Local Lynx No.131 - April/May 2020

PEGGY HERON
Peggy‟s daughter Barbara has kindly supplied the Lynx
with some details of Peggy‟s life which you can read below.
Peggy was born in Darlington in 1925, one of twins, not
expected to survive and who did not even go to her own
christening as she was judged to be at death‟s door. Sadly
her twin brother died at six months which impacted on
Peggy throughout her life. Apart from a constant nagging
feeling of missing someone she had a happy childhood in
Darlington, with twin farming cousins in the Tyne valley,
genteel cousins in Hexham and Gateshead and a cultured
cousin in Leeds. These cousins were close, thinking little of
cycling to visit each other in their teenage years and
throughout the war.
She spent the last two years of the war teacher training at
St Hild‟s College Durham, to teach geography to seniors.
The tall girls, as she was then, were chosen to be the college
fire brigade and air raid watch so Peggy spent many an
hilarious hour in practice, dragging ancient fire hoses round
the corridors and staircases of St Hild‟s and up onto the
starry rooftops watching for bombers against the
magnificent backdrop of Durham Cathedral.
Peggy began teaching in Middlesborough, on a salary of
£16 a month and then moved to the technical college for
boys in Darlington. She was quickly recognised as being
good at her job and loved by those difficult pupils. Her
classroom at the tech was often full of flowers even in post
war austerity. The secret of these was revealed one day
when two of her pupils were hauled out of her room by their
ears to answer the questions of a policeman enquiring into
the regular disappearance of flowers from the nearby
cemetery.
When Barbara was nearly five Peggy was persuaded to
resume her teaching career and became Mrs Heron of the
top class at the primary school Barbara herself attended. In
time she was appointed as deputy head of the biggest
primary school in Darlington.
Foreign travel became part of family life and Peggy with
her husband and Barbara travelled all over Europe together
with family friends. After her husband‟s death she turned to
cruise ships and although her first cruise was not a success
on health grounds, she subsequently met Ken, who had not
known Barbara‟s father but knew several of the people he
had worked with as he too was a railway man. There
followed 18 happy years for Peggy with Ken and she drew
much comfort from these memories as her life became more
restricted.
Her grandsons too were a constant source of happiness
and she was immensely proud of them both. She regarded
herself primarily as a North Easterner, of border family
stock, then as a European and felt it entirely fitting her
grandsons should spread their wings to work abroad, one in
Australia and one in Europe.
The church and its community were very dear to Peggy.
She had her faith. It was not quite what you would call
conventional. She did not need church services of one
specific kind of another. She needed the people and the
buildings and after that hills, mountains, rivers and nature.
She grew up with, as a back drop to daily existence, her
grandmother‟s unquestioning acceptance that „everything
was God‟s purpose‟ and when emphasis was needed that
„The Good Lord knows what he is doing‟.
JAMMIN’ FOR SCONES
Jammin‟ for scones continues to meet on the second
Tuesday of the month 2-4pm in Sharrington village hall. We
have become a group of friends who enjoy sharing songs,
instrumental music, poetry and readings. There are about 20
people on the mailing list but generally only about 10 come
to the meetings. The small size of the group is very nonthreatening
and has given several people the courage to
stand up and „perform‟ for the first time. January was the
first anniversary of the group and to celebrate the success 15
of us enjoyed a lunch at the Binham Chequers followed by
our usual singing etc in the bar. Our next meetings are the
14 th April and the 12 th May. Angela Mason
WHERE IS THE LION’S HEAD?
Last seen in the churchyard
of All Saints Sharrington in the
1960s was the lion‟s head which
stood on the top of the nearby
wayside cross. It was not
unusual for interesting looking
pieces of masonry work to be
picked up and used for
ornamentation in gardens. Jack Gaskin was quite proud of
his gardens at the Sunshine Bakery in Hindringham where
he would show visitors the stonework features he had
gathered from places like Binham Priory on his delivery
rounds. It is likely that the lion‟s head adorns a local garden,
its origins unknown to the present owners. It is hoped that
one day it will be restored to stand once again on top of the
wayside cross.
The reason for its being a lion rather than, say a crucifix
was that Sharrington was designated „King‟s Land‟ and
officially it is a listed scheduled monument UID 1015253.
The tall fourteenth century wayside cross is an excellent
example of landmark features erected in the Middle Ages.
At a time when literacy was not widespread, it would have
been customary for Royal proclamations to be made from
the mound of its verdant reserve. It also marked the
pilgrims‟ route to the Shrine at Walsingham. Altogether
there are only some 2000 crosses left in the entire country.
This one, restored to its original height, is therefore of
importance.
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