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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