A hundred years of life in the North East
A NEW book from Tyneside publisher Summerhill Books celebrates life in the North East over the past 100 years.
North East Memories is a compilation of stories by local people collected by authors Andrew Clark and Sharyn Taylor.
Andrew has been recording memories for more than 30 years and his favourites have been gathered together for this latest book. They include home life, wartime, food, schooldays, Christmas, games and toys, cinema, days at the seaside and recollections of working in the shipyards and pits.
Andrew said: “Before all the modern gadgets we take for granted today, everyday tasks were often hard work. Most mothers up until the 1950s had what was called the weekly agenda where every day had a different job.
“Monday was always washday, while ironing was done the following day. Wednesday and Thursday were often for cleaning the inside of the house and also baking. Friday was ‘outside day’ with the cleaning of backyards, front steps, windows and outside toilets.”
Other stories describe childhood games from the 1940s and ‘50s when imagination was the key.
Sharyn Taylor said: “Games were played in the street at a time when there was not the traffic we have today. Popular activities were football, cricket, skipping, hopscotch, sledging in the winter and ‘boolers’ which were metal hoops you ‘booled’ along with your hand or a stick. Other games were marbles, ball and jacks, chuck stones and tops and whips where a mushroom-shaped piece of wood was spun on the ground and kept going with a flick of a whip.”
Also in the book are accounts of the Second World War including storytellers who remember the day war was declared on September 3, 1939. Other wartime memories include evacuation, the blackout, air raids, rationing, gas masks and the end of the conflict when local communities celebrated Victory in Europe Day in May 1945.
Many of the 120 illustrations are old picture postcards. Andrew said: “Over the years I have used hundreds of postcards in the books I have published. Their photographs provide a unique historic record while their messages were used like we send a text or email today. Some of the images were quite personal and you could compare them with the pictures we now post on Facebook or other social media. Postcards first appeared in this country in the late 19th century but their golden age started around 1900 with improved printing.”
North East Memories is on sale at M&M News, Northumberland Street, Newcastle; The Back Page in Newcastle and the Metrocentre; Newcastle Library; The Post Office, Jackson Street, Gateshead; and direct from www.summerhillbooks.co.uk