Accidents and Injuries - 1939-1941
I was chatting to Arthur Hodgson on the phone recently and he recalled an incident that took place in 1941 during a dark wartime night. At that time he was working at Broughs store at the bottom of Station Road. At about 7pm he finished work, got on his bicycle, and started cycling up the road. After travelling about twenty or so yards he collided with a police motor bike. The lights on Arthur's wartime pushbike were legal -being designed so that he could be seen rather than for him to be able to see ahead. The policeman gave him a good ticking off even though the accident was not Arthur’s fault -after all Arthur could not have seen anything owing to the pitch black darkness. I wonder whether the policeman was Jock Allen – who later died in a traffic accident according to a report on site.
Arthur recalled that many years ago Ushaw Moor did not have a doctor of its own and had to use doctors from other villages. Some of the doctors called upon during the late 30s and into the 40s included Dr R Brown and Dr J W Dickinson. It is highly reasonable to assume that because Ushaw Moor was a mining village the doctors would have been even busier than would otherwise have been the case. I am aware that in 1939 two of the frequent Ushaw Moor mining injuries that required treatment involved Frederick Elliott, a hand putter, and Richard Tolson, a hewer of coal. Mr Elliot strained his left foot while pushing tubs and Mr Tolson suffered a severe injury to his back because of a fall of stone.
Arthur went on to mention Pudding Henderson. He was not sure why Mr Henderson had the nickname Pudding but recalled that it was Pudding’s home that was used as a surgery by the various visiting doctors. He recalled that it was situated somewhere behind Whitehouse Lane.
Wilf Bell
