I want to be six again ....

[RayScollen]

I want to be six again. I want to go to Valente's and think it's the best place in the world to eat. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make waves with rocks. I want to think Smarties are better than money 'cause you can eat them. I want to play football during play time and stay up on Christmas Eve waiting to hear Santa and Rudolph on the roof. I long for the days when life was simple. When all you knew were your colours, the times tables and simple nursery rhymes, but it didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know, and you didn't care. I want to go to infant school and have milk time, play time, nap time, and home time. I want to be happy because I don't know what should make me upset. I want to think the world is fair, and everyone in it is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. Sometime, while I was getting older, I learned too much. I learned of nuclear weapons, prejudice, starving and abused kids, lies, unhappy marriages, illness, pain and mortality. I want to be six again. I want to think that everyone, including myself, will live forever because I didn't have a concept of death. I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life, and be overly excited by the little things again. I want TV to be something I watch for fun, not something I use for escape from the things I should be doing. I want to live knowing the little things I find exciting will always make me as happy as when I first learned them.....I want to be six again. I remember not seeing the world as a whole, but rather being aware of only the things that directly concerned me. Dawdon was my world, Parkside and Deneside were foreign countries. I want to be naive enough to think that if I'm happy, so is everyone else. I want to go down the beach and think only of the sand beneath my feet, the crabs and whelks in the rock pools and the possibility of finding that blue piece of sea glass I'm looking for. I want to spend my afternoons climbing trees and picking blackberries, being picked up by the police on my way to Sunderland on my little three wheeler, letting the grown ups worry about time, the dentist, and how to find the money to fix the old car. I want to wonder what I'll do when I grow up, and what I'll be, who I'll be, and not worry about what I'll do if this doesn't work out. I want that time back. I want to use it now as an escape, so that when my computer crashes, or I have a mountain of bills, a few depressed friends, or a fight with my partner, or bitter sweet memories of times gone by, or second thoughts about so many things, I can travel back, and build a snowman, without thinking about anything except whether the snow sticks together, and what I can possibly use for the snowman's mouth. I want to be six again, especially now, as Christmas approaches. I want to expect nothing except presents and goodies. No terrorism, no fears, no worries. Expecting only that Santa coming 'cause I've been good (and somehow, mysteriously, even if I've not been all that good?). No unemployment or job worries, no taking care of ailing, elderly parents, no homeless in the streets. No aching joints or blurred vision, just the joy of Christmas and meeting with all my friends to share what we have. I want to be six again.

[Jim]

That was very good Ray but i would rather be a bit older like in our teens and knowing what i know now.I often think back to the times we spent up parkside and when we didnt realy have a care in the world,as long as we had fags and could go out now you realise what it must of been like for our parents and the worry we must of put them through i know there wasnt as much crime as there is now,when my son went out i was on hot bricks untill he got back,i think did my parents go through the same.Yes i loved been a teenager in the 60s now i am in my 60s,time seems to have flown by.

[VIP2006]

Hi Ray, What a nice way to outline the flashes of the past, although I suspect that when you were six that you wished you were more grown up.
Recently with my experience of finding out that I was mortal (not drunk), I asked a person on what state of mind should I be in at my time of life. He simply stated, that as paid up members of our society we should relax and enjoy life as much as possible, and if we are in a mental or physical depression, we should try and think in a positive way, and whilst we should muse on, and think of our youth etc. we should always try to think of the future.

Regards

Fred

[Jim]

I try not to think of the future at the moment vip because it seems to be test for this and that,i have giving more blood for tests than i gave when i was a doner.when i was younger i never took any tablets at all now i have half the chemists in my cupboard.The only head aches i get are the side effects from tablets.My teeth are still my own though but the dentist says that as you get older your gums shrink or some thing like that so where as befor you might get a small piece of food caught between them now you can get a ham shank there.You can get this plastic thing to help stop it but you only use it at night and its like having a horses bit in your mouth.I think i will look to the past at least my memory was good then.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim, I think that your sentiments are well shared, and for the first time in my life, I bought a Filofax so I could keep our appointments for doctor and Hospital etc. and it makes good reading.

I had a very good bringing up, and am proud to be associated with Seaham.

