Family outing to Ropner Park. c1938 (Photo courtesy of Mr Robert Dicken) 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Family outing to Ropner Park. c1938 (Photo courtesy of Mr Robert Dicken)
Does anyone know who lived in number 4, Mitre Street in 1941? I would be grateful if anyone can help….
Living in Mitre Street during the late 1940″s Ropner Park was one of my favourite places on Summer Sunday afternoons, which were much different then, no supermarkets or diy stores. I can only remember two shops being open, a sweet shop at the top of Parliament Street and one that sold ice-cream at the entrance to the park near the Spring Street Bridge. Those flower beds behind the young cyclists in the picture were a work of art. There was also an aviary with a peacock and other types of birds.We would sit and listen to the band, but not for long, when there was the lake to explore. The park was also used for football for a while when I was at Bowesfield Lane School, we walked there and back via Spring Street.
I believe that during the war and just after, the government promoted “Holidays at Home”. Local councils were encouraged to stage various activities in the local parks for families. I remember being taken to Ropner Park on such an occasion and there were goatcart rides, icecreams and bands playing etc. The afternoon ended in disaster for me as I was soundly smacked for throwing a tantrum when I wasn”t allowed one more ride on “the Holy Goat”!
I remember going to Ropner Park with my grandparents in the1940s before we left to migrate to Australia. I visited this area in 2005 but saw a lot of changes.
This picture is more like 1939 (just before the outbreak of World war two). It is of Geoff. Hunt, Robert Dicken, Jean Dicken and Terence Dicken on their bicycles when Ropner Park was well used by the public. Sunday afternoons were very special as each Sunday we could listen to one of the various brass bands that used to visit. Very relaxing.