Hi garthwaite76. Your description of Blyth Town Boys’ Club is exactly as I remember it - including Walter, the permanent fixture behind the counter, who took my weekly subs. When I used to go there was a pin table in the corner on the left just as you came in the door. I never really saw much in the way of traditional boys’ club activities, as I was rarely there through the week - but every Friday night I was upstairs at the disco, gawping in amazement at the multi-coloured bubble projection machine, which was as good as owt on Top of the Pops. We also all laughed at the glowing dandruff on our shoulders when the UV light was on. I shook my spindly legs to such classics as Shotgun Wedding by Roy C and Silver Machine by Hawkwind (but I sat down when Puppy Love came on). If I had a little cash on me, I’d sometimes nip around the corner to the Leisure Centre (formerly David Gillis), where there were more modern pin tables to play on. I remember that was operated by a bloke called Walter, and that early Elvis was almost constantly playing.
I too wore the Tenax et Fidelis badge on my school blazer (Headmaster Mr Lloyd, with deputies Mrs Black and Mr Hay (the Maj)) . I never went into the Sidney Arms while at school, but I did get served at the Forresters Arms, which later became the Kitty Brewster. My time at school was like one long Kes film.
I remember Martin’s chip shop - and how everyone said it was the best in Blyth. If I remember rightly, it had a wooden barrier in front of the counter for the queue to snake around. On Wednesdays, me nanna from Beaumont Street came to visit us at Cowpen, and she’d fetch bags of chips from Martin’s chippy. For some reason I remember watching the Dick Van Dyke Show while eating them - either quite warm or almost cold, depending on the punctuality of me nanna’s bus. Great photos by the way.
