My grand-parents used to either own or run (I am not sure which) a local pub/working men’s club on Norton Road, it’s called the Malleable Working Men’s Club. This pub/club had some sort of association with the now long gone Malleable Steel works in the Portrack area of Stockton. The Malleable may possibly have been rebuilt or altered since my grand-father owned/ran it.
My grandparents were Nicholas Dillon and he married to Mary (nee Cunningham) in 1929.
Their five children were Rosalea (b 1929), Lawrence (b 1931), James (b 1933), Brian (b 1935), and Terence (b 1944). Any information about the Dillion Family would be much appreciated.
Photograph and details courtesy of Stephen Dillon.
Stephen Dillon
The marable club start live at the marable steel work.
It was originally set up for the steel work.
Your grandfather would of ran the club on behalf of the committee and members.
Not sure if he would of worked in the first club at the steel yard or started working when it moved to Norton
Hello everyone, I’m Jane, Stephen’s wife. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your stories/comments with us. It’s lovely to be able to share this bit of family history with Stephen 🙂
About 1960 the old Malleable Club used to have Smith & Jacques Dance School upstairs at the back before they moved to Billingham.
I learned to dance there but it was before I married in 1959 so it must have opened sometime in the 50’s Anon!
I said about 1960 so they would of been there in the fifties, did you work at the Malleable Maureen because the Allen twins Brian & Colin were members along with a lot of the Malleable office girls.
Yes, I went there every Friday and Saturday nights, learned the Quickstep, Foxtrot, Waltz and even a little Tango. In addition to my friends, who like me were beginners, I remember some of the really good dancers; Fran Gilhooley, Brian Alan, his sister Stella, and numerous others whose names I wish I could remember. Totally happy days, and nights back then. RIP Alan and Hazel.
Stephen,my e-mail is b.flounders@sky.com
Does anyone remember what years Nicholas and Mary ran the Club?
In 1961 I met a girl at my new school. Her name was Pamela Blackmore and her parents, George and Sadie Blackmore, were stewards at the Malleable Club. This was the old building and it was surrounded by a high wall. Somebody had painted ‘God Save the Queen’ on the wall and it was there for years. The area where the club is now was just a large overgrown garden. There were outbuildings at the back of the garden and we used to play on the roof of these buildings. The old club had three storeys – the top one being totally deserted at the time the Blackmores were there. I seem to remember the whole building having loads of rooms and passages. Can’t remember when they built the ‘new’ building – I suspect sometime in the 70’s.
If my memory serves me well the original Malleable club was an old house which was converted to be used as a drinking place and social club for the Malleable steel works and anybody else who wanted to be a member. I think the new building was built in the sixties.
I became a member of the club in 1967/68 and it was the new building.
I was born 1947 in Napier Street, went to a party for the Queens Coronation in the Malleable club,
my uncle Stan Evens was a member {skid Even} he was a burner at the shipyard.
All the best.
Derek
Thank you, Derek.
I used to play Snooker for the old club in the 60’s
Yes, Tom, you did, when you should have been elsewhere – like the training pitch at Newcastle United, or was it Norwich City?. 🙂
Tommy Osbourne the footballer was at Norwich City with Donny Heath & Barry Butler, I know Tommy went in the Malleable Club but I think the lad who played snooker was a Tilery lad.
Any good stories to share?
Hi Stephen, what info did you want on your ancestors?
Hi Barry,
I would like any info/stories you have on my grandparents and/or anyone else in the Dillon family. My family moved to Canada when I was a child and I am trying to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the family tree. Please contact me – (the Picture Stockton team have my email address) – I would love to hear from you. Stephen
Hi Stephen
I think your grandparents will have ran the club on behalf of its members rather than owned it. The club would have been started either by the Malleable Steel Works or the club members who worked there. Your grandparents would have been employees of the club. I know it was rebuilt at some point but I’m not sure when.
Mike is correct, Stephen. There were hundreds of these working men’s clubs across the North in the middle of the century. My aunt and uncle ran a variety of them, in Whitley Bay, Monkseaton and Blackhall, when I was an infant. They were usually operated for an industrial enterprise (such as the steelworks in your case, or coal companies/shipyards in my aunt’s) as an additional profit centre. The operators were salaried managers. There was also an additional operational level, the CIU (Club Institute Union) which, I think, served in a property-management function and actually employed the managers, ran the books and passed on the profits to the owners.
He would be a Steward and not an owner.
Are there any photographs of this site before the ‘new’ club building shown above was built?
Not very clear but the old Malleable club can be seen here:
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw052008
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw038885
(register for free to zoom in)
The old club was where the car park is and the current building was build on some open ground (garden or bowls lawn?) behind it.