On Bedlington.uk Now...

I remember you talking about your writing, Hand written or not I doubt you'd get it published if you're still writing in your dialect- There's no market as dialects are dying out rapidly and very few are able to understand the north east - or any other - dialect, written or spoken, if they are younger than you and I. I'm helping a young man with his master's thesis just now on this very subject of dialect decline. It's saddening to say the least. But never mind! What a legacy you will leave for your family!!

Heh heh Thanks for your kind comment CL!..you remember a few years ago,I mentioned on here I had started writing my life story,from as young as I can vividly remember..approx aged 2 years old..[cos I can still see my leather reins with white felt fabric star shaped decorative buttons kept in place by chrome studs..]well,I started writing that book in 2009,and for a yr or two I hadn't even looked at it..until a few weeks ago..my Wife wanted to read it,all 600 pages ,so far,and still not complete.!!...So she read a wee bit every night,which spurred me on to start where I left off,writing a few pages each night...Trouble is,it's hand written in pen and ink on A4 pads.If only I had had computer knowledge,in 2009,I would have typed it..and stood a chance of it being published. I went back a few pages to recap where I had finished the last writing session,a year or two ago,and found myself absorbed in it!!..then I thought..it's interesting..and it's ME that aam writing aboot!!...hoo crazy is that?!! Cheers to all!

That's difficult to read even when you zoom in! Try these:

It's been a while since this topic was aired so I thought you might like to see what was amusing the people of the North East 120 years ago in 1904. I found this while rummaging about in the archives for James Gibson (nailer) but while he is named as the winner of the competition (winning the princely sum of 2 shillings and 6 pence!) he doesn't appear to be the James Gibson I was looking for. (Newcastle Weekly Chronicle 26 March 1904)

I’ve finally got my dahlias and geraniums stowed away for the winter and the falling leaves are keeping me very busy. It’s been a while since I could do any research on the Gibson family but now I’m back in business! Now, where were we…….? Following the death of his mother Ann in 1869 and the deaths of his brothers Philip in 1858 and James in 1878, Henry Gibson, born 1814, is the only surviving male in the family business and he takes over its management. He marries Mary Hedley in or around 1837 and together they have at least six children: daughters Ann, Jane Elizabeth, Hannah and Mary Ellen born 1837, 1842, 1850 and 1852 respectively. He also has two sons Philip Hedley Gibson, born 1847, and William James Gibson born 1855 who will eventually take over from their father. Before going on to Philip and Williams part in the ironmongery business it’s perhaps worth mentioning a couple of Henry’s daughters. In 1877 Henry’s daughter Mary Ellen, 25 years old, marries Lewis Dunn a farmer’s son from Bebside. On leaving school Lewis becomes a draper’s apprentice with Mr John Young of Waterloo Place, Blyth. (later Hedley Young?) By 1871 Lewis is a fully fledged draper managing, and living above a shop (with very distinctive windows) on Front Street East in Bedlington just a few doors away from the Gibson family home. Once married the couple live above the shop on Front Street East. By 1881 the couple have two small children and the business is paying well enough for them to have a live-in domestic servant. Unfortunately, Lewis dies in 1885 just eight years after their marriage. He leaves Mary Ellen with four young children. However, the Gibson girls are made of strong stuff and a little advert in the Morpeth Herald, dated 5th January 1886, shows that Mary Ellen continues to run the business. Just how long Mary Ellen runs the draper’s shop I haven’t been able to ascertain but at some point after 1891 she, together with three of her children, returns to her childhood home (now 34-36 Front Street East) to live with her brother Philip Hedley and her father Henry. Mary Ellen dies there just 3 days before Cristmas in 1901 aged 49 years. (Morpeth Herald dated 28th December 1901). Mary Ellen’s sister, Jane Elizabeth, born about 1842, marries enginewright John Archbold 1863. Once married the couple live a somewhat nomadic life moving from the North East, first to Ryton in County Durham then to South Yorkshire, where John obtains work as a colliery engineer. They remain in Yorkshire only a short while before moving to Derby and finally to Nottinghamshire where they settle in Greasley. They manage to have six children along the way and John’s work includes three years in China but it’s not clear if Jane accompanies him. John dies in Greasley in 1897 and he seems to have been a well-respected man. Jane Elizabeth and her children remain in Greasley after John’s death and she dies there in 1918. Back in Bedlington, Henry has continued to run the Ironmongery business and when sons Philip and William are old enough they are introduced into it. In 1871 Philip, then about 24 years old, is already his father’s assistant. William, then 16 years old, doesn’t seem to enter the business immediately. He works first as a clerk. possibly in Newcastle as it is there he is registered in 1871 whilst at the home of a family friend – 56 year-old railway mineral inspector Cuthbert Davidson and his family. However, he is later registered in Bedlington and enters his father’s business between 1871 and 1881. With William’s return to Bedlington there are now three family members in the business. Henry is still an ironmonger and still head of the family. He is however, in 1881, a widower having lost his wife in 1874. His son Philip is no longer his assistant but has himself aspired to the rank of ’ironmonger’ and has also branched out into the world of banking – albeit as an agent. The winds of change are blowing through the nail industry. Where will the Gibson family go from here? To be continued .....

