The best thing about growing up in Teesside was …..

Eston Playweek....... Crow's Fair and White Helmet motorcycle displays on Eston Rec (I played my first ever game of Space Invaders at that fair).

Smiths Dock Park and The Lines.........watching the local league footy and cricket games on there. Occasionally being allowed to eat the left over sandwiches from the tea interval.

Romer Parrish, especially the Subbuteo and Scalextric sections.
 
Nicking apples with my mates. Being in a gang.
Romer Parrish and Jack Hatfields - shopping in these stores with my mam with a big smile knowing I wouldn't come out empty handed.
My first Boro match with my dad. I can still sense the excitement now 50 years later. It all felt like a dream and I didn't want it to end.
Playing on the hills through endless warm summers.
Kicking footballs in the street at night, the lights were the floodlights. Very few cars in those days.
Clumsy, teenage kisses and fumbling with girls. Thinking I was Casenova and that NE girls were the prettiest in the country.
United buses. Shiny red and everywhere.
 
..
goalscrounger said:
Eston Playweek....... Crow's Fair and White Helmet motorcycle displays on Eston Rec (I played my first ever game of Space Invaders at that fair).

Smiths Dock Park and The Lines.........watching the local league footy and cricket games on there. Occasionally being allowed to eat the left over sandwiches from the tea interval.

Romer Parrish, especially the Subbuteo and Scalextric sections.
Click to expand...
Eston Playweek was brilliant.

They held horse trotting racing that was heavily attended and competitive at Eston Rec near the Stayplton School. They would be a number of bookies taking bets and a real spectacular.

They also had the little train running around the mound in the middle of the Rec which also doubled up as a show jumping arena.

Every summer we would get a brand new pair of jeans and a pair of baseball boots and other than your football kit, this was your attire for the whole of the summer. The baseball boots would just last before returning to school. Gangs of us spending endless hours walking across Eston Rec to Eston Baths. Trying to stay in long after your band colour had gone off and going into the changing rooms to find your clothes hung up on the wire hanger and someone had squirted them. Playing British Bulldog in the skating ring and begging the guy to give you white wheels because they went faster. Playing golf on the pitch and putt. Long hours playing football from dawn until dusk on the Attlee Rd School fields - 10's half 20's up, the next goal the winner and 3 pots in.

Then there was your teenage years. Going to Crow's Fair and standing up next to the barrier of the Speedway whilst wearing a white Ben Sherman shirt trying to impress the girls. The annual gang fights with Thorntree and Teesville and never a punch thrown. PC Sachwell letting your tyres down because the brakes were dodgy on your bike. The same Sachwell sat in your front room after they had been a report of apple raiding.

Exploring Eston Hills. Walking to the SS Castle and stating it was haunted, the Normanby Brick Works ponds catching taddy's, frogs and newts, Eston Nab and playing in the old houses on Barnaby Moor. Egg collecting before it was frowned upon. Telling your mate you had found a squirrel's nest and him asking how many eggs were in it.

Fishing - Hours spent on Saltburn pier, hitch hiking to Scaling Dam and trying to dodge the bailiff so you didn't have to pay your £1. Going fishing all night at Lealholm and sleeping on the bank. Being put on the train by the local PC after overstaying your welcome, going to get off at Danby only to be greeted by his mate.
 
"PC Sachwell letting your tyres down because the brakes were dodgy on your bike. The same Sachwell sat in your front room after they had been a report of apple raiding."

A very precise memory. PC Satchwell and my dad, who'd known of each other a long time, became firm friends after this happened.
 
Ref : Over the Border - my parents had a business there from 1978 to 1987 and it was very quiet, especially when the Dock shut in 1980 and Head Wrightsons.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
Tennis courts at Billingham Campus
Click to expand...
My parents house backed onto the tennis courts. Used to play there all the time. Despite all the practice I'm still terrible at tennis.
We used to all go over the campus every Friday night as teenagers with a bottle of old English each. There used to be around 30 or 40 of us. Happy times 😁
 
Albert park climbing frames and slides circa 1977 (ish)
Beck jumping along prissick beck
Prissick golf 5 minutes walk from our house !
Lowcocks van 😃
Playing cricket all day in the summer with a bollard as the stumps 🤣
Going to Boro games with my Dad
 
Norman_Conquest said:
..

Eston Playweek was brilliant.

They held horse trotting racing that was heavily attended and competitive at Eston Rec near the Stayplton School. They would be a number of bookies taking bets and a real spectacular.

They also had the little train running around the mound in the middle of the Rec which also doubled up as a show jumping arena.

Every summer we would get a brand new pair of jeans and a pair of baseball boots and other than your football kit, this was your attire for the whole of the summer. The baseball boots would just last before returning to school. Gangs of us spending endless hours walking across Eston Rec to Eston Baths. Trying to stay in long after your band colour had gone off and going into the changing rooms to find your clothes hung up on the wire hanger and someone had squirted them. Playing British Bulldog in the skating ring and begging the guy to give you white wheels because they went faster. Playing golf on the pitch and putt. Long hours playing football from dawn until dusk on the Attlee Rd School fields - 10's half 20's up, the next goal the winner and 3 pots in.

Then there was your teenage years. Going to Crow's Fair and standing up next to the barrier of the Speedway whilst wearing a white Ben Sherman shirt trying to impress the girls. The annual gang fights with Thorntree and Teesville and never a punch thrown. PC Sachwell letting your tyres down because the brakes were dodgy on your bike. The same Sachwell sat in your front room after they had been a report of apple raiding.

Exploring Eston Hills. Walking to the SS Castle and stating it was haunted, the Normanby Brick Works ponds catching taddy's, frogs and newts, Eston Nab and playing in the old houses on Barnaby Moor. Egg collecting before it was frowned upon. Telling your mate you had found a squirrel's nest and him asking how many eggs were in it.

Fishing - Hours spent on Saltburn pier, hitch hiking to Scaling Dam and trying to dodge the bailiff so you didn't have to pay your £1. Going fishing all night at Lealholm and sleeping on the bank. Being put on the train by the local PC after overstaying your welcome, going to get off at Danby only to be greeted by his mate.
Click to expand...

Post of the year.

I'd forgotten all about the clothes hangers at the baths! (and the coloured bands and flashing lights!)
 
goalscrounger said:
Post of the year.

I'd forgotten all about the clothes hangers at the baths! (and the coloured bands and flashing lights!)
Click to expand...
One thing I didn't mention over Eston Rec was the tennis courts in the Rose Gardens. We spent hours playing on them but you could never get anywhere near them when Wimbledon was on. ;)

If you think back to what Eston Urban Council had over Eston Rec and what R & C Council has left us with.

Swimming baths (presently being rebuilt due to flooding), Sports Centre (still in operation), skating rink (gone), kid's play area (much reduced), football pitches and changing rooms (gone), cricket pitch and pavilion (gone), Rose Gardens containing bowling greens and tennis courts (gone), 18 hole pitch and putt golf course (gone), little train (gone), Finegan's Hall (gone).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top