Wheatley Hill Mother's Club Logo Doreen Martin
Photograph of Doreen Martin
 Doreen MartinMy name is Doreen Martin (nee Brown). My parents are Alf and Ruth Brown (nee Horan) I married Alf Martin on 30th September 1961. We have two daughters Debra and Janice. We have two granddaughters Sarah and Leeanne.I joined the Mothers Club in 1965 I have been a committee member for the last 9 years and vice chairperson.My hobbies are decoupage, walking, Caravanning and reading. I was born in Station Town but moved to Wingate when I was 5 years old. I attended school there and left Wingate Senior Girls School at the age of 15. I left on the Friday and started work at Patton and Baldwin's wool dying factory at Darlington on the Monday. I left there after 14 months and went to work at Bradleys the village Bakery. I worked there for 17 years it had 4 different owners Bradley, Bowes, Chapman and I cannot remember the last one. I left the bakery in 1974 and went to work for John and Eileen Chapman making loose covers for furniture. I worked there for 22 years until it was sold to Bradgate, but after 3 years they closed the factory and I was made redundant in July 1999. My most enduring childhood memory is of long summers we spent camping at the coast at Crimdon. Camping then was not like it is today we would transport all our gear on a horse and cart, not just us quite a few families in the village would do the same. We would go down Spring Bank Holiday week. Our tent was an x army ridge tent. There were 6 of us mam, dad, brother Alan and sisters, Margaret and Joyce. In the tent we had a double bed, hooky mats on the floor a large cupboard to store our food in, table and chairs and even a fire side chair. Mam used to cook on a 3 burner paraffin stove, I remember the day it caught fire dad pulled it out of the tent and through it over the cliff top. Our tent would be left there from May to August we would go back every weekend and all the summer holidays. Then every thing would be packed up for the winter and brought home till the following spring.

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