Reay Family in Photographs - From my Grandparents to Tanya arrival

Introduction

Sadly, I did not have the foresight to label photographs with dates, or, to keep a diary. As a result, the chronology of the following may not be either liner, or, accurate. 

I am writing this, from memory, at the age of 74 onwards, and, I struggle to keep the sequence correct. 

My Grandparents and Parents

My grandparents on my father's side died before I was born, so I have no actual memory of them. My grandparents on my mother's side died in my childhood.

Unfortunately not many photographs appear to have survived, either from my generation, or from earlier generations. I do not appear to have any photographs of my Grandparents on my mother's side. Those which have survived are not always in good condition, or indeed of good quality.

The earliest photograph I have which (I think) include my father and grandparents, is shown here. The photograph is so small and damaged as to be almost useless. It is a family group, and I assume the couple in the centre are my Grandfather and Grandmother Reay. My father was the youngest child, so, he must, I assume be the baby on Grandmother's knee. I cannot pick out all of the siblings, the younger girl, to the left of Grandfather, must, I guess, be Hannah. The others I am afraid I cannot even put in order of age, but they were Joseph, Jack, George, Bill, Stan, Lorna (?). At a guess, this photograph must have been taken in about 1919, and is presumably in Washington.

The next photograph in the time line is, I think, particularly poignant, is shows my father and his mother, at some point before World War 2, I would guess it must have been taken around 1928.

The photograph must have been sent to my father, by his mother whilst he was posted overseas during the war, with a note written on the back.

My father was conscripted in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of war, he was posted overseas after basic training and did not return to the UK until the end of the war in 1945.

The reason I think the photograph is particularly emotional is the hand written note on the reverse, which is shown here, and presumably, from the wording, written by Grandmother Reay.




There is another gap, until about the late 1930's, when I have a few photographs which appear to portray happy times, before the start of the war.

Here we have  my dad, I do not know exactly when this photograph was taken, but I would guess at somewhere around 1937 - 1939.

It looks a rural scene, but I assume it was taken somewhere in the Washington area.

This one shows my Father, at the beach, I assume it is the local coast, perhaps Seaburn, but I cannot be sure.



The young lady with Dad in the picture, I think, is his then Fiance.

I believe her name was Jenny Thirlaway.

Sadly, Jenny died  whilst Dad was overseas during the war.

There is another beach scene, I don't know if it was taken on the same day, or who the group of women paddling in the sea are.



This one, must be before the start of the war, it shows, my father (kneeling bottom left), his brother, Stan (back row left), my grandfather on my father's side (Joe), I am not sure who the other person is back row right, he may be another brother.

I think, they are in Salvation Army Band uniform, but I am not sure about that.

As I said above, my father spent all of the war overseas (in the Army, REME), I don't know the exact details, but approximately 1939-1942 was in North Africa, and the rest in the far east (India, Burma).

The only photograph I have of this period is shown on the left, I am not even sure if my Dad is in the photograph, he may well have been the photographer for all  I know!











I have agonised about how to present this, so that it not only shows the photographs, but also gives some kind of context or logic, if possible. I have resolved to try and keep the photographs in approximate time order, but this is not always easy, since I do not have accurate dates for most of the photographs.

In time terms, we are now comming towards the end of the war (ie 1945), at this point, my mother enters the picture, obviously by this time, she was a young woman. 

But, starting from the beginning, I have only one photograph of my mother's childhood, and that is a school photograph. Mam is in the front row, second from the right, the girl on her left is her twin sister, Nancy.

Remember, at this time, it is the end of the war, things are in short supply, and I assume that taking photographs was not a first priority.

This is my mother, with her friend, in their Womens ATS uniform. I cannot remember, for sure, the friends name, I think it was Vera. We did visit her on one or two occasions when I was a child, but it is too long ago for me to recall anything about it. that is with one exception, on one visit, my mother and Vera(?) got rather drunk on white wine, to the best of my knowledge it is the one and only occasion when mam drank too much in her whole life!

