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When I was Young

Parts 13 to 20

In those days some folk in the street made their own "hooky mats"

Mam used to, and got Dad to do a bit too.

The mats were done on a sort of hesian yarn, streched between two main frame s with a piece of spar across each end to keep the hesian yarn taught...

The main spars of the frames were about 8 feet long, these were the ones that the hesian was wrapped round, and taught by the short spars across the ends. A transfer of a design having already been ironed onto the yarn, all was ready to start.

Mam used to cut up all , and any old coats , into 1" strips to use , and also went to the army surplus store in Gateshead and bought 2 army blankets, then dyed them with fast dyes, and cut them up too.

On agreed days, there was Mam, Dad, Aunty Else and granny sitting around the frame progging away wwith their proggers, each following the pattern on the hesian.

The floor always ended up a mass of little clippings every session.

When that particular session was finished the frames with the half finished mat would be stood on end and place just round the corner of the living room door, till the next time.

When the mat was finished, it was cut from the frame and usually put on our bed in the winter time, before it was ever put on the floor. On cold winter`s nights I can recall Mam heating the oven up then taking the metal trays out, wraping them in an old towel and putting them in our beds to warm them up.

Part 14.

It has to be remembered, that in our little row of terraced houses there was no electricity, only gas. Dad worked at a big place called

CLARK CHAPMANS ENGINEERING. my Dad was not a tradesman for when he was young jobs were very hard to come by, so he ended up an electricains mate. He formed a great friendship with one of the tradsman electricians calleb Harvey Bell, who was a time served electrician.

This kind friend of Dad`s came to our house one night, and in the conversation he said Jimmy, why don`t you check with the electricity board to see how much it will cost you to have them tap into the mains, then if it`s not too much, we could wire your house up. Anyway Dad checked up...and they said 17 pounds for them to tap into the mains, which ran beside the coal lines, inclusive in that would be the installation of a meter just inside the front door. So Dad and his friend wired our house up, it took 10 days doing it after work.

On the big day, about 9.30am the men came and dug the road up, connected the cable ran it under our doorstep and connected it to our new meter. Come 5.30pm My sister Audrey and I patiently waited for the sight of our Dad coming along the lane from work, then there he was, and we rush to meet him, calling out "The Lectric man`s been Dad"

So our house was the first house to have electricity..When Dad had changed out of his work clothes, he said right Kenneth, light the gas light, so I did, then he went to the meter in the passage and switched the main switch on, he said to Mam, "right Jenny you will have the honour" and our Mam switched the light on, I was astonished how poor the gas light was in comparison. Mam and Dad decided 6 months later to buy a radiogram on the never never, this was wonderful..The first record I ever bought was Edmondo Ross playing "The Wedding Samba" The next week I bought Bing crosby singing"If I knew you were coming I`d have baked a cake"

The next day Audrey and I set out for school as usual. when school was out and we got home?? we found Bing Crosby still singing the tune, as when we left for school that morning?? I said Mam why did`nt you turn it off??

Without blinking an eyelid, she said"WELL IT`S BEEN BAKING A CAKE ALL DAY, FOR I DID`NT KNOW HOW TO TURN IT OFF!!!

Part 15.

Our milk was never delivered in bottles in 1940.

The milk lady from the local farm drove a horse drawn milk float with two large wheels, a sort of drop down iron step at the open back, on the float were 2 large milk churns, from which she measured out the milk people in the street wanted, using two metal measures , one a pint size another one a gill size, each with a long handle so she could reach down into the churn easily. Mam, like all the folk in the street kept a metal jug which had a lid, this was only used for getting the milk from the farm lady.

One night, late in the Autumn in the dark nights..of course the street was pitch black because of the blackout, Mam and Dad were at the cinema in Newcastle. our aunt was looking after my sister Audrey and me. nnow what seems to have been a regular occurance on the way back from the town, was for Dad to get off the bus one stop before the stop for home, and he would have a pint at the local before coming home.

