ADAM DAWSON

My name is Adam Dawson. I was born 23rd December 1912. I went to Dunstan CE school aged 5. It was the main school for all the district, that was as far as all around about and the smaller places, smaller than Craster. Now we had a good school, the teacher was called Mr Keller. He was the only teacher, there was other ones. There were 2 classrooms. We had some good scholars, we were very very well educated indeed for our age, but we lost the school master, he left. Now we had another one called Blackburn, Mr Blackburn, and he took ill one time, he had to go to the hospital, and we got (what do you call those things Jean, - relief teacher ) got a relief teacher, he was a young man. Well we took the school off him (laughter), he had to go of course, cos we was a rum lot. Now we got a woman teacher, well she would buy us footballs, football shirts and everything, well that suited us down to the ground. We got on very well with her till Mr Blackburn came back.

We used to walk to Dunstan there was nothing else, so we used to walk it. Now on very bad days, we used to get some very rough weather our mothers used to bring us our dinners up to school. We used to have all sorts at school, we didn't miss nothing, we used to have May day we used to dance around the May pole with alt the ribbons, we were all dressed up in whites and different sorts of ribbons on, it was lovely. There was a piece of land outside our school, a good bit of land, and it was common land. Now the gypsies could come and stay on that land for a few hours, but they had to go at a certain time, cos we used to use the common for football and May poles all those sorts of sports.

Now at Craster there was a big ship, a German ship came ashore at the rock called Little Carr. Now we couldn't see it being pulled off, because of the regulations, but there was had a rum lad in the school, and he asked the schoolmaster if we could go and see it being pulled off because we couldn't see from Dunstan, it was too far away. So he said you'll have to ask the squire, we'll have to get permission off the squire if we can do that. So the main head lad, he gave him a note to take to the squire, anyway he got through the gate, half way up there, and he came back and says. Oh yes you go and see it, but when it was all over the lad says I didn't go to the Squire I turned back and says. Yes you can go. (Laughter).

I was a good artist when I was young, schooldays. Of course we used to have exhibitions in different places, village places. There was flower shows, and the schools used to exhibit the drawings and paintings, and one season I won the lot at Howick flower show. When I left school, the teacher said to me, don't bury your talent, but 1 did. When my nephew went to school in them days, my paintings were still on the walls to show off.

If you were clever at school, you used to go to Dukes School in Alnwick, it was a high school, much higher, something like a grammar school in them days. Yes we had some clever lads and girls, and some went to Dukes school, and there was a Duchess school for the girls. They gave the Squire, the old Squire, I don't mean John, Sir John, I mean his father, he used to come to the school to see if everything was going alright. He came often. Some of the children at school names were Durham, Sinclairs, Simpsons, Archbolds, Dawsons, quite a few more, 1 just forgot. There used to be a boy come to school, he was a Mongol, his name was Coxon. His father was a farmer and his grandfather was a farmer for the Squire, and he was tret like everybody else, no different.

I can't remember them building Craster harbour, but I can remember them building Craster. The houses in Craster were all whinstone, that was from the local quarry round about. All the houses are all whinstone. There was no water in the houses, it came from a reservoir on top of a hill, there was a spring that used to fill this reservoir, but we used to be very very careful with the water. We never used it for washing. Outside every house in Craster there was a barrel we used to have for washing the clothes and everything we used to use rain water which was pure and clean Now everybody in Craster had a wash house outside, there used to be a steel pot they used to fill that with rain water. Now underneath that we used to use coal and sticks to boil the water, to make a fire. That was how we used to wash our clothes.
To dry our clothes we used to hang them out in the gardens or on the bushes or anything. Everything was that clean nothing was dirty. That was how we used to get them dry in the summertime. In the houses there were racks to dry the clothes in the wintertime, that's where we used to hang them up and the heat from the fires, coal fires used to dry the clothes. Now in the wintertime, we used to make all carpets, such as clippv rugs, and there was some beauties I can tell you. They never come out, we never used them until Craster feast, that was in May. Now in Craster village, when it was the feast, every house in Craster was painted. They were painted up ready for the feast and it was a feast I can tell you. There was ham, there was everything to eat, home-made. We used to have oil lamps. In the wintertime nearly every fisherman m Craster used to keep a pig. We used to buy them early on in the summer and feed them up, they used to have special pig sties, built a long way from the houses of course They were fed everyday these pigs, until they were about 20 or 30 stone, then when it was a blowing day, everybody used to, of the course the butcher used to come and kill the pigs. We had ham and rolls of bacon for all the winter.

