Martha Halliday June 1995
I was born at Trimdon Grange in 1903. When I was young, my mother was ill with the fever and I stayed with my grandmother for a long time at Washington Hall until about 7 years old. Dad got a job at Wardley Colliery and came over and collected me. My sister Beatrice was born at No.7 Pool Cottages. Before that we lived in Ivy Cottage, the other side of the Pool, next to the blacksmiths shop. Ivy Cottage was riddled with beetles and I was terrified. Dad had to go and see Mr.Guy (the pit manager) and get us moved to No.7. When living here I saw four elephants that walked up from Shields and were stabled behind the Railway Hotel. We did laugh, they were throwing grass and soil at the children and when they brought water for them hey also sprayed them with it.
Nellie Teasdale in the Railway Hotel public house married George Amos but she died young. We had two fish and chip shops, one opposite the school and another at the bottom of Waggonway Street. During the strike the women used to tin pan the blacklegs from the pit. One day there was a police sergeant in our house getting a cup of tea and he said that 70 policemen had to take one man in. They used to throw fish heads and rubbish and break his windows. My son Bob was born in 1925. I remember Jim Osbourne was the policeman at No.1 Quality Terrace and the Brown sisters had the post office. Mr.Carlow had a pony and trap and would take people to Heworth for the tram, he’d ask what time they would be back and be there to collect them for 6p. On my way to school I’d buy some “locusts” at the post office. They cost 1/2d and looked like dried banana and tasted like toffee. Ada Ashman lived at the end of Sunderland Terrace and they had a fish shop behind Ellison’s shop. I married Bob Clarkson and he was killed at Kibblesworth Pit. He went out at 3.30 and the police were at the door at 5.30 to tell me about the accident. John Amos, the farmer’s son, was in my class at Wardley school and one time he threw a bottle of ink down Miss Swinburn’s (Headmistress) blouse. He was a real terror. Thornton Scorer lived at the Pool and was the Church organist and played cricket for Wardley. We had a fire at No.7 The Pool cottages and went to live at 21 The Square and then Waggonway Street. The Good Templars used to have some good nights upstairs in the Miners Welfare Hall.

Peggy Shepherd 1994
My Gran lived in Third Street and Dad’s parents in Reservoir Street where I lived till I was 2½ years old. I remember the first miner’s welfare hall burning down and at that time rumours were that it might have been an attempt on the life of militant union leader George Harvey. The Black Road from Wardley colliery to Pelaw Junction had that name, as at one time there was no lights along its whole length. Tom Urwin and Ken Hodgson worked in the cabin on the Pontop line (at the Wardley Lane crossing). Ken’s brother Barney and Wilf Young lived at the cottages at Jingling Gate, prior to them it was Mr.Wilkin and Mr.Porteous. I was a member of the Methodist Chapel and Christian Endeavour. The choir master was Mr.Davis. On Christmas Eve he would play the concertina and went right around the village. John West was the mainstay of the church and did the administration. On Sunday there were three services, 10am 2pm & 6pm. Doris Slater was one the choirs best singers and Florrie Burns from Pelaw played the organ. Bobby Wood was a lively entertainer and would play his windy up gramophone from the White Mare Pool through the streets till he got to First Street. Annie Young’s ice cream and sweet shop was beside the Pool bridge and her son, Dick, became manager of Carlisle United. When Halliday’s fish shop closed beside Ken Hodgson’s railway cabin he used it as a garage. The Askew's ’granddad brought up the pit ponies and they were left on a grassy section outside the house behind the pit wall.
Mrs. Prime had a house shop in Reservoir Street and Mr.Danby a fruit shop as well as Mr.Simpson. Mrs.Taylor made toffee apples and cakes in Third Street and Mrs.Parkinson, on the corner of 3rd Street, pie and peas. Blands house shop was in First Street. John Mitchell’s father, then himself, were landlords of the White Mare Pool. The local policeman lived in one of the first houses going into West Crescent but there was no theft or violence as there is today and everybody left there doors open. There was a knocker up (for work) in the village who would also come if any meeting was taking place. Another man came and lit the gas lamps. The green area behind the Pool was known as “The Fell”.
At Sunderland Road behind the junction box and Springwell Cottage was the Wardley Coal Depot where waggons were filed with concessionary coal for mining families and also sold to buyers.

