Mining Stories

[Canny lass]

Hi HPW, Dougie Moore was my next-door neighbour in Netherton. I understand that he passed away some time ago. His oldest daughter and I were really good friends. I was her bridesmaid and she was godmother to one of my Children. She also passed away some time ago. Dougie was a keen member of the St. John's ambulance brigade and a 'first-aid man' at Netherton pit. He used to take me and his daughter to some of the competitions/training Days organised at Ashington where they, in very realistic conditions, had to deal with all sorts of mining accidents. I learned a lot there.

 

I've never Heard anything about the figure you mention, or any other strange happenings down the pit for that matter. Nothing was ever mentioned at home and my father died when I was 19. I haven't so much Contact now with Netherton people. They seem to have been dispersed all over the Place when Netherton disappeared into the dust and by that time I'd been gone quite a long time. However I'll keep my ears open and there may just be somebody here who can throw some light on the mystery figure.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Brian,aye,a got me Deputies tickets,I was on Deputy-work for seven years at Bates pit,[they sent me there cos Bedlington A pit was closing-so it was nae gud me gaan back there after the course was finished].

A chucked it in,and the NUM accepted me back into the union,and I spent the rest of my time there,on composite work,in the Three-quarter seam,amang aal the waata and clarts,and bad roof conditions![ a man-made hell!]

A musta gotten on weel wi aal thi lads,cos it had nivvor been knaan before,cos once you are a Deputy,there was never any way you could go back into the NUM!

But there were loads of lads in all the face teams said they would have ne working with them.

I ended up back with my old Marra from 1962 [at Choppington high pit],who I got split from  way back then,when all the little pits closed in the 1960's.

Bill,[my old long-time Marra],can be seen on my photostream,on Flickr,taken doon the three-quarter at Bates pit ,in 1986.

Where did you work Brian,and also,you wouldn't happen to be actor Bobby's Brother....would you?

Old Bobby Cross,[actor Bobby's Dad],worked at Choppington high pit,in the 1950-60's a canny aad soul.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Canny Lass!

Aye,Dougie was a real gud crack,and a canny fella.Sorry to hear of him passing away.

You know,half of Netherton village moved into Hollymount Square,when it was completed , in the early 1950's.

As a bairn,I played with all the "new" kids who moved in...[cos my family were among the very first ones to move there...I was about three years old..nearly four....and one of the "experienced" kids!]

Can you remember the Bell family who had the "ranch" at Netherton?

or Robbie's garage?

Bobby Cowell was the Safety Officer at the pit,he was a canny lad.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Them were the days,when a was lad of 12 years old,when a used ti gaan up ti thi Netherton colliery village,and help Ray Bell to mek thi pigswill in a huge witches setpot,ootside,doon at the ranch.[in 1956-ish].When a was riding me bike up the Netherton Lonnen,[now dilapitated and disused due to another council sacrilegous blunder...],a cud smell the swill cooking a half-mile away...it was lovely on a winter's day,cos effectively,it was real vegetable soup,better than we humans eat,cos it was made from the skins of all the vegetables,which is known to be the best part OF the vegetable!!....and we are supposed to be intelligent!

The swill cooked for three days ,cos there was a bit more than your average Asda tin in that setpot!....enough to feed fifty pigs!

A used ti enjoy feeding times,and also when a sow had her litter,you had sometimes 17 piglets to juggle around the udders,cos the weakest ones couldn't push their way in,so you had to help them oot!

My oldest Sister married Ray,that's why I used ti go up there a lot.

Everybody in the village kept their peelings for Ray,and I think they might have got a reward of a few rashers,or a joint,in return....I don't know for sure.

His Mother,ran a lovely green Morris Oxford,in 1956,that was the big car of the day,very luxurious...made me wonder how,when everybody was so hard-up,in the post-war years of austerity!

Aye....those were the days my friend!

Edited January 23, 2014 by HIGH PIT WILMA

[Brian Cross]

Hi Brian,aye,a got me Deputies tickets,I was on Deputy-work for seven years at Bates pit,[they sent me there cos Bedlington A pit was closing-so it was nae gud me gaan back there after the course was finished].

A chucked it in,and the NUM accepted me back into the union,and I spent the rest of my time there,on composite work,in the Three-quarter seam,amang aal the waata and clarts,and bad roof conditions![ a man-made hell!]

A musta gotten on weel wi aal thi lads,cos it had nivvor been knaan before,cos once you are a Deputy,there was never any way you could go back into the NUM!

But there were loads of lads in all the face teams said they would have ne working with them.

I ended up back with my old Marra from 1962 [at Choppington high pit],who I got split from  way back then,when all the little pits closed in the 1960's.

Bill,[my old long-time Marra],can be seen on my photostream,on Flickr,taken doon the three-quarter at Bates pit ,in 1986.

