Anybody remember Hartford Camps?,

Or

Like me lived there, we lived at 54 Netherton Moor, that No1 camp, as you drove in from the main road the garage was straight in front of you we lived on the left proberbly just where the Information centre is now.

More Happy days.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anybody remember Hartford Camps?,

Or

Like me lived there, we lived at 54 Netherton Moor, that No1 camp, as you drove in from the main road the garage was straight in front of you we lived on the left proberbly just where the Information centre is now.

More Happy days.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lived at 13 Hartford Woodlands, #3 Camp.

My family lived at the Hartford camps. I believe it was from 1949 to 1952 or thereabouts, I was 4 when we moved to 88 Westlea...I have vague memories of the !*!@# heaps there and the communal netties and washroom. I remember Marjie from Pattison the butchers driving her little van to deliver meat. Seems like a million years ago.

What were these legendary Hartford Camps?

Let us young uns in on craic

My family lived at the Hartford camps. I believe it was from 1949 to 1952 or thereabouts, I was 4 when we moved to 88 Westlea...I have vague memories of the !*!@# heaps there and the communal netties and washroom. I remember Marjie from Pattison the butchers driving her little van to deliver meat. Seems like a million years ago.

There were no !*!@# heaps, communal netties or washrooms, where did you live ?

My uncle Bill Cavanagh worked as a butcher for Pattisons I believe, and my Aunt Vin Rowell rode around on a bike making deliveries for them but it was along time ago.........

Is this the camps you`re all referring to? Well, what`s left of them anyway. I didn`t realise anyone used to live there.

Is this the camps you`re all referring to? Well, what`s left of them anyway. I didn`t realise anyone used to live there.

i thought that was a cow shed!

i thought that was a cow shed!

wasnt there an opencast pit where the golf course is now, that may be the !*!@# heaps??

Is this the camps you`re all referring to? Well, what`s left of them anyway. I didn`t realise anyone used to live there.

There were several buildings like that, Jack Clouston and his brother used them in their greengrocery/coal business. They even had a paddling pool .

There were 3 camps, known would you guess as No1, No2 and No3 camp, each camp was made up of about 50/60 houses they streched from where the Park Information centre is now following the road all the way toward netherton about 150 /200 houses there was a garage and other amenities. There was a regular bus to and from Bedlington for shops and school for me.

The best thing about the camps it was a great place to live and a happy community, unfortunatly these were pulled down in 1957 and people were scattered around bedlington.

There were several buildings like that, Jack Clouston and his brother used them in their greengrocery/coal business. They even had a paddling pool .

:lol: Canny paddling pool that.

There were 3 camps, known would you guess as No1, No2 and No3 camp, each camp was made up of about 50/60 houses they streched from where the Park Information centre is now following the road all the way toward netherton about 150 /200 houses there was a garage and other amenities. There was a regular bus to and from Bedlington for shops and school for me.

The best thing about the camps it was a great place to live and a happy community, unfortunatly these were pulled down in 1957 and people were scattered around bedlington.

This photo was taken in 1949 Maybe some of your relatives on here?

Anybody remember Hartford Camps?,

Or

Like me lived there, we lived at 54 Netherton Moor, that No1 camp, as you drove in from the main road the garage was straight in front of you we lived on the left proberbly just where the Information centre is now.

More Happy days.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This photo was taken in 1949 Maybe some of your relatives on here?

Johnny Rea lived there too. Not sure at which camp tho. BTW, thats a really nice pic from the camp, not many around, but a really nice pic. Thanks for sharing it.

Apparently we used to live at Hartford Camp, 23 Moorside don't know which camp No. it was, nor can I remember it as I was only 2 or 3 when we got a house in Bedlington. This would have been 1953. My mam always had fond memories of "the huts" as she used to call them, probably cos it was much better than living in!

The camps were originally army camps during the second world war. The Gordon Highlanders were stationed there before D-day. In 1969 I served with an old scotsman called Jimmy in Bielefeld in Germany. When we first met he asked me where I came from. When I answered near Bedlington he answered "Is the Red lion still there"? Then he asked me where near Bedlington I said Netherton and he told me he used to go to dances in the Tute. I did not ask him if he knew my mother. After the war there was a severe shortage of housing as men were coming home from the war and a lot of young couples were getting married after the war, hence the baby boom. One of the solutions in Bedlingtonshire was converting the disused nissan huts into houses as well as building prefabs and a massive council house building programme. Some streets were named after councillors at the time, such as Elenbel avenue and Tomlea Avenue. I don't think the Oval was a councillor's name. My grandad refused to have a street named after himself or there would have been an Adammair lane or something in the shire. My Mam and Dad got married and after living in for a while went to live at one of the camps. They moved to first street in the colliery where they were living when I was born. We moved to Elenbel avenue when I was one and a half. I've mentioned in another post, in the photo above my Grandad is the little man seated in the middle of the front row. Hope this helps a bit. AB     

Hartford camp residents c1949.

Rough sketch, from Jim McMaster - Past Times History group, of the buildings at Hartford in the early 50's.

Then and now showing the only building that is left. Don't know if this was the only stone building on the site.

Edited June 16, 20197 yr by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

Michael Gair - Facebook group Past Times History - has named No 34 as Catherine Rutter.

On 01/05/2009 at 23:55, Sw@lnalla said:

There were no !*!@# heaps, communal netties or washrooms, where did you live ?

I lived at 15a moorside I would be about 4 years old I can remember mr tylers chippie  and  a school.

if I remember rightly we had to walk along to a purpose built block where you had your own toilet 

On 04/04/2020 at 12:09, george47666 said:

I lived at 15a moorside I would be about 4 years old I can remember mr tylers chippie  and  a school.

@george47666 - A lad on the Facebook past times History has been asking if anyone has a photo of the school. Do you know which camp the school was on and have you ever seen any photos of the school?

Sortly before the huts were demolished, around 1957, there were children from the camps at Nedderton Village Junior school.

 brian cross was bette cross who went to live in Australia any relation to you  I used to call her auntie bette

15 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@george47666 - A lad on the Facebook past times History has been asking if anyone has a photo of the school. Do you know which camp the school was on and have you ever seen any photos of the school?

I think this could be no 3 camp