Jack Buck 1994
Ellison’s shop had two snooker tables upstairs and they played a 1p a game. Jimmy Ellison only had one arm and was blown up and killed trying to do something with a lamp. My father worked at the colliery and was a union man. He became the first Labour member of the Gateshead Board of Guardians. He would visit the Bensham workhouse and did not like the way they would stand at attention when they appeared. He would tell them not to do it as it was only a matter of luck that he was where he was and not with them. I was born in Pelaw, then went to South Shields, and later settled at Wardley. I married a lass from Low Fell in 1938 and moved to 7 Quality Terrace and stayed for 11 years. Mr. Guy the pit manager lived at Manor House and the Bamlings (the fruit & veg family) were the last to live there.
We built air raid shelters into the pit heap at the back of the street during WW11. Bob Bone lived next door. In the first house in the street was Mrs.Robson, then Moralee, Ball, Lanes, Bone, us, Mallaby, Taylors, Hobson and then Donnoly. I would help out at what we called Amos’s killing shop where he slaughtered animals with a big hammer. I started at the colliery with Billy Brown who became a pro footballer. My Dad started when he was 12 years old. My Dad would say of George Harvey (the Lodge secretary) that “sometimes you can get educated fools”.    back to the top

Mena Cowell Aug 19th 1994
I moved from Bill Quay when I was 4 years old to Waggonway Street and now 89 years old. I went down Wardley Colliery once and thought the experience was marvellous, I picked up a piece of coal I still have today. After the men had a drink on Saturday night, they would get out their accordions and would all sing and dance on The Square. Waggonway Street was called Smokey Row, it always was if it was windy.
All the staff at the school were woman and Miss Swinburn was the head teacher. Mr. Salkeld was the caretaker. At Easter, mam used to make us a packed lunch with a bottle of lemonade and we would spend all day on the Fell. You could buy 2d pop from Allison’s house shop at the top of Waggonway Street. Mr.Allison had a big white beard and always sat outside the house. My first job was at Wardley School as a cleaner for a pay of 2/6d. Later, I worked at Reyrolles but when father had a stroke I left to look after him. When he died I went to Friars Goose shipyard but there were so many strikes it closed. The manager went to Jarrow Steel Works and they asked me to go. I was cooking, cleaning, washing and all sorts but retired when I was 63 years old.  I was told there was a water pump on the square before they had running water in Waggonway Street but that was before my time. The ash carts came every Monday for the middens. If it as a windy day there was a mess all over the place. You could buy pie and peas from one of the houses in the street.
At Easter time we would roll our eggs on the Fell. George Harvey was a good man for the workmen, his wife was a stout woman and kept goats. Billiards was played downstairs in the miner’s hall. During the war I was on fire watch, we used a hut near the railway line and Harry Simpson was one of the supervisors.

Harry Bellis 1994
I lived in Waggonway Street and then we moved over to Reservoir Street because they were bigger houses. Isabel Simpson had a shop at the end of the street. I was born in 1919 and joined the cubs when I was 7 years old. Robert Wray Smith was the organiser.
I left school at 14 and was 4 years on the screens at the pit. Two Smith sisters and Jack Wraith had the post office in Woodbine House. The seating for the Ivy Leaf Club (later the British Legion) came from a ship brought into the Tyne to be scrapped and broken up, it could have been the Olympia. Mr. Robson in Quality Terrace worked in Tommy Moore’s butcher’s shop and played the organ at Chapel.
My Dad used to show me how to make duff balls (for the fire) at the pit heap. Billy Clayton had a cabin in the yard behind his house and we would pay a 1d to watch his magic lantern show. Norman Jones was the bowling green groundsman. A barber’s pole was outside Arther Gemma’s sweet shop and Mr.Denny would cut your hair.

Alice Felton Aug 22nd 1994
I was born in Bill Quay in 1906 and now 89 years old. My husband Joe was from Tyne Dock, South Shields. I lived in 97 Waggonway Row, next to the Pontop line, forth house from the top. The Richardson’s lived in the top house, then the Dixons, Thompsons then us. Adam Denny was on the other side. I used to play half back or centre half in the ladies football team (1930’s). Mr.Guy, the colliery manager lived in Manor House. I used to work there as a cleaner. He had a daughter Betty. He had a horse drawn bussett and the driver lived in the end house in Quality Terrace. Matty Gage’s wife worked for the Palmer’s in the Hall, they had the shipyards. My Mam and step Dad (Mr.Donelly) were the caretakers of the Miner’s Welfare Hall. Dr.Condie used to do his visits on a bike and Louis Fusaro from Hebburn would come around with his horse drawn ice cream float. My husband was a big pigeon man.
A bomb dropped in Gillespies (farmer) field, near the railway line during the war. That day I was at Joe Milburn’s house with his wife Mary. He was a warden and on duty. We dashed under the table!
At a funeral, if it was a woman who died, two men would walk in front and two women behind and the other way round if it was a man. Mr.Barnes from Pelaw was the undertaker.

