The sad demise of a once long standing family company in Stockton-on-Tees. These are some of the last known images of Harkers Engineering taken around 2006, when the machines were being dismantled prior to being shipped to new owners. I worked there from 1987 until 2006. Excellent company to work for during the 80’s and 90’s.
Photograph and details courtesy of Derek Proctor.
This photograph shows my mother, Enid Pallant (nee Moss) – fourth from right – in a stage production, probably with Stockton Stage Society, of which I know she was a frequent performer in plays and musicals.
I suspect it dates from the 1950s. I have no more information, I’m afraid, but would be interested to see if anyone can shed some light on it.
Photograph and details courtesy of Mark Pallant.
This is a postcard of the parade of shops in Surrey Road on the Albany Estate in Norton. The picture is a perfectly good historical image, I have taken many photos of this type over the years, what intrigued me was why would anybody make a postcard of such an image, Norton has many places of interest and there are quite a number of postcards showing The Green, The Alms Houses, The Jubilee Cross and High Street as well as the Church, why Surrey Road?.
The shops themselves are a typical example of many other such shops on very many housing developments, particularly from the late 1940s onward, where I was brought up on the Junction Estate in Billingham we had a row of four shops very similar to these.
Image and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Photographs showing Hardwick Primary School in July 2008 shortly before its demolition.
This photograph (of a woman in my family, I think) was taken in Stockton by Thirlwell & Co, unfortunately I have no date. I’d really like to know who this woman is… It would be interesting to hear from anyone with the surname Duke or Gazey.
Photograph and details courtesy of Kiaya Donnelly.
This is a very wide angle shot of the high street, practically all of the East side is visible, even as far as the Victoria buildings and Church.
A recent posting mentioned the Scammel Scarab three wheeled vehicle, one of these is parked at the kerbside, further along is a Wynns heavy haulage wagon, this may also be a Scammel, I am sure somebody will know for certain.
These large heavy haulage vehicles were a fairly common sight in the Teesside area during the 1950s and 1960s, they carried large fabrications into the big industries such as ICI, usually the haulage firms were Pickfords and Sunters.
The number 2 bus ran from Stockton Town Hall to the Transporter Bridge via Norton, Billingham, Haverton Hill and Port Clarence where you could either cross over to Middlesbrough or catch a Hartlepool Corporation bus number 1 which would take you to Seaton Carew.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
A photograph of two fantastic teachers from Mill Lane Secondary School on a summer day trip out to a local farm and taken around 1962/3 maybe.
I’m sure many ex pupils at that time will recognise them both. The teacher on the left is Mr Robertson who I believe took over as head. The teacher on the right is a Mr Wilkie who took us for art. I seem to remember he had a navy background during the war and told many interesting stories.
Photograph and details courtesy of David Moon.
This is an amateur radio QSL card from 1933. It is the size of a postcard. It was sent by Richard J Bradley who was then living at 5 Roker Terrace, off Yard Road, Stockton. These QSL cards were exchanged by two amateurs when they wanted to confirm that they had been in radio contact. This particular card was sent to G2JY, the registration number of an amateur station operating in Sheffield. This card gives the details of the contact – 13 June 1933 at 22:30hrs, using Morse Code.
It provides the receiving station with a report on his radio signal, and states what receiving and transmitting equipment G2FO was using. The amateur even sends a short message to his contact which bears comparison with today’s text speak, it reads;
“Mni tnx fr QSO OB Hpe cu agn sn, cheerio!” which can be read as “Many thanks for the radio contact old boy. Hope to see you again soon, cheerio!”
Image and details courtesy of Cliff Thornton.
Can anyone help? The only thing I know about this photograph is that my grandfather Tommy Todd is on the front row, second from the right.
Photograph and details courtesy of Lisa Todd.
Close up view of the Cleveland Flour Mill, The North of England Pure Oil Cake Co. Limited, Tees Bone Mill and the old stone bridge, Thornaby c1880s.
Looking towards the Hartlepool to Newcastle Railway Line from Pond House, Billingham. The bus body was a changing room for Billingham Football Club c1951.
