Martin’s Memories – Sunday School And Church Choir

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The Martin’s Memories series has been reproduced with the very kind permission of Tony Martin from his posts on the Old Blaydon and Old Winlaton Facebook group.

OLD Blaydon and OLD Winlaton | MARTIN’S MEMORIES 29 | Facebook

My first experience of St Cuthberts, Stella to give Blaydon Church it’s proper name came with Sunday School in the late 1940s and the Church Choir and then the Church Lads Brigade from 1950 onwards until I left to go to university in 1960. My mother had attended St Cuthberts as a young girl and I have her confirmation card and her membership card for the GFS – the Girl’s Friendly Society. However my parents were married at St Paul’s, Winlaton and because of this, I was christened there, but as a family we attended St Cuthberts.

In the 1950s, St Cuthbert’s church was very active and catered for all ages. There was Sunday School, JTC and CLB for boys and the GFS for girls and then the Youth Club for teenagers. Later in life, women were catered for through the Young Wives Fellowship and the Mother’s Union whilst there was also a Men’s Group. The Choir was all male and the Church Girls Brigade had not been formed. On a Sunday there were four services – Holy Communion at 8.00, Sung Eucharist at 9.30, Matins at 11.00 and Evensong at 6.30 p.m. Members of the choir attended the 9.30 and 6.30 services. During the week, there was communion every day at 7 a.m.

I started Sunday School in 1948 a year after I started primary school. The younger classes met in the basement of the church hall at 2 p.m under the leadership of Isa Griffiths and a group of young women of whom Margaret Lancaster and Margaret Harding come to mind. As one got older, the junior Sunday School met in the main hall upstairs under the leadership of Deaconess Mary Teasdale. She was assisted by a group of teachers which included Mrs Speller, Lilian Hutchison and Elsdon Ward. Later one attended the Sunday morning Bible Class in the Rectory basement.

In 1950, I joined the church choir. There was no audition – one just joined. The organist and choirmaster was Clifford Loughton, who lodged with a family near the top of Clifford Street. He was replaced in the autumn of 1952 by Mr. J. Robinson, an insurance agent who lived at 13 Polmaise Street and whose wife, Emmy taught at Winlaton School. Her mother Mrs Reid lived at 5, Ethel Avenue, just across the lane from us. The all male choir included Tom Drury, the verger whom we nicknamed Tom Dooley after the Lonnie Donegan song of the day, Dicky Hudson, who also sang with Prudhoe Gleemen, Leslie Martin, George Hands, Peter Craig, Jack Percy, Peter Barrett, Tom Parker, and the two Smith brothers, Stan and Joe. The choir attended weddings on request for which we were paid one shilling (5p). We attended the odd funeral and engaged on carol singing up to Christmas. This was generally arranged by Leslie Martin, who seemed to have an arrangement with most of the town centre pubs and clubs, where we sang outside while a couple of adults went round with collecting tins inside. There was also a summer trip….always to Tynemouth for the choir. I suppose the highlight of my time in the choir was when the Sunday service – had to be changed from Sung Eucharist to Matins to fit into the programme schedule – was broadcast on the North of England Home Service. This must have been about 1954 or 1955. but involved extra choir practices and a long session with the presenter about the radio transmission.

When I started attending St Cuthbert’s the rector was Harold O Duncan who left to become vicar of St. Margaret’s, Durham and was replaced by the Rev.W.W.Tymms. The curate at that time was the Rev. H.V Langford, who was the last to lived in the Curatage on Blaydon Bank. Deaconess Mary Teasdale lived in a flat above Tyneview Caterers on Wesley Place. When Langford left, he was replaced by the Rev T.H.H.Hood who took over the Deaconess’s flat when she moved on. He is the only member of the Blaydon clergy of my time, that I have a photograph of and that was because he attended CLB camps and the Durham Regiment of CLB had a photographer from St Chad’s Gateshead who covered most CLB arrangements in our battalion and in the Durham Regiment. Tom Hood left to go to the Bush Brotherhood in Queensland, Australia and was replaced by the Rev Leshnick. He did not stay long before going to West Hartlepool to be replaced by the Rev P.E.S.Thompson from Sierra Leone. He lived in what was formerly the Nurse’s Home halfway between the cemetery and Blaydon East. The youth club were involved in decorating the place for his arrival. He was to become a bishop in his homeland later in life and passed away in 1994. When the Rev Tymms left, the incumbent was the Rev Schofield. My only involvement with him was to arrange to have the banns read before my wife and I were married in Denmark. I always felt a bit guilty of leaving him with the phonetic transcription of what he should announce at the time.

I stayed in the choir until my voice broke and then, according to tradition, one was enrolled as a server until one decided whether one was going to be a bass, baritone or tenor. I was confirmed in 1953 by the Bishop of Durham, Dr Michael Ramsay, who later became Archbishop of York and then of Canterbury. We attended a special confirmation class led by the Rev Tymms, for an hour and a half each Saturday morning in Church from September until the February when Confirmation traditionally took place in those days. The girls attended a separate class under Deaconess Teasdale. Our first communion was the following Sunday.

I apologise in advance for not having many illustration of my time in the choir but this is simply because photos were not taken either at choir or Sunday School.

Photos:-
My mother’s confirmation certificate.
My mother’s GFS card.
St cuthbert’s Church before 1939 when the wrought iron railings were removed for the war effort.
CLB Photo selected here to show the Rev. T.H.H.Hood. (More on the CLB next time) 1955.
Confirmation Service 1973.