Kathleen Goldsworthy Aug 28th 1994
I was born in 1916 and my father in 1894. When I was 14 years old I went into service at a house in London and stayed there until I was 21. I also worked at the White Mare Pool and at Palmer’s Hall c1949 when Mr.& Mrs. Jeffery lived there. He was the manager of the coke works and later moved to Ponteland. I met my future husband at St.Aidan’s, he was in the scouts and I was in the guides. Dad was a musical prodigy and could play most musical instruments. When the carts selling bananas or fresh herring came around Waggonway Street, he’d haggle and buy the lot and still sell it cheaper and make a little pocket money. The doctors who came around in 1923 were Dr.Stitch and Dr.Cathie from Croxdale Terrace, Pelaw. Dr.Stitch wore a hard bowler hat and rode a bike. Dr.Cathie came round on a horse. On May Day, Labour party members would elect a May Queen. We lived in 83 Waggonway Street and moved to 33 Reservoir Street. We used to go to Bill Quay School along Wardley Lane and the back of First Street.

Elijah Donnelly Aug 29th 1994
I was born in High Usworth. My father came over about 1912 when Follonsby pit opened. We lived in 97, then 99 Waggonway Row then moved to 82 Waggonway Street. The day I started work at 14 my Dad retired.
Hannah Smith had a motorbike she used to travel to work at Springwell. The ice cream man, Lou Fusaro, loved to gamble with the men in the Miner’s Hall. We used to pinch his ice cream when he went in. Johnny (Fattie) Richardson was the bookies runner. One day, the local bobby was trying to catch him and it was quite a job. At last, he gave up and said it was a fair cop. The policeman said he was only after him to put a bet on! If the lads were taking their lasses home and they asked what the little buildings were over the road, which were the middens, we would say they were pigeon cree’s!
John Holdsworth went to play professional football for Queens Park in Scotland but came back to the pit. Charlie Brown, the footballer, died one day after he came in from the garden. Robin Branch went for a time to play for Hexham, that was good in those days. I started at the pit but went to work on the Pontop and Jarrow line with John Wilkin. I used to drive No.8 train.

Ernie Pearson Dec 1st 1994
I was born at 6 West Crescent and then moved to No.25. Our family came from Pelaw where my brother Jimmy was born. We first moved to Reservoir Street when Jimmy was 3 year old. He went on to play professional football for Norwich City. Dad was an overman at the pit and in St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. He was a 1st aid man at the pit and when war broke out he was an ambulance driver for the A.R.P. Dad must have been one of the first to have a car in Wardley. It stood in the garage right through the war and he would clean it every week. When the war was over, and you could get petrol again, he sold it. He got a lot of money, you couldn’t get cars in those days after the war.
A chip shop was run by the Anderson’s at the end of West Crescent. He had come over from Ireland and worked various places in the country. He came to Wardley from Scarborough where he had married a landlady. He lodged with my mother at No.25. He had the hut put up and made it into a chip shop. They lived in the back when he brought his wife up. Later, he worked with bulldozers and so on. They built a nice house beside the Black Bull and lived there. When he sold the business he went to live with two older ladies at the cottages beside the British Legion. Eventually, he went back to Ireland but would come over now and again to buy old farm equipment which he took back, did it up and sold it.
Ernie Morton’s son, Ken, left the Central school and went straight to sea at 15 years of age. He finished up a skipper with the P & O Line. When I was a lad, I went down the pit to see what it was like. I went down with the first shift and had to stay with them till they came up. After 3 hours I told them if they didn’t get me up I’d go mad. They sent me up with the coal. I couldn’t get out the cage sharp enough! I worked for 18 years at Marconi’s.   back to the top

Jimmy Stridiron Dec 2nd 1994
I was born near The Sun Inn in Thompson Road, Southwick, Sunderland, in 1920. When I finished school on Friday I started on bank at Monkwearmouth Colliery, collecting tokens or working on the screens for three months then went underground. Just before the war, I joined the RAF and was later posted to work on barrage balloons at Felling Shore. I was billeted with Mrs.Potts at 22 Corrofell Gardens and met her daughter Joyce who I married at St.Mary’s Church in 1940. When I left the RAF, we lived in South Street, Felling.  Harry Allison (his wife’s relative), who worked at Wardley Colliery, spoke to a colliery official and got me started. I’d made friends with Bill Tiplady, his brother was a rent collector at Wardley for Story and Parker, and arranged for me to get a house there at 58 Waggonway Street. The rent was 6s a week. The old street was listed for demolition, had gaslights, no bath, outside middens and one bedroom. When I first arrived, Billy Gage was a good friend to me and helped me to settle into the area. With other pals, we would travel to football and cricket matches together. We went to live at Webb Gardens on the new Ellen Wilkinson Estate 2 weeks before Christmas in 1950.

Ralph Moralee Feb 23rd 1995
I was born in Pump Row and then moved to Waggonway Street. I started work on the Bowes railway and went on the staff at 26 as I was good with figures. When 32 years old, I left to become a newsagent. My Dad started work at the pit when he was 12 years old till he died at 67. The Home Guard used a room at The Railway Hotel during the war. George Harvey was a communist but a good man –he overstepped the mark sometimes. Mr. Lockey, on one of the banner photos, was the football team trainer. I saw the Miners Hall on fire in 1938. I was coming up from Quality Terrace at about 5.50am to go to work and saw it. We were living 2nd. house from the bottom. Jack Smith (the schoolteacher talking about a strike) once said to me “at one time there was only two people working at Wardley, that was me and the policeman”.
Johnny Fatty was a keen man on handball at the end of Waggonway Street even though he only had one lung, which gave him breathing problems. My sister Mary worked in Ellison’s shop. My Dad got the name “Col” because he had curly hair. When we were kids, Billy Brown (who was a professional footballer) used to take us by car to Sunderland to see the match. It was a treat.