All the houses on the North side which was the posh area were fisherman, they belonged to fishermen, and me grannies house which is now called Cobble cottage years ago cost a hundred pounds to build, which in them days was a lot of money. Me grannies house, she was a Smailes, her name was Jane Smailes before she was married, now me grandfather's name was Dawson, Edward Dawson, he lived till he was 84, me granny lived until she was 88. All the fisherman were Methodist of course, very religious indeed. In me grannies house, before the chapel was built, used to have the meetings there. The Craster people built the Chapel with their own money it was properly built by skilled men. It was heated by pipes from a boiler which used coal or wood. There were a lot of Archbolds in Craster, but the Chapel was started in me grannies house, Dawson. The old religious fishermen used to preach in the Chapel, used to give a service, there was Stanton, there was some Smailes and there were some Archbolds and Scott the butcher. The fishermen and Scott the butcher, were very very religious and they used to preach themselves, give the services. The parson came from Seahouses, the real Methodist parson came every Sunday. We used to have a Sunday school, and all the children used to go to Sunday school and the local teacher was Bob Taylor, he used to preach.

Now before my time, Craster had street lighting, and there were cages on the comers of the buildings, where they used to put an oil light in to show the fisherman the way down to the harbour in the wintertime. I didn't know that, but the relies were still there when I was going to school. They were like wooden cages with a light in, paraffin lights.

We only had one doctor and he lived in Embleton and his name was Waterson, and to come to Craster he used to come on a bicycle because there was no cars. He brought many of us into the world. As time went on, we had a doctor who came to Craster to live, his name was Jackson and he came from Alnwick. Now Craster was in a bit of a state, and this doctor cleaned it up, starting with shells, mussel shells and everything, and he put Craster in a nice state. He cleaned it up, no pig sties, no pigs, no nothing, 'cos I mean then Craster was getting on its feet.

This Archbold. he had a shop in North Craster, now he was the first man in Craster to have an assignment of tea. What we drunk before that I do not know. The shop was on the north side where all the houses were built, on that comer there, and he had a shop on the comer of Chapel Row. Where on the north side, as you go through the gate to the Castle there's some houses there, some new houses, well before that there was a herring shed. Thomas Grey he was a fish merchant. The fishermen had houses on both sides. I don't know where the land came from, but they had a piece of land at the back of the houses, a good stretch of land, which was used for growing vegetables and all the potatoes and everything. They were set every year for potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, beetroot, everything and we used to use them in the winter. Now South Craster, it was owned by the Squire, all them houses there was owned by the Squire and they used to pay rent, the fishermen.

Now the first car in Craster was owned by a man called Adam Archbold. He had a little sort of garage, and it was s Ford, a sit up and beg Ford. That was the first car in Craster. Before the ears came there used to be the horses, the stables in South Craster, but I can't remember them building all them houses or stables. They used to be all horse drawn vehicles. I can remember me, when I was a little boy, going to the cemetery at Embleton with me granny, in a pony and cart. A pony and cart that was the main thing, that was the only way of getting around in those days. There was a cemetery called Spittle Ford. Now anybody who died in Craster that's where they were buried, in Embleton, just near Embleton in Spittle Ford cemetery, and all Craster people are buried there.

There was a thing called the Rocket which was the life saving apparatus and there was coast guards in them days living in South Craster. There were three coast guards who used to supervise the rocket. When a ship came ashore, that's the way you used to get the men off, by this rocket. I mean, I couldn't explain everything. The rocket was manned by the fishermen, my father was on that for 20 odd years, and he got a medal. He was called George Dawson, and we've still got the medal somewhere. 20 years service, it was only fishermen 'cos they knew the ropes and my father's brothers were there, Seb Dawson, Edward Dawson and quite a few Archbolds and Smailes, they were on, 1 can just remember one, and its name was Alfargo, it was a German ship and she was loaded with wood, tree trunks. They got wrong with the lights and they came on the rocks. They got all the men off with the rocket but the skipper wouldn't come off. He stayed with his ship, but he came off the next day, as it got too rough. All the crew were taken in by the villagers and the coast guards of course. I think she was a Swedish ship. It was a German name, but a Swedish ship.