Where did you work Brian,and also,you wouldn't happen to be actor Bobby's Brother....would you?

Old Bobby Cross,[actor Bobby's Dad],worked at Choppington high pit,in the 1950-60's a canny aad soul.

I have /had an uncle Bob Cross not sure of the pits he worked at, last i heard of him he was living

at the top end of Bedlington one of the times i was back home i tied to look him up but couldn't find

him or his family... All of our family worked in the pits My Dad George, uncle Jim cross, Bob Cross

Uncle Fred Gibbon and  Bill Cavanaugh did you work with any of them HPW ?

[Canny lass]

HPW, I'm pretty sure I remember the Bells and their pigs but I remember their Place being at the top end (the Netherton end) of Choppington Lonnen - sometimes called the White Lonnen, because it was a Concrete road that was almost White in colour. The 'ranch' was at the old Chapel (Weslyan, I Think). It was no longer used as a Chapel then and the pigs had the free run of the Place,

 

Funny you should mention them now as I just mentioned the 'swill-man' in Another posting. That was Raymond Bell! and yes we did get a piece of bacon for saving our 'peelings' and cabbage stalks. I never liked the smell of the swill cooking though.

[Symptoms]

I remember the 'swill-man' coming to Westridge School to collect all the kitchen scraps - a flat-bed truck with loads of galvanised dustbins into which he'd empty the food waste.  It was all very dirty and smelly with the bins smeared with old food dribbles.

 

Us big lads once chucked a first year kid into one of the slop bins - when he emerged he was covered in slime and cabbage leaves.  What a hoot.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Symptoms

[Malcolm Robinson]

I remember the 'swill-man' coming to Westridge School to collect all the kitchen scraps - a flat-bed truck with loads of galvanised dustbins into which he'd empty the food waste.  It was all very dirty and smelly with the bins smeared with old food dribbles.

 

Us big lads once chucked a first year kid into one of the slop bins - when he emerged he was covered in slime and cabbage leaves.  What a hoot.

 

Sym........Flashman?  

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Symtoms,that wasn't Ray Bell,he didn't have a lorry of any kind....more like gaan roond the doors wi a wheel-barra ti get the peelings in!!

Hi Canny Lass!,I told the whole story of the ranch in another posting,but just to re-cap,the original ranch was on the left-hand side of the white lonnen,as you walked up towards the Netherton colliery village from Choppington Station.

Mrs Bell bought the land,incl. the Chapel,on the right-hand side,in later years,around 1956-ish,thereabouts.

Ray was my Brother-in-law,from my age of about  12 years old,in 1956-ish,and I used to help him often with the feeding of all the animals.

Ray and my Sister lived in a caravan beside the chapel for a year or two,till they could find a place ,[proper], to live.

They were so hard-up,at the time,that my Sister used to walk from her caravan,at the top of the lonnen,all the way to Bedlington top-end,down the main street to my Mother's house at Hollymount Square,and back again,after a few hour's visit.

She used to be carrying her baby in one arm,and shopping bag on the other,and on the journey home,her bag was full of coal for her caravan fire!

[about  half a pail-full!]

Can you imagine any young girl doing that noo?

[Alan dickson]

Divvent know if H P w had the pleasure of seeing the cavern at Bates at the Harvey Seam ,as we both started on same day there.

It was like stepping into a fairy grotto made entirely

out of mica crystal.The weekend shift I was on meant I could help myself to a sample or two,

I could hardly carry me bait bag yem.

I/m sure me and HPW could write a book between us .

It wasn't/ all work down the pit ,there were some great practical jokers down there .

The best one I came across was when a lad sewed a pair of kippers into his Marra/s jacket lining the pit baths were humming the next day

[Alan dickson]

P.S I remember Bobby Cross he was transferred from Woodhorn as an Overman. He had been Marra/s with my dad when they were younger.

Lovely little fella with I shall tactfully say sailor/s legs

[mickypotts]

The Purple crystals were Amethyst, a type of quartz, they were a dark grey rock til you broke one open to reveal a cavity inside full of crystals

also all of the fossils that were found in the pit and Wor Dad would bring them home if they stood out or were unusual, leaves of ancient trees, sometimes a fish or an insect, never remember any Mammal fossils though.

[Canny lass]

Not often you're wrong HPW but you're right again! The ranch was on the left as was the "set-pot" for boiling the pigs food. I Think I even remember a sign above the gate which sait "the ranch".

[Alan dickson]

We once found some fossil mussels up the plessey seam at Bates and they looked real enough to eat.And once at Lynemouth we fired a shot INA new heading and when the fumes cleared a complete segmented tree trunk was standing completely upright in front of us.Though I remember ajoker at Bates taking a kipper skeleton and shoving it into a clay fault ,making a great show of finding it.

