NORTHUMBRIA-L Archives

From: Pamela Gray <>
Subject: [NMB] Little Moscow, Soup Kitchens and Strikes
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 20:21:37 -0300

Further to our recent discussion about Chopwell, Little Moscow, and
the General Strike(s), I thought some of you might be interested in
some recollections that my mother (born 1912, High Spen, Co Durham)
shared with me yesterday.

Pamela

..................

Mother remembers the 1921 strike more vividly than the 1926 strike
because she was still living in High Spen. By1926, she was a boarder
at La Sagesse in Jesmond, so didn't feel the effects so directly.

She remembers the 1921 strike as starting late in the year because
the evenings were dark when she first heard people marching and
singing the Red Flag up and down the streets of The Spen.

Apparently, all traffic was to stop at midnight on a particular day.
My grandfather agreed to comply, though he decided to let the buses
complete their last journeys, even if it meant returning to the
garage after midnight. Prior to this date, there were already
barricades across the roads, but grandfather's buses were allowed to
pass because they were only carrying his regular passengers.

However, a few days before the agreed date, some small bands were
trying to stop vehicles. Around midday on one such day, when my
mother was travelling on a bus driven by her uncle Jack Cawthorne, a
group of men closed in around them.

Suddenly, under the direction of a rather smart, elderly,
white-haired man whom Mother had often admired from the bus window,
the men tore up a telegraph pole and threw it in front of the bus,
shouting "Dee yar worst, ye buggers" -- apparently thinking that
Uncle Jack was going to drive over them.

Somewhat incensed, Uncle Jack shouted back "Why don't ye get yarsells
doon the pit and get yar pickens" -- perhaps not the most appropriate
retort, given the circumstances.

This incident took place in the street just outside the cinema, shop
and garage in High Spen.

After midnight on the agreed date, many rather frightening gangs
roamed the streets, but even so, ambulances were always allowed to
pass.

................

After the telegraph pole incident, my grandfather also received
threats to burn the house down and worse, so he thought it best if
the children went elsewhere until things calmed down. So his wife
Hilda (daughter of retired Deputy George Forster) took Nancy (9),
Gladys (7) and Elsie (4) and baby Dick in his pram and walked to West
Wylam via Greenside and Crawcrook, where they stayed over the weekend
with Aunt Mary Nesbitt. On Monday, they set off for Blanchland where
they stayed for the duration of the strike with Uncle Michael and
Aunt Dorrie Jameson in Newbiggin Cottage, just outside the village.

Though he and his brother sat up many a night with their pistols at
the ready, nothing very untoward happened to my grandfather during
this period.

The mine manager lived at Beda Lodge and he too was unscathed,
possible because he had some of those newfangled dogs called
Alsatians guarding his property. The under manager lived at
Spennythorn House opposite the school in The Spen. We don't know if
anything untoward happened to him.

........................

Regarding Soup Kitchens, Mother remembers there were several in the
area in 1921. She didn't know about St Patrick's Church probably
because it was too far away. Her nearest one was at the Girls' School
where she was a pupil. And as you so rightly pointed out, her father
did not run it, but definitely paid for and provided some of the food
to make the soup. Mother remembers the huge sacks of peas, beans and
lentils being taken round and opened up to reveal their (potentially)
delicious contents. Grandfather also "lent" money to several people,
few of whom were ever able to pay anything back -- but for pride's
sake it was best to call it a loan in those desperate times.

...............

Even now, Mother's memory of the suffering is vivid. She recalls the
coal trucks piled with coal being guarded by the police, and the
nasty fights that broke out when desperate people tried to steal it.
Not only was it the only source of heat in the cold winter, but also
the only fuel for cooking....not that there was much food to cook.
Mother, like all her little friends, dug in the pit heap for whatever
little bits they could find.

.............

As I said earlier, she remembers less about the 1926 strike, though
the father of her "best friend" Monica at La Sagesse was on a list of
people to be murdered! Mr Lawson was either manager or under manager
at Burnopefield (sp?), where they lived in Syke House. (The
Burnopefield pit supplied the convent with coal at a good price.)


--
Pamela Gray

in Halifax, Nova Scotia looking mainly for -
ROBSON in and around Hexham, Northumberland
FORSTER in the Northumberland-Durham coalfield
GRAY in Meath, Ireland, and Bp Auckland, Co Durham

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• [NMB] Little Moscow, Soup Kitchens and Strikes by Pamela Gray <>