Mabel was born and bred next to St James’ Park, in Wellington Street, where you could see the ground from her house and could hear the crowd shouting - the famous Gallowgate Roar which Mabel still remembers fondly - and the sound of the wooden rattles going round and round.
Mabel remembers standing at the ground, waiting to get tickets for a match. The crush of people was so bad that the orange she had been carrying in her pocket for half time was completely squashed and the juices had run all down her leg. Mabel remembers being a teenager at the time so thinks that this was around the late 1920s early 1930s?
When people left the match they used to walk past Mabel’s house in droves – at this point Mabel had moved to Stanhope Street. She said that you could tell by the looks on the crowds faces and the way they held themselves, whether or not the Toon had played well, and whether United had won or lost..
When Jackie Milburn was buried, his funeral cortege went nearby her house in Buckingham Street, as it was on the way to the crematorium. Mabel remembers there being crowds and crowds lining the streets, absolutely loads of people, wanting to pay their respects and show their appreciation for the man and for his service to Newcastle United. People loved him and the club.
Mabel has three daughters, and they are all fanatical Newcastle supporters. Her oldest daughter lives in Northampton but still supports NUFC avidly and has Toon stickers all over her car. Her other daughters two live in Prudhoe and they do too! On a match day, her eldest daughter rings her to let her know if Newcastle have scored a goal!
Mabel has two grandsons, but only one is NUFC mad. When he was younger he used to cry when the other team scored a goal, and although he’s a middle aged man he’s been known to still do it occasionally. Mabel used to keep everything out the paper about the Toon for her grandson and he always used to ring up and let her know if he’d had a good time at the match.
Her middle daughter lives in Joe Harvey’s old house, an old cottage off the West Road. Everything was black and white inside! Her daughter used to tell everyone who visited all the gas men and delivery men and everything who the house had once belonged to!
Mabel Loader
Newcastle United Foundation have a heritage project for fans of all ages called Toon Times.
Toon Times will culminate with a major Newcastle United exhibition at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle, although in the lead up to this event Toon Times wishes to reach out to all Newcastle United fans across the North East and further afield to get involved and share their memories, experiences, photos and memorabilia what people have collected over the years.
We are supporting the project by helping to collect NUFC memories online - fans can share their memories on the Replay Football website, simply select the Toon Times tag when submitting yours.
For more info contact the Toon Times Heritage Project Coordinator, Newcastle United Foundation, gavin.ferry@nufc.co.uk
Memory added on August 28, 2013
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