Leah and Hannah Smith March 14th 1995
Leah was born at 23 Waggonway Street in 1914 and Hannah at Felling in 1904. At one time they lived at 12 Second Street, which used to be a chapel, then they moved to a new house at 10 Palmer Gardens. Everyone learned to swim at the Quarry but a boy called Armstrong drowned there and a boy named Bell died in the reservoir. Billy Brass married a girl named Mildred Lockey from Felling at the beginning of the war and they lived at Pelaw, he was manager of Wardley Co-op at one time. Leah worked with Mildred at the CWS printing works. Allisons at the top of Waggonway Street had a house shop. Hannah started work at Snowball’s but then went to the Co-op working in a number of places, East Boldon, Bill Quay, Marsden, Houghton. She had a Francis Barnett motorbike in 1936 to take her to work. At Christmas time they would be invited to Manor House to sing carols for the pit manager. Mr.Baldry used to drive the bussett for them and was the handyman.
Ronnie Starling was a great footballer in the 1930’s and was related to them. He played for Newcastle. Billy Gage’s Dad was a keen gardener and had one of the gardens near the Chapel. When Leah’s ball went in he always chased her.
Mr.Salkeld (the school caretaker) had two daughters, one married Mr.Ilderton and the other Mr.Wells. They named Smith Villas after our father who was a councillor. Their Mam would make hookie mats in her spare time. Leah was with her parents when they opened the Joseph Hopper memorial homes in Windy Nook. They walked all the way there from Wardley. Her Dad’s brother, George, married Ann Kerridge from Reservoir Street and went to Australia. Mrs. Brown in Third Street arranged lots of events at the Chapel. Her daughter had a drapery shop at Pelaw. Her Grand daughter Greta Brown married a Mr. Williams, her father was killed in the 1914-18 war.

John Clayton April 10th 1995 
I was born in 1917 at 12 Sunderland Terrace and left school at the Easter when 14 years old. I worked for 3 or 4 months on the screens at the pit before going down. When it closed in 1938 I went to work at a pit at North Walbottle, Westerhope and lodged at Mrs .Freeman’s, 3 Windsor Terrace. Another man, Geordie Greener also lodged there as the landlady had family connections with Wardley. I also worked at the Oxide plant and the paint works. During the war I was in the Green Howards and joined up with Eddie Cooper. I carried the banner to Durham Gala 6 or 7 times. When Dick Young was in the school football team, in one game he scored 7 goals and got a pair of football boots for it. At one time I lived in Second Street and John Wilson who lived there became manager of Wallsend pit. Jim Clarks sister married a farmer and my Dad’s uncle ( Robert H.Clayton) was a bonesetter, his two sons became doctors.

Bob Young April 13th 1995
At one time I lived in 14 Waggonway Street. My Aunt worked as a cook for Dr. Steel at Heworth Vicarage for 19 years, he had married one of the Swan’s from the shipyard family. Dr .Steel was buried in Jesmond cemetery and I counted 21 coaches going along Sunderland Road to the funeral. She got £150 and went to work at Bamburgh Castle for the Read’s who were brewers. I was a choirboy at St.Aidan’s and the curate was called Mr.Friend, he was a big chap and a bit of a wrestler. Alfie Fewster was the washer manager, he was a bachelor and his sister was a teacher at Heworth school. My brother, Dick, went to the pit at 14 years old and worked on the screens, then taking tokens off the tubs and then in the weigh cabin. He went to play professional football when 17 years old and was 13 years at Sheffield United. All the winding engines at Wardley came from Scotland, Scot’s engineers put them in. After the pit closed in 1938 I went to work at George Angus at Walker. At first I was the sweeper up, then boilerman. I’d ride there on my bike from the top of The Drive, Felling, where I lived. It was a German owned firm, Beck was the manager. Later, I went onto the machines mixing different materials, I was probably the first man in England to produce synthetic rubber. My Dad came and worked at the factory with me.

Harry Thomas May 27th 1995
I married a girl from Reservoir Street called Celia Wallace but when we met she was living in First Street. Her mother died at Pelaw Junction one winter’s night when she fell. She was a Labour Party woman. Sadie Simpson’s brother, Thomas, was very good at building things with matchsticks. Robin Branch and Bobby Wood were playing football for Celtic Walker when in the cup they won through to play Bradford. They went straight from the pit to the match. I worked at McKay’s shoe shop at Bill Quay and went with a horse and trap around the houses. Later, Johnny Johnson drove around in a van doing the job. Mr. McKay’s son, Laurence, went on to have Pelaw Post Office.