I have had numerous chances to move South, and even abroad, to which I have refused as I have always preferred living in Sunderland, and able to visit Seaham when I want. I have no family in Seaham now, but I visit fairly often.

Keep thinking positively.

Regards Fred

[Jim]

VIP i also love to go to seaham but unlike you i have a lot of family living there.I think i have relations in every part of seaham even murton where my brother lives.
I Didnt have a bad childhood as i was mostly brought up by my stepmothers mother and my uncle who were realy good to me,my mam died shortley after i was born so i never knew her infact i didnt know about her untill i was about 17.My Dad remarried and had a very big family as they did then there were 9 of us.I also found out when i was told about my mam that i had another sister and a lot more family that i didnt know about so i could of loads of relations in the harbour.The trouble been that my mams family were called phillips not a uncommon name so i dont know who is who on that side.I have tried doing my fam tree but cant get passed my mam because i know nothing of her fam and i have never spoke to my sister because i dont know if she would want to speak to me pluss i dont know where she lives but its not seaham.I come from oxford street and neptune street one of which aint there anymore oxford i think.Yes i grew up in the malvern area which was considered to be the worse place in seaham it was a good place for breeding though because there were a lot of big familys came from there,most were good hard working people as well mostly miners and there were,nt any teles then so they had to do something after a good night out and 9months later another malvernite would be born.I love the area and the people even the strange ones because we all had them.There was a german bloke that lived around there and he cycled every where and was as strong as a ox untill he was hit by a car or bus at the mill inn he was a good age then,he favourite sayings were "nice day for hiking,bikeing and swimming" he eat mostly out of date stuff or raw fish.He was a good age when he was killed.There were loads characters like that then as i am sure you would have had when you were younger.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim

I was born in a one bedroom flat opposite the Castlereagh "Hotel". My mothers neighbour was Jack and Fran Heaton who were caretakers of Rock house. My Brother michael was born there a couple of years later, with my sister Mary being born a couple of years later. We then moved to Hexham Avenue Deneside and a few years later to Wycliffe Road, Westlea.
I thoroughly enjoyed my young years in Seaham, even school. I left school at Xmas when 15 and started at the Tempest on January 2nd. I was taken on as a Apprentice Electrician.
I considered that the training I was given, both practical and education wise, was the best that could be obtained for a lad of humble background, and my dad who was miner at the nack all his working life, was very proud that he got me a job as a tradesman.!!!
My leisure time during my teens, was studying, Brass Bands ( I played Solo Trombone with Dawdon Band and others in the Area. ) I used to go out on a Saturday, dancing at the Dawdon Parish Hall, or, Easington Colliery Welfare, or The Rink, Seaburn Hall, Wetheralls. The drill was to have 3 to 4 pints, into the dance, out for the last bus if you had,nt scored, and if you had scored be prepared to walk home.

I met my wife at the Rink, and after 4 years courting we married, had a house built in sunderland, and here I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will celebrate our golden wedding anniversary in 2009

I have many memories of my life spent in Seaham, and most were happy ones, I knocked about with my mates and friends and can honestly say we were never in any trouble like what you hear about these days.
My Father used to say in his waining years, "bring back the old days" and I sometimes reflect on his words when reminising about my own life. However you cannot turn the clock back.

Jim you never know we might pass each other in Morrisons and never recognise each other.

Regards

Fred Gordon.

[Jim]

Vip i remember the old houses opposite the castlereagh i used to play on them when they first started to pull them down,my aunt lived in hawthorn square and i went there every saturday and went to the pictures with my cousin it was like a tradition every body went to the saturday morning flicks.There were a few old shops across to the picture house one repaired things the corner one we got our sweets at and cant remember the others were.Then there was the old toilets that stunk and were freezing because there were no doors.The golden lion was next door and the duke a bit futher up.I cant remember what was between the lion or the duke but there is a car park now.The lion is all boarded up.
I also went to the rink in park lane and easington coll wefare my late sister lived in easington coll and my nieces still live there.One of her watering holes was the black diamond at the bottom end of the coll near the pit they lived in station road.
I noticed that your family name was heaton the strange thing is the man my sister the one i dont know married john heaton from parkside.I usually go to morrisons at doxpark and odd times go to seaburn and asda at grangetown living at hendon i am in between them all even sainsburys.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim

