Peggy Sweeting
My Mother Peggy Sweeting
Peggy Sweeting was born Violetta Liege Sweeting in Foster’s Buildings, West Cornforth on 9th August 1914. She was the third child of Elizabeth Sweeting (nee Owen who had lived in The Balaclava Public House, West Cornforth) and Jackson Sweeting, (born in Old Easington).
Mam told me she became known as Peggy when she started walking and used to toddle along in the same style as a lady in the village known as ‘Peggy Goundry’ and was known, from then on, as ‘Little Peggy Goundry’. The Goundry was dropped though little did anyone know at the time that she would in fact become Mrs Peggy Goundry, but I’ll come to that later. Not many people in the village knew her as anything other than Peggy Sweeting and she would tell me that when a new Teacher would read out the Register everyone would be looking around for Violetta Sweeting thinking there was a new girl in the class!
Mam grew up in Cornforth attending the local school, she told me about the day the school moved from the old school when all the children processed along the village carrying their own chairs to the new school and how excited they all were to go to the beautiful new school. I’m not sure when the family moved into 18 High Street, but mam’s early memories were mainly from there until her marriage.
As she grew up she learned to ride a horse along with her brothers who she informed me teased her mercilessly as I suppose brothers did but she probably gave them as good as she got if I know her. She had piano lessons which she hated but had to endure even gaining certificates as I discovered when my own daughter was studying GCSE Music and mam unearthed her music books for her. Mam also studied tailoring and was adept at dress making helping me to make my own clothes as I grew up.
I’m not sure at what age or where she met my father Philip Goundry but they were married on November 28th November 1937 in Holy Trinity Church, West Cornforth, witnessed by mam’s brother George Sweeting and her friend Phoebe Clark, mam then officially became Peggy Goundry, the lady whose name she was given as a young child. Dad was by then a Colliery Engineer at Chilton Colliery and they moved to Chilton.
Dad enjoyed motoring by both motor bike and car and they spent many holidays both at home and abroad before the outbreak of WW2.
I recall mam telling me her first driving lesson was from her father, Jackson Sweeting and came about only because her brothers had gone off to war and there was nobody left to drive the Butcher’s van! Her first provisional driving licence is dated 03/12/41, and after only one lesson she was on her own often having to check that before she could drive down a street that she could get out the other end as she couldn’t reverse the van! I’m not sure how but like many others at that time she managed to get a full Driving Licence without ever having to sit a test. The only accident she had was during the Black Outs and my Dad was driving. As a family they were very lucky and all the boys came home after the war.
In 1946 they resumed their touring holidays and were often accompanied by their nieces Joy, uncle Tom’s daughter and Shirley, uncle Bob’s daughter. Then in 1952 they got a shock that changed their lives, mam found out that she was going to have a baby, after 15 years of marriage they had given up on every becoming parents.
After my arrival they settled into family life in Chilton joined by Beulah the German Shepherd and Ginger the cat (I think they were there before me) making the family complete. In 1955 Dad was transferred to a colliery in Kent so we all moved to start a new chapter in our lives but sadly this was not to be and dad died after only six months down there. As mam hadn’t been there long enough to form any friendships she thought it best to return home to her family at first living with my Dad’s Aunt Jane in Ferryhill before moving in with Uncle George, Aunty Jean, Julie and Jackson at No 70 High Street while waiting for 18 High Street to have alterations and repairs made ready to start her part of the business of Jackson Sweeting Butchers. It was quite a squash in No 70 but I think it helped mam at such a sad time to be with her family.
In 1956 Peggy Sweeting’s Bakery was born, times were very tough for a widow with a child and the hours in the bakery were long and hard often working from 5.30 in the mornings to light the ovens and start the baking, until 11pm at night preparing the ingredients for the day’s baking and cleaning up after the shop shut. Over the years there were a number of ladies who came to help in both the shop and the bakery many of whom became good friends.
Mam got her confidence back and occasionally would have a night out with Aunty Joy going to a dance or to The Sun Inn at Cockerton. Holidays were different too, no more touring and not so many. We visited The Butlins Metropole Hotel in Blackpool with Uncle George, Aunty Jean, Julie and Jackson and on another occasion Butlins at Filey with Aunty Joy and her grandson Michael.