Wedding photograph of my parents, showing them cutting the cake.

This one I can date accurately, it must be 19th July 1945.

On my mother's left, is her younger sister, and bridesmaid, Elsie.

I cannot remember the names now, the chap on the left is presumably the best man, with presumably another bridesmaid. This is still a time of shortages of just about everything (including suits for the men, hence the army uniforms).

My Arrival on the scene.

So, nature takes it course, and along I came, in October 1947.

There are a few photographs surviving of me as a child, I cannot be sure of the correct time sequence, I just have to guess from the size of the child (ie me)!

Me again, showing the benefits of national health milk, and orange juice, which were provided courtesy of the the new National Health Service, to fill out my chubby frame.

This one has a date written on it, 1950, so, I am about three years old here.

and, judging from the fact I am wearing the same clothes, this one must be in the same session, me, with my mother and father. 

Another photograph with a date on it.

This is my father (middle of the three) at work (he was a Welder in the Shipyards), in 1951, quite why the photograph was taken, or indeed, exactly where, I have no idea. I can only assume it was some notable new piece of welding equipment.

Laughable although it may seem now, when people expect to jet off to warmer climates, I recall that we went to Brampton, near Carlisle for our summer holiday. We stayed in a small place called Talkin Tarn, me and my Dad, on the left. I cannot recall who the other holiday makers are. This must be about 1952 or 1953.

We moved from Morton Street, in South Shields town centre, when I was 4 years old, to Drummond Crescent, Simonside.

The first of several surviving school photographs.  I went to the (then) new Garnett Infant School, Simonside, so quite why this school photographs was taken at the "old" school, at the junction of Wenlock Road and Newcastle Road, I cannot imagine. Amazingly, I can remember the names of some of the children in the photograph, as follows:

Back Row: Ann Howey, Sandra Gabriel, Jean ?, Sylvia ?, ?, Jeffery Robertshaw?, Douglas ?, Bruce McClachlan, Me,  ?,?

Middle Row: ?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?, Ann Eglantine,?

Front Row: ?,Melvyn Robson,Eric Micalef, Melvyn Oley,?,?,?,?,?

I distinctly remember there were 44 children in my class, so quite where the rest of them were on the day of the photographs, I do not know, there cannot have been 12 of them absent?, maybe we were the most "presentable" ones?

This, I think, must be the first year (1954/55) of Junior School (Lord Blyton, Junior School), the teacher on the left, is, I think, "Miss Chapman", and Headmaster, "Mr Wesencraft" on the left.

In the infant school, we were not "streamed", but by Junior School, we were organised into "A", "B", ... etc streams according to ability. No room for any hurt feelings in those days, so nothing subtle about the naming, "A" for top, and working down from there. So, while there are some familiar faces from the Infant School, there are some changes, from memory, left to right:

Back Row: ?,?,?,?, Eric Micalef, Tony Milburn, ?,  Melvyn Robson, ?, Melvyn Oley

2nd back row: ?, ?, ?, ?, Jeffrey Robertshaw, Frank Oley, Bill Efford, Me, Bruce McClachlan, ?

2nd Front row: ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Jean ?, ?, ?, Sylvia ?, ?, ?, ?

Front Row: ?, Sandra Gabriel, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Ann Howey

I think this must be second year junior school, apart from Mr Wesencraft, I do not remember the teachers name.

Lots of familiar faces among the pupils, left to right:

Back Row: Melvyn Oley, Eric Micalef, Douglas Bristow, ?, Tony Milburn, Melvyn Robson, ?, Edward ?

2nd Back Row: ?, ?, Bruce McClachlan, Bill Efford, Jeffery Robertshaw, Me, Frank Oley, ?

2nd front Row: ?, ?, Jean ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, Ann Howey

Front Row: Sandra Gabriel, ?, ?, Caroline ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

Third year Juniors, so this must be about 1956, Mr Wesencraft is still headmaster, I think the other teacher was Mr Gould. Of the pupils:

Back Row: Melvyn Oley, ?, Eric Micalef, Tony Milburn, ?, Edward ?, ?, Melvyn Robson, ?

