Yes Peter we did EVENTUALLY have an indoor toilet and bath but only after many years using the "outside netty doon the yard" when I was a tot. My Dad built an extension onto the main living room out into the back yard for this and eventually his small garage when he eventually bought a second hand Ford Popular.
My Grandad wouldn't let my Dad go down the pit when he left school so he worked on the Co-op milk carts. Then he was called up to serve in the Army and after training and serving for two years in Ireland he landed in Normandy just a day or two after D Day and fought with his Regiment through France, Belgium, The Ardennes, Germany etc. to Hamburg - another two years or so. After the War he went back to the Co-op but decided to take on a Co-op Insurance round. He cycled for several years collecting insurance from Blyth, Cowpen, Seaton Delaval, New Hartley, the Sluice, Cramlington. etc. Eventually he saved enough money to build the toilet and bathroom and buy a small car. I remember him digging out the extension foundations and labouring for the brickie. The car came later when I was a teenager and I learnt to drive in it. If you look on page 35 of "Blyth Memories" Part 3 Jim Harland did a piece on my Dad entitled "Milkman, Mayor and War Hero". I'm very proud of him.