This particular night, when Dad made no effort to get off the bus at the local pub, Mam said "Aren`t you having a pint tonight Jimmy"? No replied Dad, bit tired tonight Jenny, Anyway the bus was coming to their stop, so they got up Mam was the first in the bus doorway. (Remember there was no street lighting), Mam stepped off , what she thought was a stationery bus, but in fact the bus was doing 15 mph. she was flung to the pavement the back wheels of the bus tore part of her ear, it was that close to her head. So it seems that Dad had to be there!!

The first my sister and I knew was in the morning when our Aunt said "You`re to go over the lines to grannies and see you`re mam. when we got there, there was our Mam, her dear face hardly recognisable black , blue , and red. and blown up to the size of a large foot ball.

My sister was to stay with our Aunt and I was to go to my other grannies (Dad`s Mam) for 3 weeks.

Now this granny I always thought of as a tipical Victorian lady, she once showed me an old photo of herself in her maid`s clothes, for apparently when she was in her early 20`s

she was in domestic service in a huge house. in the photo she wore a long black shoe length dress, with a lace like neat pinny at her waist, and a tiny lace thing on her head.

My granny Beattie, seemed to carry a perminent packet of mint imperials in her pinny pocket.. She had some stone jars in which she put cream of tarter and sliced lemons, she said "Kenneth, a glass of this a day will keep you`re blood right" but when she wasn`t looking I would drink it like pop..

This is the earliest photo I have
of Mam and Dad taken when they were just courting ,,,they are on the right.
( friends---look at Mam`s hat, It` must have been the height of fashion then)

Gran was so meticuluos when she was cooking that I was always totally engrossed watching her, she had a old pair of brass shop scales and every ingredient was weighed, and when taken from the oven, was perfect, with no exceptions. My favourite was her walnut cake, absolutely delicious.

My grandfather was a very quiet man..I smile now when I think back to those days..He would fidgit with his cap, put it down,,pick it up,get up from the sitting room chair go into the kitchen, then come back again and fiddle with the cap again. Eventually gran would notice the signs put her hand into her pinny pocket and slip him a shilling (The price of a pint then) His dear face would take on a completely new glow,, on would go the cap a quick peck on gran`s cheek and away he would go to the local for a hour. Yes friends, gran held the purse strings there, but maybe she needed to, anyway I can never remember seeing grandpop drunk, never.

OOOHH!! For the simple pleasures of the days of long ago.

Part 16.

During the early 40`s everyone was asked to provide as much of their own food as possible, because of the awesome losses of merchant ships that were torpedoed in the atlantic.

My granny did her bit by keeping hens, and having grandpop grow as many vegetables as possible.. one of granny`s hens was her favourite and she was called "Betsy". now even when the garden gate was carelessly left open all the hens stayed in the garden, all but Betsy. In the summer time gran`s front and back doors were always open, and Betsy would walk casual like across the road straight into the living room and sit on the back of gran`s large fireside chair.

I remember one day going to gran`s and there was gran sitting in her armchair shelling peas from the garden, with "Betsy" sort of crouching down on the back of gran`s chair about level with gran`s ear, I thought I wish I had a camera..

When I was 8, and my sister 5 , our cat kitty, sat beside the cupboard door in the living room for 3 days never moving very far. this was quite a large pantry type cupboard in which on the floor was our gas meter, to the right of this and about 15 inches square Mam put layers of paper she had obviously been saving, till there was quite a wad of paper in this little cubby whole, which was the nearest side of the cupboard to the large open fire, so the wall at this point was always warm.

Two days later when Audrey and I got up to get ready for school, Mam said come and see what clever kitty has " got."...and there they were 3 lovely kittens, 2 were very lively but the little black one(My sister and I named "SOOTY" ) he looked frail. The 2 lively ones were soon snapped up by people in the street. so now "Sooty" was on his own with his mum.

Part 17.