2nd Back Row: ?, ?, Bruce McClachlan, Douglas Bristow, Jeffery Robertshaw, Me, ?, ?

2nd Front Row: Caroline ?, Ann Howey, ?, Sandra Gabriel, Jean ?, Sylvia ?, ?, ?

Front Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

This one, I know for sure, is fourth Year Junior, so, we are all about 11 years old. The headmaster is still Mr Wesencraft and the teacher on the right is Mr Kier.

Back Row: ?, ?, ?, Edward ?, Eric Micalef, Melvyn Robson, ?, Melvyn Oley
2nd Back Row: ?, Tony Milburn, Bruce McClachlan, Jeffery Robertshaw, Me, ?, Douglas Bristow, ?
2nd Front Row: Sandra Gabriel, ?, ?, Ann Howey, ?, ?, Sylvia ?, ?, Jean ?
Front Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

Through following the theme of school photographs, I have got a bit ahead of myself.

So taking a step back, this is about 1953, and shows my Father, me, and my cousin Anne Sutherland, daughter of my mothers twin sister, Nancy, and the only girl cousin on my mothers side.

This is the back garden of our house in Drummond Crescent.

I was an only child at this point, but, at some point in the years between these two photographs, my mother gave birth to a boy, Leslie, he died at 11 months old, and I have no surviving photographs of him.

Brother Brian Arrives.

Subsequently (November 1956), my brother Brian was born, I do not have any photographs from his early years.

Now, leaping ahead to 1957/58 or there abouts, we have this one of me, and my Cousin, Kevin Sutherland (brother of Anne above), taken at the front of our house in Galsworthy Road. We moved there when I was about 11 years old. 

Shortly after this, our standard of living took an upward turn, in common with the rest of the population of course, this was the time of Anthony Eden's Conservative Government, and "you have never had it so good". We got our first television, when I was 11, and then two years later our first car (a 1953 Ford Popular, I think it was), I don't have any photographs unfortunately.

Brother John Arrives.

My youngest brother, John, arrived May, 1962.

The next photograph I have is this one, it must be about 1964, and shows myself (aged about 16), Brian (aged about 7), John (aged about 2) and our mother. I think it was taken on a family holiday to North Walsham, Norfolk.

Marriage and First House, Family Grows.

There is another gap in the surviving photographs, Dad died when I was 20, and about a year after this, I was married and bought my first house (Thornton Close, Penshaw) with my (then) wife Catherine.

Photographs resume with the arrival of our son, Gary, in 1972.

This is one of the earliest photographs of Gary, with his mother, Catherine.

We lived at Penshaw when Gary was born in June, 1972, so I would say the following shots where all taken in the summer of 1972.

Unfortunately I was not far sighted enough to label them, and subsequent life upheavals means I have no accurate  record of when and exactly where they were taken.

This one on the right, is the driveway of our house in Thornton Close, that I can remember.

The rest are typical shots of the proud parents with their first child, all taken in the  countryside around Penshaw.

Here myself, with Gary....

and here, Catherine, clearly on the same day and at the same place.

This one is taken at the patio door leading into the back garden, of our house in Thornton Close.

From this point on, it becomes even more difficult to keep some kind of order to the photographs.

For the first four years of his life, Gary was an only child, but then we fostered Anthony, and subsequently Tanya. There is a two year age gap between each of them. So, the number of photographs increase, and given the lack of notes, the difficulty of dating them similarly increases.

Again, I am jumping ahead.

But, enough excuses, I will push on with the job.

Moving on in time now, still at Thornton Close, Penshaw. Gary with Catherine, and our next door neighbour's daughter (Caroline), in the back garden, must be about 1973.

Presumably on the same day Gary, with Caroline and Simon. 

We had a caravan at Stanhope, Weardale, we spent many weekends there, mostly in summer of course, but, also in spring and autumn. 

