Part 2 Where Did Benwell Go! Buddle Road

Part 2 of Where Did Benwell Go! All of the images used in this video were taken in Benwell, Scotswood and Elswick.

[@jean2740]

Shame about Benwell now it's mostly non English ,sad so very sad it's really dirty aswell but love all your old clips 😊

[@jeffoliver2298]

People always romanticise about 'the good old days' when there were strong local communities and when everyone knew everyone else, but people were so poor then that it was not a situation that modern people would envy if they knew all the facts. People who call themselves poor today live middle-class lifestyles compared to how people lived years ago.

[@jean2740]

Yes what you just sad ,but it was better off with friendliness, not like today ,at least people did care about each other no love now , just hate .

[@zeddeka]

​@@jean2740I'm not so sure about that. Let's look at two murder episodes that tell us a lot about what was going on. Firstly, the unsolved murder of 11 year old Alan Graham in Benwell in 1970. A neglected child left to wander the streets and who had developed a serious smoking habit. God knows what he did to get the cigarettes, but he was found murdered and sexually abused. Where was the caring community then?? The story of Mary Bell who grew up not far from there is instructive. A community scarred by poverty. Her mother a professional prostitute in an area with a lot of casual prostitution because of the poverty. The child abuse Mary went through from her mother and her customers, far from rare there and in other poor communities in Britain. Mary's mother actually sold her at one point to another woman and her sister had to go and get her back. Human nature doesn't change - extreme conditions make a lot of people go off the rails and get nasty. Benwell and other areas were no exception. You scratch the surface and you often find something very dark.

[@davidhoward5392]

I was brought up along Scotswood in Aline Street, in the 60's i have no romanticism about the place an outside toilet, scullery, front room and 1 bedroom for 2 adults and 4 children their was a 5th but she died. I attended South Benwell Junior School then John Marley Comprehensive School. It was a slum, they move us just before my 11th birthday to Pendower in Benwell, a 3 bedroom council house, for me I had only one plan when I grew up and that was to get away I have no fondness for my childhood and no happy memories, many are locked away and will remain there, only the struggle, deprivation, which would resurface in a deeply personal crisis, when I was overwhelmed by a number of events years later. At 18 I joined the Royal Navy where I spent 22 years, it gave me a life and opportunities that I would never had if I had not gone, I would go back on leave and see young men , old before their time, lads who I went to school with struggling, it saddens me life's blighted so much potential wasted. It's been 25 years since I was last in Newcastle, I now live 10,000 miles away, I live with thev contradiction of my Geordie identity and the struggles of my upbringing, the latent, hidden emotional trauma of my childhood which surfaced in my early 50's. Whether you ever truly escape "the shame " of poverty, I did have a love, hate relationship with money in my younger days, I don't know given we are all unique individuals with our own stories, I am sure that some thrived, others went under, I became resilient..

[@louie6306]

The deliberate destruction of a close nit working class Geordie community who helped to build the north east.

[@ADZ01982]

I think the same. They were poor but hard-working and proud. It's points towards the idea that this area was too British and traditional and needed diluting and dispersed. These were the workers that could go on strike and cripple government's. Just like they decimated the trade unions. It's the same in Scotswood Elswick Wallsend Gateshead and Jarrow etc.

[@alansimpson7886]

Close nit was the word - my heed was crawling with them..

[@jean2740]

Yes the Georgia's built the place , and others come in and destroy it wasn't there's ever !! Now a shit hole , by the makings of others

[@garyfox8701]

Moved to Farndale Road in 1979. Outside toilet. Bath was in the Kitchen. No central heating. 8 of us in three bedrooms. Went to Rutherford. All I can say is 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.

[@neilt7145]

I'm a Benwell lad. Born 1971 and came from Strathmore Cres and went to the original Canning St School. lived there till I was about 8 then moved to Grainger park. I now live in West Scotland and come down often to the Newcastle home games and sometimes drive along Glebe St to see the places I used to hang out and live an my, did I feel like a stranger in my own country. What the hell has happened to Benwell? I park my car on Western Avenue and walk down Stanhope Street to St James and again, I feel like a stranger in my own country. Some of you will crow that I'm racist for my comments but to you who are from the same era will know exactly what I mean. The West End of Newcastle has fallen.