Beatrice Wilkin June 30th 1995
I was born at 7 White Mare Pool Cottages in 1918 and then moved to 64 Waggonway Street. The head teacher when I was at Wardley School was Miss Haddock, another teacher was Miss Thompson. When the pit closed we went to Burradon Colliery but came back and lived in Quality Terrace. I met and married Tommy Wilkin in 1937 who lived in Third Street. My son Robert was born at No 64. My son in law is Tommy Philipson, his Dad drove the trains on the Pontop line and had worked at the pit. back to the top

Mr.& Mrs. Pearson July 4th 1996
His father, Thomas William Pearson, was the accountant at Follonsby Colliery and they lived in Manor House 1934-39. Before them, Mr.Guy had lived in the house. His Dad was also in the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade and was Superintendent of the Springwell Division and a chapel organist. Mrs.Pearson was formerly Jane Ethel Bell and born in 1912 and was living in Third Street when they met and married at the chapel at Wellfield Terrace, Bill Quay, in 1940. They lived for a time at George Street, Pelaw (he was in the forces), and then bought a bungalow in Glywood Gardens, Sheriff Hill, in 1944. She has a sister called Bett Finlay who lived in Lansbury Gardens. When a little girl, she would take Mr.Brown’s, the pit engine man, his bait at the colliery. He had a daughter Florrie and the mother was a schoolteacher. Benny Mansell moved away to Blackhall Colliery but came back to Wardley. He had both his legs amputated before he passed away.

Rhoda Ann Dixon Aug 31st 2003
My husband is Foster Dixon and he was born in Silksworth and came to the White Mare Pool when he was a baby. He lost his Dad, John Foster Dixon and they came through to Wardley as one of their relatives, Mrs.Wilkinson, managed the White Mare Pool public house. His Mam eventually remarried to George Nicholson. I was born at 27 Heworth Street in Felling. My Uncle was Jimmy Ancrum who was elected as a communist councillor in Felling in the 1930’s. He lived at 13 Ell Dene Crescent. I was married to Fos at St.Mary’s Church, Gateshead, in 1950, he was living at 20 Whitemere Gardens at the time. We were the first tenants in a new house on Meresyde, Leam Lane, about 1956.

Eva Roxburgh Feb 16th 2004
I came to Wardley when a young girl and was born at 37 Coxon Street, Bill Quay in 1921. My parents were Annie and Henry. I was the first child, then Edward and Dorothy. We exchanged houses with someone in Waggonway Street and then to a bigger house in Reservoir Street. When I was 17 they started to demolish the old colliery houses and we moved to a new house at 27 Lingey Gardens. I went to Wardley School from 5-7 year old, and, when St.Alban’s R.C.School opened in 1928, I went there until 11 years old and then to St.Johns at Felling Shore, near Noble and Lunds, till I was 14 and then went to Pelaw CWS printers. During the war I went to Reyrolles and met my husband Jackson Roxborough. He was the youngest of 11 in the family and we were married at Hebburn’s St.Cuthberts in 1943. My brother Edward was in the Wardley Colliery Band, he also played in the Jack White Band and in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. We had three sons, Keith (now in London), Ian and Christopher.

John Kerr May 3rd 1995
I met a Felling girl named Preston in Dover, we married in Christchurch and came to live with her family in The Avenue. Her father, Steve Preston, was the winding man at Felling Colliery. When it closed we came with her father to Wardley c1932 where he got the same job at the pit and lived in Second Street. I went in to the Royal Engineers in June 1940. I worked on the railway and was on the committee of the British Legion, The Buffs, and the Wardley Bowling Club. Alf Fewster was on the committee of the Conservative Club and they had a bowling green at the front where the by-pass is now.

Dorothy Amos (nee Younger) March 6th 1996
came from “West Farm” at Willington Quay. She met her husband John at a farmer’s dance at the Rex, Whitley Bay. They courted for 6 years and married in Dec. 1937. John was born at South Wardley Farm in 1908 and his mother died when he was 4 years old. His Dad died of pneumonia in May 1937. They had two children, Kay and Richard. They sold the farm to Leech the builders in 1960 and moved to Frankland Farm, near Durham. Richard married Sheila Wilson, a Durham girl and they have three children When John died in Dec 1987 we moved to Broomhill Farm, Lanarkshire, a bigger farm.
 

Miscellaneous Information from Wardley People

Raymond Foster was born at 29 Whitemere Gardens on July 20th 1944 and later had to move from a house in Leam Gardens due to subsidence.

Harry Thomas says that one Wardley lad, Raymond Wilson, joined the river police.

Joe Palmer, who was born in Waggonway Row, attended the Heworth funeral of relative Thomas Wealleans in 1923 who was accidentally killed at Follonsby pit. The family travelled back from Sacriston for the service where they had moved to find work. They had moved around many pit villages.

