‘Just 6 years to go…..’  a joint production by Martin Peagam, Jim Fox and Barry Thompson at Stockton Central Library (Jim Cooke Suite) on Thursday 26 September from 1pm. To book a FREE place or for more details contact 01642 528079 / reference.library@stockton.gov.uk

Opened on 27 September 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railway is where the modern railway network was born. With just six years to go before the 200^th anniversary of that momentous event, we present three talks on the history of the railway, celebrating its place in history, one of the enterprising men behind it, and the celebrations that it has generated.

Featuring stunning black and white photographs taken from Picture Stockton, the Yesteryear Stockton-on-Tees calendar for 2020 includes Yarm Viaduct, Billingham Town Centre, Thornaby‘s Five Lamps and the Empire Theatre, Stockton to name but a few.

The monthly photographs are accompanied by a spacious dated grid that provides space to organise appointments, birthdays and reminders.

Available for £8.99 (p&p not included). Email pictures@stockton.gov.uk to place an order or for more information.

Lady’s Card, Thornaby Embassy Club and Institute Limited from 1965.

Image courtesy of Angie Latif.

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 wonder if anybody knows anything about this company, A & G Taylor photographers.

Images and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

The Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway are holding their last walk on Wednesday 3 July meeting outside the main entrance to Preston Park Museum at 6pm.

The walk will take you along the original 1825 track-bed which runs through Preston Park and will be lead by Robin Daniels of Tees Archaeology.

Again all are welcome to come along and to finish we will steam along to the Locomotion in nearby Station Road for drinks and nibbles.

The Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway are holding their second survey walk and social meeting on Wednesday 26 June, meeting at Allens West Junction at 6pm and as ever, all are welcome to come along. We will be walking along Durham Lane to The Cleveland Bay, the worlds first railway pub and it’s original name gives a clue and it will be revealed on the night !

We will be passing the original station keepers house next to Allens West and also the S&DR agents house with it’s distinctive D13 plaque still in place.

Light refreshments will be available and a model of the 1825 Yarm Depot will also be on display.

“The Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway have organised a survey/walk/social event in Stockton on Wednesday 12 June starting at 6pm from the Town Hall to try and drum up some steam or rather support for the bi-centenary of the S&DR in 2025. The walk is being organised by Friends who live in the Stockton area as this end of the line is often overshadowed by Darlington but there is still much to see which connects Stockton to the worlds first fare paying passenger railway, regardless of what other towns may claim ! We’ll depart the station known as the Town Hall at 6pm and end not too late in The Hope & Union in Silver Street.

Our guide for the walk is Stockton’s very own Time Traveller, Martin Pegam who is known for his Magical Mystery History Tours and perhaps more so for his Dr Who like scarf. Dr Who?

The walk is being supported by Steve Thompson who runs the Stockton Digital Village from his studio in the Green Dragon Yard and material gathered during the walk will be used to produce a multi-media presentation some of which may air on Radio Stockton . What, you’ve never heard of Radio Stockton? Then see or rather hear here; http://www.radiostockton.co.uk/.

Two more Friends walks are also planned for Wednesday 26 June, walking from Allens West railway station to survey the Yarm Branch followed by a social in The Cleveland Bay and secondly on Wednesday 3 July to explore the S&DR track-bed which runs through Preston Park, and not many people know that! The walks are free so please come along and support them and hopefully learn more about this historical railway line much of which still remains, if you know where to look!”

The mid 1960s saw the rise in popularity of nightclubs and bowling alleys, they have both nearly disappeared in the intervening years, there are still some around but not nearly as many as there were. The “Kirk” or the Kirklevington Country Club was one of a number in the Stockton area, other clubs I remember are, The Marimba and The Contessa in Middlesbrough, The La Ronde in Billingham and the best known of all The Fiesta in Norton.

These clubs offered top class entertainment, including many international acts, youngsters from this time were not overly interested in pubs and social or working men’s clubs, beer and bingo were becoming old hat, the dance halls which had been a mainstay of evening entertainment alongside the cinema, were in decline in the 1960s. The “Kirk” was one of two popular clubs in the Yarm area, the other being “Club M” at the Tall Trees Hotel, both of these sites have housing on them now.

The “Bongo Club” deserves a special mention, one of the very first in the area, I know it lost its licence a couple of years ago but I have seen reports that it is in the throes of being reopened, it may already be open. These clubs were very much a part of the industrial north, from Sheffield to Newcastle in the east and Liverpool and Manchester in the west, Batley was particularly well known nationwide.

