John Hornsby's Recollections

Introduction #

This is a draft document intended for circulation to my cousins John, David and Alan. I would like to have their comments, corrections, and any information which they might want to add. Any final article on the website could encompass their own recollections and be re-titled accordingly. Alternatively they could, if they wish, produce a separate set of recollections.

I have only covered the period from my own earliest memories up to the start of my adulthood.

I would be particularly interested in my cousins’ own earliest recollections as these would pre-date my own.

Nothing is set in stone and I will not include anything which anyone feels is inappropriate.

The world as it was when I and my Besford cousins arrived on the scene and were growing up #

Rationing, coal fires, no central heating, no automatic washing machines, no dishwashers, no mobile phones, no computers, no take-aways (apart from fish and chips), no telephone in the house but lots of red telephone boxes on the streets.

Washing day on a Monday, clothes put through a wringer then hung out to dry, or in winter hung on a pulley in the kitchen.

Clothes and shoes repaired, socks darned, make do and mend, lots of knitting and crocheting.

No streaming – apart from the condensation on the inside of the bedroom windows in the morning. Ice on the inside of the windows in winter. No duvets but plenty of heavy blankets and counterpanes. No fridges, no frozen food, pantries where food could (if you were lucky) be kept cool.

Smoke, smog, trolley buses (upstairs on these was often a fug through which you could hardly make out the people a few seats away), blackened buildings in town.

No vinyl, no CDs, televisions almost unheard of, but Bakelite wirelesses abounding.

No Premier League, no floodlit football (the first League match to be played under floodlights was Portsmouth v Newcastle United in 1956), heavy leather footballs which became even heavier in wet conditions.

Terraced houses, semi-detached houses, pre-fabs, no high-rises.

Not many cars, no seat-belts, motorcycles with sidecars.

No supermarkets, no motorways, no teabags, no flavoured crisps. Lots of corner shops, lots of pubs, lots of suburban cinemas.

My Recollections #

My earliest memories are of living at 6 Embassy Gardens, Denton Burn, Newcastle. The street was a cul-de-sac located at the top of a bank just a little way off the West Road in Newcastle. The back garden sloped down quite sharply. The back door was actually at the side of the house with several steep steps down to the garden path. You could see for miles away to the west.

We had a coal fire which gave off a tremendous amount of heat, but only into the room in which it was situated. The coalman used to deliver coal in sacks to all the houses. The fire had to be lit each day and, once lit, kept going. Sometimes a sheet of newspaper would be held around the fire to “draw” it. This caused a draught up the chimney from the now enclosed fire which made the coal burn more strongly. Not the safest thing to do perhaps, but nevertheless effective. One of the downsides of a coal fire was that the ashes had to be shovelled out in the morning and disposed of. We had a set of tools kept on the fireplace. These included a small shovel, a poker, and a toasting fork. The latter was used to toast bread on the open fire. Another issue with the coal fire was that the chimney had to be swept regularly (a chimney sweep would come to the house and do this with very long brushes) otherwise soot would build up inside and could catch fire. I can remember as a small boy being very excited if a chimney in the street caught fire, with flames issuing forth.

I went to Pendower Infants and Primary school in Newcastle. Before I reached school age I can remember going with my Mam to Longbenton School where she was teaching in the early 1950s (probably 1953/54). I was added to a nursery class there and cannot remember much about it apart from playing in a sand pit, which I enjoyed, and having school dinners, which I didn’t.

At Pendower School I made friends with Raymond Butler in the Reception class. Ray and I remained close friends until 2017 when he sadly died. There were air raid shelters at the back of the school yard at Pendower and, although we were forbidden to go into these, we used to dare each other to run through them. They were pitch black inside as there was no lighting and you had to watch your footing as there were various bits and pieces lying on the floor.

I know that Granda and Granny (Jack and Agnes Besford) were living at Moorfield in Gosforth when I was born. I have only the vaguest memories of Moorfield. I know that it had a back yard into a lane behind. I can recall being scared by a collie dog and running back into the safety of the yard. My chief memories of Granda and Granny are centred on 550 West Road. Both 12 Moorfield and 550 West Road were owned by the Northumberland Miners’ Association and were occupied by my grandparents as a result of Granda’s job as Financial Secretary to the Association.

550 West Road was a semi-detached bungalow with a garage in which Granda’s car was kept. This was a grey Standard Vanguard (registration RBB 698). The car belonged to the Northumberland Miners Association. Granda had a role beyond that of Financial Secretary and was frequently required to travel to pits around Northumberland, usually to deal with disputes and to talk to miners and colliery managers. This role became formalised as Disputes Committee Secretary.