[@jean2740]

Yes yes yes yes it's all true what you said ,but we are not allowed our opinion in our own country!!! our ancestors who where born here hundreds of years ago Would turn in there graves , yes we ARE )) Strangers in our once own country , I get where your coming from

[@HorseMalone]

Like Mogadishu now...

[@jean2740]

Yes looks like we are a third world country now the country down the swanny

[@neonskyline1]

You wouldn't think Britain was such a wealthy country, it's neglected even today,

[@martinkulkarni3569]

Because it’s always been a conservative country, where the poor are kept down whilst creating the wealth for the capitalists!

[@jean2740]

WAS !!! a wealthy country blame all the so called leaders we had over lat 50 years for state of the place

[@SteveAllan2015]

not a black or cosivo face to be seen although a couple of Asian corner shops .wonder what people from past Benwell would think of it as it now is

[@jimreid6370]

I will tell you. It was horrible !

[@jean2740]

They would turn in there grave.

[@cossieracingguys9657]

Before the invasion!!!

[@martinkulkarni3569]

Invasion of what? A few thousand people who arrive from overseas? How do you think nations come to exist? Be created? Evolve? On second thoughts, never mind. Don’t want to overtax you’re brain cell too much!

[@jean2740]

Here here I know what you mean so very true 👍

[@jean2740]

Afew more than a few thousand if only.

[@jean2740]

Yes

[@chasidahL]

Thanks for a fantastic video. So many wonderful memories of my 1960's Scotswood childhood. I do appreciate people often romantise their childhoods, but I'm so grateful and fiercely proud of where and when I grew up. Such a strong community spirit. We had real fun- with no money in our pockets. We were poor, but only financially. Emotionally we were millionaires. That Scotswood childhood made me a strong, determined individual. I'm sure I'm not the only one.......

[@jean2740]

Yes very very true 👍

[@RivenRanger]

I believe at 4:43 it shows the old Westfield Road, just off Delaval Road right behind where the new houses are being build. My mom's childhood home was on Westfield. I'd love to see what it looked like before they tore all the houses down on that road, just so I can see where she grew up. I'd visited Newcastle in the summer of 2012, it was all empty fields where they're putting up the new development off Armstrong Road. Google maps doesn't even show Westfield as being called that anymore. It's Oelaval Road.

[@soulsnatchersmc7168]

thanks so much I live on pipetrack lane used run round buddel road wen they left houses empty for years we used to call it ghost town I'm only 28 but I can say I will never leave benwell even no is flooded with immigrant's who throw rubbish every wear

[@pecka2k]

those same immigrants can probably speak and spell English better than you!

[@SteveAllan2015]

yes because we pay for there education at Newcastle college.

[@ADZ01982]

Yeh it's kind of sad. The big question is where the hell did they go ?. It's just empty around there now. It's almost creepy. Maybe they moved when the shipbuilding industry died I don't know.

[@alansimpson7886]

St john s road cemetry...

[@gratitude1061]

Yes.

[@julieturnbull3950]

I was born 81 Buddle road 1965 omg love these pics thank you

[@julieturnbull3950]

@@Tommy31648 my mam is Marie Barrass and my dad was Derek Richardson we lived upstairs from Joan and Bill Joblin and the Lambs lived next door we moved to pendower when I was 4 so don’t remember much except a old woman who lived near us everyone called her Florry Duck lol

[@jean2740]

I was born in Benwell in Maria Street

[@zeddeka]

Like so many other poor communities, the area had some strong community spirit in parts, some very, very dark things going on if you scratched the surface. ​ There were two child murder episodes that tell us a lot about what was going on in the area. Firstly, the unsolved murder of 11 year old Alan Graham in Benwell in 1970. A neglected child left to wander the streets and who had developed a serious smoking habit. God knows what he did to get the cigarettes, but he was found murdered and sexually abused. The story of Mary Bell who grew up nearby is instructive. A community scarred by poverty. Her mother a professional prostitute in an area with a lot of casual prostitution because of the poverty. The violent child abuse Mary went through from her mother and her customers, far from rare there and in other poor communities in Britain. Mary's mother actually sold her at one point to another woman and her sister had to go and get her back. Human nature doesn't change - extreme conditions make a lot of people go off the rails. Benwell and other areas were no exception. You scratch the surface and you often find something very dark. The casual prostitution problem, driven by poverty, went on well into the 1980s when many women would flock towards Rye Hill touting for business to earn noney to feed their kids. A pattern common in many poorer parts of the UK.

