Prudhoe & District Local History Society
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    • 1. Places >
      • 1.1 Eltringham
      • 1.2 High Prudhoe
      • 1.3 Low Prudhoe
      • 1.4 West Wylam
      • 1.5 Mickley
      • 1.6 Hexham
      • 1.7 Stocksfield
      • 1.8 Ovingham/Ovington
      • 1.9 West Prudhoe
      • 1.10 Road Ends, Front Street and Stonyflat Bank
      • 1.11 Castle Road and Western Avenue
    • 2. Activities >
      • 2.1 Entertainment
      • 2.2 Football
      • 2.3 Cricket
      • 2.4 Bowls
      • 2.5 Athletics
      • 2.6 Cycling
      • 2.7 Swimming
      • 2.8 Golf
      • 2.9 Other Sports
    • 3. Public Services and Occasions >
      • 3.1 Public Services
      • 3.2 Fire Service
      • 3.3 Post Boxes
      • 3.4 Public Occasions
      • 3.5 Wars and Victory
      • 3.6 War Memorials
      • 3.7 Maps
      • 3.8 Wells of Prudhoe
      • 3.9 End of the Penny Toll
      • 3.10 Prudhoe By-Pass Construction
    • 4. Church and School >
      • 4.1 Church and Chapel
      • 4.2 Schools
    • 5. Commerce and Industry >
      • 5.1 Shops
      • 5.2 Industry
      • 5.3 Mining
      • 5.4 Public Houses
      • 5.5 Agriculture/Horticulture
      • 5.6 Other Commerce
      • 5.7 Coking in Prudhoe
    • 6. Travel >
      • 6.1 Crossing the Tyne
      • 6.2 Transport
    • 7. Castle/Hall/Hospital >
      • 7.1 Prudhoe Castle
      • 7.2 Prudhoe Hall
      • 7.3 Prudhoe Hospital
      • 7.4 Prudhoe Hospital Walled Garden
    • 8. People >
      • 8.1 Social Groups
    • 9 General >
      • 9.1 Now and Then
      • 9.2 Other
    • Liddle family photographs
    • Guest Area - North Tyne
  • Poss Sticks Book Launch 2012
  • St Mary Magdalene Cemetery/1
  • Extracts from 'A Prudhoe Likeness'
    • Section 1 >
      • PROUD HEIGHTS OR PRUDHA’S HILL
      • FROM VILLAGE TO TOWN
      • OUT OF OVINGHAM AND MICKLEY
      • IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO FELL
      • RAIDS AND RATIONING
      • JOHN WESLEY SPARKS A FLAME
      • STARTED BY EIGHT MEN FROM WYLAM!
      • FROM FAMILY SEAT TO HOSPITAL & PLACE OF WORSHIP
      • PALACE OR POLLUTED ‘RAA’?
      • WATER FOR MAN AND BEAST
    • Section 2 >
      • END OF THE PENNY TOLL
      • “THE LITTLE VILLAGE DOWN THE BANK”
      • INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION
      • FROM LIME TO DEMOLITION
      • TRAGEDY FOR PRUDHOE
      • FIRE! STOKE THE BOILER!
      • A CANNY PINT AND MORE BESIDES
      • THE COAL BOOM BRINGS SCHOOLS
      • “FALCONER’S ACADEMY”
      • PRUDHOE NATIONAL SCHOOL
    • Section 3 >
      • FOUNDED BY THE LIDDELLS
      • A TRANSIENT POPULATION, SCHOOL FEES & EPIDEMICS
      • THE NEW SCHOOLS
      • EDUCATION FOR YOUNG AND OLD
      • LET THERE BE LIGHT
      • THE EDGE WELL
      • A NEW USE FOR THE CASTLE?
      • ALONG THE FRONT STREET
      • FAMILY ENTERPRISES
      • UP “THE TOON”
    • Section 4 >
      • HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
      • THE WIDER WORLD OPENS UP
      • STATION GATE Eltringham
      • THE POINTS
      • A PROUD SPORTING TRADITION
      • MEN OF SPORTING TALENT
      • THE MEN IN WHITES
      • ON THE GREEN
      • IT BEGAN BESIDE ‘THE SUEY
      • FROM THE REX TO WATERWORLD
    • Section 5 >
      • OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY
      • FANCIERS OF FEATHER
      • A SLAP-UP TEA AND A GOSSIP
  • Personal Memories
    • Margaret Hepworth
    • Nancy Snaith
    • Marian Smailes
    • Jim and Anne Standish
    • Marcus Gatenby
    • Bill Hunter
    • Norman Roberts
    • Peggy Ballantyne
    • Ronnie Howson
    • Bernard Stewart (West Wylam)
    • Joe Wallis
    • John Currey
    • Dr Donald Golightly
    • Interviews with woman from Heddon
Photographs relating to this article, including those in this extract, may be found in Galleries 3.5 and 2.1
At a meeting held in Prudhoe’s Employment Exchange, Ethel Batey, then aged sixteen, volunteered to join the Civil Defence (A.R.PJ. She was assigned to the Report Centre, which was housed in the basement of the Parish Hall. There was always someone on duty in the Centre. One night, when she was on duty, the Inspector arranged for a false alarm to be sounded, just to test that the procedures were being followed correctly. It appears that he had been none too happy with their previous efforts!