After another 2 weeks, Mam said, listen you two,

to Audrey and I, we can`t keep two cats, and that`s the end of it!! anyway it doesn`t look healthy to me, she went on. this statement didn`t go down well at all with my sister and I. a hour later mam came out of the back kitchen saying Right we`re going to Frecker`s shop, this was about half a mile along the lane, Half way there Mam explained, now children I`ve drowned the weak kitten in a bucket of water, I`ve put a stone round it`s neck and put it in a bucket of water, seeing that Audrey and I were on the brink of tears, she put her arms around us both and .

said quietly it had to be done kids, really, On the way home from the shop our hearts were thumping with apprehension, Mam opened the door and in we went-----and low and behold their was little sooty sitting in the hearth in front of a warm fire, drenched to the skin with Mam`s "STONE" (3" by 3") still around his tiny neck, somehow he had managed to climb out of the bucket, and made his way to the warm fire.

Well said Mam, we`ll have to keep him after this, much to our delight..

Sooty grew up with us , till he died at the grand old age of 13 years.

Isn`t it funny how what seems trivial now, in those days of long ago were so important.

Part 18.

When I formed my own trio to play at the church dance, every Sunday night, (I was about 14 now) and we played there for 2 years.

In the begining there would be about 30 boys and girls attending the dance.. After 3 weeks the band had to to push our way through the crowds waiting for the doors to open, we ended up after 5 weeks with a crowd of 80 young people there every Sunday, and the dance was really swinging along.

Some nights friends of ours would bring their instruments and "SIT IN", I remember one night there was me on piano ,Allen on drums , David on bass, two saxs, one trombone, one trumpet, and a guy who was a great strummer on guitar, what a night that was.

When one plays in public the girls, are quite interested in what you have to say ect. I always stayed with the trio, at the end of every Sunday night.

However one night, we were helping the drummer to pack his gear, and I half noticed two girls, sort of not rushing to leave, one was quite pretty, As Allen and I left the stage one of them spoke in a very quiet voice, asking,,"Kenneth would it be alright if Mary and I walked home in you`re company, for it`s pretty dark"

So Allen and I, trying to be gentlemen said sure, that`s ok.

Well this began to be a regular occurance every Sunday night, and each night we four chatted about this and that, on our way home, And just ended with "Goodnight" as we came to her door. "See you next week she would say" AAHHH!! The innocence of it all.

Her name was Irene, after 4 weeks of walking them both home, one night instead of just the "Good night"

she leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss on the LIPS!!...This event had the effect of making me feel quite light headed, singing quietly to myself the rest of the way home.. How innocent and niave life was then,

Lovely...Anyway Irene`s friend was ill for a few weeks, so at the end of the dance there she was waiting for little me...Off we set in the direction of her home.

Now there was a street light above her garden gate.

The kisses became longer, and if someone came round the corner we would jump apart as though we were doing something wrong...

One Sunday night, Irene said maybe we should say goodnight around the corner away from the public footpath? I remember my young heart was starting to beat a bit quicker!! at the thought. The cuddles were now lasting for ages, and the kisses lingered too.

Then out of the blue, she said." You`re not like some other boys who I`ve had to fight off, for good reason, are you Kenneth". Well I could`nt make my mind up if this was a compliment or not? just goes to show how niave I was at the time. Anyway we both enjoyed lots of long warm cuddles and lingering kisses...And I started to think.."Dear God This is what life`s all about"

Part 19

Mam and Dad, never really had a great deal of money in those days, actually, now, when I think about it, Mam must have been a clever woman to give us all that she did, food , clothes ect.

In the early 40`s Dad worked as a builder`s labourer, for a local builder. "BROWNS" on two private bungalows that were being built hardly 50 yards along the lane on the opposite side of the road to our terraced house.

This meant that Mam had a regular wage coming in, every week, and this made her life much easier. That was till the winter weather came, which made building work impossible. so no work, no pay, and this particular year the rain sleet and snow went on for 2 months...Dad said to Mam " Well Jenny, this is no good, I`ll have to go to the means test board to see if they can give us something to tide us over" And away he went cap in hand to the means test board.

