My Birthplace

A Memory of Cramlington.

My mother, Lily Mathtews and I, were both born in the same miner's cottage at 109 Station Rd, just cross from the Welcome Church. She was born in 1903 and I in 1932. My granny, Ada, was an artist and moved to 8 Sunnyside, and during the war my brother and I used to visit all summer long, from our home in Scotland. The cottages are long gone and there's a lovely park there now. My grandfather's allotment was across the street from the cottages. In the distance, you could see the huge airship hangar,as well as giant slag heaps. The area around Sunnyside, which is now all built up, used to be fields in every direction, My uncle Jack, was on the trains and we used to go to the stile near the railway line to see him come home every night, and he'd wave to us. He and his wife Bella, Granny's best friends for life, lived at No. 4 Sunnyside. They had a Manx cat with no tail. We went to the Klondyke to see flims and my cousin had a pony and trap and he'd come and take us for rides. We went to Morpeth on the train for the annual Sunday School picnic and to Blyth on the bus to swim in the freezing cold North Sea - and to Whitley Bay for the amsuements. Granny used to knit in the St. Nicholas churchyard and grandad went to the Blagdon Arms for a pint. He had been a miner and had black damp so bad he could hardly talk. I had a cousin Judy Webb (I think) who had webbed fingers and toes. Remarkable! Great times. My aunt Laura lived at Heddon on the Wall and we'd visit her and climb on the wall. I'm eighty now, and remember those as being the best summers ever. We came to Canada in 1947 and I never saw my grandparents again. But I did visit Cramlington a few years back, and went to Sunnyside and found granny's house at No. 8 with a BMW parked outside! There were no cars on the streets back in the 40's.