Newtown Junior School in 1992. Photograph courtesy of Mr Ged Hutchinson. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Newtown Junior School in 1992. Photograph courtesy of Mr Ged Hutchinson.
I would have attended Newtown school from 1946 to 1953 – my sister Margaret Moore 4 to 5 years earlier. I too started with Miss Todd and Mr Wadsworth who trained me in the swimming team. Also Mrs Hutchinson who had her class next to Miss Dentons who I ended up teaching alongside years later at Hardwick C of E junior school. I always remember Pa Wynn [Mr Wynn] who was a magistrate being the headmaster. I remember him sending one of the teachers out to buy some clothing for a kid who came to school in rags, they used to do that out of their own money those days. Can anyone remember lustrum beck flooding. I lived in Mellor Street, Newtown those days and can remember rowing boats ferrying people across Wrensfield common the water came half way up warrels bank.
i had to attend newtown resource centre with my husband who was having a health check.I was taken back when i entered building the floor is the same , the door to miss skinners office the same with little windows, not a lot had changed. miss Todd was my first teacher and i also remember mrs darcy, who i was petrified of,mr wadsworth who was great fun and used to play the piano for our country dancing sessions.i remember the huts which were used as classrooms by mrs martin and mr wadsworth.miss Wynn who also played the piano and Mrs hutchinson. Mr Harker was also a favourite of mine.I was petrified of mr Glasswell the headmaster.
Monkey Tree Location. Bells Store it is not, Newham Grange Park it is not, but if you mention The Monkey Tree Shop and The Monkey Tree Park then we are in business, who remembers the tree, well I do. Watched it over the years being vandalised, attempts by the Council to save it by putting metal railings around it did no good at all. Eventually it was ripped out and concreted over and a bit of local history gone forever. If you want to see how the tree would look now in all its great splendour then don’t loose heart If you leave Darlington Back Lane turn right on to Durham Road as if going to town and the second or third house on the left you will see in the front garden a great big Monkey Tree that was planted at the same time, a bit of education we all could do with knowing why we call places for what they are. Roy.
The monkey tree tree at the monkey tree shop near Durham Road is still there today
Unless a new was planted
How facinating to hear othere peoples memories of Newtown, in particular Tarzan the Tramp! I can see him now punching the school brick wall with his fist! I also heard that he used to tell stories to the local kids in the “Rec”, the open recreation ground next to Newham Grange. These days he would be rounded up by the police and warned not to go near young children . . . . but I can”t remember my parents ever telling me to stay away from him. How times have changed.
Tarzan the Tramp was a 1st World War Veteran. If you remember he had the silver badge on his lapel. He was shell shocked during that war. He was found dead in a barn at a Farm near to the Mile House Pub in the early 70″s. One of his many haunts was to go to the Picture Houses in Norton especially when there was a Tarzan film on. When Tarzan the Film star made his call in the Film our Tarzan would yell out his reply. His last place visited at night was to go to Macs cafe in Stockton High Street where he got a bowl of soup and they filled his blue can with tea. I believe he slept out at the Clay hole which was situated at the back of Hartburn Village.
Hi Bob, the silver war wound badge was brought out because early on in the great war lads sent home because of wounds would have folks calling then cowards for not being at the front, so this little silver badge was to show this man had served. I wish I had my grandad’s medals from great war, I have replicas including a silver war wound badge. My grandad was wounded twice, October 1914, then 1st July 1916, he passed away 1939. His son, my father, was a merchant navy lad, dad’s campaign medals started to arrive only in 1993 when I researched dads time at sea.
Tarzan was a gentle soul, how sad after seeing the horrors of great war he had to take to the road just to cope with life, I hope heaven found a lovely quiet place for him.
Derek.
Yes, I remember Tarzan the tramp. He was indeed very friendly and very scruffy – not that we kids took too much notice of that. When he appeared at the school entrance he was immediately surrounded by kids and they would not allow him to continue on his way until he had given one of his “Tarzan of the Apes” calls. Happy days. I suppose that these days all the kids would be told to keep well clear of such a man but in my days he was considered to be just harmless fun. Incidentally, my first teacher at Newtown was Miss Todd. She must have devoted her entire life to educating the Newtown ignorant.
I also went to Newtown school, from 1950 to (I think) 1956. I had completely forgotten the name of the caretaker, but I remember it now. My first teacher was a Miss or Mrs Todd, in fact I think she also taught my mother there in the 1930″s. I vividly remember my first day at Newtown school. We lived in Londonderry Road which was opposite to the school playground. I saw my mother cleaning the upstairs windows at playtime and I shouted to her, “I want to come home”! I also remember the warm milk, enough to put you off milk for life. Then of course there was the frozen milk in the winter when the cream would force the silver top off. Oh happy days! Does anyone remember Tazan the tramp? A scruffy, but friendly, chap who used to hang around the Browns Bridge entrance of the school. Whatever happened to him?
The photograph of Newtown School brings back memories of the Air Raid Shelter that was dug out in the School yard in front of the Caretakers house. I was at the school between 1940 to 1946, but only attended school for about two years due to being an invalid. I was not allowed to play any sports at Newtown School. My last teacher was a Mrs Hutchinson.I can not remember the Monkey tree. The only Monkey tree I remember was at the Mile House Monkey tree shop, near to Newham Grange Park. I also remember the warm milk that was horrible, if they had only let us have the ice cold milk, hundreds of children would not have been put off milk for life.
Thats a good photo of the school and post office, however the monkey puzzle tree seems to have gone. The traffic lights at the crossing will be more appropriate to todays traffic, in the mid 30″s the traffic was mainly horse drawn and you could hear them a long way off, their heavy hooves clattering on the cobbles, the occaisional steam driven brewery wagon that passed this way had solid rubber tyres, but it dropped red hot cinders and ash from its fire-box. There weren”t too many buses either. From Geds comments about the school almost ten years later it appears nothing much had changed, still cold radiators and frozen milk.
The photo shows the school taken from Durham Road and features the Caretaker`s house. In my days at the school from 1943-49 the Caretaker was Mr. Rodgers and he had a tough time keeping the classrooms warm during the winter months, especially in 1947 which was a wicked winter and the only time I can remember the school being closed due to the amount of snow that had fallen overnight. We kids thought it was Xmas again. The radiators in the classrooms were heated by hot water supplied from a coke-fired boiler and I can remember Mr. Rodgers shovelling heaps of coke into the cellar chute after a delivery. I also have vivid memories of crates of frozen milk that had been left outside by Lister`s Dairy. I was a milk monitor and would struggle, with the help of another kid, to lift the heavy crates onto a radiator to thaw out. If we left the milk on the radiators too long the result was quite often curdled milk – revolting. The Belisha Beacon crossing referred to by Peter Weatherall in his comments to the shops further up Durham Road has been replaced by a crossing with Traffic Lights and can be seen at the right of the photo as can Durham Road Post Office also referred to by Peter.