Park has been in decline for years

I TWICE visited Lambton Lion Park. My first visit was in 1973, with my parents, as part of my fifth birthday celebrations.

I remember the warning to keep car windows and doors closed in the animal enclosures and that soft top cars were prohibited.

All of the animals other than the monkeys appeared to ignore the cars. In the monkey enclosure, several of them climbed onto the car and one of them rode a considerable distance on the roof.

It got off before we drove through the exit gate but we would, presumably, have had to wait for help if it had insisted on staying on the car.

They did not try to wrench any parts off the car nor attempt to open the doors, which is fortunate because the front doors could not be locked from the inside.

On our second visit, several years later, it was now called Lambton Adventure Park. The African grassland animals were still there in drive-through enclosures but the monkeys had gone.

An adventure playground with a rope slide (about seven feet off the ground at its highest point) had been added, also a miniature railway. In order to provide a destination for passengers, a small cage containing a bear was provided.

When we reached “Bear Halt”, the train driver banged on the back of the cage and a dejected-looking bear emerged from an enclosed area at the back.

The entire enclosure looked

I HAVE been trying to find some information on the old Co-op Factory at Pelaw, Gateshead. I have a pair of watercolour paintings (given to my parents in 1939 as a wedding present). They were signed J or T Wilson. They were framed at the factory.

As I live in North Somerset it is possible the paintings were purchased at the Bristol Co-op Store (destroyed in WWII).

I would like to find out about the painter and if the store too small for an animal of this size. We followed signs indicating the way to a leopard and a wolf. We arrived at apparently empty cages. I think we were seeing the park’s terminal decline. DAMIAN BELL

Gateshead commissioned local artists to do work then framed them and then they were sent out to various stores for sale. The pictures show lakeside scenes with mountains in the background - could be anywhere in the UK or beyond.

I guess people employed at the factory are long gone by now, but maybe a relative or friend may have some recall of the factory and its workings. ROGER COLLINS Email: rogercollins59@mail.com