Fred Tate
Fred was born in Hebburn, County Durham on 20 October 1926. He grew up in Wallsend because his father came across to work as a pitman in the G-Pit at Swan Hunter. The family lived in Laurel Street, Wallsend.
After leaving school at fourteen in 1940, Fred got a job at Swan Hunter as an office boy. He stayed there until he was twenty-one and then went to sea with the Merchant Navy. After a year at sea he worked at Parsons Marine for eight years. After that, Fred went to Wallsend Slipway Company which had been taken over by Swan Hunter. Fred worked at Swan Hunter until 1985 when he took redundancy and retired.
Fred talks about his experiences at Swan Hunter and living in Wallsend during the Second World War.
Fred was interviewed by Alex Magin on 23 February 2007. The interview took place at Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum and lasted for 46 minutes.
Fred Tate's Memories
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Transcript
What does Swan Hunter mean to you now?
Sad! Sad to think that the ship got taken away uncompleted! That the cranes are going to taken away to India! Titan crane in particular that’s gonna go away and I’m sad to hear that. I mean they’re no good to any one if their not gonna build any ships anymore! But, just things haven’t been right for quite some time now!