Memories of Ushaw Moor: Family Life

From original Archive at blogSPOT

My family was one of the first sixteen families to move onto the new council housing in Ushaw Moor in January 1947. To move from 29 Harvey Street in New Brancepeth into 38 Victoria Court, Ushaw Moor, was a cultural shock even at eight years old. An indoor flush toilet, hot and cold running water and a bath was truly out of this world. It was like winning the Lottery.

The first sixteen families were housed in the last four and the first eight numbered houses in Whitehouse Court. We were housed in the last numbered four houses in Victoria Court. I could write a book about those early years in Ushaw Moor but people would not be interested. I find it odd that people do not write their memories for future generations. The first winter there was horrific. I remember waking up to find the snow drifted up to the bedroom windows. The country was at a halt for a number of weeks but the enjoyment from the snow was great for an eight year old. I watched fields being eaten up by housing as the whole of the estate was built up over the next ten years, Oakridge Road up to Ash Avenue, was the second phase, people were housed in decent housing from the colliery rows.

Progress was made in strides then, everything was new and exciting after the austerity of the war years. The end of rationing, St. Josephs school and Church, the Store on Durham Road, the freedom to roam down the beck, and the companionship of boyhood friends made life happy. My Dad died in September, 1947, in the County Hospital at the top of North Road in Durham. This was a huge blow but my Mam, God Bless her, took over the responsibility of raising her five children and made a fantastic job of it. Many happy memories. I hope someone reads this and adds their own memories.

BRIAN MC LOUGHLIN

via Memories of Ushaw Moor: Family Life.

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Salvation Army 1960

This photograph was taken from my grandmothers house in Whitehouse court in the late 1960′s. It shows the Salvation Army band playing next to the green which is a memory I will always have of that time. Another sign of the times was kids palying in the street and hardly a car in sight.

thanks Michael Dickinson

From Original Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG

From The Original Archives – An Alf Rothwell Production

Following on from the popularity of Brian’s Victoria Court epic I have fished out Alf’s Whitehouse Court post from Wednesday October 31st 2007.

### Re-edited with TXT version of list,, so now searchable within BLOG## Paul

Whitehosue Court 1947 -- by Alf Rothwell

No	Adults				Children

1	Mr & Mrs Harrison		Billy and Betty
2	Mr & Mrs Ware			Ernie
3	Mr & Mrs Bowery		        John, Jimmy, Doris & Ronnie
4	Mr & Mrs Payne			Jack & Billy
5	Applebys
6	Emery or Harrison
7	Mr & Mrs O'Connor		Jack & Kathleen
8	?				?
9	Mr & Mrs Hume
10	?				?
11	Grandma Lillingworth
12	Mr & Mrs Dickinson		Dennis, Tom & older brother
14	Mr & Mrs Comerford
15	Mr & Mrs Howard		        Peter
16	Mr & Mrs Wilson		        Alan
17	Winter				John Kidd
18	?
19	Mr & Mrs Stafford		Kathleen & Joyce
20	Mr & Mrs P Rothwell		Sarah & Alan
21	Mr & Mrs Oyston
22	Mr & Mrs Lumley		        Chris
23	Mr & Mrs Welsh
24	Mr & Mrs Gibb			Tom & Barry
25	Mr & Mrs J Rothwell		Alfie
26	Mrs Wren			Arthur
27	Bevington ?
28	Mr & Mrs Thompson
29	Mr & Mrs Marriott		Margaret & Billy
30	Mr & Mrs Myers
31	Mr & Mrs Rhodes
32	Mr & Mrs Robinson 		Albert & Dorothy
33	Mr & Mrs Flatley		Barnie
34	Mr & Mrs Gargett		(Later)
35	Mrs Mills
36	Blackett ?
37	Mr & Mrs Hudson
38	Mr & Mrs Coulhard		Derek
39	Kirtley ?
40	Mr & Mrs Lumb			Brian
41	Pinkney ?
42	?
43	Pinkney ?
44	Mr & Mrs Clark			Gloria & Frank
45	Mr & Mrs Nattrass		Sylvia
46	Mr & Mrs Henderson		Harry the postman
47	Mr & Mrs McQuillan 		Tom, John & Loretta
48	Later				Jack & Sheila Pickard
49	?
50	Hird ?
51	Gray ?
52
53					Gillon ?
54
55	Quigley ?
56	Mr & Mrs Strong
57	Mr & Mrs Hope
58	Mr & Mrs Greenwell		Joan & Billy
59	Mrs & Mrs Clark

The ‘click to make larger’ [x2] works. WB

 Whitehouse Court 1947 onwards