Photograph and details courtesy of Ivan Harrington.
These two images are taken from a 1929 ICI publication entitled A Short Account Of The Activities Of The Company, a hardback limited edition book.
The first is of some of the ICI housing built for the factory workforce with this particular location being at the junction of Mill Lane and New Road and a scene little altered in 70 years.
The second image is of one of the storage silos showing the conveyor system along its roof and then down into the rail cars below. Only one of the many silos built now remains and that can be seen to the east of Haverton Hill Road but this particular silo could well be 5 Silo which stood on Nitrates Avenue close to the fire station?
Details courtesy of David Thompson.
I date this picture to around about 1910, the lady with the pram is wearing a long skirt with a shirtwaist blouse that was very much in fashion around about that time.
Metcalfe’s newsagent and tobacconist has signs for The Yorkshire Post and The Yorkshire Herald, a bit of internet research revealed that the Yorkshire Post is still being published but the Yorkshire Herald ceased publication in 1956, between 1790 and 1890 the Yorkshire Herald was called The York Herald, it changed to The Yorkshire Herald in its centenary year.
I photographed the same scene in November 2019 from as near to the same spot as the original, but as you can see the motor car has taken over. Metcalfe’s has been replaced by Waterstones book shop and the double bay fronted town house next door is now the Cafe’ Uno otherwise the changes are not too obtrusive, I did notice that at the very end of the High Street on the corner of Bridge Street is a white cottage, this isn’t in the earlier photo.
Photographs and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Ashtree Farm was off Oxbridge Lane accessed by a lane between Raby Road and the Ashmores recreational ground. My family had owned the farm after moving from The Grange Farm. Ashtree farm comprised of a strip of land which ran between the back gardens of Raby Road houses and Ashmores and Grangefield School with a farm house and out buildings and stables at the top of the lane. There was a cottage halfway up the lane which was originally a market garden, not to be confused with Dixon’s market garden which was on the other side of Ashmores path.
My Grandparents, who owned the farm, had purchased the cottage with some land bordering Oxbridge Lane. My Grandmother eventually moving into the cottage when my father took over the farm. It was originally a dairy farm with a small herd of cows which grazed on land that was compulsory purchased and became part of Grangefield school and then on land that was on the other side of the Cuckoo railway at the top of Grosvenor Road. There was a strip of land that ran between Ashmores playing field and Grangefield and a bridge over the railway where we would walk the cows in for milking. Milk was pasteurised in a small dairy on the farm, hand bottled and delivered to surrounding houses by horse and cart. The herd eventual having to be sold off in the late 50’s when the owner of the land on the other side of the railway, a Mrs Fenney, sold the land to the council.
We continued with the milk business now motorised and buying milk in from Northern Dairy’s and went into pig farming this continued until the early 70’s when the farm was sold after the death of my father. My mother not wanting to continue with the farm and moving into the cottage down the lane. The first photograph of the horse and cart was taken in the farm yard with stables at Ashtree. In the second photograph my father is on the right and I believe the man on the left was a German prisoner of War that was seconded to work on the farm during the Second World War, the third photograph shows my father at the wheel of the old Lanchester.
Photographs and details courtesy of Stuart Kidd.
These pictures taken during a visit to the Billingham Branch bridge by the Newcomen Society, comprising people dedicated to the history of engineering, show that the track bed of the link from the Swainby Road area round to Port Clarence and the south part of ICI Billingham had long been removed. Charles Morris, from Eston, who had been active in getting the bridge preserved, is seen describing the bridge to the group. He was a senior figure in the Institute of Civil Engineers and also chairs the local Cleveland Industrial History Group.
A clearer picture shows Charles along with Dr Jonathan Aylen, of Manchester University, on the left and myself, Dr Fred Starr, the two people who had organised the Newcomen visit to Teesside. Coming from Portrack, I used to wander along this track on many occasions, without understanding the historic importance of the bridge.
Photographs and details courtesy of Fred Starr.