Granda’s car was not just used for work. We used to have trips with him in the Vanguard out into the Northumberland countryside, visiting places like Bolam Lake, Hartburn and Elsdon. The car had physical indicators. These were yellow arrows which came out of slots on the outside of the car when the appropriate button was pressed. Inside there were leather straps which you could hold onto when the car cornered sharply. On these trips out Granda used to stop at the Shell garage at the bottom of Kenton Lane to fill up with petrol. This was done by an attendant.

Granda and Granny also had a telephone (Newcastle 38385). This was most unusual in the early 1950s, but was necessary for Granda’s job. My Mam and Dad only got a telephone in the early 1970s.

There was a greenhouse in the back garden of 550 West Road. Granda used this to grow tomatoes (very successfully). I can also remember him growing blackcurrants against the back fence.

In these early days I was known as “Little John” and John Besford was known as “Big John” so that everyone else could distinguish between us in conversation.

I can remember playing with John, David and Alan at 550 West Road, putting the brown rug from the sitting room over our bodies and crawling around pretending to be a bear.

I can remember one Christmas at 550 (which must have been prior to 1958 as Granny was still alive). The four of us were each given a musical instrument by Granda and Granny (although it would have been Granny’s mischievous idea). They were trumpets and clarinets made out of hard plastic, and you could actually play them – except that of course we couldn’t, so we ended up producing a proper cacophony. This was Granny’s intention, especially as we all took them home with us later that day!

After Granny died in 1958, the family used to come to our house at 36 Thorntree Drive for Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve my Dad and I used to collect the form (a long bench seat) from Granda’s and carry it to our house. This was necessary because the assembled company amounted to eleven people (Mam and Dad, me, Granda, Auntie Joan and Uncle David, my cousins John, David and Alan, Mrs. Matthews (Auntie Joan’s mother) and my Godmother Maggie Dobie). Everyone sat at our dining table, which had its leaves extended, apart from myself and Alan. We sat at a card table in the corner – the overspill table! The turkey was always carved by Uncle David.

The preparations for Christmas began weeks earlier. My Mam and Auntie Joan would make a Christmas cake and Christmas pudding. This was done at our house with all the ingredients being mixed in huge bowls. My own part in these proceedings was to clean out the bowls with a spoon and scoff what was left of the mixture. My Mam also used to make rum butter to put on the Christmas pudding.

Granda used to get a “Grey Hen” of Hop Ale delivered for Christmas from Fentimans. This was a heavy stone jar which held several pints of liquid. Granda was teetotal so this was a non-alcoholic beer decades before such a thing became commonplace. It was a very dark ale with quite a tang to it. You could kid yourself that you were drinking beer anyway.

My cousins and I would usually get a second helping of Christmas dinner. After dinner was finished we would all retire replete to our front room. I can picture John Besford lying on the floor (there weren’t enough seats for everyone) cracking and eating Brazil Nuts, Walnuts and Hazelnuts. My Mam would always insist on us playing games at this stage, including “I went on a trip to Paris and I took with me….. “. Each person in turn had to add an item in alphabetical order to the list, then remember all of the previous items. If you forgot one of them then you were out.

Christmas feasting continued later with tea and supper, the latter consisting of cold turkey, polony, cheese and various pickles. I don’t know where the heck we put it all!

New Year #

New Year’s Eve was spent at 36 Thorntree Drive and in those days it wasn’t unusual for neighbours and even strangers to call in as well and share a drink and a bite to eat. On New Year’s Day we would all get together at Uncle David and Auntie Joan’s house at 18 Mill Hill Road. After our meal we would play games in the front room. I can remember being in teams and having to pass a balloon to each other without using hands and without it dropping to the floor. I also recall a race to eat a wrapped Mars Bar with a knife and fork whilst wearing a coat, hat, and gloves.

We moved from Embassy Gardens to Thorntree Drive when I was about 5 or 6. I can remember walking home from Pendower School via Gretna Road and calling in to see Granda and Granny at 550 West Road. Crossing the West Road was a lot easier then as there were a lot fewer cars. I would have a chat with them and be given a packet of Smith’s crisps. The crisps were unsalted but each bag contained a small blue twist of salt in a packet so that you added the salt yourself. This usually resulted in some of the crisps being seriously oversalted while others remained unsalted.

