The Chauffer Family
The tricycle was bought as a joint Christmas present for me and my brother, presumably because our parents couldn’t afford to buy us a bike each. The problem was that every time I tried to ride it, my brother would push me off and I would protest loudly! In the end this became too much for our parents, so the tricycle was soon sold.
Elaine Chauffer
When my mother died in 2014 aged 94, she’d been a resident of Thorntree Gill for 63 years.
Elaine Chauffer
My father was working in Blackhall pit before the family moved to Thorntree Gill in 1951. My parents were renting one room in a cousin’s house prior to this. When the choice of a house in Blackhall Rocks, or one in the New Town came up, they took a leap of faith and chose Peterlee, despite the rent being higher. They moved in with nothing.
It was a small community surrounded by fields. Everyone helped each other. Most of the men worked in the pit, or at Horden Coke Works. When our father was on night shift and so sleeping during the day, our mother Lily would take us bairns to Horden beach as a treat – it was a black beach then.
There was no town centre to begin with. According to my mother, the greengrocer, Mr Pratt, came from Horden with his horse and cart to sell fruit and veg. He would willingly hire his horse and cart out, so one day it might have coal in it and the next he would use it for the veg. Groceries from the Co-op came by horse and cart too, as did the milk deliveries. The milkman was Billy Bainbridge. There was also a Fish and Chip van that would park up in the street.
Cows and horses would occasionally escape from the fields and wander into the street. Our mother opened the door one day and was confronted by a horse outside. When the little shop opened a horse also tried to get in there.
The women would meet in “The Hut” to organise events and activities, often in the open field in front of the Dene. The Hut housed the Sunday School, bingo, and dances. Sadly, it burnt down. All us kids played together in the surrounding fields and down the Dene. Back then, the Dene wasn’t open to the public and you were chased out if the gamekeeper spotted you.
Elaine Chauffer