I was born on the Cowpen Estate in Billingham just after the War, in January 1949 my parents and I moved to our new Council house on the Junction Estate, this was located just off the bottom of this image. I was too young to remember any of this but within a few years I was wandering around the area where most of the buildings are in this image. At that time the whole area from the Kennedy Garden flats at the bottom of the image to beyond the La Ronde near to the top and everything to the right of the image was open country.
In 1953 the first part of the new town centre was opened, prior to that the North End field was a huge playground, Billingham North End football team had their pitch there, the travelling fair pitched there every year in the 1950s.
Over the years the Town Centre grew until it looked as it does in this image by around 1970.
Some of the structures have since disappeared, the three level Kingsway car park that bridged the road, The La Ronde nightclub, the Stockton and Billingham Technical College, the Billingham Arms among them.
The Council Offices have been demolished and rebuilt and Dawson House has been built since this picture was taken.
The buildings include Kennedy Garden Flats, The Billingham Trade Union Club, The Forum, the Billingham Arms, the Stockton and Billingham Technical College, the Community Centre, the Bowling Alley, parts of Pentland Avenue and Malvern Road and the Causeway, also shown is the John Whitehead Park. Everything apart from Pentland Avenue and Malvern Road was built in my time in Billingham.
I left Billingham in 1976 and rarely visit the town but it is still a great part of me, it is where I made lifelong friends, received an excellent education and enjoyed the freedoms we had to roam wherever we wanted and stayed outdoors until the street lights came on, many people of my generation will remember doing all of these things with fondness.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Hi Bruce,
This is such a great aerial picture of the Billingham I remember. I was born in 1957 and moved to Billingham in January of 1965 when my Dad got a job at I.C.I. I have so many great memories of the Forum being built and opened by the Queen. We schoolchildren lined the Causeway to wave at her. The town square was great for children (the playground and the budgies, later the statue and Art gallery) as was John Whitehead Park (we saw Manfred Mann playing tennis there once). As a teen I went ice skating on Sunday nights at the Forum and at around sixteen or 17 went to the LaRonde a couple of times though that was probably past the days when they had good bands, it was a disco by then.) I never went to Billingham Tech to study though my Mother took O levels there, but we had orchestra practice there on a Saturday morning in the early 70s. I also remember going to see Pantomimes at the Tech. I went to a couple of wedding receptions at the Billingham ATMs and we had a funeral reception there for my Mother.
My brother and I went to St. John’s R.C. (The I.C.I. was not far away and there was a different chemical smell on different days of the week). We had to walk from Low Grange Estate to St. John’s during the bus strike around 1968. For secondary my brother and went to schools in Hartlepool. I left Billingham in 1976 but returned home to visit while my Mother was still living. I now live in San Diego, California but have wonderful memories of my childhood in Billingham. I have saved the picture Bruce, thanks for the memories! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the responses to your post too!
Julie Szweda (nee Shepherd)
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This is a great picture of Billingham Bruce. I remember all the places, it brings back so many memories. I remember when the Queen came to open the Forum and used to live going to the ice rink on Sunday nights as a teen.
I was born in 1957 and moved to Billingham when I was seven in 1965. My Dad worked at the ICI and we lived in a council house in Low Grange. My brother and I went to St John’s primary and later to schools in Hartlepool. I lived In Billingham until I went away to College in York in 1976 but came back while my Mother was still living. I am now in San Diego, California but I have so many wonderful memories of Billingham. Your picture brought it all back. Thank you!
Julie Szweda (nee Shepherd)
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Thanks Patricia. I was a student at the Stockton branch of the Tech at the time. Thanks for reminding me of the NDO. I also went to Middlesbrough Town Hall and Newcastle City Hall to hear Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Terry Lightfoot. 1963 saw me move to London for good. My wife, a London girl, likes Stockton. Now there’s a thing.
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I went to the Ciy Hall Newcastle to see Bobby Darin, Duane Eddy, Emile Ford & Bob Miller & the Millermen.
In 1960 there was a field next to the Billlingham Arms where Billingham North End played football in the Stockton & District League.
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As a small child, just after the war, I lived on the Cowpen estate. Went to two schools. First, Billingham South Modern school, then St John’s R.C. school. At sixteen, I did a course in shorthand at the Stockton and Billingham Technical college. My Dad’s band was the resident band in the Billingham Arms Hotel.
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Thank you for the great picture Bruce! I moved to Billingham in 1965 and lived in Low Grange council estate until I (like you) left in 1976. I went back to visit over the years while my mother was still living. I remember all the places in your picture, it’s great to have that as it brings back so many happy memories. I live in San Diego California now but Billingham is still very special to me.
Many thanks, Julie Szweda (formerly Julie Shepherd)
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Great article and photo that bring back memories of my time in Billingham. I remember the Queen opening the Forum and unveiling the sculpture in the town centre. We lived in Kennedy Gardens but were later moved to a house as the council deemed the flats were not a suitable environment for children.
