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Blackouts on Stockton High Street, market memories and rats at the picture house: Memories of a Stocktonian nonagenarian provide fascinating insight on Teesside of yesteryear

On the beach at Seaton Carew: Peter is pictured (centre) holding the football, flanked by his brothers with his father behind his younger brother (Thompson family)

In May 2022, Heritage Unlocked’s Dr Tosh Warwick linked up with Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees for a book signing event for his Memories of Stockton-on-Tees in the 1970s and 1980s. As part of the event, the historian invited members of the community to come along and share their memories at the Stockton High Street based venue. Here he discusses his conversation with Peter Thompson, born in the Newtown area of Stockton-on-Tees, who passed away on 4th July at the age of 96…

Stockton-on-Tees has a proud heritage and history that ignites a passion in Stocktonians. At a May signing event for my Memories of Stockton-on-Tees in the 1970s and 1980s book at the Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees venue on the historic High Street, I invited members of the local community to come along and share their stories and memories. I never really expected many people to come along but I was delighted that 96-year-old Peter Thompson, accompanied by his daughter Jackie, found time on a Saturday afternoon to share his recollections of the area dating back to life as a schoolboy in interwar Stockton.

Interwar and wartime life as a Schoolboy

Born in Newtown in 1925, Peter attended Newtown School amidst a period of huge turmoil for Teesside, before going on to join Trinity School on Yarm Lane.  In the oral history interview, the former lecturer of Constantine College, and subsequently senior lecturer of Longlands College, recalled his life as a schoolboy in Stockton. He recanted tales of his unfortunate first memory of Stockton’s famous High Street – narrowly avoiding serious injury when he was thrown off his bicycle when the front wheel of the bike went down a tram-line en route to school which nearly ‘broke his neck’ – and travelling from Norton Green to Middlesbrough for just a penny. As a youngster he would head to the River Tees and remembers war materials being loaded on to ships to be ready to be sent to Archangel and Murmansk on Anglo-American convoys to supply the Russians during the Second World War.

A young Peter Thompson in school uniform (Thompson family)

The Second World War brought blackouts in Stockton-on-Tees during the conflict and despite the challenges and tragedies of the era, Peter provided a more light-hearted insight into life during the war, recalling being chased by a policeman for smoking a cigarette on the High Street during a black-out, on one such occasion!

As war raged, Richard Hind Technical School on Yarm Lane was the next stop in the adventurous Newtown youngster’s education before he moved on to Ashmore, Benson, Pease at the age of 15 to become an apprentice plater:

When I first started at Ashmore’s, I worked for 47 ½ hours a week and was paid 9s 8d. Gradually I stopped working at weekends and went down to 42 hours a week. You were able to keep half a crown for your own pocket money and the rest went to your mother. My favourite thing to spend my money on was chocolate caramels and sweets… Ashmore’s was a good place to work, they were good employers. Everyone knew everyone else and it had a very good social side, a good social club and you could go and play snooker, football, cricket and play on the tennis courts.

The Newtown lad attended night school to add further technical qualifications, and also completed an Education Degree at Newcastle University, which allowed him to follow his dream of a career in Technical Education. Peter started teaching as a Technical Lecturer teaching apprentices during the evenings at the Technical School on Nelson Terrace, then took a post at Constantine College in Middlesbrough (today’s Teesside University). Peter left the area for a short period when he took up a technical teaching post at Manchester, but returned when offered a Lecturer post at Longlands Technical College. Peter yearned to explore other parts of the World, and secured a 3 year contract to teach technical engineering to students of the technical college, Nortec in Ndola, Zambia, within an area known as the Copper-Belt. On his return, he initially taught in Dumfries for a couple of years, before returning to Middlesbrough’s Longlands College as a Senior Lecturer, finally retiring in 1990.

