A postcard of Stockton High Street and Parish Church dated August 1909 is addressed to Mr Robinson of Shotton Village, Durham. The senders address is 2 Roker Terrace, Stockton.
Image Courtesy of Neil Gaukroger.
Lady’s Card, Thornaby Embassy Club and Institute Limited from 1965.
Image courtesy of Angie Latif.
This was my first school, I started there in 1951, the school was officially opened on the 10th of June 1938. The school consisted of two identical buildings separated by a pavilion, this pavilion had two pillars holding up the roof.
The buildings had five classrooms either side of the main hall, the hall was an unusual design with a semi circular bow front and an Oast house style of roof. The building to the left of the pavilion is the Infants school, the Junior school is to the right. The school faced South and every window in the classrooms of the buildings could be opened, when this happened it was very nearly the same as being outside.
When first opened there were no houses in front of the school and the playing field extended as far as the railway line about a quarter mile away, it was only rough scrub land the beginning of which can be seen at the bottom of the photo.
The school was built to serve the needs of the large number of people that were moving into Billingham from all parts of the country, all of the houses surrounding the school were built by ICI to house the incoming workers, this is similar to the Furness shipyard building their estate at Belasis in the 1920s.
In the late 1940s Billingham Council built the Junction Estate using a large part of the school field for a section of Cotswold Crescent, about ten years after this another part of the field disappeared when Braid Crescent was built.
Things I remember about the school were wood parquet flooring, which, in combination with boots with “Seggies” made a satisfying amount of noise, terrible outside toilets that froze solid in the Winter, nearly every school in Britain had similar sanitary arrangements at that time, extremely high ceilings in the classrooms with lights on long flexes, a “coolie hat” lampshade and tiny bulb that cast very little light, cast iron double seated desks, china inkwells, scratchy pens that made good darts and of course the best known of all, the frozen milk perched on top of the bottles.
I attended three different schools in Billingham, The North, The South And Campus Stephenson Hall, the first two were built in the 1930s and are still in use, the last one was built in the late 1950s and is long gone.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
A view of Victoria Terrace, numbers 80 and 82 on Norton Road, Stockton showing Red Cross House and the Bishopfield Group.
This photograph was given to me by my cousin Pauline Shaw nee Hough and shows the sixth form at Grangefield Grammar School, possibly taken in 1968. Pauline is sat on the extreme left of the front row. Can you name the staff or any of the pupils?
Image and details courtesy of Martin Birtle and Pauline Shaw.
These women were students at Wynyard Hall Training College c1950. (L to R) Margaret ?, Elizabeth Ross, Ann McLoughlin, Vera?, ??, Irene?.
Can anyone fill in the gaps?
Sail training alongside the Castlegate Quay, Stockton.
Photograph and details courtesy of Stan Hilton.
Castlegate Marine Club on the banks of the River Tees c1993.
I found this photograph in my late brothers effects, written on the back are the words ‘St Johns Crossing, Stockton-on-Tees in 1968’, I am not familiar with Stockton as I lived and worked mainly in Middlesbrough and didn’t visit Stockton very often, also I have lived abroad since the late 1970s, I do remember the flour mill but not the rest of the area shown in this picture.
Photograph and details courtesy of Jerry Clarke.
This is a small collection of memorabilia found amongst my late Aunt Dolly’s things when she passed away a few years ago. Of particular interest is the item regarding the Globe Theatre, a topical subject at the moment. The Parish Church cover is a record of the church from 1235-1950 compiled by The Reverend R T Heselton dated May 1979. My Aunt Dolly Robson spent many years in service and I include a few letters of reference from some of her former employers. I thank my brother Harry who is the holder of these and many other items from what he calls the Robson collection.
Images and details courtesy of John and Harry Robson.
I don’t have a date or names but it looks as if it may be a presentation of some sort, retirement perhaps. If anybody has any information about any of these people or a possible date I will be very interested.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
A view from the east end of Thornaby Station c1989.