A lovely view of the front at Redcar in the 1930s, showing the pier; I remember going dancing there but there was no pier left then. Derick Pearson has memories of the pier: “The white building just past the pier on the left was the Pastime Amusement centre on the promenade. Seems it was more busy there than the high street at that time.” Alan Etherington remembers: “We used to go to the truncated pier in the early 1960s to dance the night away to Danny Mitchell’s orchestra. He had a large black Alsatian that was seen around town with him. I saw him in the Post Office and he asked for a dog licence (takes you back, eh?) and the counter clerk said, “Well that depends.” Danny smacked the counter and said “Hup!” and the dog leapt up to put his paws and face on the counter. “Yes, that’s fine,” said the assistant and proceeded with the licensing.”
Image courtesy of Mike Holliday and others, thanks to Derick Pearson and Alan Etherington for the updates.
Sandsend Viaduct, with local train – was how we originally posted this image. But alas we got it wrong! – it is a view of East Row Viaduct in the 1956 with a local commuter train from Whitby approaching. Sadly this picturesque line, which skirted the coast all the way from Saltburn to Whitby and from Whitby to Scarborough, has vanished, leaving only the mineral railway from Saltburn to Boulby Potash Mine. The locomotive leading this mixed passenger/goods train is an ex-Great Central Railways Robinson A5 4-6-2 Pacific tank; well at home on this demanding coastal line. The quaint seaside shop shown in the bottom right hand corner of the image still exists, doing an excellent trade of refreshments and beach essentials, weather permitting! Mark advised us: “Sorry to be picky, but this is East Row viaduct (Sandsend viaduct being the one adjacent to the station). Having said that, goods for Sandsend were handled at East Row, the Goods Shed (just visible in the background) remained in place until the early 1990s. Parts of the viaduct’s pier foundations can still be seen on the beach.” Meanwhile the goods shed site mentioned by Mark in the background are currently being developed as an upmarket housing development by the Mulgrave Estates.
Image from the Neville Stead Collection, many thanks to Mark for pointing out our mistake!
Loftus Junior School with a proud football team, must have been a good season!The Archive originally featured this team from a cutting from “Remember When” from the Evening Gazette sent by Michael Cole a former member of the school team. However following a donation from Marian Toulson we can now display the team properly. Members are:
Back row: Thomas Cummings, Derek Arden, Ronnie Knight, Sidney Robson, Peter Campbell, Ken Johnson, Michael Cornforth, Brian Cole.
Seated: Brian Hall, Reg Wilson, Michael Grant, Tony Trattles (Captain), Alan Chester, Harry Jopling, Mr Richardson.
Were you at the school when Mr Richardson came? The first male teacher we had come into contact with; he set girls hearts a flutter! John Richardson tells us: ”Mr. Richardson was my uncle Dennis, I remember my Gran saying that he was much sought after by the local young ladies. Eventually he married my auntie Ruth Nellist of Brotton. In the early 1960s he took over as headmaster at Gilling West, near Richmond, and finally moved on to Stillington near York, where he retired from teaching.”
Image courtesy of Marian Toulson, thanks to Mike Richardson, Billy Parkin and Mike Hore for the missing names; also to John Richardson for the update.
A rather blurred image of ”The Ha’penny Bridge” (so called as the standard toll to cross was a half penny) at Saltburn taken from the boating pool; this beautiful Victorian edifice was destroyed for expedience’s sake in December 1974. Rodney Begg tells us: ” I can remember cycling across the bridge delivering paraffin to White House School and paying the toll to the gate-keeper at the bungalow on the far side in 1963.”
Image courtesy of several sources, thanks to Rodney Begg for the update.
A great view of the Halfpenny Bridge what a beautiful structure it was such a pity it wasn’t maintained so more people could have marvelled at it today. Callum Duff tells us: ”The Saltburn Bridge (to give the bridge its proper name) was originally built for two reasons; to ease the journey of carriage traffic from Saltburn to Skelton (or Brotton by a more circuitous route) and to link a second stage of housing development at Saltburn. The Skelton & Gilling Estates planned to release plots of land on the east side of Saltburn Lane on a site provisionally known as Bank Top. This building opportunity was never seized upon, I imagine as the Saltburn Improvement Company encouraged developers to buy land near Saltburn and its other facilities or possibly economic reasons stifled further expansion. In any case after the popularity of cars replaced horse and cart traffic (the bridge could have handled cars but only one at a time), the Saltburn Bridge became redundant.”
Image courtesy of Geoff Hore; thanks to Callum Duff for the update.
If you look carefully into the distance the magnificent Half-penny Bridge can be seen, sadly no longer there any more, badly maintained in more modern times it was deemed expedient to demolish it rather than repair it.
This magnificent display was still replenished every year, until recently – although the floral masterpiece has changed design over the years. The gardeners no longer raise the plants themselves on site however – they and their greenhouses and potting sheds are long gone. The gardening staff are provided by Redcar and Cleveland Parks and Gardens and are just as skilled at providing the wonderful displays.
I called this ’The Italian Gardens’; but I had a feeling that this part of the gardens had another name. Callum Duff has come to our aid: ”This postcard does definitely show The Italian Gardens! the rest of the valley has been called a number of different names including The Pleasure Grounds, Saltburn Glen and The Valley Gardens.” Rob Carter adds: “I’ve bought a small album of Saltburn-by-the-sea photographs (Victorian) and there’s a photograph entitled ‘in the gardens’ showing the bandstand and also another entitled ‘the Italian Flower Gardens’. Other photographs include the gardens from the (Halfpenny) Bridge, Oak Walk in the gardens, the old Convalescent Home, the Cliff Tramway, On the Sands (with Bathing Machines)!”
Many thanks to Callum Duff and Rob Carter for the updates.
Do you remember the Half Penny Bridge? Beautiful views as you walked across it but sadly it had to go, there follows another two photographs showing the bridge as it goes into the beck; during demolition on 17th December 1974. The cost of building the bridge (by Gilkes Wilson of Middlesbrough) was around £7,000 and sadly three men lost their lives whilst working on it. Eric Johnson comments: “Shades of the Tay bridge collapse, also built by Gilkes Wilson of Middlesbrough, another link with the Tay bridge was James Brunlees (later knighted) designer of Kilton viaduct, asked to design the replacement bridge his plan was rejected because he wanted to reuse salvaged parts of the old bridge. In the event the contractors did use parts of the old Tay bridge, to save time and money. the old piers can still be seen in the Firth of Tay.
Image courtesy of Howard Wilson, thanks also to Eric Johnson for the update.
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