Tom English

25.06.24

I grew up in Horden and when we were kids down Eden Hill Lane, we played in the garages as they built the houses. I used to go to the White Houses and The Hop there. So that was our main Friday night; it was a club down in Horden round the back. We’d have a drink there because we were only 15.

I married Cath, and our first child, Beverley, was born at Thorpe Maternity Hospital in 1969. We first lived in a pre-fab down at Horden, but they all had fridges. Then, we moved to Langdale Place in Peterlee shortly after, in early 1970, and we had to buy one. We had a black and white telly, too. The kids would come in and be like…‘We must be really poor, Mam. Everyone’s got coloured television, and we’ve got black and white.’ We didn’t have much money, but we made a go of it.

We were one of the first to move into Peterlee. Because at that particular time, all the collieries were ‘D’ notice; they were going to pull them all down. They wanted everyone out of them, and it was up to Peterlee to get rid of them. Which obviously didn’t happen. So, I would have been 22 or 23. Langdale is just off Cumbrian Street, and most of our friends who worked at the pit were in and around that area. We still had and made other friends who were in other industries. But we all got together and had parties in each other’s houses. We just joined in with everybody. You had the through-shoe down under the road, and you could sit outside in the good weather and talk to people as they passed. We had a garden at the back, more than what you had at a colliery house. It was quite a nice area at the time. I’m not sure what it’s like now.

Our second daughter, Jeanette, was born in the Langdale Place house in September 1970, and Nurse Beaney was the midwife. We also had a pup called Bruce. We stayed there for a couple of years until we managed to get a house – no more than 3 years. They used to have Cumbrian street
names like Langdale Place and Braithwaite. They had to pull them all down because of the subsidence underneath. And yet, the Masterplan Report from 1952, which was pre-printed in 1959, says it was safe to build in 1960.

When we were trying to buy a house, they were building Eastdene Way, and we wanted to buy one of those. We could have afforded it but couldn’t get a £240 deposit, so we had to duck out. We paid £50 to move to Lancaster Hill, but you had the option to buy it, which we did. That area was fabulous at that time. And all the people were around the same age. So it was great; we got on really well. That was in 1972, and we stayed there for 9 years.

Our daughters went to Acre Rigg School, Beverley started in 1974, and Jeanette in 1975. We also had a pup, Bruce. They obviously ended up in the big school, Shotton Hall, to finish it off. And then they went to college.

The Queen’s Jubilee was in 1977 and we celebrated it out the back of Lancaster Hill. Where the A19 is, out the back, they’ve got this bank with all the trees on. So we had loads of games, food and drinks. One of my daughters won the egg and spoon race. It never happens anymore, unfortunately. It’s sad because we have had the Coronation and other things where you think we used to have a street party. For the Queen’s Coronation, we were down in Horden and had a party at our neighbours down Alnwick Street in 1952.

I worked down the pit at Easington Colliery until 1974. Then, I worked for several companies in the northeast, and eventually, I finished at Industrial Marine Hydraulics from Middlesbrough, where I served for almost 30 years. I travelled all over the world. During that time, I worked all over the UK and Europe. I also worked worldwide in the following: China, Hong Kong, Brazil, the UAE including Dubai, and the USA and Canada. The above were multiple visits. I retired in 2017. So, I haven’t got as many stories from Peterlee as others because I spent loads of time away.

I worked in Dubai and was there for about six weeks, once. We were basically driving through the desert every day. It was around May when we returned and got off the plane. Coming down the road, I got to the roundabout in Peterlee and turned into Burnhope Way, and I said… ‘Wow’ because of the blossom. It looked absolutely fabulous. And people don’t understand what they’ve got. When the cherry trees are out, what more could you want? They’re fabulous.

The difference between Horden, Peterlee and Easington because obviously, I worked down the pit; there was an old guy I used to work with, and a Doctor said…‘Move to Peterlee, and you’ll live longer.’ And he did because of the bloody dust from the pit. Peterlee was the clean air. We still had coal fires, but then they were changing to the smokeless and, obviously, gas later. But it was nice and open, with green fields and trees. What else do you want? I heard somebody whinging one time, saying…‘Why do we need all this green? We could build houses on it.’ So I said…‘Would you rather live in a back-to-back house? We’ve got all this fresh air, all this lovely space.’

They definitely had the vision to give people a better standard of life from the housing point of view. From a work point of view, we had lots of little factories. NSK is gone. Fortunately, we’ve still got Caterpillar. But again, the collieries, they’re gone. And you know, loads of people used to work from Peterlee at the collieries: Horden, Blackhall, Easington, Shotton. So the community went when they shut them down, even Peterlee. All the colleries all gone. They had an anhydrite mine there; I think that’s closed as well, but obviously, you’ve got other chemical industries there. Up near the River Wear, you had the shipbuilding. There’s very little shipbuilding at Tyneside. Hartlepool has some little docks and whatnot where they work, but not a lot.

Peterlee didn’t have very much back in the day. It had the town centre and The Norseman. That was quite good to start with. We used to have canny meals there, and the drinks were okay. Mind you, I haven’t been in for years. The last time it was New Year’s Eve, there was a karaoke, which was quite good, but that must have been 30 years, maybe 40 years ago. That was okay, then.

