My grandfather Herbert Dent served in the Durham Light Infantry Home Guard from 1940 to 1945. He’s on the front row, 3rd from left on the first photograph, 2nd row, 5th from left on the second photograph and front row, 4th from left on the third.
The photographs would have been taken between 1943 and 1945 when Herbert became a Sergeant.
Photographs and details courtesy of Michael Hymer.
This photograph shows what was later to be Billingham South Modern School, I don’t know when the name was changed but my aunt started there in 1942 and it was still the Intermediate School, I started there in 1957 when it was the South Modern and it looked very much the same then as it does in this picture.
The school on Belasis Avenue, opened around about 1930 so these young ladies will probably be part of the first intake at that time, the school was available to all ages, Infant, Junior and Senior were all taught there, I believe it is now a Primary school only.
My mother, Margaret Rose Leek, is at the left of the front row, her cousin Mildred Moore is also in the picture but I don’t know which young lady she is, these girls would have been born in the mid 1920s and lived through the depression years as well as the war years, most of them will have carried out was was known as ‘Man’s Work’ during the war, my mother included, she worked in the Furness shipyard heating rivets and throwing them up to somebody who caught them in a bucket who then threw them higher still until they reached the riveter, the riveter was always a man as it was an apprenticed trade in that era, not too many years after the end of the war riveted ships were replaced by welded ships.
When I was at the South Modern there were two wooden classrooms near to the old Billingham baths and a number of single storey prefabs near to the Police Station, there were also two single storey prefabs off site just behind the Methodist Central Hall, the front of the hall faced the Green but the back was in Chiltons Avenue, this is where the classrooms were sited.
Because of the post war baby boom the school was far too small for the large increase in pupils so the Campus was built on Marsh House Avenue, myself and a number of other pupils from North of the railway line were transferred to the Campus after one year at the South Modern, other pupils from the same area and even the same street remained at the South Modern.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
I have some photographs taken of my family with Stockton as a backdrop. I believe they were taken either late 1962 or possibly early 1963 as I was the baby in arms and I was born November 1961. The others are my parents and my older sister. My name then was Julie Marshall and my sister was Christine Marshall.
Photographs and details courtesy of Julie Gale.
These two photographs were taken during an ICI outing to a Panto. Does anyone know which Panto is was? Date unknown.
Photographs courtesy of Pauline Martin.
This is in response to a query about a racecourse near to Holme House, the poster advertises Stockton Races at Tibbersley in Billingham, there is a Tibbersley Avenue close to the ICI West gate and not too far from Billingham Beck so there is a possibility that the racecourse was situated somewhere near to this area, my old maps don’t show the extent of Tibberley Farm but it may have reached to where Fleet Road (A19) ran, between Billingham Bottoms and where Newport Bridge was later built, or even as far as Lustrum Beck, I believe this is as close to Holme House as Stockton Racecourse got.
Image and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
This photograph was taken on a snowy day in February 2009.
A Pen and Ink sketch of Mandale Road, Thornaby in 1920.
Image and details courtesy of Philip Moore.
This is a photograph of my Grandmother Florence Hodgson (back row, far left) and her workmates at Ashmores, Stockton. Is there anyone you recognise?
Photograph and details courtesy of Paul Dunning
A view of 8 and 10 Durham Road, Wolviston c1976. (10 Sundial House Farm grade II listed).
Dobson & Stokoe Ltd, Barons Antiques and Sunderland & Shields Building Society on Yarm High Street c1985.
Imperial Chemicals Company (ICI) was founded in December 1926, from the merger of four companies: Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, United Alkali Company, and British Dyestuffs Corporation. This joint-merger was to enable the British chemicals industry to compete worldwide with DuPont Chemicals, USA, and IG Farben Chemicals, Germany. (I G Farben was dissolved in 1945/46) the new ICI company produced chemicals,explosives, fertilisers, insecticides, dyestuffs, non-ferrous metals, and paints. ICI played a key role in manufacturing Perspex, Dulux paints, polyethylene and Terylene, and in a joint venture with Courtaulds Ltd, they produced Nylon. The first trading year the turnover was £27 million. In the 1940s and 50s, the company established its famous pharmaceutical business and developed a number of key fabric products including Crimplene. In 1962, ICI developed the controversial herbicide, paraquat. Early pesticide development included Gramoxone, an efficient herbicide that apart from killing weeds also killed insects and worms. From 1982 to 1987, the company was led by the charismatic John Harvey-Jones. In June 2007, the Dutch firm AkzoNobel (owner of Crown Berger paints) bid £7.2 billion for ICI. The initial bid was rejected by the ICI board. However, a subsequent bid for £8 billion was accepted in August 2007. Completion of the takeover of ICI by AkzoNobel was announced on 2 January 2008. As we all know the main ICI plants were situated in Billingham and Wilton. At one time ICI industries employed 60 000 staff.
Details courtesy of Bob Wilson. Photo © Ben Brooksbank (cc-by-sa/2.0)
A photograph of children of Mill Lane Junior school in their final year before going on to senior school c1955. Who can you name?
Photograph and details courtesy of Ken Pitchford.
Here is a photograph of my father John Edward Longstaff from Thorpe Street, Stockton at the age of 15. It was taken two weeks before he joined the 1934 hunger march to London.
Photograph and details courtesy of Duncan Longstaff.
This is a photograph of a Class A1 locomotive 60125 ‘Scottish Union’ at Stockton Railway Station with a Newcastle bound express, taken in the 1960’s. The recently built steam locomotive ‘Tornado’ is based on this design.
Photograph and details courtesy of Ken Kitching.
When I was a schoolboy in the early 1950s I remember the excitement of the new shops being built, initially where the photographer was standing was a road known as Queensway, there were only shops along the right hand side of this photograph, the building at the bottom was yet to be built, if you could have stood in the same spot in 1953 you would be able to see along the length of Roseberry Road as far as Wolviston Road/ Billingham Bypass, if you were to walk to the fence alongside the bypass and look across the open land you would see the “Russian’s” farm on Sandy Lane, the next village would be Thorpe Thewles, amazingly if you stood in the same spot now you would see the “Russians” farm is no more and the land is a golf course but there are still open fields, woodland and meadows as far as Thorpe, this area was my playground as I was growing up.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.