Our River Stories: Dave Henderson
“Our River Stories: I had 2 family members that worked on the Wear at Doxfords. First there was my Grandad, George. He worked in the 1930s as a fitter and sign writer, and as you can see in the picture above, was also a “heavy drinker”! He had 6 children lived and they all lived in a 2 bedroom house. He made extra cash making childrens toys and painting blown eggs. He even had 2 eggs that were in the Sunderland museum. It’s sad that the money he made he spent on drink.
“The second of my family to work in the shipyards was my brother in law Alan. The phrase that comes from the shipyards was the ‘Mackems and Tackems’. He is 83 now and was a pipe fitter building the New Westminster City in 1956 (Mackem), and signed up to take it to sea as they wanted people with knowledge of the ship as crew (Tackem).
So he made it and took it! That’s him in 1956”.
