On Bedlington.uk Now...

1968 is a bit late for me as I left in 1962. However I do recognise the odd name. John Aynsley, Netherton lad, a bit younger than me, contributes on Bygone Bedlington I believe. Good luck with your search Malcolm that could be quite a reunion!

Hi Alan I am on Facebook will check out Bygone Bedlington also if you want to 'screenprint' my opening comment to Bygone Bedlington would appreciate that and I could see the results on this page. Thanks.

@Malcolm George Allan - do youuse Facebook? There is a facebook group - Bygone Bedlington with 6.7k members - that should have some ex Westridge pupils. If you naren't on Facebook would you like me to 'screenprint' your opening comment and I will post in on the Bygone Bedlington group and if there are any replies, worthy of passing on, I will screeprint them and post them on here for you to see

Hi Symptoms I remember those days at the Mayfair my first Band was Family we used to get the Morpeth train back and then walk back to my mothers house arriving at about six am were my mother would rustle up some breakfast for the lads, saw many good bands at the Mayfair before I left Bedlington in October 1973 to go and live in London. Jazz is not dead it just smells a bit funny. FZ Thanks for the memory. Malcolm G Allan.

Thanks Alan for your information as I now have lived in Glastonbury for 35 years and it's a bit of a long shot if anybody was on the Bedlington.uk page in all reality just want to see who is still alive and what they have done in their lifetime as we all must be in our seventies now, Westridge school days seem like a lifetime away as it's 57 years ago or there about since those days. Hope your well Alan as well as all the good Bedlington citizens just let the good times roll. Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation. Malcolm G Allan.

@Malcolm George Allan welcome to the group. Unfortunately there are very few active members visiting this group. I am not an ex Westridge pupil but I do recognise a couple of the names you have listed but can't recall anyone your list active within this group. These are some of the names of members of this group who went to to Westridge and comment within the group - @HIGH PIT WILMA - @Canny lass -& @Symptoms This is a drirect link to the estridge scool album created under the Gallery/Historic Bedligton section of this group :-

Hi it's me again, just done some research as there was a photograph of the Westridge Class so here are the names. Colin Ellis, John Anysley, Janet Read, Marion Laws, Carol Graves, Janet Nicholson, Esther Hartle, Barbara Potts, Janet Common, Mary Mathews, Irene Rickleton, Avril Prime, Maureen Purvis ,Pat Foreshaw, Harry Stapely I think he lives in Swansea in Wales now. Harry Standard, Alan Coultas, David Potts and apologies forgot Christian name Strawn he used to live on the farm on the Newcastle Road. So there you go thanks for photograph posted with most of the names apologies if I got any names wrong as it's a long time ago and we look so young. So if anybody knows any of those named and they are still in the Bedlington area please contact this page and leave a message. Thank You Malcolm G Allan.

Hi I wrote a message which has had 80 views about trying to contact people from Westridge County Secondary School 1967/8 so that would be Alan Coultas, Joe Lees, David Job, Tom Miller, Peter Tate, James Watson, Keith Bacon, Stuart Green, Janet Common, Carol Suthers, Mary Mathews Muriel Cutter there are others but my memory is a bit hazy since it is over 50 years ago, so if anybody knows these worthwhile citizens of Bedlington please inform them to contact this page. Keep well and hope to see a bunch of good people on the 14th September 2025 venue Red Lion time to be arranged. Yours steeped in nostalgia Malcolm G Allan.

