Ushaw Moor Memories (Backup)

Memories of Ushaw Moor and Deerness Valley

Friday, 30 March 2012

Ushaw Moor Needs your Memories

Been a little quite March on the Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG.

The BLOG relies on YOU to submit your memories.

My last request seemed to have sparked off a few comments/memories, specifically regarding "Throwing Money At Weddings", but the post had other posing questions, some of which were :

  • Is there a special SMELL that provokes a certain memory in your life ?

  • Which street did you grow up in ?

  • What do you remember about going to school ?

  • What was your favorite moment from school?

  • What was your first job ?

  • What were the special things that happened to you as you were growing up ?

  • What was family life like when you were growing up?

  • How did you celebrate holidays and special occasions?

  • What changes have you noticed during your life in such areas as fashion, morality and technology?


Take 10 minutes out of busy day and answer some of these question, we would love to hear about them.

Paul :)

 

 

8 comments:

  1. I am trying to remember my classmates in the junior school of the early 1950s our teacher being miss bailes it is said by many that the first thing to go is your memory but i'lllist who I can girls first Patricia Metcalfe Susan Lough and boys Frederick Wood Derek Thompson John Hutchinson ( also two boys that I'm not sure about Philip Stoddart and Barry Toulson I hope someone has a better menory as there doesn't seem to be a lot of girls being educated now where did I put those specs

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  2. Margaret Thompson1 April 2012 at 07:47

    Frank I was in the same year at junior school as you, my name was Margaret Brown, John Hutchinson was my cousin. The following are some of the people in our age group at Ushaw Moor Junior School (that I can remember). They are Beryl West, Barbara Hutton, Patricia Duthie, Linda Dent, Sylvia Clarke, Joan Richards, Kathleen Sayer, Judith Parfitt, Ronnie Thompson, George Aberdeen, Ralph Wilkinson, Howard Deighton, Edward Grayson, Margaret Kirby. Perhaps you can remember them, you were correct about Barry Toulson he was also in our age group.

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  3. Margaret Icannot thank you enough; every one of those names brought back instant recall and to see your name was such a shock How in heavens name did I not remember a girl like you I hope you have not changed in looks as you were so striking my apologies for the lapse in mymemory and I hope your list may encourage others Once again thanks very much Margaret for bothering regards Frank

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  4. I drove through Ushaw Moor a litle while ago and i was very sad to see that the heart of this little village has been ripped out and I think that housing will replace the buildings now demolished. A large empty space where the Council School stood on Temperance Terrace. The Big Club and the The Club Hall Cinema gone and another empty space where the Empire Cinema stood and Lowerys Drapers Shop next door on the other side of the lane. Also housing in the rec in front of High View. I spent many happy hours playing on the swings in the rec and more hours playing football there. Where do kids play now? I remember when I was a teenager that collections used to taken in the cinemas to provide playgrounds for children to play in and enjoy the outdoors. I think this National Scheme was sponsored by the Duke of Edinburgh.

    We used to queue for hours in all weathers to get into the Club Hall or Empire if there was a good "picture" on. Two houses on a Saturday night, early showing and a late showing and this was at both Cinemas. There were four films showing at both cinemas in seven days so you were always spoilt for choice. Sunday night films were usually second rate and were always breaking down or "snapping" as were termed the breakdowns. When this happened we always booed and stamped our feet and created a racket. I remember there were boards advertising the films showing in the next seven days outside both cinemas and there were also boards on each side of the road where the road bends just as you leave Ushaw Moor on the way to New Brancepeth ot Sleetburn as that village was also known as.advertising forthcoming attractions.

    I nearly forgot the Memorial Hall next to St. Lukes Church where I spent a lot of evenings trying to play snooker and billiards Again housing occupying the site.

    I took an 'A' level at Night School in Sociology at Hebburn Tech. I found the studying of Sociology very interesting. One visiting lecturer was a man from Spennymoor. This was the days before 24 hour television and technology as we now know it and his forecast for the future is coming true. He said that as large local employers of people closed ie Pits, factories and shipyyards that society as we know it would splinter. For example men working at Ushaw Moor colliery would drink and socialise in the village. Their wives would know each other and their children would go to school and play together. They were all gelled together and the common demoninator was the Colliery. When the colliery closed the men would lose that comradeship as they looked for work elsewhere and the familes would drift apart and that close gelling would be lost. People as the years progressed would work away from the village and as time has gone on people have lost contact even with their next door neighbours and each house has become a seperate entity with very little to bind the neighbourhood together. I think this has already happened. Incidentally Hebburn Tech. College closed last September and is the buildings and grounds are now up for sale. I hope my meaning is clear in this last paragraph. I blame the telly and the celebrity culture for the state of things today.

    I am only kidding when I put in that alst remark.

    Brian Mc.

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  5. You are right about modern housing, very sterile,no community spirit,
    we have lost something very precious and we won't get it back.

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  6. you have hit the nail on the head,everything you have said is true,i lived in ushaw moor for the first 30 years of my life along south view,and can remember it all but i think i must be 3 or 4 years younger than you born in 1949.i know some of the names but all are older than me,remember when the neibours used to talk at the back gates,bonfires on the green behind south view,sledging down banaman hill over the road and down the allotments,its a disgrace whats happened in ushaw moor with all the new houses been built on every bit of available space that can be found,brings tears to my eyes,last time i was in ushaw moor about 8 years ago i had a walk along the railway line down by the beck but all you can see is trees no views,i would rather see the pit heaps the beck and the pit wheel.talking about the junior school that has been pulled down where do the kids go now.i have lived in spain for the last 8 years but i am going to move back to england as i home sick,would have come back to the old ushaw moor but not the new one except mabe the street along past the colliery on the way to esh forgot its name.
    harry oughton

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  7. Harry,
    I am a bit older than you. If yu want to live in the houses on the way to Esh Winning you must mean Joyce Terrace or Deerness View. What has happened in Ushaw Moor has happened on a larger scale in the town where I have lived for the past 42 years. Huge factories and shipyards have disappeared along with thousands of jobs and all we have is new housing.

    Brian Mc.

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  8. The time is rapidly approaching when the bluebells in the wood (next to the beck) will come into flower. One of my happiest memories of Ushaw Moor is walking through the wood with my dad, the carpet of bluebells was never ending and their lovely perfume filled the air. I was around six years old at the time. To this day the sight and perfume of bluebells transports me back to Ushaw Moor, even though it's fifty years since we left.

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