And what did you listen to?
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'I used to listen to orchestras and all sorts, man.'
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Not just the BBC?
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'No, used to listen to anything. I used to get these foreign stations on that big 'un.'
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The Pictures after Work
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'Used to come in and we'd say "I'll have look down the pictures. We used to take our overalls and that off, get washed. Never used to bother about getting dressed, putting a suit and that on. Just used to go down the pictures, put the night in, like during the week.
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‘We used to know what was on because we always used to be travelling past there, going to work. You saw something you fancied--”I’ll have a look down there tonight.” We never used to bother getting dressed--why we used to wash and that. I used to go often. Not after the war.
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‘Before the war. We used to go round the lot, the Ritz, the Miners’ Hall. We used to pick them out what we wanted to see.’ Durham? ‘Oh, aye, we used to that one on North Road, where the organ used to come up. They were all built at the same time, the early Thirties, just before the war, there was a glut of them, they were building them all over, the Regal went up, the Ritz. If there was a good picture on, yeah, we used to queue up.’
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Did you ever play with the band in the Hippodrome?
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’No, but I’ve played in Shotton in their picture house with Thornley Band. There was the top one, the “top gaff” and the “bottom gaff” they used to call them. The top gaff. you know where the monument is, the soldier? Straight opposite that. There was a pub there as well. And the other one was down the road where the Comrades’s Club is, there was one there: that was the bottom gaff. “Where’s the gannin’ the night?” Aw, Ah’s gannin’ to the gaff.” That’s what they used to say.’
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Which one was the best?
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’The Regal was the newest, then the Ritz. But they did the Royalty up. That used to be the Palace. And there was another one down Patton Street, the Miner’s Hall. It was small and there was these pillars up: if you were behind the pillars you couldn’t see. Sometimes there’d be somebody playing the piano.’ The Silent films? ‘Why aye, there’s be a piano going or a little orchestra.’
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Was there ever any trouble?
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‘Oh aye. They’d smash the seats up and things like that. They’d sit upstairs and throw things. There used to be hell on. But Saturday night at the Hippodrome, they used to come from all over. Quarrington Hill and that way on. I’ve seen them queuing from the Hippodrome down to the garage, waiting for the first house to come out.
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‘They used to get these turns. “Martin Bredus, Strongman!” You know these old mangles? He used to lift two of them. There was all sorts of turns on.’
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The Thornley Carnival
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‘It was one of the biggest round here. There was everything on. It was there ever since I can remember. I can remember going down as a bairn, down to the show field. It started on a Friday night. Then they had the big parade on the Saturday. The Band was out. Jazz bands, the lot. There was sports, used to be a dance on the Friday night, Saturday night and Monday night, a big dance in the Welfare. There used to be show jumping on the football field.’
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NEXT: the Balderseras and the Ice Cream Cart.
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