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Welcome to the Guestbook
Feel free to add messages relating to the site and the school. The only rules are: real names only, no personal attacks and no unrelated messages (inappropriate messages may be edited/withdrawn without warning).

It would be appreciated if you gave an email address, where you now live and said when you were at the school, but you don't have to.

Plase note that if you click on an email address below you will need to replace ~DOT~ with . and ~AT~ with @ in your email program. The Guestbook presents these this way to avoid email address harvesters collecting your email addresses from the page. I know it's a pain, but it's very much better than the alternative.

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There are 500 messages in the guestbook
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Viewing messages 41 to 50

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

In correspondence of several years ago Alan Whittaker reflected on the South Shields that so many of us remember from those days of yore.

One of the things that came to mind recently that relates to those years, and to the subsequent development of the School site and its environs. In particular the building of the very large council estates in the years following the end of WW2.

More particularly I got to wondering about the Marsden Inn and when it was opened. The answer is, it seems 1939 just before the onset of hostilities and the hiatus in house building that followed.

Presumably, and someone will know, there were plans in existence to develop that part of the town but, when it was opened the Inn must have been very isolated.

Many moons ago Alan corrected me on the termination of the trolley bus service that i knew as a small child which didn't go as far as where the Marsden Inn stands.

Perhaps all of this rambling may ring a bell in some of the oldies memories?

Every time I see the end stages of the Great North Run on TV and see the shots of the Marsden Inn and that steep slope down to the beach area it takes me back to the wheat fields that then existed.

Time for a lie down, I think!!

Sun 22-Jun-2025 15:59 - ruskington lincolnshie

Neale Backhouse | neale1447~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hi Alex,
No not metaphorically, it was a walk principally around your neighbourhood in Shields. You met and talked to a man and described the area as you remembered it. You also said that you now lived in Montreal and were a Naval Architect. WRT my birthday, everything went swimmingly,the weather was fine and the girls produced mounds of food.I felt like a big shot, at least for one day.
Tomorrow is son Eric's birthday, (53) and he will receive similar treatment.
Cheers, Neale.

Sat 21-Jun-2025 22:13 - Victoria BC

Alex Patterson, VUA 1946 - 1951 | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hello all,
Just a short note for Neale, BTW it's his 90th birthday tomorrow...so don't forget like I have many times over the 79 years we've known each other. Neale you said in your last email that you had seen me on one of the Shields' video walks. Was that actually or as we say 'metaphorically' I'd like to know. also I love watching "Reckless" which I have done numerous times over the years I remember seeing her in "Dune" many years ago in the 80's or 90's and she was delectable then and she was even more delectabler after umpty years...like all of us.
HBFT
Alex

Wed 18-Jun-2025 00:44 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Neale Backhouse | neale1447~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Ok Alex. Thanks for the update. I do a lot of treadmilling metaphorically.It helps me to lie down with a clear conscience.
I think I might walk a treadmill but I can't see myself running very far.
I had hoped to see you on the trail because I'd seen you on one of the walking tours of old South Shields.
Oh incidently I got it wrong. The name of the TV show featuring Robson was Reckless not Restless

Thu 12-Jun-2025 00:18 - Victoria BC

Alex Patterson, VUA 1946 - 1951 | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hi Neale et al,
Thanks for the note, but when I said I'd walked with Robson Green, I should have inserted "metaphorically" somewhere. I was on the treadmill with my iPhone propped up on the dashboard watching the same three episodes that you saw...lots of trivia and pleasant to watch. I wish I had accompanied him, 'cause he seems a canny lad. Were you treadmilling while you watched it? I hope you were.
Take care of you,
Alex

Wed 11-Jun-2025 19:41 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Neale Backhouse | neale1447~AT~gmail~DOT~com

In your last entry, Alex, it was interesting to read that actor Robson Green was previously, in his early years, one of us.I can easily imagine that he much preferred cozying up to Francesca Annis (see "Restless", BBC 1997) to pushing a drawing pen! You mentioned meeting him during his making a documentary feature about a hike along the whole length of Hadrian's Wall. That caught my interest so I watched all three episodes, hoping to see Alex Patterson, but to no avail. Did you stay in the background or were you talking about a later feature starring the actor (he's done a lot).
I remember camping, as a teenager, near Once Brewed, in Northumberland, and hiking a section of the Wall. We had spent the previous night in an old barn nearby and were awakened during the night by a group of rock climbers who seemed to think we had trespassed on their property. Next day we passed them, or rather heard them, way up on the cragside, by the trail, yelling at us that we were going in the wrong direction. We survived!
Cheers, Neale.

Tue 10-Jun-2025 20:58 - Victoria BC

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

Thanks for the comment Alex.

I was in the A class - no difference , still a 9 month waiting list for the scout troop.

You may be right about the limited number of class photographs. Mind you photography was expensive back then.

Nowadays everybody seems photograph almost everything on their smart phones - though what they do with all of the images eludes me,

Sun 8-Jun-2025 20:40 - ruskington lincolnshie

Alex Patterson, VUA 1946 - 1951 | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hello Bruce,
I seem to remember input, from I think, Eric Moyse, years ago about the scout troop being limited to A form students only. Also that only A forms had class photos taken. I think that letter must have been about 15 years ago
Cheers,
Alex

Sun 8-Jun-2025 02:46 - North York, Ontario, Canada

Bruce Graham | bsgraham~AT~btinternet~DOT~com

Sort of linked into previous messages and sort of linked in to our old school.

When I joined the school in 1950 I was keen to joint the Scout Troop as my brother had done 5 years earlier. Major snag - there was a waiting list of several (9) months so I went off and joined a scout troop attached to St John's Presyterian church just behind the Town Hall.

As a result many happy camping trips in the wilds of County Durham and Northumberland including my First Class Hike which included a stretch along Hadrian's Wall and back to Haltwhistle.

Of course my Scout troop took part in the Good Friday parade/ demonstration which may or may not still exist.

Fri 6-Jun-2025 19:52 - ruskington lincolnshie

Alex Patterson, VUA 1946 - 1951 | ad1935ap~AT~gmail~DOT~com

Hello Mike, Neale and Bruce and everyone else,
It’s so good to see other inputs to our book and to know that you’re still competent enough to send emails.
As a footnote to my last entry I’ve walked Hadrian’s Wall in the company of Robson Green, the Geordie actor. The video is in three parts, about 40 minutes each section. When he’s passing through Hexham, where he was born and now lives, he bumped into an old colleague alongside whom he started his apprenticeship at Swan Hunter as a Ship Draughtsman. So Neale and I have something in common with a movie star.
He introduced his much older friend as his ‘mentor’ who was instrumental in Robson giving up ship draughting and taking up acting, with the wise words, “If it’s going to make you happy, go for it !!” And while Robson was relating the story he got quite emotional. He came across as a really nice humorous and unpretentious guy.
When I started at Hawthorn’s I had the same sort of overseer throughout my apprenticeship who was a “Journeyman”, someone who had already completed his apprenticeship and had been selected to look after a junior employee. I don’t know whether that position or concept still exists anymore. It was invaluable to me to be exposed to that follow-up training, which was invaluable to me. Peter Craggs was his name, he went to Vickers in Montreal as I did a few years later, and he ended up working for me. He said he taught me too well…and he did, He taught me not only the technicality of ship design, but about trying to do an honest day’s work and listen to the older members of the staff.
That’s all for this week, but it’s really great to see some letters again and know that you’re all still out there.
Best wishes from a sunny and warm evening in North York.
Alex

Fri 6-Jun-2025 00:43 - North York, Ontario, Canada

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