My surname is Fred Gordon. not Heaton, The heatons were caretakers of Rock house, and lived on the same stairhead as us oposite the Castlereach Hotel, they had a girl called Tessa (same age as me) and John who would be about your age. He worked for a time at the tempest, and lived in Muareen Terrace near the crossings,at the start of Princess Road.
If you worked at the nack, you would proberbly knew my father Tommy Gordon, as he used to walk to work, via Queensbury Road malvern over the black road to work, and he worked at the nack all of his married life. He also had a brother Robert Gordon who lived in the road from the Top Shops and malvern Avenue. My father loved his dominoes and would sometimes lose his wages playing does, so we went hungry a bit when that happened. fortunately that didnt happen very much.
My Ganny lived in Bethune Avenue, and she had only one leg, my Mother and Aunty Jane looked after her and Grandad, and she ran a book for the local bookmaker. She was the only one legged bookies runner in the UK. Jeff the local policeman who lived at the bottom of the avenue, used to call at her house and place his bets, if he won he got paid out , although he never paid out if he lost. Th story goes that he would tell my gannie that she would be arrested on a certain date as it was her turn to go to court, she would be fined although this was paid for by the bookmaker.

my aunt Jane used to make current teacakes, and my mother baked the bread buns and loaves, and it was my job to take these to my aunty and gannie, and for me to fetch our share of the teacakes back hom, there wasn,t many currents left when I arrived home.

Plenty more to tell, although my brain is,nt as sharp as it used to be, thats why I need reminding some times

My wife, was born at Hendon, and lived in Thomson Street, she was bombed out 3 times and it certainly had an effect on her.
our Doctors were Bhate and Shankankerry until recently, the travel among other things, made us change to a Doctors practice in Silksworth.

Regard s

Fred Gordon

[Jim]

Hi VIP sorry i cant place the name the only gordon i knew and ray will also know was a school teacher at st joes she was the geography teacher before we got a young lass from murton.
I did work at the nack down the low main but before that i was at the brick-works next to the black road untill it closed then transfered to the pit.The streets you mention i remember well queensbury ave was where one of my school mates lived his name was george mullen and there were a few in the family.The street behind the top shops is bethune avenue then colling ave,portland ave and then malvern cresent the place most people knew.at the top end was ryton cres,topaz and saturn.I can remember the old prefabs that is now eastlea.I used to go to the nack club a lot it used to be a thriving place it had everything a bar,dancehall ,snug,then upstairs there was the big concert hall and the cafe now its just about closed infact i believe that it has closed resently.I think every body around that area was a miner or worked at one of the pits either above or below ground,my granddad was at the knack untill he died young from a chest infection his name was william mather his nick name was winkle because he was so big and tall.I can also recall at one time they used to fill coal delivery wagons there near the blacksmiths shops.We used to live over that way in butcher street next to post office street and our school was cuthys next to the mill inn.
The john heaton that my sister married would be abit older than me and they lived in maureen terrace before moving away.my sister is called valerie phillips not mather like me.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim

I can remember most of the street names that you give, and if my memory serves me right, portland was a street housing retired people.

At the top shops there was billiard & snooker hall, and one of my mates who lived on the avenue, called Melvyn Anderson used to play skittles and he was a very good player at a very young age.

My mother and father ended their days at 57 Frank Avenue, and my dad used to walk to work, after he retired he used to go to the newspaper shop for a paper, put his tanner bet on, buy a quarter of sweets, and on his way back he would give the bairns a sweetie, (he would not have been able to do that these days, and he would not have been able to understand because he was stone deaf)
I seem to have inherited his genes, as I like him is diabetic and virtually stone deaf, although I have a pair of digital hearing aids, which are quite good!!!

