South Shields Sanddancers Forum

What with Prometheus just coming to the cinemas and all, I thought it might be a good time to ask if anyone here knows where in Shields Ridley Scott was born. Dozens of sites say 'Ridley Scott was born in South Shields', but none give the address. I'd love to know if his birthplace is still there, f...

Writing that post has just prompted me to look in Google Images, just on the off-chance...and look what I found!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/480 ... 2e129f.jpg

I think that's a very early version of the 'Biscuit Kid'.

Any memories? When I was at school, we always joked that if you were very bright, you went to teacher training college, if you were average, you went to the DSS in Longbenton, but if you were thick, you went to Wright's biscuit factory. That chimney dominated the Stanhope Road/Boldon Lane part of th...

What are your memories of trolley buses?

My favourite memory is of loitering at the Chichester roundabout, watching them negotiate the points.

I can still hear that lovely clicking sound.

In the past, I've written to this forum to moan about how Shields has changed for the worse since I was a kid (I could moan for England :)). But it's true that so many of the areas that I loved when I was growing up have been swept away. I never visit Shields without kicking myself for not taking pi...

I went to Mortimer in the late 1960's, and one of my teachers was a Mr Smith (taught games, plus a subject I can't remember). I heard that he'd killed himself. Can anyone give any more details, please? I'd be especially interested in when and where it happened, so I can look it up in the local newsp...

For me, the two biggest changes are: 1) The way the town planners have knocked down most of the nice buildings and put up sh** ones in their place. 2) The way graffiti 'artists' have made the town centre look like The Bronx (and not just the town centre, either: they're always painting over the graf...

Or maybe Quigley's? (there was a Quigley's at Chichester but I'm sure there were other branches).

South Frederick Street Took this when they were demolishing the area. I deliberately let a couple of vehicles go past and leave their 'light trails' because I thought it looked arty, but recently I spent hours in Photoshop trying to remove them! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3219/3042710857_8df9e0...

Anyone remember those machines that did a sort of 'performance' when you put a penny in? I remember The Drunkard's Dream, which was an old-fashioned bedroom, with someone peeping out of the badclothes. When it went into action, all sorts of spooks and monsters would come out from behind doors and pa...

Does anyone remember the symbol on each bottle of Evans lemonade? It was a rebus: a hand with 'slip' written on it. It referred to the founder, a Mr Handslip.

These were taken around 1976 and I have used a horrible six star filter to enhance the flare. What a plonker!

Not just you, Hartman. I well remember getting filters like these (they were made by Cokin, weren't they?) and using them at every opportunity, thinking I was being ever so arty. Oh dear...

...and let you photograph something in Shields at any time in the past, what would it be, and when would it be?

Anyone remember playing Lopperkitty? A bunch of you would make a line, the first leaning against a wall, and each person's head between the legs of the one in front, and the rest would take a run and jump onto their backs. Usually played in school yards. Would probably be in contravention of about 5...

Globalmyths wrote:Looking at the illustration of the ragged looking boy it looks as if the period it is depicting was the Charles D1ckens era.

Dunno - that kid could've been snapped in Benwell last week .

I've just had a look at pics by hartman045 of the area round the market, as it used to be. It reminds me of what a wasteland it is now. I remember all the pokey little run-down shops like Burstro's Stores, and the Ferry Tavern, the La Strada, and lots of charming old buildings that gave the area a s...

I feel a bit cheered up by these understanding replies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who cares that this has happened to Sh ields (it's easy to get the impression that people have ceased bothing about the way the town looks, even if this isn't the case).

All the best

Pete

Hi - this is a first post after reading it for quite a while now. Sorry to make my first message such a negative one, but I really could weep for what my town has become. I was born here in the early Fifties and lived here until the Eighties. I come back quite often to visit friends, and simply beca...