Mr and Mrs Vout

Father from Lowestoft, worked on the herring boats, married a Gateshead lass and settled there. Father's allotment - gentlemen gardeners. The workhouse (now Bensham hospital). Education and prospects - ages of leaving school, how this mattered. Quakers locally. Their first house (1940s). Baby born too early when wife told husband had been shipwrecked. Views on going to war. Having a baby in hospital. Sacked from first job when off with broken ankle. Worked at TVTE as a joiner upholsterer. Clark Chapman - graduated to draughtsman. Made redundant. Easy to get jobs. Unions. Mrs Vout's family - father a railway worker. Grandfather died in the pit. Work in fruit ship and for Jewish dressmakers. Housing

Location: Gateshead
County: Tyne and Wear
AUD1991-56

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Transcript of audio:
Because in those days when we had Empire Day we were all in the school yard, all dressed up in all the different countries and you all got up and said your little piece. You were dressed as Indians and Eskimos and everything you know. Dressed up in the schoolyard. And Britannia, she was chosen because she was bonny or she had long hair. So that she was dressed as Britannia with the flag and the shield. Then of course the Church days we went up through the Church yard into the Church. And then you maybe had the rest of the day off.

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