Whissons of Blyth

The Whisson family in Blyth circa 1940.

( from left to right)

Lena, Eleanor (Elaine), Arthur John, Mary, Olive, Lillian.

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Like their mother, Olive, sisters Elaine, Lillian & Lena were all
born in the Ratcliffe area of Amble.

As the search for work continued their father, Jimmy, moved
them further south for a brief sojourn between 1935-6 at Queens
Road amidst the  coast hugging settlement of Seaton Sluice.

Then in 1936 they ambled back north several miles to Blyth,
to live in the newly built Kings Gardens home.
Arthur John would be the 1st boy born in the Malvins Close
estate.

Jimmy & Olive would live there until 1977.

During the Second World War whilst Jimmy was away fighting
they would dash for the air-raid shelter during German bombing
runs, blackout curtains in their semi-detached house drawn.

In better times their mother used to drag them to the cinema
to watch the Pathe News.  During 1 week they were escorted
there every day as Olive watched her husband- a tunnelling
sergeant barking orders at his charges on the newsreel.
Whilst she wept with pride & an aching heart, her daughter
Lillian in particular said the children were rather bored by it after
so many sittings!

One thing they weren't so bored by was their dad coming home
after his Dunkirk, then Gibraltar experiences with tales of monkeys
& some of the first white chocolate to hit these shores from the
latter.
 

The Whisson home from 1936 to 1977 at 15 Kings Gardens, Malvins Close Estate in Blyth.	50th Wedding Anniversary of Jimmy & Olive Whisson (nee Williamson ).	More 50th Wedding Anniversary celebrations in 1977 Blyth. ( From L to R) Olive Whisson, Robert Raffle, Jimmy Whisson, Isobel Raffle (nee Whisson) & Ned Williamson ( Olive's brother).
A family a fell-walking. Another gathering; this time at Harbottle Crags in the wilds of rural Northumberland. ( From L to R ) Arthur & Marlene Whisson, Lena & Les Taylor & a crouching Keith Whisson.	Wendy & her mother, Lena Taylor (nee Whisson) with Olive Whisson (nee Williamson) at Edinburgh Zoo, circa 1962.	Jeff Taylor (top row, 4th from left) at Blyth Tynedale Middle School. circa 1974.
Arthur Whisson with his black labrador, Lancer. & the family budgie at home in Blyth, Northumberland.	Certificate awarded to James Dunwoodie Whisson of a society he was prominent in during the 1940s.	Death certificate of Ellen Williamson in Blyth,1942. She was mother of Mary Olive, & mother-in-law to her spouse James Dunwoodie Whisson.
Newspaper memorials to Olive (1982) & her husband Jimmy Whisson (1986) in north east England.