Regards

Fred Gordon

[Jim]

hi VIP your right the bottom half of portland was all bungalos for old people there are a few houses at the top though.I f you saw it now you wouldnt reconise it there are still bungalos but have thier own drives and are all modern pluss a lot are private.There are no concrete bunkers now like the old days.I can remember playing in the old air -raid shelters down there,I can also remember the snooker hall upstairs to maty hunters shop well before the jew bought it micavich i think they called him.Then the fishshop with nancy and her husband next to that was nelsons paper shop then two small shops and the george,deneside club and the launderetts.
You are right you couldnt give kids sweets today or you would get wrong for it,i remember my mates uncle george who lived in frank avenue he used to go around with his rattle shouting about a meeting at the miners hall at the nack.That was when you had ragmen ,fish sellers and the fruitvans going around.I can remember giving rags to these people on the dump for a ride on a bike they had a few bikes so they got a lot of old clothes.We lived in neptune at the time and on sunday used to take our potato peelings to franky watson senior and got a hand full of suggar puffs for them frank jnr was a policeman.You must remember arrty lockyear and his motorbike.There was a lot of strange people then but harmless the likes of lenny button who would chase after the coal bunkers his dad was a brilliant cobbler.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim
Yes I remember Arty Lockyear very well, he was the finest advert for the BSA Bantam there ever was.

I remember, when, after getting married and living in Sunderland and was on shiftwork at the tempest, I was at that time learning to drive. I was useually accompanied by a driver, however this particular night he did not turn up to go to work and I had to take the L,s off and drive myself, I got to the Hall bend and a copper flashing a lantern stopped me and asked me to open my boot, as he was on the lookout for poultry theives, he found none and said on your way and I will see you later.
I went into the pit canteen later that night , and arthur beckoned me across, he said " why were you driving without L plates and unaccompanied, and I said that my mate had not turned up and I had to get to work. He said if you do that stunt again and I catch you you will bloody well get the book chucked at you. He was so big that you had to take notice of him.

I remember during the war when a german plane was shot down, and the pilot landed in Malvern, the women came out in force to scrag him and he was lucky that the police got to him first

By jim you are tickling my memory

Regards Fred

[Lucy]

I just love reading all your posts in this section,
I wish I had a memory

[Jim]

Yes he was certainly big in more ways than one by that i mean tall and very large,but as you said he was a fair cop. I remember climbing up a tree next to the crossings on station road and all my mates running like hell and when i looked down there was this giant cop waving his finger at me saying come down here i tell you i did and was shaking like a jelly,he gave me a good telling off and a slap and said he would be going to see my parents,he was more concernd about me falling than anything else.The one thing i remem,ber about him apart from his bike was his tash.I tell you what the pilot was very lucky because they would of killed him.Iked at the tempest you must of past the girls remand home to get there next to the church.We used to go down scabie valley and climb up into the back of the remand home because the lasses used to beckon us out of the windows usualy so we would climb up and give them fags,untill the police were called in and they built a new one next door to the old one.I knew a few people from there inmates they were in for stealing apart from mary bell she was in for murder.They let the girls out a weekends and some never went back.We even camped out in the grounds of the hall hopping to see the grey lady but never did.Now the hall is a top hotel yet it was a TB hospital and there were people burried there.

[Jim]

Its a good photo of the late arty lockyear as you said one of the best cops in seaham.He burried in princess road and there is a photo on his head stone.His son was also called arty and i believe he has also past on and wasnt very old he was in my brothers class at school.There was this other cop called tingley he used to also clip you around the lughole if you did owt wrong he lived in ryton cres.VIP did you live in seaham when they made life for ruth with micheal crage,jannet munron and patrick maghoon i know they are all spelt wrong but you know who i mean they used the old barons factory next to hawthorn square right over the road to my aunty queenies and me and our alan were always in there getting tea and sweets off the crew we also used to talk to the actors and jannet loved her fags but never smoked a full one and when she threw it away there was allways a mad rush to get it.

[Lucy]

Now thats something I do remember, the filming of Life for Ruth as my sister Eileen, Jeannie Winter(Leng) and me used to help the caterers and were allowed to carry meals into them in the AOP Institute.We went to Foggins shop for them to get Cigs and always got a packet to share between us.One day they made a Hotpot for the crew and stars and they named it Seaham Hotpot ( Baked beans was the base of the hotpot and they just chucked in other stuff)and when they had to go up to the house in Denehouse road we got to a ride in the catering van and helped with the drinks.I did have all their signatures in my autograph book even the film crew ,producer etc signed it but alas I have lost it.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim

When I was an apprentice at the tempest, we used to work on a Sat morning. we started a 5 am if you were down the pit and 6 am if you were working at bank. When on bank we accasionaly went along the railway line and over scabbie valley into the hall gardens and we went for the massive gooseberries, and when it was dark we used pit lamps to shine the way.what a lovely time for us kids at that time as we were excempt from doing national service. not forgetting that lads of our age !7 were in the front line.

