Ruth Flowers
30.07.24
From 0 to 16 years old, I lived in a little hamlet called Sheraton, which is on the A19 between Peterlee and
Hartlepool. My mum and dad worked in Peterlee at my dad’s business, Jamieson Solicitors. I can’t
remember the name of the building it was in, but I can describe it. Next to Greggs, there was a little door.
It was in that building, and I think it was on the second floor. I remember going there after school because
my mum would pick me up. I went to Our Lady of the Rosary for Primary and Junior School and St Bede’s
for Senior School.
I was always connected to Peterlee. When you go on holiday, people always ask where you are from. I
know it’s Sheraton, but there’s no hope anyone knows where that is. The next step would be Peterlee. If
they don’t know that, then it’s Sunderland. I would say I’ve got strong links to Peterlee. And especially
when Place Lab (1*) happened and people asked…‘What’s your story? How are you linked?’ That would
be how I would describe it.
My best friend, Moira, lived in Peterlee in Mansel Crescent, just up the road from Community House. So I
spent a lot of time actually hanging about in Peterlee. We met at Our Lady of the Rosary. She would either
come to mine, or I would go to hers, and I remember vividly walking to her house with a neighbour who
would pick us up because we were too young to walk on our own. I would love to do an art piece about
that route as well because it’s literally a trip down memory lane. The trees behind what was called The
Norseman, where Vibe is now, are tall. They’ve always felt absolutely massive in my mind. They are
massive, but obviously, from being really little, it does feel different walking through that part of Peterlee. I
feel Peterlee is quite a special place because of how modern it is or was being against the Dene. It’s sort
of that liminal space. I think, as an artist, that’s definitely inspired me.
I have special memories of going on school trips to Castle Eden Dene. I remember being in class, excited
knowing we were going to the Dene because I used to love it. It was like entering another world, and then
obviously, there was all the folklore you would get from Steve [Metcalfe] (2*). I particularly remember the
story of the Devil’s Lapstone.
was really jealous of Durham Cathedral being built. And they would get large stones from local areas, like
Castle Eden Dene. It might have actually been from the coast. Then he came over to the Dene and
dropped a massive rock. He tried to catch it and clawed all down the sides. If you actually see the Devil’s
Lapstone in the Dene, it’s got an iron awe going through it. So it’s got a red tinge running up the sides.
And that’s meant to be like the Devil’s blood when he scratches his fingernails. Visually, in my mind as a
kid, that was pretty gruesome. I remember thinking…‘wow.’
I was a total wimp as a kid because I lived in an old house. Well, I say I was a wimp. I wasn’t really
because I’d have friends come over, and I’d walk around it in the dark, and they’d be like…‘What are you
doing? Put the lights on; this is really spooky.’ But I was fascinated with spooky stuff and strange things,
so local folklore stayed with me.
I went to school in Peterlee, but living elsewhere definitely separated me. I’ve got a different take on it than
people who lived in Peterlee because I remember feeling different from others even growing up. And it
literally was just local dialects changing. You can go down the road five miles, and someone sounds very
different, and you’re like…‘You’re not from round here, are you?’
I would get that even as a kid. Kids from around here would know that I was not from here. Even though I
went to school in Peterlee. So it feels a bit loaded when people ask…‘Where are you from? What’s your
story?’ But I do feel very attached to Peterlee.
It definitely had a hand in forming who I am, but at the same time, that sort of outsider-ness may
romanticise things about Peterlee. I lived next to the A19, and we couldn’t play out on the streets. There
was no street to play on. And when I did visit Moira in Mansel Crescent, we’d only stick to her little bit of
the street, and if you’d go a bit further, there’s a different feel. That is still very true. Today in Peterlee, if I
say…‘Oh, I live in Oakerside,’ people would tell you it’s the nice bit. But then, two minutes down the road,
it feels different again.
I often wonder what Victor Pasmore would think of all the houses. When I was invigilating the Ron
Lapworth exhibition in the town centre, a woman said she thought Peterlee was amazing when she’d
moved there as a kid. She lived in the Sunny Blunts area and thought the houses were weird without
roofs. From a practical perspective, people have had to put a proper structure on top because of the
weather.
were a lot of backhanders. It was very dodgy, and people went to prison. There were definitely people
who got prosecuted.
I’m quite similar to my sister; we love animals and nature. In the ‘70s, she was out and about a lot in
Peterlee. She lived with my mam from her first marriage, so my sisters were raised in Peterlee. My sister,
Jo, stole my mam’s toilet brush holder from the bathroom and went to the pond behind The Norseman.
She scooped up a load of tadpoles and brought them home. My mam didn’t know where this toilet brush
holder had gone for weeks, but she spotted it a while later in the garden. She went out in the garden. It
was mucky water, and she just threw it under the grass, took it in, washed it and put it back in the
bathroom. My sister apparently went absolutely ballistic because of all the tadpoles, and then, for ages
after, there were loads of little frogs around in the garden. Jo would do stuff like that often.
I’m hoping to do an art piece about water in County Durham because there used to be lots of ponds
around Peterlee. They’re gone now, but my mam said they had the Rez (3*) when she lived in Horden
growing up. That’s where she learned how to swim. It was a pool but for tadpoles.