Saturday Evenings #

The family used to convene at Granda and Granny’s house every Saturday evening for tea. We would all be gathered around the table in the back room – Granda and Granny, my Mam and Dad (the latter would arrive later on as he worked on Saturdays at the Northern Goldsmiths), Uncle David, Auntie Joan, John, David and Alan, and myself. The ten of us all managed to sit at the table. I was usually sitting on the long form with John and David, with Alan sitting opposite me.

Tea on Saturdays at 550 West Road used to involve the mass consumption of Vienna Rolls. These were long sticks of white bread which were like french sticks or baguettes. My Mam and Auntie Joan would be cutting them into slices in the kitchen, buttering them, and bringing them to the table, only to see them disappear at a rate of knots as they were consumed by my cousins and myself. There was invariably a vociferous debate going on around the table, usually about politics or football. When the first strains of the “Sports Report” music came on the radio at 5pm Granda would call for quiet so that he could take down the day’s football results to check his pools coupon. He would shout “listen!” and we would all fall silent. Granda did the pools every week with a singular lack of success. He once won a few bob and that was more or less it.

Granda and Granny used to buy bottles of pop from Fentimans. These were delivered to their door each week. When we went for tea on Saturday there would be Lemonade and Dandelion and Burdock on offer. I used to love pop when I was little and would happily guzzle more than my fair share given half a chance. As a result the adults (possibly with some collusion from my cousins) began to refer to it as P.O.P., spelling the word out rather than saying it, in order not to alert me. This subterfuge only worked for a short time.

My Grandparents used to get a copy of the comic “The Dandy” delivered each week for us to read. This featured, amongst other characters, Korky the Kat, Desperate Dan and his Aunt Aggie, and Black Bob the Dandy Wonder Dog. The latter was a Border Collie which seemed to be more intelligent than its owner, the shepherd Andrew Glenn. The dog did various improbable things such as appearing in court and barking at the appropriate moment to identify a defendant.

After tea on a Saturday night we used to watch TV (in black and white, and only one channel until the advent of ITV in the North-East in 1959). Programmes included Dixon of Dock Green (a police series where an elderly uniformed police sergeant called George Dixon regularly solved petty crimes which had left his detective son-in-law Andy Crawford baffled), Tales of Wells Fargo (a cowboy series which featured the redoubtable Jim Hardie), and the Lone Ranger with his sidekick Tonto. In the 1960s we moved on to the start of Dr. Who, the Black and White Minstrel Show, and Morecambe and Wise. In August 1964, when I was 13, the first ever Match of the Day was broadcast on a Saturday night. It consisted of highlights of one match only (this was Arsenal v Liverpool) in black and white. I stayed behind with Granda at 550 West Road to watch this with him and then walked home.

My Uncle David often used to produce sticks of liquorice for us after our tea. He would also frequently entertain us by wearing Auntie Joan’s hats the wrong way round and pulling faces at us.

Sundays at Kenton #

On Sunday afternoon my Mam and Dad and I used to go to visit my Gran Hornsby at 105 Kenton Lane. This entailed a bus journey from Denton Burn to Montagu Estate, followed by a walk through to Kenton. We would have tea at my Gran’s and I can remember watching Champion the Wonder Horse, Sooty, and Captain Pugwash there. Sometimes my Auntie Margaret (my Dad’s sister) and Uncle Bobby would arrive with my cousins John and Frankie. This was always a bonus from my point of view as John and I used to play together (not to mention get up to mischief together).

When I was a small boy Granda used to take me on the bus for haircuts to Norman Simpson’s on the West Road. He also used to brush and comb my hair from time to time as it used to get a bit unruly. My Mam and Auntie Joan also used to get their hair done at Norman Simpson’s. My Mam and Auntie Joan used to go to Granda’s to do housework once a week. I would accompany my Mam on these visits if it was school holidays, and spend most of the time talking to Granda. He would quite often have a lunch consisting of raw tomatoes and onions in vinegar, accompanied by bread and butter.

Granda was well-read, despite his having to leave school and start work at the age of 13. He would quote from Dickens and from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam. He also introduced me to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

In the mid to late 1960s I used to go over to see Granda each midweek at 550 West Road in order to do his pools coupon with him. He always put on a perm of any 8 draws from 11 selected matches. We used to study teams’ form closely and try to take account of injuries to important players. None of it made any difference. We still won nothing. I used to take the completed coupon together with Granda’s postal order and put it in the post box. I remember one occasion when I found that the envelope containing that week’s entry was still in my coat pocket on the Saturday morning - the day of the matches. I put in a very panicked day, convinced that this would be the week when we would win big. I went to a Newcastle match that afternoon but was waiting in trepidation to check the half-time scoreboard for the matches which we had selected. The final scores came as a huge relief as we once again had been nowhere near a winning line. I owned up to Granda anyway and we used the postal order for the following week’s forlorn attempt to win a fortune.