Simple and inexpensive pleasures, walking in the countryside. I even dabbled at fly fishing, in the River Wear, never caught anything big enough to keep, in fact, I only recall catching one small Brown Trout, perhaps 10 cm long.

 This is one of many photographs taken there, no leaves on the trees, so I assume it is spring 1973.

Gary, with Catherine, at Stanhope, sometime in summer 1974 or thereabouts. 

Still at Stanhope, Gary and me of course, fine figure of a man that I am. Judging from the fact that we are both half naked, it must be summer, so I would put this as the summer of 1973, when Gary must have been just over a year old.

Gary again, this one is also summer, again I feel sure it must be 1973.

Still summer, judging from the lack of clothes and the paddling pool, in the back garden of Thornton Close.

back at Stanhope, this is Gary, he must be about two years old here.

One of my favourite photographs of Gary, taken at Thornton Close, in about 1973. I do not remember what bit of DIY I was doing, but clearly Gary was "helping"!

Another favourite of mine, Gary, enjoying the water at South Shields beach, aged about 2. 

and back in Stanhope, visiting the playground on a Sunday morning was one of our favourite times, well it was one of my favourite times, Gary was perhaps too young to have an opinion!

Anthony Arrives

Still living at Penshaw, and Anthony arrives, aged two, as a foster child.

This ia Gary, aged approximately 4, with Anthony, 2.

It is now, around 1976, the UK economy is in something of a mess (how unusual), and, I am working two jobs, one as Computer Programmer, at Austin and Pickersgill Shipyard, Sunderland, and, the other, in the evening, selling and installing Window  Blinds, for a friend of mine (George Spoors), who has

become a partner in a Window Blind Manufacturing Company, making Roller, Venetian and Vertical blinds.

Despite the Country's economic woes, we still managed holidays, in the UK.

With my usual lack of labelling, I cannot be sure, but, I think this must be Glastonbury Tor.

At some point during this period, Catherine passed her driving test, and, we reached the dizzy heights of being a two car family.

A secondhand Hillman Imp, which I had to tow away from the garage, where I bought it for the princely sum of £25, because it would not start.

This was a period when most people on "my level" fixed their own cars, often, using second hand parts, obtained from a scrap yard.

Battery charged, a bit of fibre glass filler on the rusty bits, and, it did the job for a couple of years.

At some point in this period, it must have been 1975) my brother Brian was married to his wife, Linda, and, they subsequently moved to Woolwich, to attend University, never to return (to live) in South Shields.

So, we have this photograph, from the right, me, brother John, aged about 14, my mother, brother Brian, aged about 19.

We decide to move house, don't really recall quite why, I think, it was possibly to be nearer parents, and, therefore, potential baby-sitters.

Another reason for the move, I suspect, like many people we thought we would like a house with "character", which really translates as much more costly and time consuming to maintain. 

I think we must have moved, around 1976, to Langholm Road, East Boldon.

We were never a family who had "pets", the odd goldfish, perhaps, but, at some point after moving to East Boldon, Anthony and Gary acquired tortoises. This photograph, unusually, comes with a date (1977). this sounds about right, since the tortoises arrived before Tanya (hence, there were only ever two), and, Tanya did not arrive until 1978.

A definite move up in the "posh" stakes, but, the house required significant work, and, over the next few years, re-wiring, new central heating, a new roof (all tasks beyond my meagre DIY skills, plus, redecorating, gardening etc occupied a significant amount of effort on my part.

Our finances must have improved by this time, since, as I recall, I was only working one job (Computer Department at Austin and Pickersgill Shipyard, Sunderland)

Tanya Arrives

Tanya came to live with us, like Anthony, a foster child, age two, when she arrived.

That year, we went to France, on holiday. I think, our first holiday outside the UK, indeed, the first time I had been out of the UK in my life, thus far.

A fortnight, I think, in a ready erected tent (Eurocamp), at Bernodet, Brittany, France.

So, here we have Tanya, age two, on holiday.