This is is my mum Eileen Atkinson. Eileen used to be a dancer on the stage at the various music halls in Stockton. She was also a dress maker and ran her business from the Glasshouse, Rochester Road on the Roseworth estate.
A photograph of Eileen stood outside the family home in Alviston Road, Blue Hall, Norton. These houses were demolished when the new estate was built. My Uncle Freddie used to run a bookmakers from this house.
Photographs and details courtesy of Wendy Cawley.
I remember seeing Freddie the bookie in a flat wheel chair, he was in the Ragworth pub with 2 lads when Bill Crawford invited them to try his home made wine, they came round and had the wine. One of the lads ran to jump the garden gate, he fell over it… Happy memories.
My grandmother, Eva Marston lived in 43 Alverston road. She was widowed in 1937. She had eight children! Two died in infancy, and two died during the second world war. One on a building site, (William) and one was in the merchant navy (Thomas). The ship he was on, was the SS Carsbreck, which was torpedoed by a German submarine. The four surviving children, were, my mother Phyliss, twin boys Robert and Dennis, and the youngest was Patricia. Sadly, the only one who is still living is Phyliss, who is 92, and currently living in a nursing home in Shoalwater Western Australia. My sister, also called Patricia, lived there for quite a number of years also. Other residents of that street, (that she can remember) were the Stewarts and the Irishes. She also remembers the crippled gentleman who used to take bets. Does anyone remember any of the people that I have mentioned?
The person who took the bets was my uncle freddy Atkinson Eileen Irish married Alfie agar and live on norton avenue the nicholsons lived over the road Ethel and jimmy John Joan jimmy married may I remember the Stewarts only by name from my childhood .
Thank”s Wendy! Your comments will mean more to my sister than to me, as I was only seven, when my family left for Australia! Thanks again!
My Dad was John Nicholson, sadly everyone has passed away now, do you know what number they lived at and what road has replaced Alveston Road?
There also Grandad Alfred, Lilian, Herbert who died when he was two and Lilian, Joan both died in their forties from Huntington’s disease.
Alfie Agar was my Dad’s best man at his wedding.
My Dads brother John Owens was lost at sea with Thomas. I remember going to visit Aunt Eva and family in Alverston Road. Phyllis was a bridesmaid for my mam and dad Patrick and Vera. Sorry to have missed your posting in 2015.
Hi Betty,
sorry to have missed your post.
My sister Pat, recently visited Tower Hill Monument in London and saw the names of Thomas Marston, and your relative, John Owens on the remembrance wall.
It’s hard to believe that they were only 16 years old, when they lost their lives.
Thanks for the information about mum, (Phyllis), and our Grandmother and family.
Phyllis, is still alive (aged 94) in a nursing home, but she is severely affected by dementia. She has the occasional good day, but they are becoming a rarity.
Again, nice to hear from you.
My grannie Maggie Shaw and her son Jimmy and daughter Doris lived in 59 Alverston Road next door to the Behans on one side and Lily Carrick on the other. My older sisters Margaret and Sheila remember paying a penny to watch Eileen Atkinson dance and sing in her garden when they were all children. They remember the Stewart’s and Irishes. I used to be sent to “Freddie Atkies” (Atkinson) with bets for my grannie and uncle. (June)
I’m Anthony Irish from Norton Argyll Road my mum is Eileen my dad Ernie, sister’s Denise Eileen, brother’s Ernie Kenny, Jeff who sadly died as a baby, dose anybody remember? x
I think I remember your mother and dad Wendy, we lived just a few doors down from you in Rochester Road.
Yes I remember you and your Val
I one did the ‘ancestry’ of my late partner, who’s grandmother Dorothy Briggs was also a dancer from Stockton. It is believed she went on to perform in several London shows and actually appeared at the ‘Lido de Paris’ just before WWII. She too operated a small millinery shop (we believe in M’bro) for a short time, before later returning to the stage. She died mysteriously, after an non-life threatening accident followed by a spell in hospital, whilst appearing in a show near, or in Doncaster.
I am sorry but have no memory of Dorothy, my mum only danced as a teenager I remember her saying she was in chorus when Max Wall was appearing, (he was not a nice man) she did not make this her adult career .
I don’t know your Mum but tell me this…. was your Uncle Fred the bookie paralysed? Because my brothers and I used to take my Dads bets round to Freds house in the 1950s, he’d have a little queue across his living room as he sat in his wheelchair or lay on his bed taking the bets!
Yes he was that’s right you have the right family
Thought it was him. When betting shops became legal I can remember the one on Norton Rd opening.. was it Totlights? We lived on Hury Rd the other side of Norton rec’. My mate from being 5 yrs old we went right through Frederick Nattrass school together was David Smith who lived at 47 Centenary Crescent, he had 2 sisters June and Margaret. We were born on the same day and were both 70 yrs old last month. I lost touch with him when I moved down here to Norwich in Norfolk 45 yrs ago. Does anyone know of him or his family please?
The betting shop was Tot Lythes.
The Bookies shop was Tot Lythe, he once lived in Stanley Street, Norton
Was your uncle wheelchair bound? I seem to remember people pushing him in a long bedded chair to the Bell Vue Stadium one of them being Alfie Agar
Yes Alfie did take him out and you may remember my uncle Ken he was a greyhound man.
Do you know if Eileen Atkinson had any sisters? I have records of Susan, Pauline, Norma, and Shirley, all Atkinsons, competing in dancing competitions in Stockton in the late 1940s.
Mam had one sister Sheila who married Charlie Williams