One thing I can remember about Granda was that he had a number of small black marks on the backs of his hands. These were tiny pieces of coal which had got under the skin during his days as a hewer in the pit, and had then healed over in situ. An occupational hazard for a coal miner, and actually one of the more innocuous ones.

Football #

The seeds of my ongoing love affair with Newcastle United were well and truly sown by both my Granda and Uncle David. Granda had a collection of memorabilia relating to the club (newspapers and brochures) which I viewed regularly. I was regaled with tales of great players like Colin Veitch, Bill McCracken, Hughie Gallagher and Jackie Milburn. My Uncle David took me to my first match at St.James’s Park when I was nine years old, This was against Manchester City on the 10th of September 1960. We stood on the Popular Side terrace as it was then (where the East Stand is now). We lost the match 3-1 but I was well and truly hooked! By the time I was 12 I was going regularly on my own and getting the trolley bus back to 550 West Road for tea with the family. This of course was in the days when every match was kicking off at 3:00pm on a Saturday.

One Christmas when I was 9 or 10 my Mam and Dad had got me a Newcastle United shirt. It wasn’t like today where thousands of supporters wear these. You usually just wore a black and white scarf to the match then. I was delighted and wore it all Christmas Day. A few months later my Mam had it in the wash but a bright red hankie was unfortunately in the wash with it. I don’t think that the washing machine we had then (complete with a wringer on top) had any particular settings such as non-fast coloureds and the like. The result was an absolute disaster from my point of view as my treasured black and white striped shirt turned into a black and pink striped shirt!

Granda’s Boyhood and Youth #

At this stage perhaps I should set out some memories of what I know of Granda’s early life, recalling the conversations which we had. He and his brothers and sisters used to get a comic called Chips which featured the characters Weary Willie and Tired Tim.

I can remember Granda telling me about an incident at a shop in Amble when he was a very small boy. The shop had a metal trunk outside on display with the lid open. Granda leant over to look inside the trunk and accidentally brought the lid down with a tremendous bang. He took to his heels and ran home and hid under the table, convinced that a policeman would be after him! He could also remember as a small boy being on a boat with his father rowing to Coquet Island and being very worried about it tipping over as it bobbed about in the sea.

Granda and his brothers and sisters attended Radcliffe School.

He began going to watch Newcastle United in his teens during their Edwardian heyday (between 1905 and 1911 they won the League Championship three times and reached the F.A.Cup Final five times, winning once). He was travelling down from Amble, then Ashington, on the train to see them play. Talking about this period to me in later life, Granda could recite the regular team members’ names from goalkeeper through to outside left:- Lawrence, McCombie, McCracken, Gardner, Aitken, McWilliam, Rutherford, Howie, Appleyard, Veitch and Gosnell. I can now repeat a similar feat with Newcastle’s 1965 promotion team and 1969 European Fairs Cup winning team.

As a young man Granda had played football regularly for Radcliffe Excelsior and latterly for Seaton Hirst Celtic. He told me about how his career ended. He was suspended “sine die” by the Northumberland Football Association. This was because he failed to attend a disciplinary hearing after he was sent off while playing in what turned out to be his last match for Seaton Hirst Celtic in 1914. The First World War had broken out and he had just got married so he decided to call time on his playing career and didn’t bother turning up for his disciplinary hearing. A “sine die” suspension was effectively a permanent suspension, being Latin for “without a day”. I cannot remember now why Granda had been sent off but I am certain that we can rule out the use of foul language as I never heard him swear and neither had my Mam or Uncle David. Fighting with an opponent seems equally implausible knowing Granda, so I think it most likely must have been for a very bad foul.

Holidays #

Newbiggin by the Sea #

The first holiday which I can recall was at Sandy Bay, Newbiggin in the summer of 1955 when I would have been 4, and John, David and Alan 11, 9 and 7 respectively. We stayed in two caravans at Sandy Bay Caravan Site. This holiday must have been enjoyable (or just maybe affordable for our parents) as we repeated it in 1956. I can remember playing on the beach and in the sea with my cousins, and also having pony rides. A notable feature of the caravan site was nocturnal visits from horses who knocked over bins to look for food and in doing so woke us up with the clanging which they made. I can remember also that the site was quite exposed to the wind and that you could feel the caravans moving.

Oban #

We holidayed here in 1957. We travelled up in the Vanguard with Granda and Granny and I can recall being travel sick for most of the journey. I had to lie down in a darkened room when we finally arrived after many enforced stops. I suffered quite badly from travel sickness for a couple of years until I got spectacles for short-sightedness.