When it was his turn to go in, he took his cap off, and sat in the chair provided, facing him were 4 gentlemen seated at a large table, Dad explained our case, and after some muttering amongst themselves the chairman said,"Well Mr. Beattie we may be able to grant you and you`re family something, If you plead " POVERTY"

Dad was fuming at this, got up and started to walk to the door, 2 yards from it he stopped, turned to face the 4 men at the table and said in a very clear voice."You can stick it up you`re backsides" and slammed the door shut.

Yes times were hard then..

That same year, Dad, still not working, took to his bed with the dreaded flue(The first time I had ever seen Dad ill) it was December 18th....... On Dec..21st. a man came to our front door.."Is it Mrs. Beattie " he asked. on seeing Mam. Yes said she. " wonder if I could talk to Mr. Jimmy Beattie is he the one who plays at the dances??"

Well he`s been in bed for nearly 4 days said Mam, but if it`s important you`d better come in, and I`ll take you up. So up to the bedroom they went, by now Dad had hardly improved at all.

Hello Mr. Amstrong said Dad, obviously an aquaintance of the man.. Hello Jimmy the man replied, sorry to see you`re not well...The trouble is Jimmy we`ve a big dance all arranged for the night before Christmas eve and the band have just been in touch to say thet sadly the pianist has died of a heart attack 2 days ago. Anyway Dad got out of bed the next day to get"PULLED ROUND" as they used to say, and went and played at the dance, bringing home 3 pounds in his pocket.

Now 3 pounds was a lot of money in those days, especially with very little in Mam`s purse, with Christmas one day away.

Mam and Dad always bought our main presents in the summer, when prices were low.....That Christmas is so vivid in my memory, for the way it panned out. Christmas morning my sister and I always made a point of thanking Mam and Dad, the the first thing we both went to was our christmas stockings hanging from the mantlepiece, where we had put them Christmas eve. on emptying them, there was always an apple... an orange.. some chocolatre coins,... a packet of candied cigarettes...some nuts and two new pennies, As dinner time arrived we had a large piece of pork, with all the trimmings with a home-made christmas pudding and white sauce, we had made our own Christmas crackers, and at tea time ate Mam`s own sweatmince pies hot from the oven.

Dad put some chestnuts on the old shovel, and the 4 of us sat round the fire, waiting until they popped and their skins split.....Sorry friends but a couple of happy tears have dropped onto my glasses writing this last bit, just the joy of it all, is still never to be foregotten...I suppose the kids these days, would just laugh at the christmas stocking fillers we enjoyed. but OOHH!! what the`ve missed..

Part 20

When I was about 9 and my cousin , who lived over the lines, was 7, it rained for 3 days nonstop. Our front street was a gushing wide stream 4 inches deep. All the kids in our street thought it was great, not having the experience of such flood before. Nothing blocked the drains, they were just not capable of coping with such quantities of water.

Grannie`s back field, which was only ever used for grazing cattle (IE. never ploughed) was bordered by the coal lines, with half way down a big drain

ditch, which had a iron grid where the water ran away into the main sewer,

then on down to the river Tyne. However, with the masses of flood water it became blocked with bit of peper and twigs etc. so much that this area became a 2 feet deep lake, about 30 yards square.

Malcom. my cousin and I went to see granny and asked her if we could borrow the bungalow bath, that hung in the back yard, to our delight she said OK. This bath was about 30 inches wide by 5 feet long, and 2 feet deep. Malcom and I dragged it down to the water`s edge and launched it, then we both jumped in, (near tipping it over) and used an old cricket bat to paddle with. We cruised around the small lake all afternoon, till it was time for tea, even then mam had to shout us in. In 3 days the water went away, much to our sorrow, and things settled down to the usual life again, like going up to the railway power house pond to catch tiddlers, with our jam jars. after first digging in our garden for some little worms for bait.

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Part 1. Part 2. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6.