Darlington: More about Molly (From The Northern Echo)

Darlington: More about Molly

8:11pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010 in

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TWO interesting talking points from Wednesday's column. From phone calls and emails, there would appear to be a mix-up between a Prefect and a Popular, but that needs a little investigation. No investigation is needed into memories of Molly Dolly: just a little imagination.

Cliff Yarrow has emailed with his memories of Molly Dolly type figure who might be one and the same: "I was interested in the account of Molly Dolly, the character living in Darlington during and after the Second World War.

"There were two names that immediately came to mind when I read the article. They were: Rise Carr Eva and Cockerton Sal.

"On many occasions when a child, I saw a woman wearing men’s boots, a flat cap, and often with a pipe clenched in her teeth. She was difficult to miss as she dressed strangely.

"She pushed a heavy wooden box about three feet long by two foot six, wide and two foot six deep. The box ran on two cast steel spoked wheels, roughly a foot in diameter. It was pushed along by handles fixed to the sides of the box.

"This “barrow” when travelling along the back lanes of the streets around the Denes area, which were paved with grey “slag” blocks, made a loud and distinctive racket. Because of this she rarely passed unnoticed. "I never found out what she carried in the “barrow” as her appearance was formidable to a child and I kept clear. I always assumed it was rags.

"She was always referred to by my friends by either of the above names. The description matched that of Molly Dolly so it is possible that all three names were applied to the same person and were dependent on the area you lived in.

"I recall another local character often to be seen in and around Northgate. He was known as “Gis a fag Jacky". It was said that he was a casualty of the First World War, but I don’t know if this was true. "Although being children we were too young to smoke, he rarely failed to stop us and say: “Gis a fag Jacky.”

"The days of Geordy Forbett, Cockerton Sal and Rice Carr Eva are long gone and Darlington is a less colourful place with their passing."

Then comes a phone call from Joyce Newcombe in West Auckland. She lived in Craig Street in the Denes area of Darlington in the mid-1930s.

"Molly Dolly used to wear an old flat cap and old clothes and she pushed a pram, and I believe she was blind in one eye - you could see it was different," she says.

"Because of her appearance, I was always threatened with Molly Dolly if I was naughty: she'll get you when she comes round.

"I remember her selling sticks wrapped in bundles, and odds and ends."