Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 30 November 2013 (Page 1)
Lettters
We haven't been in contact before, but I am writing to you now in order to send you a scan of a document you may find of interest for the the Kehilat Middlesbrough website.
The document is entitled "Notes on the Synagogue and Services". It was written in 1977 by Ernest Hush and sets out information about the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation and the services held in the Park Road South Synagogue and much more besides. I understand that the leaflet was distributed to visitors to the Synagogue.
I am not of Jewish background myself - I was given the leaflet by Mr. Hush himself back in 1981. At the time, I was 17 years old and was involved in local community work in Acklam, Middlesbrough. Mr. Hush held regular "fellowship lunches" at his home in Great Ayton, which were attended by representatives of various faiths. Each time, he would invite an interesting person or persons from the community to join the group for the meal. This was how I came to know Mr. Hush and he told me a great deal about his own background and about the Jewish community in Middlesbrough.
I am very interested in the history of Middlesbrough in general and have viewed the Kehilat Middlesbrough website quite a few times and so I thought you might be interested to see a scanned PDF copy of Mr. Hush's guide.
I also wanted to pass on an interesting weblink that will be of interest to members of Kehilat Middlesbrough. The page contains high-quality pictures of ritual objects from the Park Road South synagogue, which have been displayed in the Dorman Museum, in addition to images of the stone tablets commemorating the members of the Hebrew Congregation who fell in the First or Second World War, and of the prayer house in the Middlesbrough Jewish Cemetery. You will certainly have seen most if not all of these objects before, but you may not have seen them pictured all in one place on this website:
Bolckow has photographed a great many historical artefacts and locations in Middlesbrough and the surrounding area and it is great to see that these items relating to the Hebrew Congregation have also been photographed
With very best regards from Middlesbrough,
Andrew Maycroft Middlesbrough
[Ed note: Here is a brief selection from Bolckow’s images]