No. 1 May 2007

QUESTIONS EXILES ASK

Does the village church still stand

Above the Green on hallowed land

Does Rosemary Lane still tumble down

From Masons Arms to Lion House and stout Jack Brown.

Does Seaside Lane take still the load

From Kings Head to Station Road

Past Leeholme hospital and Murton store

Does Willie Huitson still operate as before

Does Miss Best still rule the senior girls

And Mr Suffield dispense such pearls

Can forty lads, or even more, still be seen

Playing football on the Big Club green

Does the Rialto still have Daisy there

Selling tickets to films beyond compare

And the Hippodrome, not quite so good

Where Errol Flynn played " Robin Hood"

Does Hanley's peas pudding still pass the test

Does his sausages beat all the rest

Is Barber's hardware shop still there

Does sleek Jack Calvert still cut hair

Do they still dance at the Miner's Hall

Does Gilbert Ridley's band still play them all

Does Tommy Reynolds still blow the horn

From eight o'clock till early morn

Does Equi's café de luxe still exist

The first juke box who could resist

Tuppence a record, the price to play

Sinatra, Elvis, Doris Day

Is Nashie's billiard hall still there

And Atkins corner for all menswear

Does Mary Lizzie still fry fish and chips

Taste of vinegar on the lips

Do we still have Ryhope store

Is Scott's fruit shop still next door

Do the daughters still walk out in summer dresses

Lovely girls with raven tresses

Does jovial Duncan still supply

The incomparable Burdess pie

Does Mr Ferry still dispense for one and all

From tiny window in the rear wall

Does the pit canteen still serve at any hour

The mighty meals the lads devour

Does South still stand and, along the top

Bede Street, From Walter Willsons to Donelleys shop

Does Harold Milburn still scrub the block

Does Reverend Beddoes still tend his flock

Doed the Church of the Ascension still remain

Most welcoming sight on Seaside Lane

Should I go on and bore you more

With memories of days of yore

How many characters have I missed

Who would you add to the list

Do you remember so much better

Then why not share by phone or letter

Your memories of days long gone by

That we may all enjoy that inward eye.

No. 2 June 2007

TO AN EXILE by MARY N BELL

There are changes in Easington some welcome some not

Should all be written down so that they'll not be forgot

The Village church is still there, the bells call evensong

Rosemary Lane's houses are there, the Mason's Arms going strong

The King's Head is shut, as you walk down Seaside Lane

No open green fields now, many houses in terraced chain

The ‘Top' school's at the village, a primary in its place

Our old school is boarded up, a tear-jerking disgrace

On the rust south side of rambling Seaside Lane

The allotments have vanished, and Gray's Court, so urbane

Stands next to the library, where the Primitive once stood

It was closed and unused, fire razed to charred wood

Hippodrome, Rialto, Empire, the billiard hall

All gone, memories of the past, I treasure as I recall

Sunday School at the Wesleyan, a walk round the Welfare

All dressed up in our best, to meet someone special there

The Co-op for the ‘Divy', shoes at Benefit

Polly Martindales for fruit, and the men from the pit

Queued at Galley's*  for change, pounds, shillings & pence

To share with their marras, pay earned at health's expense

No Ryhope store or Scott's, Mr Ferry or pies from Duncan

No Walter Willson's, canteen or pit, Equi's - a dentist, Bede Street half gone

Walk with me down memory lane, ghosts follow me everywhere

Names I haven't mentioned, we'll visit the cemetery they'll be there.

* Re-queuing at Galley's for change.  Earnings of ‘marras' or ‘cross-marras', i.e. working the same place on other shifts down the pit were put on one pay note, the money paid at the pay office in bulk.  The pays were divided correctly to the last halfpenny and as the men needed change for this Mrs Galley sat at the cash till in her husband's hardware shop(now the Three Cooks bakery) and dealt with the queue of men, she sat as she was crippled.

The queue lasted all morning- about three hours.  My father usually collected the pay note of his and his ‘marras' and also the Catholic Father's pay note too although not a Catholic himself but his boss was.  Every Catholic had money deducted form his pay note for the Catholic father.

No. 3 July 2007

EVEN MORE QUESTIONS (and a conclusion)

Does Miss Wardell still run the Infant girls

Shy dimpled faces, ringlets, curls

Does Miss Ruddock welcome the Infant boys

Does Mr Galley sell the toys

Does Jack Dawson tend the Big Club bars

Does Norman Pearce still sell the cars

Does George Cole still book the back row seats

Does Blanche Wragg still sell the sweets

Is the Waterworks still there

Chimney towering in the air

Do they still mis-spend their youth in the billiard hall

Trying to sink that last black ball

Does Charlie Passerotti still make his own ice cream

The rebuilt Empire still spin the dream

The Diamond corner afternoons, bookies stand

Sunday evening Salvation Army band

Does Kilgour still lock up the crooks

And Les Dryden sort the books

Does Nessie Hart still sell the hazelnut whirls

Does Jackson's drapers still clothe the girls

Does Joe Leith still sell bikes on the never-never

Rent out TV sets - pay forever

Does Bunty Robinson still deliver the news

And Dusty Birbeck sell the screws.

Does old Appleby still sort the post

Dewhurst's butchers supply the roast

Fresh meat from Bede Street Milburn's

Kit out Scouts and Guides at Kilburn's

Did Easington breed those mining men

Never see their like again

Not all were good, not all were just

But all were brave, for that's a must,

To slave in muck and poisonous dust

Their time is past; their day is done

Let us revere them every one

THANKYOU TO THE MYSTERY WRITERS EVERYONE ENJOYED YOUR MEMORIES.  Since then we've found out it's Roy Sanderson & he gave permission to put the verses on our web site.  Thanks Roy everyone enjoyed them.