The Deputy who was/t very popular wrapped it carefully in his bait paper and buggared of sharp to bank with it.

In the meantime a museum official had been called .

You can imagine the managers face when he delivered his verdict on the prize exhibit

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh! Alan,nivvor hord o that one,but ye had me creased up theor!!

Aye,Al,first week doon Bates,as a Deputy,[as you were also],my appointment was as a Gate-end supervisor,in thi tailgate,in 84's face,up in thi Beaumont seam.Half-way alang 8's main belt road,[in thi Beaumont,Alan,not thi Harvey...], Dennis Holiday,[ deceased R.I.P. Dennis..],pulled some lagging boards

away from above wa heeds,between thi arched girders.

Dennis said "Howway Wilma,aal show yi summick that'll mek ya eyes rowl..[roll]..."

We climbed up the packwaal at thi side and got above thi gorda's,and sure enough,me eyes DID rowl!!

A bet that cavity was best part of 30 feet high,or more,and was full of crystals,pentagon,[5-sided] facets,mostly quartz,but lots of other colours,which were ,after thi passing of time from it's discovery,covered in coal dust,and oxidised.

What a sight to behold! At weekends,Me marra's used ti ask me ti fetch some bits oot.."for thi bairns ti tek ti school"....[aalwis for thi bairns...nivvor for thi Wives ti use as an ornament!!]

The floor was composed entirely of thick,multi-coloured crystals among the stone,which was whin-stone,and which was originally Magma,[or molten lava from volcanic action,over 200 million years ago.]

Apparently,it was discovered  when the caunch-men fired the caunch down,one day,around 1982-ish.

After thi shots went off,water started rushing in so furiously,that it was out of control.

The roadway flooded within a very short time,and they rushed extra pumps in,[D12d's...Alan...a few of them,then Mackley turbine pumps],the Management thought they were gonna lose the whole pit to thi water coming in.

After a few days,the inrush started to ebb,and they got hold of thi water levels,to a static pioint.

When the men eventually worked their way in through the water,back to the face,they were treated to the sight of this cavity,only it was freshly exposed,and glittering like diamonds..[which some of the men thought the crystals were....to their disappointment!].

The Manager called in people from the Hancock museum,who called further archeologists in from London,and it was they who determined the age,and origin of this spectacle.

What comes aroond,gaans aroond.......and that cavity is back ti being flooded again,and it'll be flooded for many a year afore anybody ever sees it again.!

Just thinking,Alan,did they caal the Harvey,thi Beaumont,at Bates,cos they caaled the Plessey,thi Hutton!...which aa couldn't figure oot.

 A dea knaa that different pits caaled seams differently,ti others,but Bates caaled the bugga's both names!!

So mebbe we are both reet,and aal apologise for correcting yi earlier in this posting,Alan!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Thanks Canny lass!

Aav got vivid memories of thi ranch,and feeding thi pigs,and aal thi other livestock!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Alan,one of thi best laughs me and Bill etheridge,[me Marra,and Tom Young...deceased....R.I.P. Tom..],had,was when a canny young timber lad used ti work he'sell', digging and nipping ye from behind,punching yi in thi ribs playfully,and caaling ye a baaldy aad sod....etc!

We warned him that we wud crucify him if he didn't waatch he's step!

So he carried on being a worky-ticket,and he was shocked when me two big Marra's held him doon between the rails of the rolleyway,lying his body alang the sleepers,and aa dogged he's claas by each shoulder,to the sleepers wi rolleyway dogs..[like big thick nails,wi dog's-heads on them,so yi can nail thi rails to the sleepers].

A also dogged he's waistband of he's troosers,and he's trooserbottoms,ti the sleepers,so he was fast,and cudn't move an inch!!

We tuk he's caplamp off him,and went through thi air-doors,leaving him in total blackness,and shouted .."so long,yi impitint young...###### "

Once we got through thi airlock doors,we just stood and listened ti him screaming he's heed off......tha wasn't any danger to him,we weren't stupid aaltigither!

We let him stew a bit,and aa started feeling sorry for thi poor lad,so a tuk he's lamp back in,and cut him free by hacking he's claas away,partly,and let him cut thi rest.

When he caught us up,at thi shaft bottom,he was a total mess,wi aal raggy claas,cos when yi knock a dog reet in,ti thi hilt,tha there ti stay,so he had ti rip hesell oot!!

Thi lad was that gud natured,he telt ivery body in thi queue for thi cage,and STILL towsed us when we were waiting for the next cage ti bank!!!

Years later,we see him doon the river Wansbeck,dog-waakin',and he aalwis tells me Wife the story aboot he's crucifixion!!!

We wud be tuk ti court nooadays by the wimps who divvent knaa wat a gud day's work is,and hoo ti mek thi best of a bad job!!

Edited April 30, 2014 by HIGH PIT WILMA