There was a real rocket, that was set off by the main man, he was number one. The rocket was for saving lives on the coast. This was run by 3 coast guards, they were responsible. Now the rocket was on a cart, a 4 wheel cart and was driven by 2 shire horses. 'When there was a wreck on the rocks, they got to the nearest point with the rocket. Now the way the rocket works. It's on a tripod, it's a real rocket, which had a special man to set it away. It's ignited by something and then it goes, psssst, away it goes. Over the ship what's on the rocks and the men aboard the ship pull the small rope and then pull on a bigger one, a thicker rope onto the ship, and that's where the breeches buoy goes, onto the thick rope. Now there's another rope attached to the breeches buoy and there's another rope attached to the shore. The men on the boat pull the breeches buoy into the ship, a man gets in and its pulled back by the fishermen on the shore.

There were no roads in Craster, they were all whinstone pebbles. There was no tarmac, nothing like that at all. They were very very rough.

The sport in the village was football. Now we couldn't find a pitch as you know, and we eventually found a pitch, it was through the gate as you go to the Castle and the top fields were quite level. Now Craster is a very old football side, they had been playing for years and years, before we started. We had a good side in Craster. We used to play the North Northumberland league and there were some good teams in that league. Even Alnwick had 3 teams in that league there was Wooler, Amble and all districts around here. There was some good teams. Now we had a good side. There were 4 brothers of mine who played in the team. One season we won the North Northumberland league, the year we won was 1927-28. I was only 16 when I played in that team, but I was good. I was very good. On the team was my brother Edward, he was the goalkeeper, there was Max Simonson fullback, and John Archbold, half backs were Billy Grey from Howick, Jack Carrs from Craster and an Embleton boy called Farnham. Now on the wings were Riddell, me, my brother Ralph, Dickens inside left, and another Farnham, brother to the other Farnham, they were twins, and we won the league. If we were short of a player, sometimes Sir John Craster used to come and play for us. When that was all over, we were in the reading room and we were all presented with the medals from Sir John Craster. We used to play these Alnwick sides, they didn't like us, a village team, beating them and we used to have some rough games now and again, especially with the Alnwick Dukes school old boys. The trainer, his name was Archbold, the secretary, his name was Archbold. Our team was properly run, it was the best turned out side in the league, "cos our mothers used to wash our shorts and shirts. They were spotless. We were red, our shirts were red and our shorts were white and we used to have red socks or stockings. I was only young, only 16, and the secretary or trainer says to me, he threw the shirt at me, and said you're playing tomorrow at Bamburgh and that pitch was the cricket ground under the Castle at Bamburgh. We had a good game, a very good game indeed. I enjoyed that. Now my brother Ralph, centre forward, was a bit rough for the goalkeepers. If the goalkeeper got hold of the ball, he'd knock them into the net. That was his tackle. We played Alnwick United and their goalkeeper was deaf, stone deaf. As the game went on my brother says, you see that goalkeeper he's deaf, get into him, he can't see you. (Laughter) Our local rivals were Seahouses, a fishing village the same as us. There was some hard games there at Seahouses, the same when they came to us. We used to travel in a car, and the car was a Rolls Royce, belonging to an Embleton proprietor, he used to run the football teams around to where they used to play.

Women in Craster were hard working women. They were strong, they had to be strong, 'cos sometimes they used to go to Boulmer, that's about 3 or 4 miles away. They used to gather limpets off the rocks, to make the mussels grow. The mussels were the main bait on the lines, plus limpets. That made things go a long way. They used to put a creel on their backs, the women, and they used to fill them with limpets, with a little basket on top. The water was pouring out of them, down their backs. They used to walk to Boulmer and then walk back. Then they used to stand and peel the limpets, take the middles out. They also used to shell the mussels for the lines. When the fishermen came in, in the morning, the women used to go and help haul the boats up, the cobbles up. Now every fisherman had 3 lines. They used to come in and put them down, and the women used to sit down there and bait the lines. Each line was about 100 yards long or more. There was all hooks on these lines, that used to catch the fish with the bait on. There was this woman who was a very strong person, her name was Margaret Ann, but she got Margaret Dan, Archbold was her name, her married name. It was no trouble for her to walk miles, pick the limpets of the rocks, walk back and do the lines when she came back. They used to bake bread, never bought bakers bread, they wouldn't have it. Must have home made bread. They wouldn't have baker's bread, no price. I had a cousin who used to cut the crust off the baker's bread, he thought it was mucky. His name was Bob Taylor.

