The first photograph shows the royal car passing 108, High Street in Norton on its way to Stockton. the second photograph shows royal bunting on Websters tool and hardware store, 117 High Street, Norton. Fred Webster Snr. can be seen on the photograph, with two of his sisters, waiting for the royal procession to pass. Photographs courtesy of Mr Fred Webster. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
That day in 1956 I was a very proud girl guide aged 12 years lining part of the High Street in Stockton – near where the Castlegate shopping area is now. We young girls had the duty of standing linking arms to keep the crowds back!!! I was very proud and did get quite a good view of the royal couple as they sped by.
I was a very proud Boy Scout doing the same near Dovecote Street
Carol Riddle – could your father be Harry Carter who worked at Head Wrightsons, Thornaby and a brother Bill who worked at the ICI? If so I worked with both of them at these factories. I know that they lived behind Norton Avenue at the top end.
Carol Riddle, what a small world. I worked with your dad on the gas board, then later on
in years I picked up Julie whilst working for Community Transport, now I find out through your comments that I lived in Swainby Road at the same time as your husband Kevin, then
would you believe we moved from Swainby Road to Alverston Road in Norton. I think the chap you refer to in the bathchair would be the bookie that lived across the road from us next door to a friend of mine Jeff Blackburn. My mother always told us it was our toilet the Queen used!
A light hearted response to Christopher Waive’s question as to whether the Queen actually stopped off in Norton on her visit to this area in 1956, well… my husband, Kevin Riddle, was six years old at the time and remembers being outside of St Peter and Paul’s school in Ragpath Lane, Roseworth, with all of his school friends, waving their flags as the Queen passed by. Later, he told his nanny Riddle that he had seen the Queen today and she passed their school, to which she replied, ‘Oh did you, well she called off here, (Swainby Road, Norton,) and asked to use my toilet!’. He firmly believed this and all the time I have known him, which is over 40 years, every time we talk about the Queen he insists that she used his nanny’s toilet on her visit in 1956!
I myself, was about three and a half years old at the time and can remember my mother, Mary Dixon (nee Carter, late of Alverston Road, Norton), running with a pram, with my brother, Christopher, about 18 months old, in the pram and me sat on the end of it, up Alverston Road, past an elderly man who used to sit outside of his front door in a bath chair in Alverston Road, and calling over to him that she was going to see the Queen. Bless him, he waved us on, obviously unable to follow. I presume that she run all the way up to Norton High Street and I have vague recollections of being in the crowd and watching the Queen’s car pass by. Happy memories.
I myself was in the high street waving my flag at the Queen with my mam age 7 standing outside the old tram sheds yard, which in now where Millbeck Homes is. My mam was in Millbeck for 2 years till she died on 12th Feb 2014 age 89. She loved being back in Norton where I grew up 18 years till we moved to Billingham Wolviston Court, I live in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada now.
To Fred Webster. Sorry for the delay but my excuse is that this is the first time I”ve seen your message because I am browsing through the “Randomise” button. I have to say yes it is the Len Deitz you knew. I can”t remember now how I mentioned it but it must have been something about Norton. Regarding the Royal visit. I was an apprentice at Head Wrightsons at Thornaby. We had just unloaded a wagon of timber and we were given permission to see the Royals as they passed through Thornaby. We were given a lift upto the main road and were on the back of the wagon when she passed. We were told to go straight back to work when it was finished but the Painter out of our Workshop decided that it was a time for celebration and went to the Pub. On the Friday which was “pay day” we all got our wages and when checking the amounts through the little spy hole in the Paypacket the Painter had been paid in 6p pieces for his troubles. We all laughed and he threw the Paypacket on the floor and the 6p”s flew all over the floor.
I was a pupil at St. Cuthbers”s school in Stockton and remember all lining up in Bowesfield Lane to wave our flags as the Queen passed by. My cousin Sandra Wright presented the Queen with a bouquet in the High Street.