The other thing about The Norseman was down behind it; there was a little pool. It looked absolutely fabulous. Why the hell did they fill it in, I don’t know, probably because of all the trolleys that went in there and the rubbish. There was a little pool just outside the Post Office, and now you’ve got Ales N’ Tails there. There were other ones outside Argos, in front of Boots, and in the courtyard. The kids used to play there, which was good at the time. We had the college in the town centre, opposite The Norseman, until they pulled that down, and now, obviously, you’ve got the Lidl.

We used to have plenty of shops in the town centre. Fine Fare and all the little supermarkets. Not so many charity shops. There were at least two dentists. One was upstairs above where the flower shop is. That’s if it’s there because I don’t go to the town centre much anymore. And the other one was on the corner where the fruit shop is from the ASDA car park. As soon as you go through the walkway, there’s a building on the corner, you go up the stairs, and there’s a dentist. There were solicitors, and you had the boot makers, but not that I went in there much, if at all.

The Senate was a nightclub. It was great. I can’t remember what that is now. There was a bar there. It was near the Post Office on the roundabout. It is on the left if you come down into the Town Centre. I think it might have been that building on the right as you’re looking towards ASDA. You used to have some good acts there.

Our doctors are up the bank from Boot.s There was something else, but it wasn’t a hospital. It was a place for births, deaths, and marriages. There’s the football and cricket field. I think if they had built a stadium like the original Masterplan Report suggests, it would have been around that area. The town centre isn’t like the original plan at all.

The town centre was just a straight line, and that was it. Someone once asked when we were sitting in the town centre…‘Where’s the town centre? Well, this can’t be it! Because there’s nowt here.’

At Peterlee Carnival, they used to have painting competitions. I won a couple and came in second. But I am colourblind. They’re putting the music on now, which is something, but they’re not given the money. Then there’s the Pavilion, where I used to go to keep fit. And that’s good. They’ve got 5-a-side football, walking football, walking cricket, so they’re doing the best there, but again, they’re not given the money.

I don’t like Apollo Pavilion. I was going to paint it. In front of it, they had the grass, and it was quite tall, and it was swaying in the wind, and I thought…‘Oh, I wonder if that would make a canny painting.’ I’m not sure if it’s wicken or couch grass. So when I looked at it, I thought I’d have a go at that. But when I saw the houses behind it, it just totally knocked it off for me, for the painting. I mean, it’s brutal. That’s what it is. I know that lots of people don’t like it, but Victor Pasmore said…‘Blow it up if you don’t want it,’ but nobody will. It was covered in graffiti. I don’t think it’s as bad now. One of the problems with it is the water as well. It’s, again, rubbish.

There used to be a Catholic Club at the end of our street, but there’s nowt that goes on now. I think they’ve got the room upstairs; I don’t know if it’s ever used. There are a couple of things open now. Wetherspoons. I’m sure the food in Wetherspoons will be the same anywhere else. You’ve got the cheap beer, so that’s okay. It’s not a place I go in because we don’t go out much. Just get a couple of bottles in the house. There’s the Labour Club, which I’ve never been in for years. We’ve got this Ales ‘N’ Tails now, which looks as if it’s canny, actually. It was the old Post Office, and they had Blockbuster in the videos. We’ve been in a couple of times, so they’re doing something. They’ve got music on a Thursday night, and they do a quiz. So they’re trying their best to keep people entertained.

We used to go to Sunderland to one of the clubs; I used to drive to see some good bands there. Obviously, that’s out the window now. I’ve also been a Sunderland AFC supporter since I was 17. I’m 78 now.

Nowadays, I walk our two cockapoo dogs down Castle Eden Dene and usually spend an hour and a half with two routes down the dene. I tried another, and it killed me. Going up to, I think it’s Hadfield Place, it’s about 3000 steps. Or it felt like it was by the time I got to the bloody top. I give that a miss now, but I walk from Shrewsbury Close down to the lodge, Askirton Way, and then into the Dene that way, all the way down to the beach and back. There were other routes by the golf course. So I used to take my daughter’s dog, but now it can’t walk. I can walk a bit, but not like that. We also compete in obedience in the local area and train with our friend dog trainer who lives in Peterlee. I play golf at Castle Eden GC, too.

[Docs, Images]

REF NO: SNOW DAY x 6
● [TE] Six Photos of a Snow Day in Peterlee (34 Lancaster Hill) incl. Tom’s Daughters Beverley & Jeanette REF NO: QUEEN’S JUBILEE x 2
● [TE] No.1 Beverley at the Queen’s Jubilee Celebration (1977)
● [TE] No.2 Mothers Race at the Queen’s Jubilee Celebration (1977)

REF NO: BEVERLEY & JEANETTE x 1
● [TE] Polaroid of Tom’s Daughters at Langdale Place

REF NO: RED SKY x 1
● [TE] Sky in Peterlee

REF NO: PETERLEE MASTER PLAN REPORT INCl. PLUNKET LETTER
● [TE] Provided by a relative of Plunket. The report is the one after Lubetkin – the one that officially got signed off.