My grandfather and grandmother, John and Mary Quinn

 

Here they are in front of the greenhouses, a former parlour maid and former miner and docker. Why greenhouses, you ask?

You need to investigate the Land Settlement Association, which by the 1980s was the largest producer of salad vegetables in England, and had its roots in enlightened social engineers half a century earlier.

In 1934, in the depths of the Depression, the UK government and two charitable trusts set up a scheme to enable unemployed workers to retrain as market gardeners, giving them a cottage and 5 acres, as well as livestock. And my grandparents, who seemed to have great resourcefulness and gumption, were accepted for the scheme and moved in 1937 to the newly built cottage (with coal-fired range) where they raised all their children and spent the rest of their lives. Granda Quinn died early in 1957 but Granny Quinn lived there till 1982.

So what were this couple like, who raised their nine children in a three bedroom cottage just across from the Flying Scotsman tracks at the far side of their field, taking Edinburgh and London politicians to decide the fate of our Green and Pleasant land?

Well I knew and remember Granny Quinn, as we saw her every other summer when we occupied Stannington for a week or two. She was ramrod straight in her bearing and had a voice that PG Wodehouse would describe as 'A carrying voice'.

Born in Kilkenny, she had come to England to work 'In service' as many young Irish girls did. In the 1920s many people still had a maid or two. She met and married my Grandfather who was 'ghetto Irish' from the West End of Newcastle, whose family had probably been there since the mid nineteenth century, and who I know from my DNA results, only ever married other Irish.

By the mid-30s the Depression was in full swing and they already had five children. There is a nice family story about the unemployed Granda Quinn coming home battered about the face one evening but clutching the ten shillings he had made by lasting 3 rounds in the prize fighting booth at the fair on the Town Moor. Here is the crop before Stannington:

But Stannington was the making of them, and even though Granda Quinn did have to work in the mines some of the time when money was tight, they made it through. The war years were much better in fact, as home produced food was in high demand and the ration affected then very little. Eventually there were nine juvenile mouths to feed, so having their own food was great.

But my prized story concerns my grandparents and their daughters' education. Despite their limited means, the girls got a proper education (three became teachers and the fourth a hospital matron) and when asked why he was wasting their money on daughters who would surely marry and 'not need an education' he simply said "I've seen too many widows cleaning steps".

And here is my favourite photo from the time with Granda Quinn looking like some Soviet propaganda figure but also very proud of his (slightly grubby) children.