The Weston Of My Youth: 1955 - 1965

To start at the beginning, my Frame family settled permanently in Weston way back in 1904, although when Hebburn No.1 Colliery commenced production in 1903, my great-grandfather Andrew Paterson Frame (born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1860) walked from Maitland to Weston to work. During the work week at Hebburn No.1, Andrew lived in a makeshift humpy on the corner of Kline Street and Aberdare Street (now Cessnock Road) and returned to Maitland to see Eliza and their children on the weekends.  Andrew had originally worked on the construction of Walka Water Works in Maitland, which is how he came to meet his future wife, Eliza Louisa Hannan (b.1864). Eliza was the daughter of Edward Hannan of Primrose Hill in Hannan Street Maitland. Andrew and Eliza married 11 Aug. 1886.  Their first family home in Weston was constructed of tin.  It stood on the corner of Fourth and Kline Streets, just a couple of doors from where I spent the first 35 years of my married life at No.53 Fourth Street.  Later on, Andrew and Eliza moved to a dwelling on the corner diagonally opposite their original home and eventually built a shop front on it that became known as the Pagan’s Café. When Andrew and Eliza retired from this business they moved across to 65 Fourth Street and lived long enough to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary in 1946. Andrew passed away in 1947 aged 87.   Unfortunately, I can’t remember Great-Grandfather Andrew since I was only three when he died – but I do remember Granny Eliza.  She passed away in 1952 aged 88.

For the first 10 years of my life, we lived at 23 Eighth Street Weston or Down the Hollow as that part of town used to be called. It was always very cold in Winter!  Our house in Eighth Street was right next door to my grandparents, Edward (Bluey) and Catherine Frame. Following World War II, a conflict that led to the enlistment of my father and his brothers Coogan and Arthur, my father Mervyn returned to life as a coal miner.   Ill health eventually took its toll though, and forced him to retire early from Hebburn No.2 Colliery. In 1953, he and my mother followed in Andrew and Eliza Frame’s footsteps when they too, became small shop keepers.  My family moved from Eighth Street up to their shop premises at 35 Second Street,  Weston near the town centre.  

Following are my memories, as best I recall them, of our shop in Second Street and also the Weston town centre as it was between approximately 1955 and 1965:

Our shop was a mixed business and milk bar. It was located opposite the side door of the Capitol Theatre and was previously owned by the McDonald family.  This shop and residence was very old and constructed of weatherboards with an iron roof. There were a series of dilapidated structures at the back. The shop had old cast iron tables with marble tops and plenty of chairs where people could sit around and chat whilst having a milkshake, ice-cream, banana split etc.  It was always very busy during intermission at the Capitol Theatre. In those days, for the price of a ticket you got to see two films plus news and cartoons.  The picture theatre used to hang posters for the upcoming films in our shop and I used to line my bedroom walls with them once the film had finished showing. Such a pity I grew out of that stage (much to the relief of my mother!) because those old posters have become valuable collectors items!

We had a large embossed metal cash register that stood on the counter in the grocery section. The ‘till’ had chrome buttons and tabs that popped up in a viewing window showing how much had been ‘rung up’ for a sale. Biscuits were in bulk tins from the Arnott’s factory and had labels on the front showing their famous Rosella. When my grandmother Catherine (Falvey) Frame was a young girl, she worked at Arnott’s alongside her sisters putting those labels onto biscuit tins. Biscuits had to be weighed out and packed carefully into brown paper bags for the customers and you didn’t dare drop them; customers hated broken biscuits! Likewise sugar, salt and flour – most things came in bulk and had to be weighed into paper bags for the customers to carry home. Salt storage was a problem in damp weather as it formed into a solid mass and had to be vigorously bashed to break it up before weighing.

General groceries were ordered from R. Hall & Sons or David Cohen’s, and sweets came from the Pryde’s factory, Allen's and others. The chocolate manufacturers: Cadbury, Nestlé and Hoadley, and the cordial factories: Knipe’s and Astley's had their own trucks which made regular visits to sell their products to the shopkeepers.  Cold meats and bacon were sliced up fresh on a meat slicer and ham was carved straight off the bone. These were delivered to the shop by a small-goods wholesaler. The Milko delivered milk in large metal cans to pour into churns in our ‘Milk Bar’ fridge for milkshakes. The milk to be sold to customers came in one pint and half pint glass bottles with foil lids. These were relatively new at that time; previously customers brought a jug or billycan and the milk was ladled into those with a half-pint measure. The baker brought fresh bread stacked on large trays, still hot from the ovens. This was before the days of sliced bread in plastic bags. Nothing could possibly replace the aroma of fresh-baked bread!  Our bread was sold wrapped in tissue paper and customers purchased it fresh every day. A bakehouse was in Third Street directly behind our shop. I think it was originally Hendersons but Yeatmans had it during the period I am recalling.  The local poultry farmer supplied eggs in a wooden crate and these were wrapped individually in small pieces of newspaper before being put into brown paper bags for the customer – a rather delicate operation!  Goldman and Kennedy, fresh produce merchants, delivered fruit and vegetables that we displayed in the shop windows. Apples were polished to a high shine with tissue paper and all the various kinds of fruit and veggies were stacked up into ‘pyramids’. If fruit became bruised, it was not wasted. My mother Eva cut up the best part for fruit salad and sometimes made fruit-salad ice blocks to sell. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that they were not quite as delicious as those made by Mrs Hales at her shop on the corner of Station Street and Cessnock Road!