Fishermen used to wear Jerseys, navy blue jerseys and they were home knit by scotch wool and they were beautiful, beauties.

My mother, she came from Boulmer and she had 2 sisters in Craster as well, they came from Boulmer as well. Now their names before they were married were Streaker from Boulmer. My mother had 2 brothers, one was called Adam, I think that's where I got my name from, and the other one was called James. They were fishermen from Boulmer. My mother's name was Jane, then there was my aunt Annie and the other one was called Straffen. My aunt Straffen married an Archbold, my aunt Annie married a Dawson and my mother married a Dawson. The Dawson of my aunt Annie was a cousin of my dad. My mother's brother Adam kept a fishing boat in Boulmer, next to the public house. Of course nobody went fishing on a Sunday. At weekends, we would walk from Craster, my mother, my dad and me to Boulmer and stay for the day at my uncle Adam's. There was a small beer off, not far from us on the North side, was run by Patience Mason, and we used to call her Nanny Mason, and her husband. They were both Embleton folks, came from Embleton.

The cobles, fishing cobles, in the harbour were mostly manned by brothers. There was one called ?? and they were Taylors. There was 3 brothers. Bob, John Willie & Harry. There was another coble called Annie Nellie, which was manned by the father Archbold and 2 sons. They were William & George. Now there was another one called The Mayflower, and that was manned by the Smailes, 2 brothers. Jimmy and John I think. Now my dad didn't have a coble of his own, so he used to split them up, with another man and go to sea together. It was a part share coble. It's name was called Jane and they went to sea quite a while before they had a new coble. The part share in this coble was an Archbold and his brother Seb Dawson, my father's brother. They went together for a long time. There was three in the boat so they shared that with him. They all went and had a new boat called The Our Lass 252PK. The same crew was in The Jane and they all shared that. The money for the catch was shared amongst the three. There was always a share for the boat, for repairs. Fishermen in Craster they were Archbolds. the father and 2 sons, now they went to Blyth fish and they had an accident there. They lived in Blyth. They all drowned, the father and 2 sons. They were Craster men. The Smailes's coble was called the Our Girls, 'cos they had girls and we had boys. The cobles were hauled up every year when the fishing was done; they were washed, cleaned and painted. They used to put the names on and their numbers on the boat. To get the boats hauled up out of the water, there was a wire rope attached to a capstan with props through each side. Now the women and the men used to go round and round to haul them up. That's how they used to get the boats up in them days. All the boats used to have bolt props and they used to go on the cobles of the boat and they used to go easy. In the summertime they weren't hauled up at all, they used to ride in the harbour because it was nice weather. Now years ago it was all hard work for the fishermen, they used everything by hand. They used to haul up the nets, and lobster nets. Now my brother Ralph who was a clever lad, he thought of an idea about hauling these nets up mechanically. So he invented the back axle of the motor car, it was attached to the engine, I couldn't tell you how he did it, but he did. This was the capstan on the back of the boat, which used to pull the nets up. It was a big success. When he was putting it in, everybody said what a lot of work, but he did. Everybody hauling the boats had them in. They were bought by
Tom Grey the fish merchant. Now Ralph Archbold, the fisherman, who went to sea with his 2 sons, was the first man to have a motor put into a coble. He had 2 boats, one was called the called the Annie Nellie after his 2 daughters, and the other one was called the Mayflower. Now it was such a success that everybody had an engine put in. The north side fishermen used to moor their boats alongside the North pier. The South side fishermen used the South pier.

