Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 28 January 2013 page 1 (of 17)
Teesside Topics 35
Confusion and chaos abound here and that is why this effort has been delayed and I have failed to keep a promise. If anybody read my last piece and can remember that I was going to produce a photo…. Well, I am not. The fact is that I have been busy trying to improve planning procedure in Hambledon and meant that I was not keeping an eye on the little people and they must have taken the photo. It will come back - after all, they have just returned my credit card.
So what else has been happening or not happening? One thing which is not happening is the InterFaith Service. This rather depended upon one particular chap organising it and he now seems to have thrown in the towel as he is, I understand, too busy courting!! However, we shall have the Holocaust Memorial Service on January 30 [2011] at the usual church. Sadly, this may be the last time there as the church is up for sale. However, I have in mind another church, so we shall still continue. I had thought that the new Bishop of Whitby would take part but he has been unwell, so for the first time a senior member of the Methodist clergy is to be the star.
The Middlesbrough site from Israel is back on the net and there are lots of people seeking relations or indulging in nostalgia. Discoveries emerge. Miriam Margolies was on TV recently, voicing her support for the Palestinians. I had not realised she had family connections with Middlesbrough until she wrote in. And now the brother of Martin Roth is seeking information. Researching is the order of the day. Indeed, I was surprised to find so much of my family tree on the net. It appears that I have relatives all over the world and indeed some as far away as Hartlepool and Newcastle. Actually, Google is a bit scary telling me how many other David Simons there are.
My sister tells me so much of our tree is there because of the interest in our relation, Harold Abrahams. The last time he came to Middlesbrough was when I persuaded him to come and address an audience. In those days before TV was ever-present law lecturers were popular and when I was Speaker Finder for the Little Theatre I brought many here, such as Prince Chula of Siam, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Glyn Daniels and Sir Peter Scott. And each visit only cost us £50!! . And in those days we had Classical Concerts at The Town Hall. I can remember one of the last, when we took my Uncle Phil Simon to a concert where the star was Yehudi Menuhin.
Turning to more serious matters, I must tell you about a recent event. Six 12 year old pupils from a Stockton school went to Auschwitz and Warsaw. According to their teacher the visit was a life-changing experience and learning of the treatment in the camp the pupils could not understand how such things had been allowed to happen,
Well I must stop now and continue my search for the photo. David Simon Stokesley November 2010