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THE L.N.E.R. (GOSFORTH GARDEN VILLAGE) LTD HISTORY OF THE VILLAGE
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This article which documents the development of the area of Gosforth known as Garden Village, was written by a late lifelong resident of the village, Don McQueen, and first appeared in the Gosforth Garden Village Gazette in 1988. In the time since, there have been a number of changes to references made in the article. Where necessary I have added editorial notes for correctness and clarity. Edited June 2002.
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Part one
Our Community Hall, [map], - still referred to occasionally as the 'Bowls pavilion'- was designed and built by a highly popular member of the Garden Village Society. His name was Ernie Hindmarsh - the father of the equally popular Ruth Millener.
As most of the village folk know Ruth is the wife of Charlie, the immediate past chairman of the Gosforth Garden Village Association. [
Ruth outlived Charlie and remained in the village until her death earlier this year. Edited June 2002.
]
The Pavilion was officially opened on the 16th September 1928. A co-partner in the design and building project was a car shop junior named Herby Thorne and they were assisted by Ernie's apprentice.
They all worked in their own time and although the apprentice might have made a bob or two out of it the others certainly did not. Ernie was a cabinet maker by trade - but because of severe ill health he worked as a carpenter in the open air. He died at the age of 44, a shock felt by the whole community.
The 'hut' as some affectionately call it, was originally built with a verandah but quickly converted into its present form by Ernie to meet the needs of the whole community rather than just the Bowls Club.
It is a tremendous tribute to its designer and builders that this wooden structure has stood for 60 years requiring very little in the way of maintenance and no alterations at all to the creator's fine blue print.
The undersigned was only a few months old when the family moved from a council house in Dudley into a newly built house in the Village in 1927. Father and his elder brother were also founder members of the 'Society' - but more about this Limited Company later. Among my early recollections is belonging to a family which was part of a closely knit community of around 200 houses - the head of each being a railwayman. The railwaymen all knew each other, what each other did to earn a crust and knew everyone's weekly basic wage.
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