Following on from my article titled ‘Brought up in Golders Green‘ where I wrote about my background, we have received a story from our Treasurer, Martin Goldberg sharing his story about how did an East End Boy end up in the North East.

You may well ask how did an east end boy end up in the north-east, it is a question I have been asked many times and am still not sure what a definitive answer could, would or should be.

The link between East London and North-East England was as a child having a mild interest in football I used to follow the teams up North because of their names, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor, Blyth Spartans and West Auckland. Quite a few years later as a Fully qualified Gents Hairdresser (barber) and newly married I found that finding a place to live in London was not the easiest thing to do (it seems no different today) so I set about looking outside London and the Home Counties.

One day there was a small advert in the Hairdressers Journal for a concession in a shop “up north” and as I had looked at all the new towns in the south without much success I thought I would try “up north”.

A phone call later and the arrangement was made that I would go and have a look, so Sunday April 1st 1966 I drove up the A1, in my Vauxhall Victor, to a place called Bishop Auckland, my Mum thought that was in New Zealand, and met up with the owner of the shop.

So I arrived at his house and although the North-east is not exactly a hot bed of Anglo-Jewry this man was Jewish, it felt a bit surreal, however Jack and Hilda made me welcome with a hot meal then a look at the shop and the town. I set off back home with the promise that I would let them know if I would take the concession by the middle of the month.

Back home in London after much talk, Shirley agreed that it was worth a try and so the start of May 1966 found me back in Bishop starting work. Shirley came up a few months later to have a look and said find somewhere to live and we will settle here. Now you know the how and why the next part will follow soon.