Normanby Local History Logo And Banner
Normanby Local History Logo And Banner for printing

First Wireless in Normanby?
. . . . by Joan Baines   sent 18th March 2012  

   In today's world of fast communications I often think about the stories my Dad (Jack Marshall) told me about when he was the first person in Normanby to own a wireless.
   He built a crystal-set and installed it in the garden shed at the top of the garden at his home at 10 Bulmer Street.
   My Dad and several friends would sit around taking turns to use the head-phones to listen in wonder at the distant sounds.
   His mother was very nervous of the new 'Contraption' and at first would not have it in the house - hence its home in the garden shed!
   One of the neighbours from Bulmer Street came in and asked if he could get the Middlesbrough Empire on it!  Such was the interest it made.
   In later years Dad worked as the foreman at the Ormesby Yard of the Normanby Brickworks - but he was often called on by Normanby residents to repair their all-important wireless.
   He looked forward to the time when tiny transistors would replace the large glowing glass valves used in radios - and would have been fascinated when transistors were in turn supplanted by even smaller micro-chips.
    -------Joan Baines nee Marshall (Nunthorpe)-------