Ian Miller

Peterlee Hostellers was started by my parents, Albert ‘Dusty’ Miller & Thelma Miller in the early 1970’s when I was about 12 or 13 years old. It was all run on a voluntary basis with members paying subs to cover the costs and we met at The White House on Eden Lane to plan our trips. There was a walking group and a rock-climbing group, which tended to split up when we arrived at where we were staying. Mum and dad led the walking group.

We went all over. I remember doing the Lyke Wake Walk in North Yorkshire, which is a 42 mile walk from Scarth Wood Moor, across the North Yorkshire Moors and ending on the coast at Ravenscar. When I was a bit older, me and dad walked the length of the Pennine Way, which runs 268 miles from the Peak District to the Scottish Borders. Dad took a fortnight’s holiday, so we had no choice but to complete the walk inside 14 days. I think I was studying for my A Levels, or about to start 6th Form at Shotton Hall Comp.

My dad worked at the Post Office in Peterlee on Halisham Place from 1964 until he retired in 1993. A lot of people knew him as ‘the walking postman’. One year he talked eight of his workmates into doing the Durham Dales Challenge. They raised over £250 for the Yellow Brick Road Appeal. It made the local papers.

When dad retired, him and mum sold their house in Thames Road and bought a motor home. They travelled all over the world for the next 17 years, before returning to Peterlee when my sister Kim was diagnosed with cancer. Dad passed away in May 2023. He was 88. Mam has just moved into Poppy Dene on Robson Avenue. They were married 66 years.