Years 1950 to 1959

13/01/1950 Mr. William Altham Johnson, Redcar received MBE in New Years Honour’s List.
1950 Mayor – Alderman James William Coles.
1950 Water consumption for Redcar increase so far this year 780,000 gallons per day compared with 6661,000 during last year.
1950 Outside Swimming Pool closed, Coatham enclosure.
1950 Flower beds on Esplanade removed being to expensive and difficult to maintain. Eventually they fell into disuse.
16/01/1950 Listen with Mother broadcast for the first time on BBC Radio. Programme on the sir until 1982
31/01/1950 Mr. William Altham Johnson, Redcar, received MBE in New Years Honour’s List
27/01/1950 Redcar Town Council to be asked again to press for Maternity Hospital.
27/01/1950 Mr W. M. Friskney of Redcar was elected an honorary life governor of the Royal Lifeboat Institution after 30 years of Tees mouth Lifeboat.
03/02/1950 Rejection by the Regional authority of a recommendation of the Redcar Food Control Committee that a seasonal retail licence for the sale of chocolate and sugar confectionery be granted to a Redcar Trader caused dissatisfaction at a meeting of the committee.
10/02/1950 New Redcar Girl’s Grammar School with glass walls and flat roofs, to be built on Land situated in Redcar Lane and Warwick Road.
19/02/1950 It was unanimously decided at a meeting of Redcar Food Control Committee that the abolition of points rationing and that the regional food officer be informed accordingly.
20/02/1950 Welsh poet Dylan Y
Thomas arrived in America for his first series of poetry readings.
03/03/1950 Stated that unless further land found house building in Redcar would stop in two years time.
03/03/1950 Alderman B.O. Davies of Redcar, re-elected chairman of the North Riding County Council for the 9th year on St David’s Day 01/03/1950.
03/03/1950 Cases (102) of measles in a week.
03/03/1950 Lack of playgrounds for children to play in the town, and Redcar Estates Committee requested such facilities be provided.
10/03/1950 A police shortage at Redcar was discussed by the Redcar Housing Committee, and that women in the town feared night walks. A further request was made for housing which would see police officers more options to come to the town.
31/03/1950 Sit down strike by over 100 men over previous 6 days over 2 men employed by Cleveland Meter Co.Ltd, who declined to join the AEU (union).
31/03/1950 A tree preservation order recommended for the trees surrounding Kirkleatham Hall.
31/03/1950 Decision for no illuminations this year in Redcar.
21/04/1950 Plans for a new girl’s Grammar School, and commercial school which cost £100,000 to build in 1947, submitted to the county authority for their observations. Location Redcar Lane and will accommodate 530 pupils. Each seat cost £207 against pre-war figure of £40
21/04/1950 A total of 346 council houses of the permanent type had now been built.
21/04/1950 Redcar population now 28,000.
21/04/1950 Measles epidemic subsides in Redcar where 271 cases of the disease were reported.
21/04/1950 Middlesbrough Cripples Social Club formed 25 years ago opened their holiday chalet in the Coatham Holiday Camp. Completely self contained, members can rent the chalet for 10s a week.
05/05/1950 Redcar Borough Council asked by the town improvement and water committee to confirm a recommendation that the council proceed to acquire 268 acres from the Kirkleatham Estate.
05/05/1950 Following negotiations with the Gas board the line of the wall Thrush Road/West Dyke Road is set back from its current position which would improve the site lines for traffic. This was accepted.
12/05/1950 Mural tablet to the memory of Mrs. Kathleen Teresa Turner LeRoy Lewis dedicated at Kirkleatham parish Church, who died at Kirkleatham Hall 26/05/1948 aged 82 years
12/05/1950 Request for more members made at the AGM of the Redcar “Seagulls” Amateur Swimming Club.
26/05/1950 The UK Government announced the end of petrol rationing
23/06/1950 Musicians Union “blacklisted all the Redcar Corporation’s undertakings where their musicians have been asked to play, because of the introduction of pan trope equipment. The buildings include the Pier Ballroom, the New Pavilion and the Bandstand.
25/06/1950 England Football team beaten by the USA 1-0. Believed to be one of the greatest upsets of all time.
11/07/1950 Andy Pandy made his first television appearance live on BBC Television.
18/07/1950 Business mogul Richard Branson was born in London.
21/07/1950 Petition signed by residents of Sandringham Road and Buckingham road demanding the removal of a bus park adjoining their road, given to Redcar Corporation
21/07/1950 Recommendation that motor vehicles be prohibited from parking on the Esplanade. Other car parking to be made available around the town.
