Remembering The Past

23/10/2026

Love, Courtship & Marriage. Just one of the wonderful resource books we have available to purchase or hire, featuring memories of north east life. Perfect for care homes and community groups.

23/10/2026

Did You know?

We have a range of memory resource books and card packs available to purchase or hire. These are designed to spark discussions and are perfect for care homes, schools and community groups.
Get in touch if you would like more information.

06/10/2026

Keelmen's Hospital Project

Work is currently underway on our Keelmen's Hospital project in partnership with . Our volunteers have just completed a wonderful interview with a 91 year old lady who can trace 5 generations of her family living in the Keelmen's Hospital. You can see photos of some of them on this post.
We are uncovering so many amazing stories and building a picture of the inhabitants over the years.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

22/09/2026

We had a lovely day on Saturday St Mary's by the Tyne with Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust as part of their Heritage Open Days event. We were talking about our oral history work on the Keelmen’s Hospital - it was great to chat to people and discover new connections to the building. One of our interviewees who worked on the restoration in the 1970s popped in to see his own story in the exhibition. The National Lottery Heritage Fund

22/09/2026

Find more memories like this on our website.

31/08/2026

Burradon

There are some wonderful memories of the mining village of Burradon on our website. This is just an excerpt of one of them, but you can explore may more by visiting our website!

"My childhood in the colliery rows in Burradon were the best days of my life, we had a great welfare (park), co-op, the smallest sweet shop, family butchers, and the smallest picture house you could ever find, which I fondly remember.... All these buildings are now long gone.

... I remember growing up in this little village, a beautiful but old colliery cottage which I loved and lived in as a little girl. The outside toilets and little coal house right opposite the back door. We lived directly in front of the pit baths and canteen where we used to play. Each winter, when the snow would turn to ice, we used to ice-skate up and down the front road without any worries or fears, the days and years just passed by so quickly.

Office Row had approximately 40 houses, we knew just about everyone. We had good neighbours who became good friends, who would look out for you and help you anyway they could..."

https://www.rememberingthepast.co.uk/memory/a-very-sad-day-a-great-step-forward/

30/08/2026

Read the full memory here: https://www.rememberingthepast.co.uk/memory/a-very-sad-day-a-great-step-forward/

24/08/2026

Read the full memory on our website. https://www.rememberingthepast.co.uk/memory/round-and-about-in-monkseaton/

22/08/2026

Monkseaton

“Bygate School had a crab apple tree, the apples look small and very nice but taste them once and you never do so again, they are amazingly bitter and sour. They would make an interesting c***r though.
The second St. Peter’s church was next door to Bygate School but got demolished by a bomb. The first temporary St. Peter’s Church was in what is now the Methodist Chapel before the old Church was built about 1880. My mother took me to Bygate School twice a day and twice a day collected me. Before each return journey, she lifted my brother out of his pram and put two bits of broken church stone under him. Over the months she built quite a nice rockery in our garden, the only consecrated one in the area!
The buildings opposite Bygate School (now the Spar Shop etc), formed a working farm in the 1940s. The little stone shed opposite Jenkinson’s Glass shop housed a bull. Us kids shouted rude words at the bull whereupon it would charge the wall with an almighty crash – very impressive and a bit scary.”

Read the whole memory here: https://www.rememberingthepast.co.uk/memory/round-and-about-in-monkseaton/

Bygate School had a crab apple tree, the apples look small and very nice but taste them once and you never do so again, they are amazingly bitter and sour. ...

21/08/2026

We’ve been a bit quiet lately as some of our volunteers are having a well earned summer break! We thought that this might be a good opportunity to look into our archives and feature some of the stories and areas of our region that we haven’t shared for a while. Keep checking our feed and you might spot a memory from your area!