Jewish Lives
Adrienne
My visual memories
Adrienne was born in Tynemouth in 1947. Adrienne is second generation English on her father's side and 3rd generation English on her mother's. She did her degree in Leeds, trained as a teacher and then taught in Liverpool before returning to Newcastle. She was Headteacher of the Jewish Day School, later called the King David School, in Jesmond and then in Gosforth for twelve years. She played a key role in running Maccabi for over 30 years.
Adrienne was interviewed by Anita Wan on 16 June 2006. The interview took place in the participant's home and lasted for 44 minutes.
Listen to my memories
Escaping Russia
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My mother's family, as I said my grandmother came from London and my grandfather was also English-born, on her side. His parents came from St. Petersburg. At that stage, Jews weren't allowed to live in St Petersburg unless they had a special dispensation; they had to live within the Pale of Settlement. My grandfather* was apparently, from what I can gather, a tailor and bootmaker to the army and the army officers so he had a special dispensation to live there. He was also a Socialist and the Socialists were being rounded up in about 1891 and one of his officer friends came and said to him, one of the young officers, You've got to get out tonight. So basically, the guy gave him whatever cash he had, because the guy* was leading a thriving business, and left the flat, overnight, with my grandfather's oldest brother, a baby. And they all came over and eventually ended up in Newcastle.
*correction: great-grandfather
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