Martha Halliday stood on the White Mare Pool bridge when she was 13 years old and watched a Zeppelin go overhead.
 
Doris Bellis married husband Jordan who lived in Second Street. They married in Sept 1939, the next day war was declared with Germany.

Edwin Bellis was in the pit band and worked at the coke works.

Gordon Wilkin say’s that, when he was a young lad, at election time if the children saw a Conservative they would chant outside the miners hall “Vote, vote, vote, for Mr. Furnehough,  Fernehough is sure to win the day, ‘course, we’ll get a penny gun, and we’ll make the Tories run, an’ they won’t come voting any more!”

Bill Foster is from 12 Waggonway Street, trained as a motor mechanic, and retired at 65 in Nov 2000. He remembered the Friday night hop at the Miners Welfare Hall and the resident group, the “Woodchoppers” who were Bill Coxon and Ted Langston (trumpet) Tom Foster (piano) and Bill Johnson (trombone).

Ethel Wells was born in Booth Street, Felling, her father Mr.Salkeld came from Felling Shore and was Wardley School caretaker for 30 years.

Mrs. West was born in Neville Street, Felling, and moved to Leam Gardens in 1941. She remembered Mrs. Wright from Bill Quay who sold kippers from a basket on her head and Mr. Davison who repaired bikes in the Sunderland Road allotments and had a penny farthing.

Jenny Summerson was born in Waggonway Row. During the 1926 General Strike she had her breakfast at the Miners Welfare Hall where they would receive a voucher to go back and have their dinner.  back to the top

Newton Lisgo Jnr was born in Waggonway Row in 1919 and joined the pit band at 9 years old. I went for an interview at the colliery on the Saturday morning I finished school and started on the screens on Monday. After 6 months I started as a trainee chemist at the laboratory. When the Monkton Coke Works started I was sent to help on the site and was eventually transferred there.

Tom Pickering was born at 11 Pump Row. His grandfather, of the same name, was the bandmaster and could play any instrument. He remembers his granddad telling Dickie Swailes that his piece of music could win a forthcoming competition but that he must keep one eye on the sheet music and one on him. Dick’s reply was that he would find that hard to do as he only had one eye!

Isabel Parkin (nee Lynch) was born in 8 Waggonway Street in 1914 until she married and moved to Felling. At one time she lived upstairs in Woodbine House. The colliery Under-Manager, Harry Johnson, lived downstairs.

John Davis was born in Bill Quay and moved to Reservoir Street in 1932.

Doreen Smith (nee Frecker) was born in Reservoir Street. Her Dad, Thomas William Frecker, was born in 1909 and started work at the pit when 14 years old. Her Grandfather, Tommy Frecker, born in 1888, had played football for Sunderland.

Tommy Munro was born in Jonadab St but lived at one time in Joyce Villas pre-fabs. Ellisons shop was owned by Christine Sloan.

Kathleen Goldsworthy say’s Wardley had a Prisoner of  War fund. The Chairman was Jack Smith, Treasurer Mrs. Noble and Secretary Mrs. Wells. They would collect money door to door and when they returned home we gave them some money.

Grace Trotter was born at Bill Quay in 1938 and her Dad went into the pit at 14 years old. During a strike, her dad said they went around on a horse and cart to collect vegetables and food for a soup kitchen. Grace married George Spry and the wedding reception was in the Miners Welfare Hall. They were Chapel people and say’s John West was a good preacher.

Billy Dryden was born in Waggonway Street and his mother was Elizabeth Trainer whose family came from Easington. There were Harry and Billy (twins), John & Stan in the family. Charlie Gilespie, the farmer, married Mrs. Drydon’s sister. Young Newton Lisgo worked at the pit laboratory and Rita Byron died in Italy when on holiday.

Doris Riseborough (Ilderton) went to Wardley when 10 years old and lived in Third Street. Her Dad was a master shifter and hewer at the pit. They were the first people to move into West Crescent, No.35.

Tom Javan remembered Ted Short gave a service in the house for his grandfather Tom Smith when he died. There was also a big cycle race through Wardley one year, when the leader was just  few hundred yards from the train crossing the gates had to be closed. It caused such a gnashing of teeth as everyone caught up with the leaders!

Jenny Freeman (nee Summerson) was born in Waggonway Street in 1916. Miss Hebron, the school teacher, her dad was the school board man. I married and left Wardley in April 1939. Her Mam was Sarah Jane Gage. Grandad Gage broke both his legs at the pit. He was a Norfolk man who ran away from home when he was 9 or 10n years old.

Mrs.Anderson (20 West Crescent) was born in 1901 and came to Wardley on May 9th 1939. She came from Langley Park where she had known the Lisgo’s, Plews and Creswells who came from there. Her husband was from Medomsley and met him after WW1. They came first to Heworth after the 1926 strike and when he got work at Wardley Washer they moved to West Crescent. Her older sister married Marshall Creswell.