I have no doubt there are many people who have fond memories of places such as The “Kirk” and have a story or two to tell. My only interest in these clubs is from a social history point of view, I have never been in a nightclub in my life, pubs, cinemas and theatres were part of my social whirl and, yes, I did go ten pin bowling.

Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

This picture is captioned Haverton Hill Bowling Green. The houses look as if they may be part of the Furness estate. I am wondering if anybody knows where in Haverton it was situated.

Are there any Old Havertonians who can place this? Date Unknown.

Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

The Wolfson Research Institute is based on the University’s Queen’s Campus, at Stockton-on-Tees and began operation in November 2001. As well as helping to meet the University’s goal of furthering research activities and health education in Britain, the institute strengthens its links with the Teesside area by its strong regional support activities. There are around 150 research and research support staff along with 100 postgraduates working within the Institute, furthering its extensive research aims.

The Institute was funded by Sir Isaac Wolfson and son. Sir Isaac, a British business leader and philanthropist, was born in Glasgow in 1897, the son of Solomon and Necha Wolfson. As a young man one of his first jobs was selling picture frames his father made, another was selling alarm clocks from a market stall. By the time Queen Elizabeth bestowed his baronetcy, he had built his company, Great Universal Stores, into the largest mail-order concern in Britain. In 1955, Sir Isaac, set up the Wolfson Family Charitable Trust, one of Britain’s largest charitable donors which supports fundamental research projects, to date more than 8,000 grants totalling in excess of a £1 billion pounds have been distributed by the Wolfson family, to UK causes.

Picture credits: The Wolfson Research Institute, Thornaby, and the National Gallery, London. Details courtesy of Bob Wilson.

This BFI film shows boys from Holy Trinity School setting out on a day trip to Whitby in 1947, my eye was caught by the ‘Maison De Danse’ sign on the wall. I think it was spelled with an ‘S’ not a ‘C’. I know many people have fond memories of the Maison and it is often mentioned on the Picture Stockton site. Just behind the coach is an Uptons delivery van and in the background is the Empire Theatre and Castlegate, the street not the shopping centre.
The film can be viewed here:- Trinity School Trip to Whitby.

Overview include with the film, ‘Here’s a rare example of a woman behind the camera in the late 1940s. A teacher at the Holy Trinity Church of England Boys School in Stockton on Tees creates an affectionate portrait of the teachers and pupils – juniors enjoying a spot of rigorous landscape gardening, a toddler’s first steps, and young lads on a day trip to Whitby. The boys are pictured as a sea of scarlet school caps in the cliff-top Abbey graveyard as they sightsee around the historic Yorkshire fishing town.Norton-born Agnes Dorothea (‘Dodie’) Allan (1905 – 1996) qualified as a teacher at Neville’s Cross Training College, Durham, in 1926 and subsequently taught at Stockton’s Bailey Street School and Holy Trinity School (located in Yarm Lane when this film was made). Her surviving films consist mainly of silent 16mm home movies of holidays, friends’ weddings, and a few fictions, which drew on her experience working with school children in amateur theatre. Women’s role in inter-war cine club and independent amateur film-making was rarely credited, and was overlooked in the amateur film magazines of the day, despite being increasingly active in collaborative and individual productions’.

Information courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

Before we took our gas supplies from a national network each town had their own supply of ‘town gas’ of which both Stockton and Yarm did and the Yarm gasometer or holder was off West Street opposite St Marys Church. The former site has been built upon now but I seem to remember that not too long ago the land had to be cleaned and decontaminated because of possible contamination?.

Of all the local town gas gasometers only the one in Middlesbrough next to the A66 still survives but that too is due for demolition and with it goes another local landmark!.

Photograph and details courtesy of David Thompson.

A Globe Theatre programme from 1944/45 found in a shop in York.

Images courtesy of Janice Cooney

This is a watercolour by the Thornaby (?) artist Arthur Simpson who was capturing local scenes in the 1920s. He titled this work as “Sugar loaf ” but what he was painting is the passage which ran off the south-east corner of Thistle Green and was called called Sugarhouse Open.  This is a view from the eastern end of the passage.
The Baltic Tavern is just out of sight on the right of the scene, but next to the Tavern was a warehouse which does appear in the painting.
The wall to the left of the passage is covered in advertising posters.
This scene was also captured in the photograph which appears on Picture Stockton titled The Baltic Tavern, Stockton c1928

Details courtesy of Cliff Thornton. Image courtesy of Somerset & Wood Fine Art Ltd. www.somersetandwood.com