The High Street and Stockton Market

Ashmore Benson Pease plaque (Preston Park Museum)

Ashmore Benson Pease plaque (Preston Park Museum and Grounds)

A wartime view of Stockton High Street in 1944 (The Gazette)

A wartime view of Stockton High Street from 1944 (The Gazette)

As well as featuring fascinating insights into education and work life, the oral history interview – available on the Heritage Unlocked website – includes recollections of the days of horse and carts and fish ladies from North Yorkshire visiting Stockton Market:

In the good old days it was all cobbles with tram tracks down to the riverside. It was wide open with very little traffic and mainly horse and carts. I would go round with a cart shovelling the horse muck and would sell it to gardeners. The Market was one of the highlights of a Wednesday. On the way home from school we would go to the Market. There were stalls on both sides of the High Street, and the fish ladies from Staithes used to come up selling crabs and fish at the southern end and all the clothes and so on would be at the northern end…you didn’t do any buying, unless you were sent by your mother shopping!

Fittingly, Peter shared some memories of the area very close to the Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees space on the High Street where the interview was carried out:

Almost where this place is, there was a shop called ‘The Maypole’, I used to come shopping here for butter, cheese and eggs. The shop had a great block of cheese from a barrel and they would pack it into a box for you. I used to do not only my mother’s shopping but would do shopping for neighbours to earn some more pocket money!

Peter Thompson at the Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees venue

Peter Thomspon with his daughter Jackie and Tosh at the Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees event (Heritage Unlocked)

Leisure life

The Empire Theatre in the 1960s (The Gazette)

The Empire Theatre, ‘a marvellous auditorium’, shown here in the 1960s (The Gazette)

In mid-century Stockton, the town centre boasted an array of cinemas which were a popular draw for the town’s young people, including a teenage Peter dating his first girlfriend:

I used to go all the picture houses including The Plaza, Globe and Empire – a marvellous auditorium with a white marble staircase and brass rails – it was a shame that it was knocked down. When I was 16 or 17 years old, I would take my first girlfriend to the pictures…that was a fortune! It might have been to The Globe picture house – it was the closest from Newtown and you could walk to The Globe. At the time it was a brand new cinema and we would go and see Laurel and Hardy, that type of thing, as well as newsreels about the war.

The Plaza was replaced with Oriel House office and shopping block on Stockton's Bishop Street. It started life as a Victorian theatre and later became a picture house until 1970 (The Gazette)

Peter’s recollections of The Regal were dramatically less glowing:

The Regal was a more modern cinema on the corner and when the lights went up after the film, when the place was lit up you could see the rats running about on the ventilator. There were rats all over the place and when the lights went on they all disappeared!

Winter skating at Stockton: This picture from the family archive shows Peter’s brother and father on the ice in an area the late lecturer recalls often flooded (Thompson family)

Away from the High Street and big screen, the interview also reveals detailed of visits to Ropner Park for rollerskating and band concerts, swimming in Lustram Beck – which often flooded and meant many in Newtown could not get to school – and an enthusiasm for cycling which allowed for exploration beyond Teesside:

I was a sportsman and I would cycle all over the country. I would think nothing of jumping on my bike and cycling to Scarborough, mess about on the beach, go swimming in the pool and then cycle back the 64 miles to Stockton.

The interview also features stories of trips around the country with his father-in-law and fish and chip shop proprietor ‘Skipper’ John Johnstone. On one occasion whilst visiting Leicester and bumping into the famous radio comedian and Stockton man Jimmy James who was a regular visitor at the shop who gifted tickets to attend the show and subsequently provided a little taste of home as he performed an act for their benefit about visiting a fish and chip shop!

Dr Tosh Warwick, historian and Heritage Unlocked consultant said:

Peter’s memories provide a first insight into life in Stockton and Teesside dating back to the 1930s. I was sad to learn of Peter’s passing so soon after he shared his memories at Enjoy Stockton. The work of Heritage Unlocked strives to leave a lasting legacy for the community and I hope that this invaluable oral history inspires others to record their memories and provides precious memories for Peter’s family and friends.

Peter’s daughter, who also attended the interview with Peter, said:

Dad loved nothing more than to relive and recount his many life experiences with people. He was very proud of the area in which he grew up. I will remember with great memories the day you and he chatted. He was so animated and interesting to listen to. He also went on to tell his friends about his experience that day. Thank you Tosh.

The interview, with permission of Peter and his family, is available to listen to on the Heritage Unlocked website. The valuable historical resource, providing a fascinating insight into life in Stockton during times that are now passing from living memory, will also be added to the collections of Teesside Archives.

Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees, High Street

Enjoy Stockton-on-Tees, High Street, Stockton (Heritage Unlocked)

 

Tosh Warwick