By and large there was little activity by way of enemy aircraft over Prudhoe but one night the “red alert” light came on, indicating that enemy aircraft were in sight. There was a raid over Newcastle. On another occasion, incendiary bombs were dropped on Hedley Fell and on another Saturday night a German fighter plane flew right up Prudhoe Front Street.

On a fine day the barrage balloons at the bottom of John Dobson Street in Newcastle could be seen from Prudhoe. During the war, Prudhoe escaped lightly. Its first wartime casualty was Ethel’s cousin who fell down the steps at Far Town House in the blackout.

Further accounts of the preparations for war and their effect on school life can be found in the chapter on the East School.

Prudhoe became a garrison town and soldiers were billeted all over the area. The headquarters and officers’ accommodation was at Bradley Hall. Ethel’s father was a dispatch rider in the King’s Own Regiment and slept in the “Big Club”. Two Nissan huts were built next to the Adam & Eve public house at Low Prudhoe and the soldiers were wont to collect their beer from the pub in a white enamel bucket. The soldiers’ NAAFI canteen was where Franco’s Restaurant is now on the Front Street. The site, now known as Hillcrest, was used by military tanks. Ethel Batey can remember one day in 1945 when the brakes of one of these tanks failed and the tank rolled down to Gordon Terrace.

Bevan Boys, who were directed to work in the mines rather than be conscripted into the Armed Forces, were drafted into the area, but mostly to the Ashington & Bedlington deep pits rather than to Prudhoe and District’s drift mines. Incidentally, coal was the last item to be taken off the ration after the war.

Due to food rationing many people tended to make their own bread, cheese and butter. Sugar had to be used sparingly. Rabbit, fish and pigeon were all on the menu - if you could get them! Groceries still tended to be delivered by horse and cart, particularly as petrol was rationed. Ration cards for petrol were issued from the Council Offices on South Road. Some deliverymen made their rounds on foot, carrying large baskets, or on bikes with baskets attached to the front.

Snook, a kind of sea pike, was eaten extensively, fried or boiled, but was not popular. Choice, however, was limited! If you were invited to stay with a friend you always took some of your rations with you, just to help out. Food was scarce, so extra sugar, tea or pieces of bacon would be most welcome. A longer stay necessitated taking your ration book with you.

In autumn, rose hips were collected, particularly by the children. Some schools acted as collection points for them, or else they could be sold to the local chemist. The hips were processed to make rose hip syrup which provided additional vitamins to supplement the war time diet.

Allotments were, of course, a boon, giving a plentiful supply of fresh vegetables and many people would keep hens, rabbits or a pig as additional sources of food.
Picture
Rio Cinema 1987
Demolished to make way for the Co-op Supermarket
Food parcels were sent from Commonwealth countries to the local schools. These contained such luxuries as chocolate, Horlicks, tinned meats and canned fruit. Certain fruit, which had to be shipped from abroad, such as bananas, had never been seen by children who were born during the war years and when they became available again many a child was puzzled as to how to open a banana!

People entertained themselves in their spare time, going to local dances, inviting troops into their houses and going to the cinema to catch up with the war news on the newsreels. Prudhoe has had three cinemas, the Rio, the Palace and the Electric (later renamed the Rex). They all had two performances a night. The Palace closed in 1925 and the Rio opened in 1940.