Garth Heads

Trip down memory lane to the Toon detouring via Garth Heads opposite where I lived as a student and spent many memorable moments. Sad to see the old Keelmans hospital boarded up and the legendary Riverside club turned into apartments. The recession seems to have hit the North East really badly as so many of my old stomping grounds are keeping plywood manufacturers in business.

Back in my student days you could rent a flat here for about £8 per week. Facilities included outside toilets, 2 second walk to the pub with old George the toothless harmonica player from the Sally army busking for a pint, Free car parking (mine got petrol bombed opposite this pic) and music blasting out of the Riverside club.

This building was used as a set for many Catherine Cookson films. One webpage has this to say about its history - "Adjoining the hospital is a small field, called the Garth-heads, where hundreds of children and youths, from the unwholesome lanes in Sandgate, may be almost constantly seen amusing themselves." Nothing had changed in the early 90's!