I was at Norton Board School, aged eight at the time. We”d spent some time over the previous week being drilled in synchronised flag waving. About an hour before she arrived we were all marched out to line the road by the bus stop and zebra crossing outside the school. By the time the car came along, our little legs were aching and we were all sagging and whining. A few seconds after the photo above was taken, Her Majesty swept by with us all waving furiously and herself waving at the people on the other side of the road! We manged a fleeting glimpse of the back of her head and the Duke”s big hat and they were gone! She never even glanced our way – what a let down!
Dick Weekes Re: Calthorpe motor cycle BE6342,it was owned by me I bought it in the early 50s for the princely some of £8 I sold it in 1974,I have a couple of photo”s of the bike, if you contact the Picture Stockton team, they will pass on my e-mail address if you wish to contact me. Bob Irwin Re: Dietz, that would be Len Dietz that lived on Norton Green over looking the duck pond, we were at F/N school together, he was the bright one !
Nice to find the picture of Websters Hardware at 117 High St, Norton. Does anyone remember a Calthorpe motorbike once owned by Mr Webster registration BE6342. This bike is now owned by an enthusiast in Denmark who is restoring it to full working order. Better still, anyone got a photo of it to post here? Dick Weekes Vintage Motor Cycle Club
Cliff and Dee – I went to Mill Lane school all my schoolday”s leaving in 1957 and I seem to recollect we got a Coronation Mug and a Coronation propelling pencil with an ornate crown on the top and was in a presentation box. Did you get the same or did it differ from school to school?
The mug was for the 1953 Coronation…in 1956 all schoolchildren in Stockton whose schools were on the route the royal party were to take, lined the roads and were issued with small Union Jack flags to wave at the royal party when they passed
1956 Queens visit – I have vague recollections that as a souvenir of her visit, I – along with all other Stockton schoolchildren – got a Commemorative Mug and a toothbrush? Or were they given to us for her Coronation ?
Hi Fred. As you have recently stated that your fathers shop was somewhere on this site. It has taken some finding but here it is. I mentioned about my saws being sharpened and you replied that he was always there with a file in his hand. I have to say that although I did sharpen my own saws that your Dad did the best job with them. When I got them back to work I was always careful of spoiling them by hitting a nail and I would not let anyone borrow them. It was a sad day when your Dad did close up in Norton High Street.
I remember the Queen and Prince Phillip were driven through Roseworth and I saw them going up Ragpath Lane. They also were shown an exhibition of local school childrens art work in the Foyer of the Odeon cinema. My Mam was very proud because one of my first paintings was on show.It depicted the launch of the Sputnik satellite!
Royal vist to Stockton 1956, There has been 3 Royal drive throughs of Norton ;- 1956, Coronation ( The Royal Train stood on the old Redmarshall /Carlton line near the Two-Mile House) 1977 Silver Jubilee (“Britannia” at Tees-Dock) / 1992 .Harlepool Lifeboat and “Samsun” Wynyard. No stops in the Village , but a Loyal greeting from two slightly inebriated subjects down to underpants (1977) splashing about in the Duck-Pond, standing on the fountain plinth as the Royal car passed , their waving overcame gravity with both jumping into the water as the Duke of Edinburgh pointed it out to the Queen
I remember the Queens visit as I was an apprentice at Head Wrightsons Stockton Forge and we all lined the Main Road outside the Works, I was standing just over the road from Grubbs Barbers shop and got quite close to the Motorcade. The next time I got even closer to the Queen and Prince Philip was in Melbourne Australia fifty odd years later. I was standing at a Tram stop, waiting for a Tram to take me back to to my South Melbourne Office after our lunch break, there were very few people about and I was leaning on the safety rail wondering about a car that was travelling towards me with a single police escort, and a flag flying on the bonnet. As the car drew level with me within touching distance I glanced in to the car and their was the Queen and Philip sitting looking at me through the window. I was so taken aback I never waved to them but I thought the Queen had a smile on her face as she may have realised what I was thinking. I thought afterwards about their security and maybe because it was so low key they felt safe. When I think back to my first sighting of the Queen in Tilery she was like a doll, a beautiful young lady, and how she had changed in the second sighting to a motherly figure, still very attractive all the same.
Does anyone know if her majesty actually stopped off in Norton during this visit?