South Shields Sanddancers Forum

Hello Jim, nice to have you back with Memor and me. You've seen Baldy recently joined us so it's not too lonely now.

I lived at 238 St Vincent St, so over the road to you. If you were 253, you must have been almost at the bottom. I lived there from 1953 to 1957 so we overlapped by 3 years. The only person I remember from 'over the road' was Dawn Smith? I think that was her name. I lived near the Wilsons, Yvonne and Susan.

I went to Morty from 1957 to 1963, Infants and Juniors. Take a look at Memor's photos. They're great! I only have one photo here with me, all the rest are in S/S. Will be looking at them when I next visit.

Good to hear from you.

That name was Dawn Thompson, not Smith.

Just been looking at the photo of the class of Mr. Blachford
I knew Mr Blachford when he was a teacher at Holy Trinity School and that is definitely him in the photo. I did not realise that he had moved on to Morty. I have never heard of Mr Scurr, he was not there in my time so I do not know of any resemblance between the two. No doubt this will bring further debate. I never forgot Mr Blachford as he gave me one almighty clip around the earhole once in a case of mistaken identity, he thought I was someone else, never did get an apoligy.

Mr Scurr taught Class 2A in the Juniors. I was in his class and I will have a photo of him. My Morty photos are at my parents' flat in S/S so I'll check him out when I visit. This one sure looks like him although I do remember him wearing specs. He was quite brutal and had a bad temper. I was terrified of him!

I don't remember a Mr Blachford. He wasn't there between 1959 and 1963.

We need some debate, don't we? Memor and youngjim, any thoughts?

The name Dawn Thompson seems familiar Sandy but couldnt be too sure about it.
Do any of you remember a teacher called Mr Coxon, I believe he lived in one of those big three or four level houses overlooking the Marine or Bents park ?
I hope you can scan your photos when you get them Sandy as I find them very interesting and are hard to come by.
I have been in contact with four of my schoolmates through the Friends Reunited site but none of them have any class photos.
Before my last visit back home I emailed Mortimer a few times asking if they kept records or old class photos that I might look at but didnt even get a reply.
I wonder if they were lost when the school burnt down ?
Do any of you know when this was as I did'nt find out until years after it happened.
Was it arson and was it totally burnt to the ground or just deemed too old to rebuild ?
Do any of you know the circumstances of Mr Gedlins death and I believe Mr Cousons went the same way is this true ?

Mr Gedling lived in Sunderland Road. He was found dead on his garage floor at the rear of his car, the garage door was closed and the car engine was running. The coroner returned an open verdict on his death. I remember Mrs Gedling who I saw at their house once or twice, she was a tiny woman and I never heard her speak at all she was really very quiet.I do not know anything about the demise of Mr Cousins.

Morty school didn't burn down. It was demolished, wasnt it ?

I agree......I have never heard of it burning down. Just that the old building was demolished to make way for new, modern one.

Hi Sandy, and Memor,

Just goes to show how out of touch I am, I thought it had burnt to the ground.

Are the Derby street baths still around ?

I have memories of walking crocodile file to swimming lessons and calling at a biscuit or wafer factory for a pennorth of broken biscuits in a newspaper or if you were lucky broken sugar cones.

Baldy, thanks for the information on Mr Gedling, he certainly ruled with an iron fist, or should I say bamboo cane.
My fingers suffered quite a lot at his hands.

I'm sure I put a post on here regarding going to the baths in Derby Street. We were always marched there by Mr Atkinson and we used to buy wafers and cones for a penny wrapped in newspaper. The wafer place belonged to the Gabriele family from Italy. My wife is Italian and her name was Gabriele. About 90% of people with that surname come from the area around Arpino in Italy. The last I heard was that they moved to a new factory in Maxwell Street but that was a long time ago. My wife's side of the family here used to do business with them but I do not think they are in business anymore but I could be wrong.

Jim you not thnking of Dean Road School.

That burned down.


Mortimer Road Didn't it was knocked down.

as was Derby Street Baths

Hi Guys,
It's been a while since I have been on and I thought there would be lots of posts, but no such luck everyone must be too busy.
You were right Memor it was Dean Road school I was thinking of that burnt down

You are right Jim. Posts on here are few and far between but if you look at the posts for other schools you will see that Mortimer has a lot more than anyone else. No one from my generation appears to get on here, I was in Mortimer seniors from 1949/1953 so surely someones parents must have been there at about my time. I would like to make contact with the people or relatives of those on the class photo taken about 1951. I remember the names of all of the lads in the photo bar one. I also remember the names of about half of the girls. The photo is posted in the members gallery.

Spot on Baldy, I have just had a look at Mowbray Rd and Dean Rd schools and there is nothing on them so Mortimer isnt doing too bad.
You are doing well to remember that many names, I posted some photos on here and also on Friends reunited site and filled in as many names as I could remember and asked people to fill in the blanks, but blanks are all I got.
Maybe people are too busy down the pub or club playing bingo to bother !!!

I also posted on Friends re-united and the photo is on there also. I have sent emails to two people who are on the photo but got no response. What happens is that unless the person you send the email to is a fully paid up member the mail is not sent to them, their names are kept on the list but not classed as active. I am currently fully paid up and have been for about the last four years but it has been of no use to me, still hoping though

who was knocking off miss grant (crater face) the french teacher ?

geordie reynolds used to get the blame

but i am sure it was upton

crater face used to sit on the desk

showing everyone the entrance to the channel tunnel

no wonder i am shyte at french !

bonjour

Hi youngjim.......although I've probably missed you this time around.

Glad to see baldy had a chat with you but, yes, posts on the Morty site are scarce. We're all very busy on topics in SSS Noticeboard, Curly's Corner Shop, etc. I don't seem to see you there. Why not join us. There's fun stuff and deadly serious stuff. Have you seen the Old Codgers board? You can have a good old reminisce on there. Got any memories not covered yet?

memor----why is it that just about every school in shields either felldown, was pulled down or burnt down.

Hi Sandy,

I will have a look at those other sites tonight, at the moment we are going out to the beach to enjoy the lovely Easter monday weather.
According to the forecasters Easter was going to be wet and stormy but so far every day has been fine and around 25c.
Have your clocks gone forward this weekend ? ours went back last weekend worse luck so cooler weather is on it's way.

Jim

Well it's been a few years since I posted on here.

My English has improved lots more than all the time I spent at Morty School.

We seem to have lost Sandy but over 15 thousand people have read these posts.

It's a shame Susan Gibson didn't get in touch but if she's reading this

I'm still available and if she plays her cards right she can have me.