In 1961 Mam married for a second time to James Coulson Twitty a widower from Spennymoor and his family, Ann, Alan, Judith and Linda moved into 18 High Street. More alterations were needed to accommodate this increased family as strangely enough 18 High Street only had two bedrooms. Sadly this didn’t work out and they separated and later divorced.
In 1962 or 63 mam was rushed to hospital with a burst ulcer and was very ill for a while, luckily with the help of family and her staff the bakery continued. The worries of the business and marriage problems took their toll on her and she later decided to come out of the partnership with her brother George and continue the business on her own, quite a challenge for a single woman at that time.
Soon the business was doing ok and it was time to get a van so she could expand by taking orders to other shops in neighbouring villages, Jim Clark, whose wife Mary was already working in the bakery, used to help with the deliveries then came the Pie and Pea Suppers. The van was of course occasionally used for pleasure and I recall one time when she took some of her girls, Edie Reeves, Cissy Hunter, Mary Clark and Betty Fleetham on a trip to Newcastle to see The Sound Of Music film, we got some very strange looks when we all piled out of the mini van, but we had some fun times.
There was around this time a little confusion in the street as there were two shops known as ‘Peggys’, Mrs Iveson had the fruit shop at the bottom and of course mam had the bakers at the other end though neither had their name on the shop so mam decided to name her shop ‘Peg’s for Pies’, the lettering was duly purchased and placed in the window so every stranger coming into the village knew which shop to get the pies from!
Feeling the need for somewhere to be able to relax she bought a caravan from Mr & Mrs Crawford in the street behind us and had it taken to Redcar by Blenkinsops, that was to become her sanctuary finishing work at 1 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon and head off to Redcar for the ‘weekend’ returning at 5pm on the Sunday in time to put the meat in the oven for the pies the next day but she valued that short break most weekends in the summer. We often took Mary and Jim Clark with us for the weekend.
I would help in the shop when I wasn’t at school but I was under no illusion that I would continue in the business oh no, mam had plans that I would be a secretary, who was I to dare argue with her. Around this time mam decided it was time she learned to swim so she took herself and a lady called Daisy (not sure what her surname was) off to Durham Swimming baths where they both learned to swim, quite an achievement especially for Daisy who was blind.
Swimming seemed to fill a gap in her life and we would travel to the different pools in the area, Seaton Carew, Redcar, and when Billingham Forum opened off we went there where she was introduced to the Sauna which she loved.
Life continued like this for a while until there was a wedding to plan, the cake was baked by mam and decorated by Mrs Ward and was beautiful, we had to bully mam to take the full Saturday off work as we were married at 12.30 and she didn’t want to let her customers down but I’m sure they understood. Not only was she the chauffer for the Bride but also gave me away, quite an unusual thing at the time. The only stipulation she had was that we weren’t going to have a ‘Ham & Pease Pudding’ or ‘Pie and Peas’ Reception, once again you don’t argue with mam when she has made up her mind.
In 1975 mam decided to retire and in August the business closed. She settled in Thrislington Close and was surrounded by good neighbours, Bella & Tommy Jones next door, Tommy & Pina Mitton and Mr & Mrs Wheatley over the road plus many others whose names escape me. Mam enjoyed the freedom of not working for a while and managed to take a trip with her niece Shirley to California to see her friends from school, Norman Marquis and his sister Hazel who emigrated there with their families as children and had kept in touch. After that trip there followed a trip to Moscow with Aunty Doris and Shirley and a few holidays to Majorca, Spain and Tunisia. Mam soon became bored with retirement and managed to get a little job as barmaid in The Hare & Hounds Pub for Roger & Dorothy Valks, she thoroughly enjoyed this and was there for quite a while until she had a little fall and broke her hip which made it difficult for her to continue as a bar maid. She missed this job quite a lot as it was not just a little money to help her pension but also a big part of her social life.
Once her hip mended she still managed to get about and was a regular visitor to the library a couple of times a week and visited the shops on the High Street for her daily needs and Pension until her health deteriorated and she eventually became housebound and dependant on others for her daily needs. Quite a shock to the system for such an independent woman to have to rely on others for help but never once did I hear her complain about anything either the inconvenience of being incapacitated or the pain she was so obviously in. She was very grateful to Bella Jones her neighbour for her help and care over the years and the help and support from her Home helps who visited daily giving their help at the times I could not. Sadly mam passed away on 24th July 1996.
Looking back on her life like many others of that era she certainly didn’t have it easy but she lived it to the full and made the best of everything that was given to her.
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