Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

From my perspective local politics was for her clearly a very active war, with
allegiances constantly changing - one month a person was "thick as thieves" with her
and the next she would have no good word for them. I see her now as a kind of
Margaret Thatcher on a local scale! She would have made a good MP and was
approached from time to time by people with this in mind, but nothing came of it. She
was very single minded and principled and she did a great deal of good - as
chairwoman of the Finance Committee and the Housing Committee and member of
many others. People used to come to our house for help and advice at all hours and the
telephone rang constantly. I remember at an early age meeting Dame Irene Ward, then
MP for Tynemouth, quite often and on another occasion Alfred Robins, later to become
a Labour Minister. At an early stage of his political career; she was a friend of Neville
Trotter, the MP for Tynemouth towards the end of the century, and he wrote me a
glowing letter about her when she died.
My father remained a keen sportsman although, except for swimming, no longer a
participant, and he took us to soccer and rugger matches in the winter and to cricket in
the summer. We also went to swimming galas where brother Peter was a star
performer. Near the station at Monkseaton were hard tennis-courts and my friends and
I used to play there - in a very unskilled fashion. In the evenings Dad would tinker with
his cat's whisker radio receiver, or do some repairs. I learnt quite a bit about
maintenance and repairs in the house under his tutelage, most importantly to replace
fuses, for we often seemed to have a fuse go. There was a chest in the hall which
contained, as well as tools a conglomeration of components, such as screws, nuts and
bolts, various electrical components, kept in tobacco tins higgeldy-piggldy, against a
foreseeable future use, which rarely came. (I too have a propensity for this). He
encouraged us in model-making - one of the earliest I tried was a wooden Roman Galley
made from a "Hobbies" kit - but we also tried model aeroplanes. And I made the first
attempts at drawing and painting. Dad worked in Newcastle and travelled there each
day by train. His daily schedule was ‘regular as clockwork’, a great contrast to his
earlier lifestyle. Sometimes I would walk with him to the station in the morning, and
often I would meet his train in the evening and walk back home talking about the day's
events. From time to time he would bring back small presents for us, which was
exciting.
We took annual summer holidays, usually if not always to a seaside resort - strange,
since we lived in one - but I realized that it was due to the fact that my father wasn't
mobile and the only place he was not disadvantaged was in the water. We didn't have a
car: probably he could have driven a car with specially modified controls to meet his
disabled condition, but my Mother didn't wish to drive and there was also the cost to
consider. Our summer holidays usually lasted for about a month. I can remember
visiting the Isle of Man, Redcar on the Durham coast, St Abbs in Berwickshire,
Seahouses and Beadnell in Northumberland. The latter was the most regular holiday
destination, but we went one summer to nearby Alnmouth. We would go to a resort and
enjoy the beach, for swimming and sun-bathing. My parents would organize beach
games like rounders, hand-ball, French-cricket and so on for the holidaymakers.
Regattas, with swimming and if we were lucky sailing races were a feature. There were
prizes. Our base during the day was a cubic wooden-framed tent and we took sandwich
lunches so that we could stay out almost all day, weather permitting. One of the
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