[@steve-gv7yn]

Very well stated I forgot that Mary Bell came from near the Benwell area. My dad was born in Benwell in 1931 and went to Canning Street School. As a kid I used to love visiting him The area was industrial and had a certain beauty about it Sadly now all the character has gone

[@SloopyDog]

Where Did Benwell Go! Buddle Road?. A lot of it went to the tip in the back of my lorry in the 60s. The firm I worked for pulled down a great many of the houses in that area.

[@chuckylugs9607]

Loved the auld street light on the corner at 2:36❗️Aye, where did it all go 😔 People appeared happier then than what they do now 😐 The ‘new builds’ (housing) at the end just look plain ‘awful’ 😖

[@Kizzmypixel2023]

i lived 171 buddle rioad i think or 265 i was 2 year old when i moved there from violet street then moved to blakelaw 1971. my parents were les boag and brenda boag Nee landers.

[@jean2740]

Love looking back at these videos what a different world we then lived in back in the day we where all poor all fathers worked there self's to death cos if they didn't there family's starved ,it was very bleek but oddly enough today we seem to be going backyards towards those days only difference today is we are vastly overpopulated for our tiny little city

[@TheMisslisaemm]

Wonderful imagery in both videos. I went to both South Benwell schools in the 70s and 80s. Its like seeing where Mrs Peregrines home for peculiar children once stood when you see the empty landscape, where once stood the the Old South benwell school. I'm sure there are lots of us could reminisce about our happy memories of living in Benwell but there were hard times too. I just especially love the old images because remind me of my grandparents who lived in Benwell Dene Terrace. Its heartbreaking how down trodden it went over the years. Everyone remembers Miss Bells sweet shop.

[@Spartcusisoverthere]

Thanks for watching Lisa and adding to the story

[@TheMisslisaemm]

@@Spartcusisoverthere you're very welcome :)

[@christinethornhill]

There was also a Pork Butchers in Benwell that sold the most Amazing Savaloys and pease pudding, pork sandwiches to die for and wonderful, flavourful cooked hams . If I was lucky , my dear old grandad would stop there on Saturday morning with me to get the Savaloys for dinner, either that or bloaters from the fish shop nearby. Early 1950s happy days , just after rationing came to an end !! 👍🏼

[@westendone]

Born on whitehouse road its all gone now

[@TheConverter330]

I think that is Johnny Hewitt at 3.16 (striped shirt)

[@clik365]

And Peter Moore

[@bensouthwell1339]

Most of the people were good people but not all, but the area was a shit house from one end to the other end of South Benwell. We have to thank T Dan Smith the real hero for knocking the slums down and giving the people homes fit to live in. We were only happy because we were never told that another more pleasant life awaited us if we just reached out for it. Indoor toilets, indoor bath, running hot water, central heating, were only up there on the silver screen always the dream, T Dan made our dreams come true that was Danny's dream too.

[@da90sReAlvloc]

Yeah 13 years of torys really did a wonderful job haven't they

[@DavidRenwick-t1e]

It wasn't the houses that were the problem it was the people.

[@guidoahsam8043]

i would lik to life there.

[@glasgowrangersbritishpride8066]

Guido Ahsam no thanks. Stay in your own country. Enough of you scumbags destroying England

[@neonskyline1]

@@glasgowrangersbritishpride8066 I think you'll find it's the rich that do that, I seem to recall there were no foreign football fans smashing everything up in the 70's, how about you go back to your country, which one was it ? Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Denmark, ask your granparents if you don't know, I'm half Polish and Scottish, i actually went to live in Poland, because Britain is a stealth taxed shit hole