Letters
Just read Freddie Fishburn's account of his
Middlesbrough memories.
He says that the family home was on the corner of
Cambridge Road and Thornfield Road. He also says that the house was
known as the 'grey' house.
However, I seem to remember the family living in a
house on the corner of Cambridge Road and Thornfield
Grove.
If Freddie is correct, then his former home is now
the Grey House Hotel. If so, there is another Jewish connection to
the house.
Sometime in the eighties, (I cannot remember the
exact year) a keen cyclist arrived from Israel to North Yorkshire
with the intention of doing a cycling tour.
Unfortunately, he was involved in an accident and
was taken to Middlesbrough General Hospital in a coma.
At the time, he had no identification.
With him not contacting his family in Israel, the
family made investigations and tracked him down to the hospital.
They flew over, and stayed at the Grey House while the cyclist
recovered enough to fly back to Israel.
Please could you pass this onto Freddie.
Tony Frais
Leeds, England
My old home is indeed now the Grey House Hotel.
My late Aunt Dora Menasche used to stay there when she went to
Middlesbrough to go to the cemetery, where all that is left of my
late family lies.
I went to see the house on my last visit to the
Boro' when the community was, so to speak, shut down and its
exterior had not altered but there were several internal
alterations. It is still imposing.
We moved from there to Brierfield in Harrow Road,
even more imposing, after my grandmother died in 1947.
Can you remember the name of the Israeli cyclist
who was injured?
Could it have been Chaim Rockman who came there.
He is the son of my late mother's cousin who made aliyah to
Israel shortly after Independence. Chaim lives near Jerusalem and he
is a tour guide, primarily for cyclists.
Freddy Fishburn