28/07/1950 Musicians lift their “blacklisting” of all Redcar Corporation’s undertakings due to dispute being settled.
18/08/1950 The Annual Donkey Derby held by the British Legion was held 12/08/1950, and attracted a crowd of 4,000 people.
04/08/1950 Redcar Corporation’s proposals put forward to convert the outside swimming pool into a skating rink likely to materialise earlier than anticipated.
04/08/1950 Five year old girl taken to Guisborough Isolation Hospital case of infantile paralysis ‘Polio’.
04/08/1950 Outing of 150 children from Nazareth House, Middlesbrough visited Redcar 02/08/1950 for their annual outing. Gratitude expressed to the Redcar people and district.
11/08/1950 Mayor speaks out about wanton damage to golf links at Cleveland Golf Club, Redcar.
18/08/1950 Mr. Jim Thompson put to sea in his motor boat Lady Zetland after seeing a 30 foot yacht under full sail heading for East Scar rocks. Sailed by 2 Frenchman who were unaware of dangers and given advice and put back onto their destination Edinburgh?
25/08/1950 In pouring rain more than 3,000 people attended a Firework Display on Wednesday. 23/08/1950, also attended by Marske Silver Band.
01/09/1950 36 crippled men from St. John of God Hospital, Scorton, arrived at the Sacred Heart School, on one of their annual day trips. Trip paid for by the people of Redcar, and was greeted by the Mayor and Mayoress (Ald. and Mrs. J. Coles.)
22/09/1950 Redcar Town Council to take over control of its own street lighting in the town. The council was informed that the Gas Board would be agreeable.
22/09/1950 Redcar Council granted permission to Zetland Park Bowling Club to use the town’s coat of arms on its flag and coat badges.
24/11/1950 Redcar man Mr George Henry Roddam awarded the Imperial Service Medal by the King.
24/11/1950 A demand for Sunday games, boating and illuminations in Locke Park was rejected by the Parks, Cemeteries and allotments Committee
26/11/1950 Death of Redcar well known printer Mr. A. A. Sotheran 75 years. Was in the printing trade for almost all his life, and acquired a well known business in Queen Street, Redcar.
01/12/1950 Reported that when the Coatham Convalescent home is demolished the area will be used as either a playing field or open space
01/12/1950 Fewer applications have been made for the registration of pigs with the Redcar Food Control Committee. This year 68, last year 196. Believed cause is the high price of feeding stuffs.
02/11/1950 Irish writer George Bernard Shaw aged 95. Hobby tree pruning which he was doing and fell. Died shortly afterwards.
22/12/1950 Redcar Corporation built 153 houses from 1st, January, 1950.
22/12/1950 It was suggested that schoolchildren may be asked for ideas for the redevelopment of the Coatham Convalescent Home.
1951/52 Mayor – Alderman Thomas Alexander Dougall.
08/02/1952 Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne on the death of her father King George VI.
08/08/1952 The 150th Anniversary of the Redcar Lifeboat Station.
1951 The population of Redcar was 27,516.
29/03/1951 First performance of The King And I at St. James Theatre, Broadway, with Yul Brynner as the King and Gertrude Lawrence as Anna.
23/06/1951 British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean fled to the Soviet Union.
01/09/1951 Britain’s first supermarket opened, the Premier in Earls’s Court, London.
1951 Convalescent Home bought by Council and demolished.
1951 Redcar Lifeboat named “City of Leeds” by HRH Princess Royal. Saving 31 lives.
1951 Market established on Car Park opposite the Alexander (Pig & Whistle).
1951 250 children courtesy of the R.O.A.B (The Buffs) travelled to Redcar from Middlesbrough as a treat
25/10/1951 Margaret Thatcher was, at 26, the youngest candidate to stand at a general election. The Tories won overall by a narrow margin but she failed to win her seat.
26/10/1951 Winston Churchill became prime minister for the second time.
21/12/1951 Libya becomes an independent country.
1952 1953 Mayor – Councillor Robert Hodgart Cowie.
1952 Greek Steam Ship ‘Taxiarchis’ ran aground West Scar rocks. Beached and then scrapped.
28/04/1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
02/06/1952 Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne on the death of her father King George VI.
1952 Redcar Amatuer Cine Club formed
1952 Extension built onto the Coatham Hotel, to accommodate Winsor Ballroom, and eventually the world renown Redcar Jazz Club.
19/09/1952 Silent movie star Charlie Chaplin settled in Switzerland after an investigation by the US Immigration stopped him from returning to his Hollywood home in the US.