Craster was a very busy village, because in Craster there were 4 herring yards, and they kept all the fishermen busy in the herring season. Nearly all the women in Craster were employed. The herring yards belonged to Robson, T S Grey and a chap called Eadington, but the north side I don't know. The women were very busy indeed, they used to make kippers and they used to put the herrings in the barrels. There was a layer of herring, a layer of salt. Now most of these barrels went abroad, they were sent to Russia by boat. Seven of eight miles off Craster, due east, was a very good fishing ground. It was brimming with herring, thus all the boats went to fish. It was called Craster Smole?? That was before the harbour was built. Craster harbour. On the North pier is a brass plaque with all the details on it. So you'll be able to get all the information about Craster harbour there. In my younger days we used to keep our ears open for the old fishermen. What they used to tell us. In the olden days ships had no motors, and when there was an easterly wind they used to be blown onto the rocks, Craster rocks. They used to break up. They were loaded with stuff, such as wine, all sorts of wine, tobacco, cigarettes, and so on. Now the fishermen used to get these barrels, and the customs used to claim them. They could claim the lot. The fishermen were drunk nearly every night and smoke themselves to death, out of these barrels.
Lovely best wine, rum, whisky and all sorts of drink. After all the herring fishing was finished, the fishermen had to preserve their nets. So they used to use a solution which was called Bark, in what they called the Bark Pots. The pots were filled with water and the bark was melted in there. The nets were dipped in to preserve them, and they used to hang them out to dry. They stored the nets in the top of their houses. The fishermen in Craster used to store their nets in a false roof, where it was nice and dry. They were aired ready for the next season. By the way there's a place in Craster, a cafe, called the Bark Pots. It was built on the bum hill. North Craster and they were for years, because when I was going to school we used to play in them, they were wrecks then of course. That was in the 19 hundreds when they were there.

There's plenty of nicknames in the village, but they did not like you to use them. If you did there would be eruptions, so I don't think you want to publish that in the book. My father George Dawson had a big herring boat which had a crew of 5, the boat was called the Morag. I think he bought her from Eyemouth, and his brother Seb, was one of the crew. My father was very very young in them days, in fact he wasn't married. That was in the 1800's. When the harbour was built, before my time, the herring fishing still continued. I can remember an Eyemouth boat called the Holly bringing a hundred barrels in. In them days the herring boats had motors, and I can remember they used to use a lot of horses and carts to cart the herrings away. The North pier was full of barrels, but they were empty. They would fill them up with herrings and go to the herring yards and get them ready for going to Russia They worked all night on that job and the horse and carts used to ferry them off. They went to the herring sheds to be cleaned and packed in the barrels to be sent abroad. During the war there was a ship left Tyneside, Newcastle, and she was a general cargo ship, she was full of cigarettes, clothes, everything. Now she was blown up not far away from the outside of Craster, and cigarettes were washed ashore by the thousand. I got some. My father sent me a box of cigarettes, and everybody else in the village had cigarettes and all sorts of stuff. I was probably still in my mother's arms, but I can remember going behind the castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, cos there was a submarine came ashore there. All the crew, it was rough weather, were lost. They were foreign. When I grew up, I working in Embleton in my trade, and somebody came to me and said, do you know those men that were lost. Well I could tell them. Do you see that castle there, well that's where they were lost, and they are buried in Embleton cemetery. They had come all the way from Sweden or somewhere, they used to fight for us during the war, they were all lost. They are all buried in the cemetery at Embleton. This was the first world war. Now in the second world war, there were the mines. They used to wash ashore, an easterly gale, and they used to go off. People used to leave their houses cos they knew they were going to go off, and they used to blow the windows out. I think people had to get out for safety sake. My father and his brother had a corbie, they used to go fishing, and there was a mine came ashore on the rocks and some men came to Craster and asked the fishermen if they would go and catch it. They all refused, but my father and Seb said they were go and fetch it. They went not far away and fetched this mine into Craster, this ministry man went with them to fetch it off. My uncle said what about us sat here? This officer said, you know nothing about it. Just go. Anyway they brought it ashore, they towed it into Craster harbour. Everybody in Craster was gone. When they got the mine in. the man just turned it over, screwed something off and got all the powder out. and set it afire. There was peace in Craster then. During the war, Craster had some prisoners of war, and they were Italians, and they were stationed just behind the cliffs at Craster, in wooden sheds. There wasn't many, but they were good artists. Some of the paintings were in this shed. They also made a road up to it. They were loose, they could have escaped at anytime, but they didn't. They used to do a lot of work for the village folk, cos they couldn't go anywhere, they did a lot of gardening and lots of work. Of course the village folk used to look after them well. In the first world war, we had the home guards. They saw a man loitering about near the Dunstanburgh Castle, so one of the home guards, of course he had a rifle, went and said, come on, I'm going to take you in. You're a spy. When they got him to Craster he was one of the Craster folk. Charlie B(V)arnham, he wasn't a Craster man, he came from Leicester, so he didn't talk
Craster twang. Doug Simpson brought him in, all the way with a gun at his back and it was Charlie Varnham, Craster man. A government department came to Craster and demanded all the fishing boats to be requisitioned for war work, but in the end it fell through. During the last war the local fishermen went to sea just the same, but they had to look out for mines. It was a dangerous job. There was plenty of fish and they made lots of money during the war. There were quite a lot of Craster men in the forces during the war, and there were two killed. They were George Robert Archbold and the other was John Kaisley. During the last war there were home guards, and they used to go along the coast during the night, to the Castle and back to guard the coast. In the last war there were soldiers, which made up a little army to guard the Castle and the coast. They were Home Guards. That's the end of the war years.