First one: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/fury-northumberland-line-station-delay-32011486?fbclid=IwY2xjawLZ-UBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBVRDlnYnl0NVZWekc1Y3NkAR7Dd-pkV5BoAwCDM8In2oJ-nZLVQwqdJn42ln4AuB9nl9nZgnDxcCOarlsbug_aem_pxynPYlhOs_k1bJAbfj1fg Follow up: So I’m getting a bit of flack about the comments I made in the press about the rail station situation here in Bedlington and the fact that this town has been overlooked for decades! Let’s just put it in perspective: Starting with the station, about 6-7 years ago I stood on the old platform with the then Government minister when the reopening of the lines was being discussed and he said with what we already had this was going to be the easiest station to get reopened! I was at one of the original presentations about reopening the rail line and we were told in no uncertain terms that if the costs couldn’t be brought down to around the £100M mark then it wouldn’t go ahead. They were currently about £160M at the time. The Bedlington station project was estimated at around £20M One of the reasons this was wanted, as stated, was it could open up about 10,000 new housing units. Also it would kick-start economic regeneration around these new stations. I’ve asked about this fantastic economic regeneration, which I think is a no brainer, and was told oh yes you are getting a café. Fast forward a few years and the cost is around £300M, so someone somewhere made that decision! Shades of HS2 here? The new station at Newsham goes £20M+ over budget and the Bedlington station gets moth balled for a year. Coincidence? We hear about structural problems and unexpected anomalies here is Bedlington, wasn’t there a comprehensive engineering assessment done when the contract was awarded? Are there penalty clauses in the contract? We now see further delays due to……………..errm we haven’t been told but I can guess! Parking is going to be an issue but the main car park which was envisioned at the planning application stage has been ‘put on hold’ for up to 10 years to assess the need for it. In my opinion it’s as if even when we get a new station they don’t want people to come and use it? Other places get 200+ new parking places, we get something like 20 odd including electric and disabled ones. Even just this quick overview, is anyone really going to say we have been treated in the same way other places have? And that’s before we get onto the Town centre debacle and the other multitude of examples………..

Despite the political spin, it's perfectly obvious why Rachel Reeves was in tears during the HoC debate on welfare payment reductions. The realisation had finally dawned that she has taken on the hopeless task of balancing the UK's books. Hopeless because even the easy low-hanging fruit can't be plucked. We are supposed to believe that "the adults are now in charge", but like most of the guff from the Labour propaganda machine, exactly the reverse is true. Everything they've done to allegedly improve the economy has actually made our situation worse. The international bond markets have taken notice, and a 1970s type Sterling crisis is looming. How long this will take is anyone's guess. Some economists say it will strike in 2026. But one thing is for sure: this hopeless government won't last out it's five year term, and it will ALL end in tears!

Hi I used to live in Bedlington now I live in Glastonbury Somerset, I am trying to arrange a meeting of friends and past school mates from 1968 Westridge County Secondary School as we are all getting on maybe to meet up at Red Lion on time arranged I hope everyone is well and thank you if you read this and leave a message. Thanks Malcolm G Allan.

Does one have to summit their enquiry by pigeon post. Technology is supposed to improve communications. Instant replies are what people expect.

Now define "Urgent" Sanderson is a good tap dancer....

Sounds as though they've hired 'the Donald'!

This was resolved just before todays meeting! Sense has prevailed!

I was almost unable to speak today at full council and this time it was passion not being forbidden to speak! I’m used to having a fight with the Administration to get anything for Bedlington, I hope today is the last time I have to have a go at the new bunch of councillors! The motion they put forward was badly constructed but there was one bit which I couldn’t contain myself about. If it had gone through then about 6 years of my time and efforts would be wasted with Bedlington losing millions of pound of funding. I couldn’t let that happen and so I had to say something: https://www.youtube.com/live/xi5sxPcTWWI?si=rWWEKF9yA76ksl0j&t=6171

"Fixing" something that isn't broken, yet! Some people just need to hide.

Full council meeting today and many people won’t be aware that all members have been told not to contact NCC officers directly. In fact we now have to submit any problems, concerns or suggestions we raise on behalf of residents to a generic email address which is supposed to be answered within 10 days. I don’t feel that allows me to do my ‘job’ properly on behalf of my residents! In fact I think it’s a retrograde step taken by who I don’t know. Now there might well be valid reasons behind this but as yet I haven’t been informed and even if my suspicions are correct then this really does interfere with the way I do this ‘job’. I have quite a few ‘issues’ which residents have been onto me about and I have expressed them directly to the responsible officers but it seems I haven’t had the normal relies which always used to be the case. I can only assume they have been told not to reply to any member questions either? This isn’t going to work and the Independent Group, which I’m now part of within NCC, is fighting this, what seems to me at least, to be an irrational decision! I like to get back to any of my residents who contact me as soon as possible with a reply to their concerns but this is seriously hampering that! There are other wholesale changes going through which again need to be challenged but the above is the main bone of contention for me!

Hi wow thank you so much for all of this. I would like to receive the documentation. I will get back in touch to try and sort what you say. I am not very technically saved! I do know the area as my Nanna and Grandad lived in Berwick and I spent every holiday there and I was born in Newcastle. Thank you again