Steve: Initial Page Entry

2024-02-02T09:16:40Z

Initial Page Entry

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For a list of all [[Noble Street]] Houses and a history of [[Noble Street]] overall please refer to the [[Noble Street]] page.

''* Information Supplied by [[Clive Dalton]] January 2024.''

'''No 4. Smiths'''

Tommy Smith drove a wagon for Hugh Thompson and always brought it home to park on the side of the unsealed roadway from the main Woodburn road up to the entrance to the street back lane. Over time this truck parking completely squashed the drain down the drive which took water off the fell in wet spells. Margaret his wife was the daughter of Michael Anderson from Woodburn whose portrait hangs in the Heritage Centre. He was a noted ‘ootbye’ shepherd and stick dresser and I was so proud of one he made for me. He often used to walk back to Woodburn after visiting Margaret if Norman’s bus times were not convenient.

He provided his sheep shears for the folk in the street to cut up ‘cloots’ from old clothes or tweed that they had bought from a bus trip to Otterburn mill, to make either ‘hooky’ or ‘proggy’ mats. He sharpened them when they got blunt as the golden rule was that you never sharpened the shears belonging to another person as the cutting angle would not be the same. Not everybody in the street had mat frames but they were willingly lent by those who had – together with help in the making. Daven had the best high tech ones with a roller and ratchet on one side for easy adjustment and you progressed.

The Smith’s had twins – Barbara and John, and it was part of my daily routine after school to go in at bath time to help bath them in the long tin bath in front of the fire. After the ablutions the bath was emptied in the drain in the back lane. The twin pram they had filled the gap between table and sideboard and John once managed to get a sharp ex-army knife out of the drawer and cut his wee hand badly. Tommy had a wood shed on the fell which was also a play area for when the twins got older.

4 Noble Street - Revision history

Steve: Initial Page Entry