ootside toilets....first home and all that..ha

We lived in a street adjacent to Tyne Dock Jendurham and I can remember the ships horns too. I also have vivid memories of seeing the launch of the Esso Northumbria from the bottom of the street.

Goodness what a small world, I know Tyne dock

Are you going to see the Sting musical, Last Ship, Gillybob?

I was disappointed to learn that Stings musical will open on Broadway
Jendurham. Surely given his "Geordie" roots and the subject matter, the show should have been opened (or at the very least previewed) in the North East.

hebrideanlady My grandad used to say he knew people from Tyne Dock that were so rough (and hungry) they would eat their young!

He could well be right. It was a bit dodgy at "chucking out times"

Yes but gilly he has all but forgotten where he came from hasnt he, apart from this money making musical, me cynical never!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My paternal family came from Tyne Dock and my maternal family from Wallsend.

Glass - I agree re Sting

Yes Glass he has totally forgotten where he came from (Sting that is not my grandad who is long gone). Sting is a typical champagne socialist. It gets on my nerves whaen he bleats on about the environment too! Blimey we are practically related too!

Yes it was hebrideanlady My grandad was dragged brought up "by God and good neighbours" he knew Catherine Cookson. His life and upbringing was like stepping into one of her novels. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable and terribly sad.

Did anyone see the Michael Portillo programme yesterday that featured Berwick and Ashington?

Great expression Gillybob a champagne socialist is exactly what he is.

I would certainly believe every thing your granddad said, even in the 40s being a small child I can remember how hard some things were, we played in "bombed buildings" it was just words to us children, It didn't dawn on me for a while as to what they were

Yes we used to play on bombed buildings. Never thought about what it meant until now.

I thought Sting did come back to his roots quite regularly. Last time I heard his brother still ran the milkman business and his daughter was singing in one of the Gateshead pubs, with Sting listening. My son plays in a band on Tyneside and they used to rehearse in a pub owned by Sting's brother.
Sting was in Durham Cathedral less than two years ago with Katherine Tickell. Most people on here have moved away from their roots, so why shouldn't he? Yes, he's made a lot of money, but he gives a lot away.
It's a bit like saying that Anita Roddick should not have done what she did and helped the Yamamoto Indians.

Used to run to the end of the street to see a car. Milk, coal and veg was delivered by horse and cart. Always a race when the horse defecated, ladies racing with shovels to get the manure for the roses. Milk measured out with metal measures from the milk churn.Coal as has been said ,tipped in the street women, as the men were at work. shovelling it up and" building" it into the coal house, being careful not to dent the bathtub,
Isn't it amusing when visiting these museums and seeing stuff you are still using. Telling the guides how the bonnet was used to cook bacon,describing how to peg a rug. Telling them how prospective boy friends quizzed you on your knowledge of a darning mushroom, (did you know what one was) and did you live within walking distance , or did you live on a good 'bus route. More to follow,time for tea

I'd forgotten about the ships in Hull Docks. My grandma lived on Marfleet Lane which was near the docks and the ships horns seemed to go on forever. I listened for them last year but didn't hear a single one

My mum had a dolly tub and posher until she could finally afford a twin tub. After that she used to drain the washer into it and use the water and a stiff yard brush to swill the yard. My aunty still uses a posher to wash her net curtains.

Mum worked in a chippie and the owner used to let Dad borrow his van. The first thing Dad and my uncle did was swill it out to get rid of the fish water and smell. Then they'd put in two sofas and we'd all pile in and go to the seaside....usually Flamborough or Spurn cos there were no shops and so nothing to spend money on Four adults and six children....no seat belts or other safety stuff but we survived and had some great days out lol.

I was just reading through this and thinking how many gransnetters, like me, had interesting childhoods, then I realised how many, like me, are from the North East! My dad was a pitman too and I remember sitting on the stairs with my sister while he had his tin bath in front of the coal fire, my mam washing his back with the black water streaming down. At one house we lived at, we had a line of earth closets at the end of the yards. The smell is in my nostrils now - it was horrendous! Everything would just drop into the darkness below and the stench would get gradually worse. Then every so often a truck would come along and a couple of men would jump out and shovel it all away. I wonder what the actual job description was - not what we called them, that's for sure! My mother wouldn't use the closets - she'd walk half a mile to the nearest public conveniences instead. I was only born in the mid-50s, but feel we had more in common with the Victorians than with the children these days!

Which pit village, Maggiemaybe?

The village with the earth closets was Charltons, near Guisborough, after we'd moved "down South" to Cleveland, but when my dad was a miner we lived in Littleburn, Langley Moor.

My Aunt's house had an ash midden until the 60s, she also had gas lights and the bath under the kitchen bench.
We had lino on the floor with proggy mats. DH said he had a greatcoat on his bed to keep him warm, we must have been quite posh because I had a Durham quilt.

jen I had heard he only came back when he had to ie Durham Cathedral (or when he had to for his own benefit, I might be wrong I dont have inside information).

My paternal family were all pitmen, they worked down the Rising Sun in Wallsend after the family moved to Wallsend. My Dad would bring his jam and bread sandwiches back from the pit and they had a different taste altogether, we all would fight over any left in his bait box.

I have not heard "bait box" for years

Sorry it's from the dreaded DM but nevertheless........

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-481865/Superstar-hypocrite-Meet-Sting-master-contradictions.html