Billy Harlan was born in Nov. 1916 in Newcastle and came to West Crescent. When 5 years old. He lived with his Grandparents Taylor and Maggie Cowell. His Mam was Alice Cowell. He started work at the pit at 14 with Harry Clark and was in the blacksmith’s shop till 21 years old and then the pit closed. Tommy Cowell was killed at the pit.

Laurence McVeigh he was born in 1923 and came from a family of eight. His Mam was Maggie Maxwell and they had a house shop in Jonadab. Both he and his wife, Eva Creswell, were born in Reservoir St. Her Grandfather, Thomas Creswell, had a horse called “Prince” and sold fruit and veg and also worked at the pit. Sometimes his mother did the laying out if someone died.   back to the top

Grace Trotter say’s Audrey Byron went to live in Tewkesbury and Betty Jones to New Zealand. John West was a good preacher at the Chapel and worked for the Co-op at Bolton Store.

Nora Taylor (nee Dixon)  was born in March 1918 in Reservoir Street and and from a family of 12. One time worked in the post office at Wardley and every Wednesday half-day would visit Mr &  Mrs. George Harvey at 1 Castle Street, Fatfield. He was the checkweighman at Harraton Colliery and was the union man at Wardley before 1938. Mrs. Harvey would refer to the front room as mine as sometimes my daughter and I stayed over. Mrs. Harvey was taken into Chester le Street hospital with a bad leg. It was amputated and she died there.

John Dixon said that farmer John Amos lost his sight in the end.

Alex Nicholson married Polly Pickering who’s family had a house shop at the top of Waggonway St. Mrs.Burns, who helped run the Girls Guildry, her Mam had a drapers shop in Pelaw which later became Frosts. I went to school with Ivy Clark (nee Smith). When my brother Charlie broke his leg, it never set right. He got a job in the lamp cabin. I married a Hebburn girl in 1954, lived in, then went to 14 Smith Villas.

Sadie Cooper was born in Reservoir Street and married Bill Quay man Edwin Cooper in 1942. He was a bricklayer and at one time worked in the pit. He did his last 10 years at Monkton Coke Works. We lived at 14 Palmer Gardens until 1994 and then moved to McErlane Square, Pelaw.

Betty Thompson was born in Newcastle in 1905. Her husband is from Wardley and they met on the Town Moor and married in 1930. They went to live at the bottom of Waggonway Street. She arranged day trips away and the first one was to Whitley Bay, the women gave money every Friday. Alex Hannah’s favorite song was “You are my Sunshine” which he always sang on our trips. We forgot him once and left him in the pub and had to go back for him.

Don Smith was a member of the Wardley “Buffs” (John McCowie Lodge) in the 1960’s when they met upstairs in the Railway Hotel. Wardley garage used to look like an old aircraft hanger and was burned down about 1952. The school caretaker after the war was Mr.Dean. Remembered Wardley school football team winning the final against St Alysius at Rayrolls football ground. Afterwards, Stotty Lewis treated them all to the Palley cinema.

Harry Stevenson say’s that Arthur Charlton, the Co-op manager, lived in Tudor Lodge at High Heworth Lane and that Jimmy Moralee worked at the Co-op store on The Drive. Old John Gage would always sit on the chair in the old Wardley Co-op, they found he died one day in the garden. Alan Jeffery (son of the coke works manager) and Arthur Charlton’s son went to Beaconsfield School (private) at Low Fell. When Wardley Co-op opened in 1922 everybody got a free gift from the store.

Mrs. E. C. Justice & her husband. Ned came from Felling Shore and was Chairman of the Lodge after Anthony Joyce. She was born in 1915 at Saltmeadows. They came to Wardley in c1953. Ned was also on the NUM executive at Durham. After the pit, he worked at the union office at Westgate Road and later became personnel officer at the Washington Tube Company. Bernard Conlan M.P. used to stay at their house in Fisherwell Road when he was in the area.

Rose Kyle (nee Ellison) moved from Cramlington to Wardley when about 3 years old and lived in a NE railway house near Pelaw brickworks. Shortly afterwards, they moved to 2 Sunderland Terrace. She married Ken Kyle.

Eddie Carr as born in 1925 at 17 Second Street and started at Follonsby pit in 1939 to work on bank. They moved to Usworth when his Dad got a job there but moved back into No.6 White Mare Pool Cottages. Dad was captain of the Wardley  Cricket Club.

Donny Reay born in the Felling and moved to 60 Reservoir Street when 3 years old. Mr.Yates was the bandmaster before Newton Lisgo. Benham Bell became a store butcher. Ned Dowd was the village crier at one time, one of the Drydens did well in East Africa, it could have been something to do with the Foreign Office.

