Where did I hang out? Gawd - where to start!!!
I lived mostly in Whiteleas - our house was one end of the block in the middle of Gainsborough, and Montymart's was the other end of the block.
In the early days, there were no houses behind us, and we could see right over to Cleadon Hills.
We used to hang around the back fields between, where the Girls school is now (although I think they let boys go there now!) and the allotments. That was all Holder House farm, or, as we knew it, Bailey's farm, and we used to ride the cows in the field - that was all swamp most of the year - right where Holder House is now. I also remember a very deep well there, which would have been right where the road runs along between the new school and Holder House. Further round, between Whiteleas and Boldon, was Spooky Valley - a swamp / tip that the council were filling up with garbage. I heard the big hole was caused by a bomber crashing there in WW2. There were some huge rats there, and Shep used to shoot them.
We also hung out around Whiteleas and Nevi shops and in the garages and little backfields some of the blocks had. Temple Park was another popular spot, with the black paths and lots of little spooky areas. We also hung out at Harton Colliery while they were demolishing it, and up the dismantled railway between Tyne Dock and Boldon, where Boldon Crossings was another popular rendezvous spot. We used to pick blackberries along the lines between Whiteleas and Biddick Hall. Across from our houses were fields - we used to have huge bonties on them every Guy Fawkes - but now they are all built up - Sutherland Court and fogies bungalows!!
If we were feeling adventurous, we'd head out for Cleadon Hills or Cleadon Village (the Poshies, as we called it), or West Hall and Whitburn - looking for shells at the ranges until the soldiers chased you away! Also, cycling down town and through the Jarrow pedestrian tunnels was fun, too. If you wanted a scrap, you could venture down into the darkness that was Biddick Hall or the Nookside - or even the Deans!! And climb into the back of Wrights biccies to plunder the garbaged biscuits!!
The side of Temple Park that ran along King George Road was mostly a dump when we were kids, and we used to rummage through the garbage there regularly, looking for "treasures"!!
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It's a wonder we didn't catch all kinds of diseases hanging out there! And now it's the leisure centre!! LOL
Jeez, I could go on for hours on this subject - the s**t we used to get up to - nowadays kids are far too soft!! No helmets and knee and elbow pads for us!! A cut or a scratch was a badge of honour - How many stitches did you get this time???
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