I remember Weston as a thriving community in those days. Perhaps being so young I was unaware of tensions in the mining industry over wages etc., but during my reminiscences I often ‘return home’ so I decided to try to capture my memories on paper by taking a mental stroll through the town centre.

Right next to us, but facing Station Street, were the much-loved Jock and Mary: Jock Stewart’s Hardware and Mary Stewart’s Shoe Store.  Reeds were once in this shop on the corner of Second and Station Streets prior to Mary moving in there.  Reeds were the original owners of the house we purchased from the Bignells at 53 Fourth St.  In the next block up from Jock and Mary’s walking towards the railway were the Capitol Theatre; School of Arts; Dr Meredith’s old surgery which later became the original Balsdon’s Cake Shop; Wanless’s Café (Len and Peggy); Mr Gray’s Store that sold stationery and many other items for school students; and Conway’s Grocery Store on the corner which was later taken over by the Weston Co-op Store.

In the following block were Ron Field’s Milk Bar, John Smitana the Bootmaker, the Dutch Cake Shop owned by Ruygroks who sold (in my opinion) the world’s best Easter eggs; Reed’s Ladies Wear that was later purchased by Mrs Meadows; Purcell’s Grocery(later Alan & Judy Lamb's); McIntosh’s Pharmacy; Eli Wilkinson’s Menswear that was later to be owned by Arthur Meadows; Mrs Hales’s Café from which I purchased the first hamburger I ever ate in my life, and the Taxi Rank.  Across to the next corner we had the unforgettable ‘Geordie Log’ (in Cessnock Road next to the small park), the ‘new’ Co-op Store Butchery on the corner that later became Wong’s Chinese Restaurant, then Bill Turner’s Electrical Store where I purchased my first vinyl records. I am unsure of the next buildings but was told Martins owned a mixed business and café right next to the Railway Station,

Crossing Station Street near the busy railway station at the southern end to journey back down the opposite side, we had the Co-op Store Timber Yards; Baby Health Clinic where I used to take my babies to be checked over every week for the first months of their lives,  and Hunter’s Newsagency.  On the next block were the Criterion Hotel; Billiards Room; the Casben Clothing Factory (formerly the old Olympia Theatre); Tindall’s Sports Store; Margaret (Bird) Foster’s Fish and Chip Shop (the best ever!); Hector’s Butchery and the Post Office with those dreaded silver weighing scales that inflicted great torment on me during my teenage years. In the following block heading north were the Commonwealth Bank; Kirkwood’s Grocery and Produce Store and Bob Paterson’s Barber Shop. On the last block in the business section of the street were Judy and Alan Lamb’s Milk Bar (previously Embleton’s); Balsdon’s ‘new’ Cake Shop and Albert Smallbill’s Fish and Chip Shop that later became 'Cookies'.

Thinking back to the cross streets, I still recall the Service Stations on both corners near the Overhead Bridge in First Street that are mentioned in Basil Ralston’s memoir. Cessnock Road (formerly Aberdare St.) had the Aberdare Hotel, the ‘old’ Co-op Store Butchery, the Ambulance Station and the bustling Co-op Store that opened in 1912 – the year my father Mervyn Frame was born.

The Store had a system of wires and metal containers overhead that delivered sales dockets from each department to the cashier’s office. They no doubt had a technical name but I don't know it.  Mrs Farnham’s Hairdressing Salon and Bailey’s Butchery were also in Cessnock Road. I cannot clearly recall the business that was next to Baileys in the 1950s – was it a hairdresser?  Perhaps Sylvia Hyde?  This shop was the original McIntosh’s Pharmacy until about 1943 when Mr McIntosh relocated to Station Street.

The Police Station was in First Street and as previously mentioned, a Bakery was situated in Third Street back to back with my parent’s shop. The health of the townsfolk was in the capable hands of Doctors Wonders and Waugh who moved from rooms in Second Street to a new surgery they built in Station Street next door to Jock and Mary Stewart’s, however I do remember our earlier family doctor, Dr  Meredith, very well.  If I recall correctly, he used to drive a Jaguar.  Along with its primary and infants schools, Weston also had a Masonic Temple; Presbyterian, Methodist, and Anglican Churches, a number of corner shops, halls including the Pensioners Hall where learner dances were held on a Saturday afternoon and the Parish Hall, both in Second Street, also sporting and recreational clubs, and several tennis courts. 

Weston was not large by any means back in the 1950s/60s, but it was a town with a big heart inhabited by ‘salt of the earth’ people who would rather do you a good turn than a bad one. We had all the services we ever needed back then without leaving town; yet if we wanted to go to Sydney or Newcastle to shop ‘in the city’, or even go to the beach with friends – it was so very easy. We simply walked to Weston Railway Station and bought a ticket. The railway was a great service for the townsfolk. We also had choices in our mode of transport to Cessnock or Maitland – we could either travel by train or hop on the regular half-hourly Rover Motors bus service.

Inevitably the culture of Weston changed when the old mines of the local Coalfields passed into history, but that is life. The old days and the old ways give way to the new – but the spirit of the old mining town of Weston still lives on in some of us. Great-grandfather Andrew Paterson Frame founded five generations of Australian miners after he arrived from Scotland in 1883. Given the harsh and unsafe conditions the early miners had to endure, I am very thankful that today’s coal miners are able to work in somewhat safer conditions and on better salaries than their forefathers.

These are my personal memories of the Weston of my youth. It is possible that I may have missed some establishments or confused others, in which case I hope I will be forgiven. Nevertheless, 'no matter how far, or how wide I roam, Weston will always be my home and I wish the current residents of my old hometown all the very best for the future!