Whitby #

We all holidayed here in 1959 and 1960, staying in self catering accommodation owned by a bloke called Fred. It wasn’t particularly salubrious but we still had a good time.

Dunbar #

This holiday was in 1961 and we stayed in a hotel. A stand-out memory is getting my first ever packet of ready salted crisps (Golden Wonder) which were great as the salt was evenly distributed.

Lytham St Annes #

We holidayed here on the west coast in 1962. I can remember going with Granda and Uncle David to Bloomfield Road to see Blackpool play Ipswich Town.

Dunoon #

We stayed here in 1963.

Isle of Man #

We went upmarket in 1964 and flew to the Isle of Man from Newcastle. The airport then bore little relation to what is there today. It was known as Woolsington, not Newcastle, It was really just beginning to be developed in the early 1960s. We flew to Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man.

I can remember going to Onchan Park. This had a small racing circuit and we drove (yes, including me!) miniature racing cars around it. We also went there to watch a pre-season charity football match between Manchester City and Stoke City.

I think that my cousins and myself stopped going on holiday with Granda and our parents after this. I can recall staying at Mill Hill Road with my cousins at least once while our parents went on holiday. I remember going with them to the Lion and Lamb at Horsley and indulging (at least in my case) in a bit of under-age drinking.

Trips to Ashington #

I used to go with my Mam and Dad (sometimes just my Mam) to Ashington to visit my Mam’s Uncle George and Auntie Maud at 251 Rosalind Street. Their house backed onto Hirst Park. I can picture the interior quite clearly. I remember the scullery as this was where they always had a bottle of Tizer for me (the pop guzzling again!). Uncle George (actually my Great-Uncle George) would sit in the middle of the downstairs room with his legs (one of which was artificial as a result of becoming a casualty in the battle of the Somme) stretched out on a sort of chaise longue. He was a pipe smoker and would light up from time to time. I used to talk to him about football as he had an interest in this. I can remember that at junior school (Pendower) I was trying to get into the school football team. I had taken part in the trial but didn’t get selected. I told Uncle George this and he said to me “you’ll have to play your way in”. This was sound advice but, although I could run all day and make a nuisance of myself to the opposition, I lacked one important ingredient – talent! I remember us being at 251 Rosalind Street late in 1962 when I would have been 11 and watching TV with Uncle George as Rangers played Tottenham Hotspur in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Auntie Maud was a very kind lady who played the piano very well. She had retained a Brummie accent despite living in Ashington for about 40 years.

We also used to visit Ashington to go to see my Godmother, Maggie Dobie who lived at 151 Pont Street. The Dobies were family friends of my Granda and Granny and Maggie used to come to stay at our house each Christmas. She was the manager of a sweet shop in Ashington and this was a real bonus from my point of view as a young boy as she would always have some sweets for me. I can picture her house in Pont Street very well – the back yard and back lane, the coalhouse, the living room with its black range and coal fire. A highlight of our visits there would be getting a plate of chips from the nearby fish and chip shop.

One thing which I can remember clearly is coming away from Ashington after dark and seeing the pit heaps glowing. Pit heaps were created by material which was removed during coal mining, and consisted of earth, stone and coal dust. This latter component could combust spontaneously causing the heap to burn internally and thus glow at night. This did not usually cause any problems and they were just left to keep burning. The heaps were known locally as “the Ashington Alps”.

1966 #

One trip to Ashington remains particularly memorable to me. This was on 18th August 1966 when Bobby and Jack Charlton returned to Ashington having helped England to win the World Cup just over two weeks earlier. I was 15 and travelled up with my Mam to see them parade through the streets as the town came to a standstill. Accompanied by Maggie Dobie, we were amongst the 15,000 or so people who lined the streets.

1966 was also the year of a General Election and I can remember going with my Uncle David to hear Harold Wilson speak at a rally at the then recently built Lightfoot Stadium in Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne. My own interest in politics had been piqued by all of the discussions and arguments around the dining table at 550 West Road, so this was something which I relished. Uncle David was no stranger to political meetings and, together with my Mam, had heard some fine orators at Northumberland Miners’ Picnics. They would talk to me in particular of hearing people like Aneurin Bevan and Jimmy Maxton speak. Maxton was the polar opposite of Winston Churchill politically, yet Churchill described him as “the greatest parliamentarian of his day”. I can remember Uncle David talking about going to hear Harold Macmillan speak and telling me how brilliantly he dealt with hecklers.