26/09/1952 Wildred Pickles got lost in North Yorkshire looking for Tod Point being the most northerly point in Yorkshire from where to broadcast unable to locate. Tod Point although still shown on ordnance survey maps of the area, it is now swallowed up by the Messrs Dorman Long & Co.’s Redcar Works.
29/09/1952 British and world water speed record holder John Cobb was killed on Loch Ness when his vessel Crusader disintegrated after hitting waves at 240mph.
08/10/1952 A rail crash in HArrow left 112 dead and nearly 340 injured.
25/11/1952 The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London. Richard Attenborough played the detective, and notices said the play had ‘a fair degree of success’.
28/01/1953 Derek Bentley, 19, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, despite public protests. Bentley and Christopher Craig, 16, had been found guilty of murdering a policeman, but Craig escaped the gallows because of his age.
19/02/1953 During 1952/1953 at the Pier Ballroom, Danny Mitchell (Orchestra) introduced teenage dance nights which were popular.
20/03/1953 Ald. J. Coupland planted a tree in the forecourt grounds of the Municipal Buildings to commemorate the Coronation.
27/03/1953 Civic leaders from Redcar and throughout the area send letters of Condolence to Queen and Royal Family on the death of Queen Mary.
1953 Coronation celebrations in Redcar. Street bunting and street parties.
1953 Extensive damage to Redcar Sea defences
10/04/1953 Easter of 1953 will be remembered for bitter winds and showerrs of hail and sleet. Very view ventured out and those that did soon returned home.
10/04/1953 Mr. R.W.G. Willis headmaster of Sir William Turners School, Redcar, appointed headmaster of the English High School for Boys in Istanbul, Turkey. Commences Autumn term.
10/04/1953 More increases in Redcar Rates forcast.
10/04/1953 Redcar Aero Club enters national competitions for the first occasion since its formation.
16/04/1953 The first stock-car meeting was held in Britain at the New Cross Stadium, Old Kent Road, London.
24/04/1953 Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
02/06/1953 The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
16/04/1953 Queen Elizabeth II launches the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia.
17/04/1953 Warrenby Library to close due to lack of use. Only 16 books issued during the last month.
29/05/1953 New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Napalese Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest.
02/06/1953 Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in Westminster Abbey on a dull, showery day. It was the first coronation to be televised.
08/08/1953 Nigel Mansell racing driver was born.
19/08/1953 England cricket captain Len Hutton won the Ashes for the first time since the controversial bodyline tour of 1932/1933.
17/09/1953 First successful separation of Siamese (conjoined) twins.
24/09/1953 The first Cinemascope wide-screen film The Robe, premiered in Hollywood starring Richard Burton.
08/10/1953 One of Britain’s best-loved singers the contralto Kathleen Ferrier, died of cancer at 41.
09/11/1953 Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, author of Under Milk Wood, died aged 39, after falling into an alcoholic coma following the consumption of 18 stiff whiskies.
14/01/1954 US Baseball hero Joe DiMaggio married Hollywood star Marilyn Munroe at San Francisco City Hall. The marriage lasted 9 months.
1954 Redcar jammed as holiday brought out sunshine on the Bank Holiday. Trains leaving every six minutes for Saltburn and Redcar, Crowds described as heavy in a 70 degree temperature.
1954 Dorman Long revealed it had spent £14 million on its Cleveland and Lackenby works since the war.
1954 Newcomen infant and junior school took delivery of a hand crafted oak shield donated by a woodcarver, and bearing the school’s crest of a lion’s head and three crescents.
20/01/1954 The world’s first fully operational nuclear submarine , USS Nautilus, was launched. Became the first submarine to travel under the Polar ice caps and travelled half million miles during her 25-year career.
18/02/1954 Grease Pulp Fiction and Saturday Night Fever film star John Travolta was born in New Jersey.
22/03/1954 Closed since 1939, the London buliionb market reopens.
02/04/1954 Britain’s first TV soap-opera, The Groves Family, was transmitted.
02/06/1954 Lester Piggott, at 18 became the youngest jockey to win the Derby when he rode Never Say Die.
06/05/1954 Britain’s Rodger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.
15/06/1954 UEFA (Union of European Football Association) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
17/06/1954 Boxing legend Rocky Marciano beat Ezzard Charles in 15 rounds in New York to be heavyweight boxing title.
04/07/1954 Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended.
05/07/1954 BBC television started its first daily television news programme.
09/07/1954 Rock Around the Clock by Bill Hayley & The Comets became the first rock song to top the Billboard Chart.