The weddings at Craster were in the chapel. Now when they came out, the custom was that the people at the end, all the relations, used to throw money away. We knew so we used to wait. There were sixpences and threepenny pieces and coppers. If you went down to that road to the Chapel you would find some now, buried in the soil. The receptions for these weddings were mostly in the Reading room. South Craster Dances, music, pianos, and they would play fiddles, it was quite good. Once a year, when it was nice weather, we used to go to Craster Towers. We used to have strawberries, tea and cakes. It was good. It was the old squire. Where they used to get the water from, there was a windmill in a field not far away from the Towers. It was pumped up, and we used to call it Windmill field, and it's still there. The day at the Towers was held on the lawns, and sometimes there used to be sports, running for the kiddies. It was good for us. Summer holiday we used to go and make Craster kipper boxes for pin money. We used to do OK. The wood used to come already cut and we just had to nail them up. There were large boxes, half boxes and quarter boxes, for the kippers to go in. That's how the kippers were sold, in these boxes. They had paper wrapped round inside, they were quite clean. They went to the markets to be sold, Newcastle, Alnwick and different markets. Old Mrs Craster was very nice, a very nice person indeed. She used to mix with us all the time. We had a good day out, and we enjoyed it very much. There was a couple in Craster got married, and they went the next day to New Zealand, to start farming. Now that was a long way to go for a Craster person. I remember her name, it was Jessie Carss. In the end, nearly all that family went out to New Zealand to stay there. His name was Jimmy Kim, and they were an old Craster family. In May time we used to dance round the May Pole. It was a lovely time, and all the coloured ribbons used to go round the May Pole. Every New Year we used to go to Newcastle, we had a cousin who used to organise this trip. It was a very good trip. We use to go to Newcastle in a bus, go to the football match first, then go to a restaurant, Carricks, to have a good feed. After that we used to go to a pantomime. That was the day's outing. We used to get back about midnight. Craster feast. My mother used to make a spiced loaf. Now that was a fruit cake, a rice cake was a plain cake and scones, girdle scones. Craster feast always came on the Bank Holiday Monday in May. Every house in Craster was painted inside and outside, for the Craster feast and the peg rugs used to come out that day. It was sparkling and clean, looked gorgeous. Now my father used to buy a ham, a whole ham, and my mam used to boil it for the relations at Boulmer, cos they used to come on the Sunday. Craster feast was a day of sports, that was on the Monday. Even the fishermen used to race their cobles and there was plenty of talent in Craster. They used to make small boats to sail in the harbour for racing. It was all racing, it was good. Also there was a pigeon race, I couldn't forget that. We also had a holiday, it was an annual holiday. We also had one on the Tuesday for the older men, they used to bring kites. There was also a greasy pole, with a ham on top, and it was fun trying to get that ham off the top of the pole. There used to be a colliery band come, and they used to play at night in the Reading Room, dances and all that. It used to be a sort of a carnival. It was great. The Jolly Fisherman was a very busy place indeed, we always had a good time. There were stalls, cups with fruit on and all sorts. It was a great day, Craster Feast, it was a great day and always has been. There was money and they gather it through the year for the sports. The busy race you got money for that, there was money for the hundred yards, in fact I got 30 shillings, cos I came in second.

At a Christmas there was a party in the Reading Rooms with books as prizes, and everyone had a present off the Xmas tree. Little Adam Archbold bought a new Ford bus called Ocean Maid, for trips. When he could fill the bus he ran Sunday School parties to St. Abbs and Rothbury. Bill Rutherford came from Canada to Craster to live. He bought a bus with solid tyres kept in the herring sheds at the North end. Then he bought a Chevrolet bus,, new, and started to run a service to Alinwick and Berwick. He then branched out and bought 5 or 6 buses and eventually United bought him out.

Fresh water for cooking and drinking was from the same reservoir. There was outside water tap outside every 5 houses on the front.

This recording was made in 2003 by Adam Dawson, born on the 23rd December 1912, at 17 Dunstanburgh Road, Craster.

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