'Nothing like it' - your memories of Lambton Lion Park
Monkeys snapped your car aerials and lions jumped on your car - but you really do miss Lambton Lion Park.
It was in July 1972 when the long-gone attraction first opened and it soon pulled in huge crowds.
Members of the Wearside Echoes Facebook group shared their own memories of it and here are some of them.
Suzanne Dixon said: “You were allowed to walk in with the animals, apart from monkeys and lions (obviously).”
Packed lunches on the bus
Steve Smith remembered: “Went there many a time with the school in the seventies. Your packed lunch was left on the bus in full sun. Used to stink if you had egg sandwiches.”
Tracy Allen Waddell said her uncle’ drove the bus around the park’.
Stephen Holliday was one of the wardens and remembered working with ‘old Bobby Parish.”
Animal antics and destroyed car aerials
Andrea Lawson reminisced: “We used to go all the time as kids ..... those monkeys destroying cars lol. Dad used to pretend to be opening the window to stroke the lions . Happy memories.”
Helen Kenny: “Remember going on a school trip and with my family. One of the monkeys pulled my dad’s wiper off his car.”
Ian Brace: “Loved that place remember baboons snapped dad's car ariel lol.”
Plenty of other sights too
And some of you remembered the other quieter parts of the venue. Leslie Page loved the children’s playground and farms while Kev Thirlwell said he ‘went every year with the school loved it.”
Caroline Mitchinson Lawther: “I mostly remember looking through the windows at the puppets.”
Sandra Davison: “The old Concord aeroplane too. That was fun for kids.”
Lynn Taylor: “I loved the lions on the pillars as you drove in.”
A few more memories
Here’s our last set of quirky memories and thanks to everyone who shared with us.
Ian Gibson: “Did my work experience there. Feeding the lions was interesting.” David Taylor: “I was working in Boots The Chemists, Chester-le-Street when it opened and I remember them coming in for medication for their animals.” Tony Offic: “I was once driving through there and a rhino sat down in the road right in front of my car so just had to wait until it moved.”
And why not take a look at Wearside Echoes - the Echo’s page on Facebook which is dedicated to the area’s past.
Tell us about the tourist attraction you miss the most from Wearside’s past.
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