Brenda’s first job was all really exciting at the Seaburn Hotel
SHE WAS ONLY 17 WHEN SHE STARTED WORKING AS A WAITRESS AT THE SEABURN HOTEL ...BUT BRENDA LOVED THE POST AND BECOMES THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF PEOPLE TO SUBMIT THEIR MEMORIES OF THE VENUE
Brenda Calvert loved her time at the Seaburn Hotel. She described it as her first proper job and admitted she got to meet some famous people. The Sunderland resident shared her memories as we continue our look at readers’ memories of the hotel which is now the four-star Marriott. Chris Cordner reports.
Brenda Calvert, nee Nunn, was only 17 when she began what she called her ‘first proper job’. It was an exciting time. “The year was 1966,” said Brenda. “I was seventeen when I started work in the restaurant as a waitress in the Seaburn Hotel. “It was my first proper job and I really enjoyed it,” she added. “Some famous people would come in such as the artist Lowry. He would sit looking out to sea through the large windows and I am sure that some of his sketches would have been of people walking along outside.” Brenda reflected: “I just wish that I had asked for an autograph or a little signed sketch, it would have been worth a lot of money today!! I was too shy.” One of her colleagues was a little more forward and it paid off. Brenda said: “Betty, the breakfast waitress, brought in a print of Lowry’s that she owned and he signed it for her.” She added: “The chef at the time was French. Alberto was the wine waiter, and Mr Baxter was head waiter. “Lunchtime in the restaurant was very busy with many business men from the shipyards, Vaux, etc.” But it was not just the workers from local industries who would come along. “Also, on Saturdays, the footballers who would be playing at Roker Park. Their menu was usually steak and toast. Lots of energy needed. “Major Nicholson, the head of Vaux breweries, sometimes came into the restaurant with his black dog. I really loved my time there. Happy memories.” Our thanks go to Brenda for her recollections and she becomes the latest in a line of people to get in touch. Others have included; l Les Allen, now 88, who launched Les Allen Car Sales in 1970 and ran it until 1995. He remembered that he once used the hotel ballroom to display several Saabs as part of a promotional event. l Hilda Morritt was a breakfast waitress. She often served LS Lowry and even brought one of his jumpers home to wash, said Hilda’s
daughter Hilda Donaldson. But one morning, the painter offered to do a sketch of the seafront for her and she thanked him but said she was not really interested in pictures.
Derek Lambert, now of Southmoor, Oxfordshire, who used to live on Wearside and recalled visits to the Seaburn’s dinner dances in the 1940s and 1950s – “before the club revolution.” “There was an Irish head waiter called Desmond who was the life and soul of the party and made everything go with a swing, so much so that I think some people came just because he was so entertaining,” said Derek.
June Viner, an 18-year-old Sunderland office girl in the 1960s, remembered writing to the Seaburn Hotel offering to work for free. She got a job in the hotel bar. She remembered: Unfortunately I don’t recall visits from Lowry but I do recall Duke Ellington staying there and spoke to him in reception.”
Brenda Graham, who had her 21st birthday party at the Roker Hotel. Later, she took up a Foreign Office posting in the Persian Gulf before a career change to general nursing and midwifery. To send your own memories, there are two ways of contributing.
Email your contribution and remember to include your telephone number as well as any pictures you want to submit. Send them all to Nigel@Media-Consult.co.uk.
Letters should be marked Seaburn Memories. Include your telephone number in the correspondence. Entries sent in this way should be posted to Liz Codling at The Marriott, Queens Parade, Sunderland SR6 8DB. Only send copies of pictures or those which do not have to be returned.
“It was my first proper job and I really enjoyed it” BRENDA CALVERT
“On Saturdays, we got the footballers who’d be playing” BRENDA CALVERT