Hi Elizabeth,
If your mam went across the Tyne to work, then she must have worked at 'Hood-Haggies Rope Works'at Willington Quay.
In Hebburn we had the 'Hebburn Rope & Sail Works Co Ltd' that operated from 1900 to 1948.
That new Housing Estate Ian photographed is being built on their land in Hebburn hence the name 'The Ropery'.