|
 | |  | |
Sometime during these years Bishop Auckland Co-op bought the Greens shop and turned it into a grocery branch. I later learned, at one stage in its history this shop had belonged to a Co-operative Society, but I have no further details.
One Sunday in 1936, I think, I was fishing opposite the end of the Ironworks Slag Heap when I was joined by the Brothers Stubs. These old men were retired painters, who told me, that when the Iron works were in full blast they had often whitewashed a ceiling, with the bed occupied by someone asleep. The end of the Slag Heap was then almost opposite the point where the Beechburn beck entered the Wear.
Opposite the station there was the Slag Works where, in the early days, slag was crushed, tarred and turned into stone for road making. The Works initially had a small petrol shunter to move rail wagons in and out of the works, but by 1936 all carriage was by road. By this time slag was no longer used as the main material. Instead limestone was brought in by road from Weardale as a replacement.
Witton Park possessed a cinema. The first film I remember was the silent version of The Ten Commandments with suitable noises from piano and drums. Saturday matinees were either Cowboys and Indians or the exploits of Our Gang. It graduated to talkies but lost out to the more up-to-date cinemas in Bishop Auckland.
In the early 1930's male unemployment was very high and there were virtually no jobs for women. Many of the families were on Public Assistance (Parish Relief) because they were no longer entitled to unemployment benefit.
This was paid at a very low level and families were in great financial difficulty. Weekly payment was made by an official visiting each home. One insurance agent I knew, whose premiums were in pennies per week, followed the official to ensure that he collected the premiums due to him. Rent collectors followed the same practice.
Later a government scheme was started which allowed unemployed men to work on community projects. They did not lose benefit and received five shillings, I think, for a days work. A meal may have also been supplied but I am not sure about this. It was under this scheme that the coke ovens, whose remains were in the angle between Park Road and the road to the Viaduct, were levelled and the Community Centre built.
By this time Black Road had acquired its new name, Park Road. Around this time a fine Sunday afternoon was enlivened by the sight of the Graf Zeppelin. The airship as flying fairly low across Pixley Hills, a course that would allow it sight of the industry on both sides of the hill.
Most industry was on short time, usually working three days a week. Because you had to be out of work for six consecutive days to get unemployment benefit many places worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, one week and Thursday, Friday and Saturday the next. In this way employees got one weeks pay and one weeks dole each fortnight.
Boys, who were lucky enough to get an apprenticeship, could expect unemployment when the apprenticeship was over and they became journeymen. For those unable to get jobs there was something referred to as the 'Dole School' which they attended for half-days to be taught a trade.
Also during the thirties the Government set up smallholdings across the country in an effort to relieve unemployment. Each smallholder had a house and five acres of land to grow food, rear poultry and pigs and generally be self-sufficient. The houses at Escomb Three Lane Ends are a legacy of this scheme.
Most of the families had either, a garden attached to the house, or an allotment, sometimes both. For the unemployed gardening provided an interest but, more importantly, a source of cheap food. Other food supplements were, in the appropriate season, mushrooms, blackberries for jam or pies, crab apples for jelly.
Families used their Sunday evening walks to check whether berries were ripe. Sundays were not usually used for collecting purposes. Other people, seen collecting, were pulling grass and dandelion leaves from the roadside grass verge for their rabbits, another source of cheap food or cash.
Many allotments or gardens had their pigeon lofts (crees). These crees were the homes of racing pigeons, whose baskets were seen on Etherley station being sent further and further away as the season progressed. Competition between club members was quite keen since a successful bird was a source of cash. No doubt the unsuccessful ones supplemented the larder.
Leek growers had their own competition, again a source of keen rivalry. Sources of a winning strain of seeds and methods of cultivation were closely guarded secrets. Members of a leek club paid a weekly subscription and this was used to buy prizes. For the annual show a member submitted a stand of three leeks under an entry number. Only after the independent judges had made their awards were the prize winners known.
These prizes were awarded on the basis of the leek's volume. More than six inches of white made the leek ineligible. Prizes were domestic items, blankets, sheets, pillow cases etc. Vegetable, fruit and flower shows were held either in Witton Park or local villages. Chrysanthemum shows were held but Bishop Auckland was the more likely venue.
These local activities together with the churches, chapels, all with their associated activities, and local pubs provided the basic social life of the village. From around 1935 local bus companies ran excursions to the seaside and other destinations, principally on Sunday and usually organized by a family or a group with similar interests.
Long distance travel was principally by train although it was possible to travel to London by bus. Railways also provided day and half-day excursions; it was possible to travel from Etherley station to Redcar for an afternoon at the seaside.
On Sunday it was possible to travel to places like Selby, Doncaster and Peterborough for the day. This was usually for family reasons since the employment opportunities available in The Midlands caused people to leave the area.
More prosperous times were around the corner. With the gloom of the depression lifting the whole village was involved in raising funds for the Lady Eden Hospital in Bishop Auckland. The main method of fund-raising was the village carnival. Weeks before the event groups of people went to local villages selling programmes and doing whatever they could to collect contributions.
Very often, in the difficult times, these were only pennies. On the Thursday before the great day two large Showmen's engines would arrive pulling two or three wagons each. The convoy would then park in the football field close to the entrance next to the Church. By Friday evening a Noah's Ark and Chair-o-plane round-about had been set up with a number of stalls and a small round-about for the children.
The engines were rocking gently, providing electricity, the fairground was ablaze with lights, and the organs of the major attractions were playing popular songs. All was set for the Grand Opening on Saturday. The Big Day itself was marked by a procession through the village. It started, I think, near Escomb Three Lane Ends, came down Woodside, up the Baltic, down Park Road to the bottom, along Low Queen Street and the Main Street to the Fairground.
In the procession were decorated floats, Kazoo bands, Brass bands playing, people dressed in fancy costumes, streets lined with watchers. Accompanying the procession were people rattling collecting boxes to ensure that every penny possible was raised for the local hospital, an altogether joyous occasion.
On Sunday there was an Open-air Service with the fairground organs playing appropriate music. On Monday evening the fairground was open and this marked the end of the festivities. By Tuesday evening the football field was empty, the show had moved on.
Other highlights of the year were, the Chapel anniversary and the Sunday School Christmas party. People rarely left the village except to shop in Bishop Auckland. The Sunday School trip, a day out at the seaside for children and the Sunday School Teachers and some helpers was a major event in the summer holidays. The destinations were usually Redcar or Saltburn while Whitley Bay was a special treat. These trips ended with the outbreak of War.
The main cause of the improvement in employment in the period from 1936 onwards was the possibility of war and later on the war itself. Men left early in the morning to build aerodromes, the munitions factory at Aycliffe and the extension to the Workhouse, which later became Bishop Auckland General Hospital.
Gradually as the war went on more and more people in the village were involved. Those who were not in uniform were working, on jobs of National importance, in the pits, factories and also building bigger and better landing fields.
The war had little effect on the fabric of the village itself. Apart from the bomb dropped at Woodside in 1940 the nights were more frequently disturbed by the raids on the coastal cities, Newcastle, Sunderland, Stockton and Middlesbrough.
The arrival of the American Air Force at Goosepool led to some excitement, particularly for the young women in the area but, by and large, few of the older Witton Park people seemed to be bothered, since they had more serious concerns.
Naturally there were celebrations with bonfires and small street parties on May 8th 1945 when the war ended. My family and I moved from Park Road in June 1945 and thus my direct involvement with the village ended.
Richard H. Alder
Birstall, Leicester
30th June 2000
| |  | |  |
To add a comment you must first login or join for free, up in the top left corner.
|
|