1954 Central Cinema re-opens for business.
12/09/1954 Frank Sinatra singer and actor had his first UK No. 1 hit with the song/film ‘Three Coins in a Fountain’.
15/10/1954 Novelist William Golding’s classic novel Lord of the Flies was published in Britain.
02/11/1954 The classic comedy series Hancock’s Half Hour began on BBC Radio.
12/11/1954 New York’s famous immigration control centre at Ellis Island closed after 62 years. Dealt previously with 5,000 people a day coming to America, and 15 million people passed though the centre over the years.
04/12/1954 The First Burger King is opened in Miami.
1955 Redcar Marines Juvenile Jazz Band formed.
1955 Goods train accident happened approaching Redcar Lane crossing, when a goods van and a wagon jumped the rails. Fleet of buses transported passenger to and from stations between Redcar and Saltburn.
1955 Cleveland Show took place on the racecourse, Redcar 2/6d adults and 1s for children.
00/04/1955 Yorkshire miners strike spreads to 11 collieries causing 38 pit closures and 60,000 men on strike wanting revision upwards of piece rates.
00/04/1955 Pavilion Players from Redcar staged a new production with the play Grand national Night, with success, adding to the already many other triumps
05/04/1955 Sir Winston Churchill, aged 80, resigned as Prime Minister, and the following day Anthony Eden took office.
11/06/1955 Le Mans disaster claims 77 lives when a racing car spins off the track
13/07/1955 Nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis became the last woman hanged in Britain when the sentence was carried out at Holloway Prison.
16/07/1955 Stirling Moss won the first British Grand Prix.
17/07/1955 The British Grand Prix was won by Stirling Moss, being the first Englishman to do so.
22/09/2017 The start of commercial television in Britain, with the first advert transmitted being, Gibbs SR toothpaste
30/09/1955 Actor, James Dean, killed in a car crash aged 24.
1955 Tradespeople,, motorists and shoppers protestested over parking arrangements in Redcar
1955 Efforts to salvage the collier ‘Guildford lying on its side, submerged failed and work began to blow up the wreck, for fear of being a danger to other small and larger shipping
17/11/1955 Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into its water supply.
12/12/1955 British engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell patented the hovercraft.
1956 1957 Mayor – Councillor Charles Rand.
00/00/1956 Tees built ship ‘REDCAR’ returned to the river Tees on her first commercial visit, brining from Labrador, Sept Isles a cargo of iron ore. Anchor at Dorman Long’s Eston Jetty.
11/02/1956 Cambridge spies Guy Burgess and Donald Mcclean resurfaced in Moscow. Both British diplomats vanished mysteriously in 1951 following the disaqppearance of sensitive documents from the British Embassy in Washington. Both denied they were spies.
15/03/1956 My Fair Lady opened on Broadway starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. Title was adapted from the Cockney pronunciation of “Mayfair”.
18/04/1956 British Chancellor, Harold Macmillan, launched the premium bond scheme
19/04/1956 Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
1956 Kirkleatham Hall demolished
1956 Queen Elizabeth II Visits ICI Wilton Works, leaves by Royal Yacht Britannia from Teesport.
1956 Zetland Park filled in and lawned.
1956 Market on West Dyke Road ceased to trade.
1956 Redcar born actress June Laverick gave birth to a baby boy at Middlesbrough General Hospital.
1956 Redcar Public House the Yorkshire Cobble opened
02/07/1956 Elvis Presley recorded Hound Dog and Don’t Be Cruel in New York. It took 32 years before Elvis was happy with the sound of Hound Dog, but when released became an immediate No.1,
01/11/1956 Computer ENIE was born as Premium Bonds first went on sale in Britain.
04/11/1956 The Soviet Union invaded Hungary.
12/11/1956 Sighted in the South Pacific Ocean the largest iceberg, the size of Belgium.
15/11/1956 Elvis Presley’s first film Love Me Tender, premiered in New York.
1957 1958 Mayor – Councillor Stanley Linford.
02/01/1957 Princess Grace of Monaco listed as the best dressed woman of the year by the world’s fashion press in New York.
22/02/1957 Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was formally granted the style and titular dignity of Prince of the United Kingdom by the Queen in recognition of his 10 years’ service to the country.
19/03/1957 Elvis Presley bought Graceland in Memphis for $102,500, More than 600,00 visitors now tour Graceland every year.
14/05/1957 Five months of petrol rationing ended this date due to the Suez crisis.
1957 Locke Park was stocked with Carp, Tench, Perch, Bream, Roach and Eels.
01/06/1957 The first Premium Bond prize winners were drawn by the computer ERNIE with a first prize of £1,000.