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I remember seeing Bobby Vee play at The La Ronde nightclub, also a workmate at ICI came out of the club one night, and having drunk one too many, vaulted over the wall not realizing he was quite a few feet up from the ground, cost him a couple of broken ankles if I recall. I often used to cycle over to the new town center at lunchtime from ICI, I was an apprentice at the time, to see how the building was going on & what new shops were opening, also spent many hours at the bowling alley, and quite a few ICI “do’s” in The Billingham Arms…..good memories and ICI gave me a good start in life, mainly in Ontario, Canada now.
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I used to walk diagonally across the huge (at least it seemed huge at the time) area of what was then rough grass from the top of Melrose Avenue to go to Billingham North school from when we moved to a new council house in Longford Close in 1954 when I was 7 until I left to go to Henry Smith’s in 1958. By 1954 the open countryside started at the far side of Braemar Road and Marsh House Avenue.
Spent many happy Sunday evenings dancing at the Billingham Arms when I was 16 & 17 (when I left the area), having said on my membership form that I was 18. Two Babyshams were my limit though!
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My elder sister Christine was born in 1949, she went to Billingham campus, and so did the twins Sandra and Florence for a short time before we moved, John my elder brother also went to Billingham campus, maybe you were in same class as my sister Christine?
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Hi Bruce, such a lovely read of Happy Memories.I was born in 1957 in Haverton Hill in Victoria St, then we moved to Howard Crescent,(up the hill), I remember the bendy path, and when they started building the pipeline, we used to walk along the pipeline to school, Haverton Hill Infants/Juniors, Mr Taylor was the headmaster. We had lots of freedom in those days, a very Happy Childhood, I came from a large family of 7 siblings. My elder sisters were identical twins, they were known as the Rayner Twins, Sandra and Florence, and my eldest sister was Christine, elder brother John, then Marion, me and Allan my younger brother. We left the area in 1966 to move to Jarrow, as my Dad had a job to start there, We all broke our hearts leaving all of our lifelong friends behind. Happy Days/Happy Memories.
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You’ve just reminded me of my very happy childhood loving in Billingham. We had just about everything. I was born in 1957. My grandparents lived in Mendip Road and we were living in Lomond Ave when I was born. We moved to Porlock Road and it was a great place to live having lots of families with many kids. We had the John Whitehead park close by, the brilliant Forum where we went all the time usually swimming but sometimes ice skating. The Town Square was safe because it was pedestrian and our parents never had to worry about us. We were Catholic and Holy Rosary Church was a five minute walk. Plus the school so I can honestly say I had the best childhood. I met my husband Ralph whilst working in Uptons Middlesbrough in 1973 and as he was in Royal Navy we moved around. We did return to live on Billingham in 1983 for a few years before moving to Scotland. We now live in Nova Scotia, Canada (13 years now) but I’ll always remember growing up in Billingham. Still have three siblings there.
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Pity we cannot turn the clock back to the 50’s & 60’s.
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In some ways, I agree, but not for the cold and draughty houses and before the invention of breathable waterproof jackets.
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Hi Bruce, really great post, I was born in Haverton Hill and we moved to Bannockburn Way in Low Grange in 1968. Growing up in Billingham in the late 60s and throughout the 70s was brilliant, I remember summers spent playing in the countryside around Cowpen and free sports amenities in low Grange Park. I remember Saturday trips to the the Billingham forum , WW2 exhibition at the art museum, and growing up in and around the pubs in Wolvo, I now live near Holmfirth in West Yorkshire but still think of those days and feel sad how Billingham has declined over the decades.
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Hello David. I have recently been to Holmfirth for a week’s holiday. As I love The Last of the Summer Wine I took my wife there to see where they filmed the series. I sometimes comment that I wish I were tall, dark and handsome instead of being short, grey and looking like Compo. I usually get the reply “Who’s Compo?”
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Hi Roy hope you enjoyed Holmfirth, did you visit Bill Owen’s grave at neighbouring Uperthong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upperthong
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Hello Bruce
Thank you for leading me down Memory Lane. In my teens I went to Friday night student dances at Stockton and Billingham Technical College. My older brother married a girl from Haverton Hill and lived most of their married lives in Annan Road. Sadly both have now died. My mother briefly lived in a council flat near the Town Centre before moving to Stockton. She died in 1992 in a care home on Billingham Bank. I still have two nephews living in Billingham. My wedding reception was held in The Billingham Arms. I was born in 1942 and have lived in the London area for 60 years. Thank you for sharing your long ago memories. .
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Roy didn’t you ever go to the Sunday night dances in the Billingham Arms some good groups were on.
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Hi Len, no I was a keen cyclist in those days and a Sunday ride to Barnard Castle left me too tired to go dancing except up the stairs to bed..
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They were good but I confess the only ones I can remember by name were The Merseybeats (because they were well known nationally) and The Moonbeams (because for a sadly short time I went out with the lead guitarist), who were only locally well known.
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Thanks for the reminder of Friday nights at the Tech, but you didn’t have to be a student there to get in, at least not by the time I started going in 1963.
One snowy night I set off to walk there and saw a couple trying to start their car so I helped them with a push. When I got to the Tech they were taking the money on the door so let me in for nothing.
In c. 1961 I went to a recording of Workers’ Playtime there, with Bernard Herman and the NDO.
Once a month the Northern Sinfonia played there, I think on a Saturday. They also played once a month in Middlesbrough town hall, meaning there was a good concert once a fortnight.
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