Blog posts in the category “Hebburn”
Hebburn Park Memories
It’s funny to think sometimes just how easily pleased we were when we were young. A trip to Carr-Ellison Park in Hebburn was quite the treat when I was a young boy. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photographs of myself at the park, so any pictures that I include in this description of my memories…
Keep readingThe Dragoni Brothers
When I was a youngster in the 1970s, I remember people of my mother’s generation and older being very keen on a local band called the Dragoni Brothers. They played widely around the North East at the time, mostly at clubs and smaller venues, though they did perform at both Newcastle City Hall and the…
Keep readingMill Lane Reservoir Memories
If you were born after about 1982, St. Joseph’s Court will have always occupied the corner of Mill Lane and Victoria Road West in your memories. Here is a photograph of how that corner looks today: When I was growing up, the view was rather different, as that corner was the site of a covered…
Keep readingPicturing the Past
A little while ago, I was in my local branch of Trader Joe’s supermarket and happened to mention to the young woman scanning my groceries that at one time the store used to share the building with a branch of Blockbuster Video. She said that she had heard about it, but could not remember it…
Keep readingNewtown Shopping Centre Memories
In the 1960s the Newtown area of Hebburn underwent significant redevelopment. Most of the buildings inside the red square on the map below would be demolished. The terraced houses in these streets would be replaced by new flats, both in the Newtown and in the School Street development, and the shopping area centred around Station Road…
Keep readingSchool Street Flats – a follow-up
Last week I published my blog post with my memories of the School Street Flats in the early 1970s. I was quite astonished by the response I received in the Hebburn Facebook groups and on the Hebburn and our Neighbours web site. So many people came forward with information and their own, usually happy, reminiscences…
Keep readingSchool Street Flats
When I was young, like many children of Hebburn’s Catholic families I attended St. Aloysius’ Infant School on Argyle Street. At the time, the school must not have had its own kitchen facilities, because I can remember the food for the school lunches being delivered in big metal containers out of a van. They didn’t…
Keep readingBirtwhistle Avenue Shops
I originally wrote this in 2020 for Norman Dunn’s excellent Hebburn and Our Neighbours discussion board. It was subsequently posted on the Hebburn.org website which sadly no longer exists. This version has been updated with a couple of pieces of new information. Another little shopping area close to me when I was growing up was…
Keep readingHartleyburn Avenue Corner Shops
I originally wrote this in 2020 for Norman Dunn’s excellent Hebburn and Our Neighbours discussion board. It was subsequently posted on the Hebburn.org website which sadly no longer exists. I have been thinking a lot about the shops that used to be on the corner of Hartleyburn Avenue and Victoria Road West when I was…
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Andrew Gilhooley's Blog 