@HIGH PIT WILMADigress all you like bonny lad! The 'ramblings' of one with first-hand knowledge are worth their weight in gold.

CL,I live next to the main road,and when the Bedlington Station High School is coming out,after 3-30pm,the "kids"...aged anywhere from 13-18 yrs old come past my front garden each day walking along in small groups,or some are on cycles.While it's wrong to generalise..I have seen a massive change in their attitudes over the last 24 yrs I have lived here..I have noticed how Boys aged 15-16 yrs ,a lot of them,act like wee bairns..in fact my two wee bairns didn't gaan on like some of these dae..and a think..when aa was 15 yrs aad..straight from my school desk...[yawn...roll eyes!!]..I was working and training underground at Seaton Burn Colliery..six miles away from home..I went down Choppington High Pit after my 16th birthday ,working with two older men,for twenty days "close personal supervision",then I was on my own..still working with the two John's,who were by now,my good Marra's..by the time I reached 17 yrs,my two older marra's left me to go to another pit to do their coalface training.After a few days.Ned Cushing,our old Training Officer,brought a lad inbye,same age as me ,and gave me a Certificate to say I was in charge of this lad for twenty days,then he would be my new Marra..next day, Ned brought this Lad's older Brother in and gave me another Certificate putting me in charge of him also.My point is,at 17 yrs old I was down a mine,in atrocious wet,dangerous conditions,in charge of two strangers..who were to become great Marra's IN and OUT of the pit..Now!..when I see these "Children"[by definition"]..aged 15-17 yrs,acting like idiots..and showing off in front of the lasses..I think...by hell..a wadn't waant them buggers working wi me a thoosand feet doon and ten miles oot under the North Sea filling 24 tons of coal onto a conveyor belt..driving an old fashioned coalcutter,drilling hard coal and stone by hand..carrying heavy arched girders which weighed aboot the same as two bags of cement..on their shoulders...for a quarter of a mile at a time...if we ever get back to mining coal..we will have to bring the German Contractors in..as we did in the past sometimes when the NCB wouldn't invest in specialist tunneling techniques which were way above what we had at our disposal..like at the Bewick Drift at Lynemouth..so much Water pouring in and flooding the workings..they brought Thyssens in..who had specialist refrigeration and freezing techniques ...they drilled holes all around the tunnel roadway,pumped a refrigerant into all the holes under high pressure..and this froze the water..allowing concreting of the roadway to take place..which sealed the roadway from water ingress..and I think these Specialist mining companies from Germany..even China!! will mine our coal in the future..if at all..seems I am back again....sorry for digressing!! Cheers!!

Excellent presentation, lets hope it gets off the ground asap.

For anyone interested in the development in Cambois.................... Here is the scrutiny meeting:

Further upgrades coming soon.................

Nice! I like the idea of the community drop-ins.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/cambois-qts-blackstone-datacentre-30040349?fbclid=IwY2xjawFo1G1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHelTQqer6zG_UMIyHLIej9wtdt55fpMWziqjd2EJh_jgRYQLM85ZoS9rQg_aem_Kw40vxjBh9gk9qudhLBkKA

Yes, 60% the rest is a mix, nuclear, gas, oil, wind, solar, stopped using coal but sell it to the USA who generate with it and we buy that power! $$$ its odd when people loose hydro, meaning electricity!

Did I understand you correctly, Vic, - your electricity comes from waterpower?

Over here no one calls electricity electricity they call it Hydro! still confuses me.... (so easily done)

Same here. The biggest distributor is in fact called Waterfall.

The news bulletin was just released on Friday night. What Northvolt have said is that "1 600 jobs must go". From what I understand, 1 000 of these jobs are at the factory, 400 are at the labs for product development and 200 at the head office in Stockholm so they are spread over the whole company. As yet nobody has been given notice of termination of employment, so you won't see any changes yet. Just a couple of weeks ago they were talking about just 300 jobs that must go! Naturally, the unions are up in arms. I think most people have expected this as Northvolt has been experiencing a financial crisis for a couple of years now and bankruptcy has been up for discussion on several occasions.