The "Thornaby Anthem" is another,


There's a little place upon old Britain's map
where I first saw daylight from my mother's lap
you can take New York and Tennessee
There's a little place on the river Tees
and I'm coming back to you sweet Thornaby

I believe it was written in the trenches of WW1.

I've always been amused by one of the verses which includes the lines

Oh the New York girls are pretty
all dressed in fancy clothes
but if you want a pretty girl
just take me down Mandale Road

If you could see Mandale Road these days you would know why I find it funny!

I first heard it in the early seventies sung by Violet Smith, an old Thornaby resident with a voice like a car with a flat battery, in The Collingwood next to Victoria bridge.
The pub was run by Eva and Georgie, two old, retired sisters who tread the boards of the music halls and insisted that anyone who called in for a drink had to either play a tune on the battered old piano or sing a song.
As a 15 year-old I regularly attended on a Friday night as I knew I would get my turn to sing and play my guitar although the price was that I was expected to accompany any of the singers whether I knew the song or not. (usually not)
By the time I was 16 I knew more old music-hall songs and 40's/50's hits than most of my contempories and learned that there was more to music than Bowie and Bolan.

Of course like Eva and Georgie, the Collingwood has long gone and what's left of Mandale Road is a pick-up point for prostitutes but I've got many great memories of that time and Violet's voice stills rings in my ears!
Ouch!

C-flat.(Teeside born and bred)