Buildings along the old Stockton quayside.
Image and details courtesy of John Simpson.
Old Quayside
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Railways Bicentenary 2025
The Railway Centenary: 1825 – 1925 commemorative book, includes an interesting paragraph about the future…
Image and details courtesy of Ian Black.
Blacksmith at Preston Park Museum
This picture was painted by myself Graham Frank Wright in 2021. It’s a pen and ink, watercolour and gouache painting of the blacksmith at Preston Park Museum and Grounds.
Image and details courtesy of Graham Frank Wright.
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation
This photograph was taken outside of Stockton Town Hall during the celebrations for our late Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, in 1953 depicting a very young me (Michael Thompson) with my late mother Mrs S. Thompson. We were returning back to Stockton after visiting my paternal grandparents who lived in Wolviston.
Photograph and details courtesy of Michael Thompson.
Mayoral Scrapbook 1960s (Part One)
I recently came across a scrapbook my nana and grandad Ernest (Ernie) and Margaret (Madge) Temple had/were given from the 1960s when he was the Mayor of Stockton. The scrapbook contains lots of photos from dinners, charity events, meet and greets as well as invites. Here are just a few…
Photographs and details courtesy of Michael Temple.
Stockton Armed Forces Week
Stockton launched its Armed Forces Week celebrations with a traditional flag raising ceremony outside of the Municipal Buildings on Monday 19 June in a short service led by the Mayor Of Stockton Councillor Jim Beall.
Serving members of the Armed Forces were on parade as were veterans and standard bearers from all branches of the armed forces, reserve and territorial members too with the mayor being joined on the dais by Neil Schneider DL, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of County Durham and The Countess Peel DL, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire with both Glenn Eastick the Mayor of Thornaby and his wife Tracy the Mayoress, Matt Vickers MP and council officers also in attendance. Making sure that it all ran with military precision was Parade Marshall Mark Thompson, himself a former soldier in the Parachute Regiment.
Photographs and details courtesy of David Thompson.
Brunswick Methodist Sunday School Interior, 1978
There are several pictures of the Brunswick Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School building (1824) (32-34 William Street) on Picture Stockton:
Methodist Sunday School, Stockton
Sunday School on William Street. c1985
but I hadn’t seen any of the inside. These photographs show the 1st floor Sunday School room as it was in the late 1970’s.
It’s surprising that this large room was part of this anonymous looking building, but of course it was linked with the large Brunswick Methodist Chapel that was next door.
The Brunswick Methodist Chapel c1984
32 – 34 William Street/Brunswick Court
Decline had obviously started to set in at the time of the photographs, with peeling paint, a leaky roof and broken furniture strewn about the room. From the outside, it looks like the original ceiling is now hidden by a modern suspended ceiling, and the room has more than likely been split up into smaller spaces.
Photograph and details courtesy of Jonathan May.
Hundreds of Local Scouts c1982
I recently came across a Tyne Tees TV recording I made of a service in 1982 in Stockton Parish Church, led by Revd David Whittington, then vicar of Stockton. It was broadcast nationally to celebrate 75 years of the Scout movement and I sang in the choir with my daughter. There are so many local faces from 41 years ago. Who can you spot?
Video and details courtesy of Ian Black.
Billingham Bank, Coronation Year 1953
This image takes me back 70 years to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on the 2nd of June 1953.
My family lived in a small cul-de-sac with no through traffic, there were trestle tables set up on the road, the residents were mainly young married couples with small children, I was one of the older children aged 7 with two younger brothers, the family opposite had five children, two slightly older than myself, there were many other children living in the area and we had a great day.
In common with most people at that time this was the first time we had seen a television, only one of our neighbours had a television and we were all allowed to see it in operation, a grainy black and white 12″ screen with an image that was barely discernible, incredible to see how far we have come since those times.
We had street games and I remember the ladies all standing on a wall holding sheets in front of them while the men tried to find their wives by looking at their ankles, as you can imagine there were many ribald remarks and lots of laughter, very much of its time.
The photo shows a number 69 United bus on Billingham Bank on its way to Stockton, I think this bus ran between Stockton High Street and the Transporter Bridge, I lived North of the railway and our bus was the United 67B which also went to Stockton High Street.
Image and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Coronation 1953, Porlock Road, Billingham
Sadly I can’t remember the day. My dad is the smart man standing to the left of the impromptu flag pole. I am the little girl at the very bottom of the photograph.
Photograph and details courtesy of Anon.
Whose heritage is it anyway? Teesside’s contested industrial legacy
Whilst many former industrial sites in Europe, the US and even China are being preserved, reimagined and repurposed, the North East of England’s are being demolished and cleared at an alarming rate. Nowhere is this more apparent than Teesside.
Why not preserve and repurpose our industrial sites? Why demolish instead? In this talk Dr Jon Warren (author of Industrial Teesside Lives and Legacies) will focus on the demise of iron and steel on Teesside and how questions of heritage have been dealt with.
- Whose heritage is it anyway?
- Stockton Reference Library (Stockton Central Library)
- Friday 26 May, 10.30am – 12pm
- Free event, booking essential. This event can be booked online ‘Whose heritage is it anyway?’ or by calling 01642 528079. Light refreshments will be provided.
Hospital Cleaners Pay, c1974
This is mother’s payslip, from 1974, when she worked as a hospital cleaner in the old people’s home on Portrack Lane. Opposite the Anglican Church.
Her basic pay was £27.05 per week, or just over £1400 a year. Down in London, as a junior research scientist aged 32, I was on about £3500 a year, which wasn’t brilliant given the cost of London rents. What surprised me was the high level of income tax at £7.75, which was about 27.7% of her salary. In contrast, National Insurance, at 79 pence, and total pension contributions at £2.04 were piffling.
On the basis of a 42 hour week she was getting just over 65 pence an hour. The minimum wage today is about £10.60 an hour. She was offered the job of a supervisor at a higher pay level, but decided to stay with her mates.
Images and details courtesy of Dr Fred Starr.
Grangefield Grammar School Class Photo c1958
Class photograph taken with Mr Stockdale in 1958.
Photograph courtesy of Mike Baker.
Haverton Hill: Port Clarence to Billingham
100 years ago was a momentous year for the north east. In January the London and North Eastern Railway came into being, then on April 1st Billingham Urban District Council was formed and on Christmas Eve, Ammonia was made at Billingham. This photograph showing our late Queen opening the Forum at Billingham on the 19 October 1967 is one of the photos commemorating these events in a nostalgic informative display, including cuttings from the much-loved Billingham Press, at Billingham library. Everything that today is Billingham, such as the Town Square, the magnificent Forum and Billingham Golf Club, was created during the jurisdiction of BUDC. Currently at the Dorman Museum, they are showing the story of the Titanic, sunk in 1912, but what part did its sister ship play in the development of Billingham. The answer is to be found at Billingham Library.
Photograph and details courtesy of Colin Hatton.
Grangefield Girls Day Outing, 1962
A Grangefield Girls’ Grammar school day coach outing? It seems to be the whole of the third year, probably 1962, but where were we going? Any ideas welcome.
The second photograph was taken on another occasion as the clothes are different but I have no further details. How the coaches have changed!
Photographs and details courtesy of Pat Rendall.
