y'knaa

It hasn't really changed (interruption) much as far as I can tell. Still halfway down there's the wheel house and er all the way, well there's the animals and stuff at the bottom near (interruption) er the bridge

(interruption) No. Yes

Well the stream runs, the stream runs through the back here like, it goes through there

Yes. I don't know where that actually starts because, I know, past the Three mile Inn, it's up there, and em, Melton Park, the housing estate there, it runs through there. Because I got some work to do once for a gentleman who had, wet rot under his house, and that was the cause of it. There was the water running under the house and that was eventually running into the Ouseburn (pause) If you're interested in old Newcastle, tell you somewhere you should go, you know in Shieldfield, when you look, like from Byker Bridge, and look like, North West, you'll see the large building with the white clock on the top. The old erm (pause) Now, there's a place there called the Biscuit Factory, have you been there?

Near erm, er

It is in Sheildfield, British Paints was the big building

It's where the City Farm used to be (interruption) well quite close to there

(interruption) it is down there yes.

That that farm's gone now

Has it?

Yeah yeah. It was taken out a couple of years ago and they built, don't know what it is now, it's a like a comedy centre or something like that, but it's erm (interruption) it's just near the Cluney, (interruption) the pub, I think it's called the Cluney.

(interruption) Yes that's right, yes (interruption) yes Well when you go in the Biscuit Factory, you can walk round and you can see where the huge wooden doors were when it was a factory. It's a, it's a, being a joiner that was interesting because you could see all the old locks, and old hinges and how they constructed the doors.

There's still quite a lot of old, nice old building in Newcastle (interruption) that are being used (interruption) for something else now

(interruption) Yes

(interruption) Oh aye, list- yeah

But er, like when you walk along and you don't look up they're just like shops and, when you look up you can see all the, how they used to be and er

aye

The Discovery Museum even, just up from the Central Station

Now years ago there was a double-decker bus going down Grainger Street, and suddenly the flo- the ground collapsed and the bus finished up in the hole. Now I've worked in Morse and Procters on the right hand side of Grainger Street and you can go in there if you get permission, I worked in there and we used to go downstairs into the cellar and you can go along and there's an opening there with a wooden partition across and you can see through and you can look from one side of Grainger Street to the other. And the shops at the other side have got cellars, and y- you could literally walk underneath Grainger Street. It's very interesting

Aye

I don't know if you'd be able to get permission, I should imagine

I was just thinking, I don't, I don't think you -- I've not heard of anyone doing that so it's probably er -- it would have to become a tourist attraction if people were actually allowed down there er

Yes.

Because, I mean, you're only allowed up Grey's Monument, once a year

Yeah

They open it and let people go up

I've many a time thought of applying for that walking through the sewers of Newcastle. I've never done it but I would love to have done it

Do you think Newcastle's going to change much in the future? Because I mean obviously (interruption) with these pictures you can see the river's like got all these new buildings, do you think it'll

(interruption) oh yes definite- I mean Scotswood Road is just changed completely.

Do you think there'll be much

They used to say, didn't they (NAME) that you could go along Scotswood Road, start at the Central Station and have a half a pint in each pub and you would never reach Scotswood Bridge.

Aye

You wouldn't be sober. You would fall over before you got to Scotswood Bridge.

Aye

The Crown

Oh (interruption) the used to be

(interruption) all of them along there

Aye, there was some pubs them days like

Yeah, all gone. But now even looking at the riverside, going along from the Quayside, along paddy's market and straight along towards Scotswood, it's amazing the difference there. You can literally have a beautiful walk alongside the river.

Yeah, there's the pathway quite far (interruption) just about the whole length really

(interruption) yes and well lit. Yes they are making a good job of some of it (pause) But some of the buildings there you look at them, dear me (pause) Now I used to like to go to JT Dove's, the building firm, and if you go to their yard where the car park is, there's a huge chunk of the city walls there

Yeah. Yeah.

I find that very interesting.

There's a few little chunks around the place, like erm, near

Up in Elswick er

Near the Chinatown bit and er you know just near (interruption) where Blackfriars is

(interruption) yes yes.

All those bits yeah.

Where the old soup kitchen was, probably still is.

Where? Blackfriars? er might be actually, not sure

Then you've got a chunk up at Benwell, got a piece of it there

Near where my parents live, up the top of the West Road, when you go past Denton Burn, there's just (interruption) a piece next to the road

(interruption) on the left hand side yes

Have you got any family living round here or?

well, my mother still lives up here, just along the road there (unclear) A- I've got two brothers like, but I belong Gateshead first y'knaa

Where you're brother from? Well, not where they from, where they like around these days?

Where they from?

Like where they round these days?

Well them two brothers still live at home with me like aye

Do you see them mu- well if

Well I see them every day. (laughter) Well my mother's got a brother in York like so we canny see them like y'knaa

Do you ever visit Sunderland or anywhere much or do you prefer to stay (interruption) in

(interruption) well, I divven't bother, I divven't bother much with Sunderland like.

You know, I've got a plant upstairs. About twenty years ago I was in Lake Garda, in Italy and I was sitting in the hotel in the entrance waiting for the bus coming to take us back to England, well to the airport. And I keep doing this, and this plant was hanging there and just touching my hair and I looked up and I nipped a little cutting, just about two inches long. There was a woman sitting there she says (NAME) 'get me one!' So I took one, gave it to her. I got a lemonade bottle, you know, little plastic one, pushed it in pushed the leaves and everything down the neck, put some water in, threw it in my suitcase. When I got home, kept it on the window sill, saw the roots coming out the bottom. I thought, right. So I cut it open with a Stanley knife, planted it. There must be about fifteen people in Newcastle got cuttings. I've got about six upstairs in my room now.

It's come a long way. Spread across Newcastle from Italy.

If you would like one of those you can have one, you can always give it to your parents. It's one of these plants you can not kill. You put it in a saucer like that, and fill it up with water, put it and it loves to keep its feet wet. It's what they call a succulent. I'll go and get you one now.

I'm useless with plants that need to be a bit drier because I'm always worried that they need water and I end up killing them all. But, if it needs water

Oh it loves water, the only way to kill it is to forget to water it.

Well fair enough yeah! I'm moving into another flat soon. It'll be the first plant

You might c- always give your parent. And when it grows, when the shoot grows like about four or five inches, cut about two inches off, get a beaker with water, drop it in, put it in the window sill in the kitchen, just leave it there. Fortnight later you look at it and you see the little shoots going out the bottom, the roots. Pick it out, plant it, you've got another cutting.

It must have spread miles now, it's all over Newcastle it's

well I must have given about ten or twelve away, and two people hae said to me (NAME) I've got a lovely little pink flower. I've never had a pink flower on it

Have you not?

Never

You need to stop cutting it, you need t- you're giving everyone the flowers

I must be. Oops, sorry! Oh you better disconnect me!

Right, well thanks both, I'll stop it there