Like many women of her generation, my mother, Veronica, was an avid user of the
typewriter. She learned an array of secretarial skills at Tynemouth High School on Hawkeys
Lane, North Shields, before moving into several clerical roles throughout her life at
establishments including Bainbridge’s, the Royal Grammar School and Tynemouth Ice Ltd.
on North Shields Fish Quay. The most fulfilling part of her career, however, was most
definitely as the local correspondent for New York and Percy Main for the Newcastle Evening
Chronicle, where she was given a full page with her photo at the top.
As well as representing the aforementioned local areas, my mum was always scouting about
North Shields for news as well. She would sometimes call upon me and my friends when
news was thin on the ground, featuring us in articles about trick-or-treaters, school uniform
issues and even my gigantic pet rabbit! She would tap away on her big old iron typewriter on
the dining room table, somewhat reluctant to move along with technological advances. When
she tried to use a computer she would almost break the keyboard through tapping it with the
force necessary for typing on the typewriter. She always returned to her trusty typewriter.
After all, who needs a ‘delete’ button when you have correction tape?
My mum made scrap books of all of her articles, which I treasure as a fascinating snapshot
into various aspects of local life at the time. She also used the typewriter to write her own life
story for a project by the National Archives, which she had to draft and redraft on the back of
headed paper from Tynemouth Ice Ltd. When my mum retired from working life (she had a
whole other sideline as a singer, but that’s another story…), she sold her typewriter to local
writer, Peter Mortimer, and enjoyed delivering it to his fascinatingly colourful home. I like to
think of the many articles, poems and plays that the typewriter went on to produce at the
hands of Mr Mortimer, and I wonder if it is still in use to this day.
