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Eddy Joyce was born in 1935 and spent his formative years in Shotley Bridge, Durham.
Mrs Cryer, who lived in the rear street of Riverside, was a wonderful woman. She had a large family and having only one arm amazed me how she used to manage. Her son Barney was one of my pals at the time. To see her using a 'POSS-TUB' with only one arm was a sight to behold, but any child calling in there was always offered a biscuit or a slice of cake.
In the field behind Cryer's house was the spot for our annual bonfire. One year we decided to have a really big one, so we chopped down a fully grown pine tree.
It seemed like a good idea at the time but as always we where caught and had to front up before the magistrate, which wasn`t as bad as the punishment we got at home.
Occasionally the gas man would do the rounds collecting the monies from the gas meters. Now it was a known fact that in some of the houses the lock on the meter box was picked and the pennies inside used when money was tight to buy food, etc.
When the gas man came, the monies had to be replaced in a hurry. He often found half-pennies, sixpences and shillings, etc. in the boxes. He obviously knew what was going on, but I don't recall anyone being reported.
I remember Dad saying that during the strike, when he didn`t have a penny for the gas, he would remove the mantle, and by connecting the bike pump to the gas line pump long enough to build up pressure and trip the valve in the meter to get a free penny's worth of gas.
Another yearly event to look forward to for pocket money was potato picking. The favourite farm was Crawford Miller, but we had to get in early as he would only hire so many hands.
The agreement was wages plus a sack of potatoes per day. I remember one day filling the sack so full I couldn't carry it and my brother had to go on ahead to get Dad to come and fetch them.
I would say that the most memorable of those years was definitely the time we spent just going for walks. A walk along 'The Halves' beside the river through the Blue-bell wood, past Panshields farm either to the Newlands or up the road to Black Hedley, High Waskerley, Four Lane Ends. We must have covered every single foot-path and road one hundred times over.
The oldest street in the village had to be Wood Street, that led down to the gas works. The waste product of the gas was 'coke ' ------- not the modern version. This coke was sold as an alternative to coal for heating.
In winter we would use a sledge, in summer a 'boggie' to carry the coke back to our homes. If my memory serves me well I think it cost 15 pence a sack full. They had scales there for weighing, but if the man wasn`t watching we would shovel extra into the sack.
The big trucks carrying full loads would travel up the street and usually drop some of their load going over the cobble stones, much to the delight of the onlookers.
Eddy Joyce, Western Australia, 2002
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