Joseph Barrie

House in Frances street. Toilet, sleeping, heating, baking, washing. Father an engine man for the pit; 1926 strike, soup kitchens. Pit buzzers. Sunderland Empire. Left school at 14, became a miner then a bricklayer's apprentice. Harshness of life in his father’s time. Childhood games. Christmas festivities. Leisure – the cinema, playing cricket and football. Easter time would dig the garden, also had hens. Sheep’s head broth and other food. Pig killing. Hetton fair – foot racing and crafts. Chapel anniversaries. Effect of nationalisation. Tramps and travelling salesmen. Midwife. Grandmother founder of Easington lane co-op, mother a farm girl. Sister got job in service in London. Domestic chores. Sister went to work in workhouse. Houghton feast. Jazz bands, horse racing. Coal owner’s agent “the big shot”. Policeman who would fight rather than arrest. Brawling. Funerals, pit accidents, Easington colliery disaster, 1972 strike

Location: Hetton
County: Durham
AUD1976-123

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