大象传媒

I was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1935 at a place called Shieldfield. In 1938 our family moved to an area in Newcastle called Walker. My Father was in the Merchant Navy, sadly he was torpedoed in September 1940. His ship ws called the M/V Neptunian and there were no survivors.

I was evacuated with my brothter Bob to Whitehaven in 1940. My brother only stopped for one year I believe that I was there for four more years, I know that I came back to Newcastle for a couple of holidays.

After the war we went to live in South Shields. When I left school I spent about fourteen years at sea in the Merchant Navy. I eventually came ashore and started to work for an American Chemical Company which I did do for thirty years.

When I look back to my days as an evacuee, a few names spring to mind a couple of school friends but mainly lads who lived in the same street as me. George Crellin, a lad called Jackson, Bill Curnow and Gordon Irving who was in a wheelchair,
and much older than me. I know that his Father drove a wagon which delivered lemonade etc.

The people I stopped with Jack and Lizzie Finnegan had no children. They had relatives in the town called Toner. I remember one went into the priesthood, but if I remember rightly he did not complete it. I remember where their house was. You walked over the Brows and then up a narrow hill with two or three houses together.

One incident which stands out in my memory is the plane crash on The Brows. I'd always thought it was an American Bomber. However this has been confirmed to have been a mixed aircrew, Canadians, American, and British. I have had all of this authenticated by my good friend Jos Ritson who I met during my research. Jos has certainly done his home work, and I greatly appreciate the work he has done in his research about the crash