1957 A Redcar Police Sergeant M.O. collapsed and died whilst waiting to give evidence at the local Magistrates Court.
1957 Flu epidemic hit Redcar.
08/10/1957 Jerry Lee Lewis went into the studio to record Great Balls of Fire. Released in America 11/11/1957. Instant hit and became one of his trademarks.
04/01/2017 Sir Edmund Hillary with a New Zealand party, reached the South Pole, the first man to do so since Captain Scott.
1958 The 100th Cleveland Dog Society Show took place at the Queens Hotel, Redcar.
04/01/1958 Sputnik 1 fell to earth from orbit.
30/01/1958 Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent held his first fashion show at the age of 22. Christian Dior personally chose him to design his spring collection which brought him acclaim world wide.
06/02/1958 Plane carrying Manchester Untd football team ‘Busby Babes’ crashed on taking off from Munich Airport.
23/02/1958 Cuban rebels kidnap five-times world F1 champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
02/03/1958 A British team led by Vivian Fuchs completed the first crossing of the Antarctic, covering 2,158 miles from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea in 99 days.
24/03/1958 Elvis Presley then 23, signed up for the US Army in Memphis, Tennessee.
26/03/1958 Alec Guinness won Best Actor for Bridge Over The River Kwai, but did not attend the awards ceremony.
19/04/1958 Footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of 106 appearances for England. In the match against Scotland, he scored the first of his 49 international goals.
30/04/1958 My Fair Lady reached London’s West End with Julie Andrews in the lead role. Musical ran for 5 years with 2,281 performances..
18/05/1958 The trademark Velcro is registered.
26/05/1958 26/05/1958 & 27/05/1958 Redcar Races televised for the time at two day meeting.
16/06/1958 The notorious yellow no-waiting lines were introduced to British streets.
03/08/1958 US nuclear submarine, ‘Nautilus’, made the first undersea voyage of the North Pole.
18/08/1958 Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel ‘Lolita’ is published in the USA.
11/10/1958 The BBC TV sports programme Grandstand was first transmitted.
13/10/1958 Paddington Bear, a classic character from English children’s literature, makes his debut.
27/10/1958 The first edition of BBC television programme Blue Peter was transmitted.
28/10/1958 The State Opening of Parliament televised for the first time.
1958 Little did we know. Redcar Jazz club was formed in Pacitto’s Cafe High Street, Redcar, amongst a group of people who attended there regularly. The first meeting of the club took place in the Royal Hotel Hotel (now partially gone). It became so popular that it then moved to the Red Lion Hotel. By the end of the 1960’s the Jazz Club was well established and moved to the Windsor Ballroom of the Coatham Hotel. This became a top venue in the North East for major Jazz Artists and groups etc.
05/12/1958 Britain’s first motorway, the Preston-by-pass was opened by the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
23/12/1958 Dedication of Tokyo Tower, the world’s highest self-supporting iron tower.
1958 1959 Mayor – Councillor Reginald Hall.
January 1959 A track laying machine started to lift the lines on a disused section of the Loftus to Whitby railway line. The machine a Morris Track layer that had been rebuilt after lying rusty for a number of years.
1959-1960 Mayor – Councillor Henry Armstrong Darling.
07/01/1959 The United States recognises the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
12/01/1959 Henry Cooper became the British and European heavyweight boxing champion when he defeated Brian London on points.
03/02/1959 Buddy Holly, US singer and guitarist, died in an air crash aged 22. With him were fellow rock n’ rollers Richie Valens and JP “Big Bopper” Richardson.
13/02/1959 The Barbie doll was launched in America. Around 350,000 were sold at $3 each.
1959 Frankie Vaughan visited Coatham Hotel guest at charity banquet.
16/02/1959 Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba after overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista.
18/03/1959 EMI discontinued the manufacture of 78 rpm singles
04/05/1959 The first Grammy Awards are held.
21/08/1959 Hawaii became America’s 50th state.
11/10/1959 Postcodes were introduced in Britain for the first time owing to the growing volume of mail. Now 1.7 million postcodes.
02/11/1959 The first stretch of the M1 motorway was opened. Boasted the first motorway service area Blue Boar, which became known later as Watford Gap.
16/11/1959 The Sound of Music, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical opened on Broadway.
1959 Supplement in The Times – Sea coaling at Redcar is a holiday occupation for Sunday mornings.
1959 Market traditional to Redcar closed

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Chris Hansom February 1, 2013 1950-1959