I used to follow Seaham Harbour Cricket club, and used to go along to the games home and away. Having relations living in Cambridge, my uncle got me a massive Cricket score book and I used to religiously record each game, My favourite player was Jack Hayes, a left arm spin bowler, who could get a bag of wickets every week. He worked as a stoneman at the tempest.

What a grand life I had in those days, with never a dull moment, no money in my pocket, and no worries about going about Seaham. Can youngsters say the same today, I wonder.

[Jim]

I remember ronnie and jennie leng as we used to go to thiers on christmas when they had the arcade with the slot machines now the snooker club,it was a big shock when he was killed but then that road was deadly anyway.I belive they were seperated by then aswell jennie was living at peterlee me and my uncle billy used to take her coal when he drove for broxtons of murton.I remember a cricketer lived up Deneside i think they called him dickie fuller he had a full set and they said he was good i wont know because i was more into football.Can you remember the old bin wagons and the metal bins i worked on them and when the ashes were wet they were heavy,sometimes even empty the were a good weight.Now a days you have to do everything but empty your bin by your self then we had to bowl them out and it didnt mater if they were hot ,cold or wet you emptied them people would put hot ashes bottle and everything in them now you are not allowed to put paper or bottles or even garden waste in them.We used to go to the tip when we were kids to rake about the rubbish you could find allsorts but had to watch out for the rats and the burning rubbish.Do you remember the old claypit next to the black road we would go there looking for newts and frogs and there were dead anilmals sometimes in the water our parents would go mad and said we would end up covered in warts or be ill but we never were.This was before the labour club days and we had the wooden bridge across the line there used to be loads of planks missing but as kids we had no fear we would go across on the out side of it we must of been crazy.

[VIP2006]

Hi Jim- Dick Fuller was for a few years the pro for Seaham Harbour CC. He came I think from the Weat Indies, He was not very tall, but being well built he could really speed up his bowling.

my "domain" in my youth was Deneside Park, and you could go from Deneside to Parkside without xrossing a main road. Our gang used to make sorties to parkside and "invade" the place !!! and they used to pay us a return visit.

I can clearly remember Sunday night pictures, wher we had the choice of going to the Gaff, or the Empire at the bottom of church Street or the princess along princess road.
After the pictures masses congregated at the crossings, and did a bit of promanarding to see if we could ger aquainted with a girl or young lady.

Trips to Sunderland were a rare treat, and if we got there, then the shops to go too were Blacketts, Joplings or Binns, and if my mother was flush a visit to Lockharts "Cafe"

A trip to Sunderland High Street Baths was also a treat, as the only alternative was, Dock, or the Dawdon Pool.

Regards

Fred

[Jim]

We did the same walk from deneside park to parkside but we were friends with them the lot we had trouble with was either from murton or ryhope.Our main picture hose was the lop house or the cosy but we did go to the harbour a few times,princess road was just closing down by the time i started going to the pictures.I remember going with my uncle to see a horror called circus of horrors at the empire.
We also spent time in the town but when we went shopping at joplings it was with thier money they had a food store then and we used to get bags full of stuff.We did go to high street baths and when we came out went straight to the shop for a dip.Then we we would look around breknas at the cheap stuff.I never went to the swimming club at the docks but did go to the pit pond,the water was always freezing and we used to go late at night skinny dipping which was worse.
I remember my dad taking me to the abc pictures in the town to see the 7 hills of rome with mario lanser it was the one and only time he took us.I loved the cartoons and used to go to the cosy and mighty mouse was nearly always on and a tarzan film with gorden scott after the show thier were loads of tarzans and singing mice going home,it was good fun.I never realy bothered the ladies untill much later on in life when i met this certain bloke that now lives at hull or near there and i started going to rock house with him.

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