Nan's memoir casts light on town's 'pioneers'

A granddaughter has said sharing her nan's memoir with the community would be an honour, but her grandmother would not have been phased.

At the age of 85, Blanche Madden put down her memories of her's family move to Billingham in 1928 to work in the then newly opened ICI Anhydrite Mine.

It was written for her granddaughter Alison Newton, who will read out some of the work during an event at St Cuthbert's Church across the weekend. There are also hopes to turn the memoirs into a theatre performance.

"It was just the life she led and I don't think she'd know what the fuss was about," the 46-year-old said.

"I think she'd be more proud of me standing up and telling the story than of the story itself."

An exhibition, Your Families and How They Came to Billingham, and which runs until 19 September, aims to celebrate "the pioneers" - those who first came to the town to live and work after ICI's predecessor, Brunner Mond & Co, opened a factory there in 1919.

Madden's parents, Wilfred Tom and Martha Mary Sayers, were among those families, moving to Billingham from Loftus with their children just before Christmas in 1928.

They had come to the town to work in ICI's Anhydrite Mine and lived in an ICI house.

Newton said she was "struck" by the hardship at the time, but also the community spirit.

Wilfred had served in the Royal Flying Corps during World War One and later lived through the mining strikes of the 1920s.

Madden was eight when the family moved to Billingham.

She recalled the family being offered cakes and Christmas trees by neighbours in the early days of their arrival.

But besides the community spirit, they also faced tragedy when Wilfred lost his life in a mining accident.

Newton said her grandmother wrote the piece by hand and completing it gave her "enormous pride".

"It's astonishing that although written in great age, her account of the move has all the freshness and observation of a child of eight," she added.

Production at the mine stopped in 1971 and it later closed.

Newton now lives in Consett, County Durham, but her parents are still in Billingham and both Wilfred and Martha are resting at St Cuthbert's Church.

Blanche died in 2019, just months before her 100th birthday.

Newton said she cherished her family and had a strong spirit.

"She was just a phenomenal woman."

Charles Wellington from the Friends of St Cuthbert's added there were hopes to turn the memoir into a theatre performance.

"It is quite wonderful how it brings to life the family's time in Loftus and Billingham," he said.

"But with all the fun and gaiety of Blanche's account, she also tells of deep tragedy too, as suffered by so many families at the time."

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