I was at that game. similar to you Nig. Born 1966 so a child of the 1970s. Grew up in Middle Herrington so probably considered posh by some on here. Visiting relatives in Ryhope and watching Ryhope CW play on the ground behind the houses. There was an old disused water tower in East Herrington that my grandad said was haunted. As a 5/6/7 year old I believed him so whenever me and him walked past it I made sure I held his hand tightly. All other times I either avoided it or legged it past. Like a few others remembering the ice on the inside of the windows. My grandad putting the Calor gas heater next to the sinks to thaw out the pipes. Playing footy in the park next to The Board Inn and living in fear of some lad called Skeggsy who I never actually met but was supposed be some hard lad from Farringdon who would beat up posh boys like me. The Goodyear(?) airship that was always in the sky one summer. Playing cricket in the field across the road from my house. Probably loads of other memories as well but those are the stand out ones.
Making toast in front of the open fire in the front room (the only source of heating in the whole house)
born 1959 i remember Selbourne street where i lived there about 4 years up to 1968, no bathroom or indoor toilet them days ! had to gan to the downstairs bog in all weathers and avoid the spiders etc, tin bath in front of the fire. lived right opposite Earnshaw's bakery where me dad worked for nearly 25 years he met me mother there as well. one night there was a gale in the roker area and about 2 am in the morning we heard this almighty bang, our kitchen wall + window blew in, i used to 'mind' supporters cars at that time as well parked outside our house on match day, used to take pop bottles back and get maybe a half penny each. The coal house as someone mentioned was a square hole in the backyard wall with a door on where the coal was poured through. Used to 'bank' the fire up in the winter and put the 'bleezer' up with a newspaper on it to get it going used to catch fire though sometimes, you could get rid of nearly everything left over like bacon, paper, cardboard old shoes etc lol. You could leave your front door open them days as well and you knew every one in that area. Moving to Redhouse still had to get the 'boiler' out a galvanised round tank with gas rings underneath which you connected to gas cooker main with a rubber tube, then had to cart buckets of water upstairs for a bath, but happy days !
That sounds exactly the same as my sisters first house, the street opposite hers is now in Beamish museum They did get free coal - so there was always a roaring fire and the range heated up most of the house. I remember when she moved in, there was an axe lodged in the cupboard door at the foot of the stairs - god knows what went on there! There must have been at least 20 layers of wall paper to peel off the walls. Outside nettie and a tiny back yard. Those were the days.
Ha ha just sent off for a vintage toasting fork to do toast on this log burner I’ve had put in it’s a right beast.
A lot of pipes were lagged with old tights back in them days We had them yellow parrafin road lights in the outside bog to stop the pipes freezing when really cold No phones back then, i can remember calling for mates and their mam would say "he's gone round to yours" obviously taken a different route you'd go back that way and he'd have the same idea and you'd end up missing each other again and staying in Nowadays they have phones but don't go out and just sit texting each other. Grandstand and World of sport on a Saturday after Tiswaz or swap shop
i remember on Saturday getting the bus going away from town end farm towards felling way and going horse riding from a farm up that way, also joining the sea cadets who used to take you sailing in Hendon docks they were based in the link below, it was right next to the town moor and thats where the massive fair was held for about 2 weeks every year in the summer, cracking for a young lad, air rifles ghost train, shuggy boats, loads to do toffee apples candy floss every body friendly https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.9...4!1soGFnKYWlvLUU8RoL772uLA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Don’t remember any fields behind The Board Inn. There was a farm that our house sort of backed onto. They had a bull in their field.
also remember going fishing with a hand line next to the fish quay on Sunday, bottle of pop and sandwiches in the haversack. a link for where it was below looks then nowt like it does now https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.9...Ikd261YHp5jVZWXqwwhw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en
Grandstand and World of Sport. Elton Welsby commentating on the wrestling. Then off to to some racetrack somewhere to watch sidecar racing. Posh Paws on Swap Shop. Only figured out a few years ago that one is a very obvious anagram of the other. The wave machine, diving pool and slide at CLC. Looking over the balcony at the pool entrance and exit because a lad from school said it was perfect for looking down lasses swimsuits and seeing their boobs. Turns out he was talking a load of ****e but to an 11 year old boy it was worth investigating. How none of us got carbon monoxide poisoning from the undercover bus depot next to C&A is beyond me. Walking into the army careers office in town circa 1983 and signing up wondering what on earth I’d just done. Turns out it was one of my better decisions. Going for a ‘run’ with my mate Mark R up the farm road. In reality we were looking for old porn mags that had been stashed in the bushes up there. Saturday evening TV - Doctor Who, Basil Brush, The Generation Game, loads more. Back to Ryhope - waiting for Louis the ice cream van to come round on a Saturday evening . Uncle Tom would buy ice cream then make me and my cousins a refresher ice cream in a big glass covered in Cream Soda.
Turning the TV over by the switch on the window sill Watching dad light the fire, put in coal and a lighted match, cover the front with newspaper and whoosh. Sharpening the knife on the back door step Walls the ice cream man on his bike with a big family block for Sunday treat Having a den in the woods that separated Jarra from Boldon and hiding when anyone came down the path, stalking them like we were spies Footy under the lampposts Rounders in the streets Council coming around repainting was a joy trying to guess what colour door you were going to get Party lines on the phones, pick the phone up but someone else was already using it Watching Starsky and Hutch falling asleep on a Saturday, waiting for dad to come back from the club between bingo with a steak sandwich and Top Deck Shandy. eat that then its Match of the day Mam having to buy us something to play with on a Sunday afternoon, usually them sticker things, where you had a cardboard scene of something and you scratched your characters on with a coin. That's so we would be quiet and she could watch a film or Beachcombers Sunday night bath night, well I say bath, mam used to heat up the twin tub, take out the paddle and plonk us in it when we were very little (she didn't switch it on either) Also one of our local shops sold airfix kits and soldiers, playing wars in the back garden and blowing up a scaled model of the Bismarck with a banger
Anyone remember getting a football league chart from I think the Daily Mirror. It was cardboard with all four divisions with slots for each position and you got push out teams in the club's colours and each Sunday when the league tables were printed in the Sunday papers I used to change the league positions. Think that was late 50s early 60s, it's daft what you sometimes remember from your childhood, kept that for two or three seasons before it fell to bits.
Wasn't that Rediffusion that you had the switch on your windowsill. Mam cleaning the front door step on her hands and knees, you don't see anyone doing that now. Made loads of Airfix kits they still sell them these days but Ive grown out of wanting one.
About 30 years ago I bought an Airfix Supermarine Spitfire. Put it away and forgot about it. About 10 years later and by then married I found it. I thought it would be a good idea to construct it. Told Mrs EJK that’s what I was going to do. And apparently ‘I’ then thought it wasn’t a good idea because of all the paint I’d need to buy.