Even though I’d spend time outside, I felt Peterlee was very enclosed. My experience of Peterlee was
having glimpses and pockets of it since I didn’t live here and didn’t go much further than a street.
I remember at school, there was a witch’s tree; again, children with vivid imaginations. Everyone would
play games at the tree at the bottom of the field, and people said it was cursed. I always remember at Our
Lady of the Rosary, there was a bush that had rose hips on it. Everyone always said… ‘Oh, don’t go near
any of that because it’s cursed.’ I can definitely remember walking to Moira’s from there and Eden Hill
Road being very different. They’ve got a hairdresser there. I’ve had my hair cut there for 30 years.
Hairkutz 100 – it’s named after the band, I think. They’ve been there forever, and I remember Moira getting
a haircut there. Her mam went off on one because Moira used to hate getting her hair brushed, and she
got a haircut there like the lads. It’s stuck in my mind.
I hope that, in Peterlee’s future, there will be more places for people to engage with one another and have
more crossovers and similarities. When I was a kid, I went to St Bede’s, and you didn’t mix with people
from Shotton Hall. Then, as you get older, you realise it’s nonsense. I live near Shotton Hall now, as it
happens, but my first boyfriend went to Shotton Hall because we met at Durham Sixth Form, and those
things didn’t matter.
It’s a fantasy, but I would love someone to do something with Lee House, like artist studios. I just hope it
doesn’t seem like gentrification. It might be if it was in the wrong hands, but it could be okay if it’s people
who care about the local area.
But Peterlee is going from strength to strength culturally with Place Lab and No More Nowt. Public art like
the Apollo Pavilion, Angel of the North, and Penshaw Monument must have been pretty avant-garde when
they were put up; they gave people focal points. Your fireplace is in your home, and that’s your focal point.
You gather in that space, but it’s like getting around a campfire. It’s coming together and having this focus
to get the conversation started. And if people can feel like they own public art, like it’s theirs and they’re
proud of it, they might not vandalise it. However, Apollo feels like a spaceship that’s just landed in a
housing estate. But when we receive nice things, people feel suspicious because of what’s happened
historically in the North East. There’s a lot of suspicion. Your base level is not much, so when you get an
artwork, you always wonder why you’ve been given it.
I am proud of Peterlee. I was reading an article about Apollo Pavilion in the Durham University magazine
Palatinate. The writer rocked up to Peterlee and started talking about it like it was this forgotten thing.
They spoke to one person on the street who said they didn’t notice it. And I just thought…‘Who have you
spoken to about the Pavilion because lots of people have an opinion on it?’ I love it, especially as an
artist. Whether you love it or hate it, I love that we have it in Peterlee. There’s not much culturally that puts
us on the map, and I think it’s incredibly special. I’m so glad that we didn’t get rid of it.
As much as I like it, there are pros and cons, but I’ve had conversations where we’ve discussed how if that
was in London, it would be treated like a cultural mecca, and all the houses around would be worth a
million. But I know I’m not living in front of it, so it’s tricky because a structure providing shelter will attract
kids who are behaving anti-socially. So, I can totally see the flip side. But I just think it doesn’t always have
to be like this. You can’t erase everything that’s been before; that’s not the way to go.
It’s like Dalton Park, for example; you’d never know there was a pit there, maybe if they’d put a pit wheel
there. It’s almost like they’re just trying to conveniently wipe all of that away, and I don’t think that’s the way
forward. I think it’s important to acknowledge the bad parts.
The town centre has totally hollowed out now. There are no independents anymore. There used to be
quite a few cafes, and I remember going to them when I was a kid. ASDA was where Wilkinson’s was, but
is now Poundland. I’ve got great memories of going there as a kid. It’s weird because going into that unit
is small, but as a child, you think everything’s huge. I would have chips and gravy waiting for my mam to
finish work at the Solicitors. A lot of the time I had in Peterlee tended to be waiting for my mam to finish
work. She was the bookkeeper for my dad. I’d either get a lift from my mam from school or walk to the
town centre from St Bede’s. And then, like going to Woolies [Woolworths], not necessarily buying
anything but looking at the CDs and all the crazy pick ‘n’ mix sweets. The town centre was a hell of a lot
better than it is now.
My mam often says…‘Peterlee wasn’t great. Somewhere the size of Peterlee didn’t need three shoe
shops.’ There were so many card shops as well at one point. There was Card Tricks, and then Little Gems
closed, the kid’s clothing shop, not long ago. That was like the end of an era. The people that own these
buildings in the town centre, if they’d got it all good standard and developed artists studios, you wouldn’t
have anti-social behaviour. But I feel like people are quick to ask what they are getting out of it. You can’t
tell me that those who own these buildings are short of a penny or two. They won’t be because if they
cared about it, they would look after it. The houses and buildings are just rotting away, and they don’t
know how it’s affecting everyone. Things get too big, and connections are lost.
(2*) Steve Metcalfe was the Education Officer at Castle Eden Dene in the ‘90s and early ‘00s
(3*) The Rez was an outdoor pool where local kids learned to swim. Ruth’s mam remembered it vividly. It
was full of frogspawn and newts, and it is visible on Horden Colliery’s Facebook page.