Evelyn Knapper when young she moved to Wardley from Blyth. Her Dad, Samual Knapper, was killed at the pit. Worked at Pelaw CWS and had lived in Waggonway Street and Third Street.

John & Minnie Henderson. He was born in Reservoir Street and Minnie in 1919 at Felling and moved to Wardley when a little girl. Married John in 1944.

Tony Joyce was born in Usher Moor and came here when about 5 months old. Went to Wardley school for a few months and then to St. John’s R.C.school in Felling.

Betty Bradley (nee Robinson) born in Jarrow and came to Wardley when 3 years old and lived in 67 Third Street. As the war had started she finished her education at Wardley and did not go to Bill Quay. Left school at 14 to work at Bill Quay Co-op store and then became a machinist at the Team Valley. Married Ray Bradley at Pelaw Chapel in 1949.

Joe Laing said Davy Graham’s Dad lived in Springwell Cottage where the First Aid post was based during the war.  When he first started school they used slates with a wooden frame. He became Monkton Lodge NUM representative and met Arthur Horner at Redhills in Durham and also went to the Beatrice and Sidney Webb House in Surrey for a course. As a lad, Joe sold the “Sporting Man” around the village. The last policeman at 1 Quality Terrace was Mr.Hogg.  Benny Mansell had two sons, Benny and Joe, his daughter was accidently killed when she fell out of a window at home.

Davy Ball born in Duke Street, Pelaw, above Marsden’s shop. John Mitchell was the manager of the Pool and in the Buffs.  back to the top

Betty & Albin Davis He was born at Bill Quay but came over to Reservoir Street when a child. Left school at 14 and went to work at Wardley Colliery Co-op store. Joined the army in WW2 and when came out did deliveries around local co-op stores until about 1960. Betty was born in Parkinson Street, Felling. When her Mam died her Grandparents brought her up in Quality Terrace, when they passed on her Uncle Harry Cummings and his wife brought her up. 

Lewis Hall say’s there were 6 loco’s and about 500 tubs left below when they closed the pit. When working they could bring out 80 tubs an hour in the two cages. In the early 50’s there were about 8 ponies down the pit but they stopped using them by 1958.

George Dinning was born in 1927 and the family moved from 51 Heworth Avenue to 3 Third Street. The Taylors were at No.1 and the Dawson family the other side. We later moved to Whitemere Gardens. Mam came from Washington and my Dad, Robert, may have been from Windy Nook.

Alice Dixon born in 1931 and went to Wardley school. In the snow storms of 1944 they used St.Aidan’s church as a school room as they could not get to the school. Teddy Holdsworth was in her class and she was a friend of June Holdsworth. They went once a week to cookery class at Bill Quay. Dad did 51 years at the pit, apart from his time in the forces. I married Tom in Dec 1951 and have 3 sons and a daughter. He is from Carly Hill, Sunderland.

Tom Taylor was born in 1911 at Darlington and arrived at Wardley around 1936. Lived at 31 Manor Gardens for about 35 years. He worked for the sinkers Johnson of Boldon when the Follonsby shaft was made deeper. He has three sons, Ken, Doug and Tommy. Tommy runs a general dealers shop at Northallerton, Yorkshire.

Dennis Lingard was born in Lincolnshire and came to Wardley in 1946. Worked previously at Windsor Park and met his wife in lodgings down there. He was a time served gardener and worked at Wardley Hall for Mr.Jeffery’s and lived in the Lodge which they left in 1957 to live at 14 Whitemere Gardens. Bush, the betting shop owner bought the lodge and its land and had it demolished. He had the Irishman from West Crescent build a new bungalow on the site. The Hall got its electricity from the pit. We were digging up the reservoir and cut the power lines. The two local policemen were Ridley Milburn and George Dowse.

Elsie Cusack (nee Chisholm) was born in 1912 at Fence Houses and had 4 brothers and two sisters.

Arthur Hutchinson (or Henderson) built the original Wardley Garage about 1925. His parents lived in Wardley Hall Cottages and his dad worked as head cashier at the pit.

Mrs.Rushford was born in Gateshead. Her husband Sid was born in Cross Row, Felling. They came to West Crescent when their son Howard was about 3 years old. He did well at school and went to university. He has worked all his life for the Shell Oil Company and has a home in Berwick.

Kathleen Miller (nee O’Neill) married Wardley miner Harry Millar who was born in Waggonway Street. His parents were Ada and James. Ada was a Trainer and related to the Gillespies who were farmers. They had a big family, the youngest was Alan, then Wallace, Harry, Joe, Jimmy then John. The sisters were Betty, Rachel and Jenny (who became Mrs.Lockhart and lived in Lansbury Gdns) and Edna. Harry spent many years in the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. Kathleen was born in Lamis Street, Felling, in 1919. When they 1st married they lived at Church Place, Felling, then the pre-fabs on the Drive and then moved to Keir Hardie Avenue. Her son Harry used to be in the Wardley Band.