Mrs Coates
First memory - soldier returning from Boer War. Early memories of Irish grandparents and other relations. Lady in the street made dresses for her to wear in a procession. Playing in waste ground near the brick works, lots of bricks. Mother's funeral in 1905, died of complications after childbirth. Father a stoker at the gas yard, taking his bait in. He used to walk a lot, hard hat and fussy about his shoes. Went to live with father's sister. Huge icicles one winter. Played near glassworks, lots of glass tubes around. Coffins lined up in undertakers windows, sister read plate for grandmother th...

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 - fa...