EPW060860 ENGLAND (1939). The Co-operative Wholesale Society Cabinet Works, Pelaw, 1939

I found this memorabilia relating to the opening of the Pelaw Branch Library in 1935 in the Presbyterian Church Hall in Shields Road. The invitation was to Miss M Lovell who was the librarian. Any further information would be welcomed.

There is plenty of industrial and railway activity in this image, taken just before the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. Rail enthusiasts will be aware that some of the former London & North Eastern Railway branches shown here have been transformed in the last 30+ years into the Tyne-Wear Metro light rapid transit system.

The CWS Cabinet and Upholstery factory, shown here at Pelaw, was built in 1902 between the Shields Road and the railway. It was extended in the period leading up to the outbreak of war and was producing a variety of commodities such as drugs, clothing, quilts and bedding, cabinet making, engineering and printing. "Pelaw Polish" was a well known brand from 1912. During World War II, the factory made gliders and components for aircraft. Most of the factories shown in this photo were closed by 1980, although the printing works survived until 1980 and the shirt factory into the new millennium.



The cabinet factory imported raw materials in the form of timber logs by rail and these would be unloaded by electric crane from the old goods yard at Pelaw station.



Ref: Eastern Main Lines: Darlington-Leamside-Newcastle, by Roger R. Darsley, Middleton Press, 2008.