Bedlington Home Guard

[peterhastie]

Hello All

This is a link to a photo of the Officers in Bedlington Home Guard.

I believe some of the officers came from Blyth. I am hoping someone on this forum will be able to tell me where the photo was taken.

http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af6/peterhastie/img441.jpg

I am interested in anyone who served in the Home Guard in Bedlington or anywhere in Northumberland.

I have created a website to commemorate the men who served in Newcastle and hope to expand it to a larger area ie Blyth and Bedlington.

http://www.ccoynblhomeguard.co.uk/Newcastle%20Battalions.html

[threegee]

Very interesting, but not a Bedlington building I think. Note that Rediffusion has two f's. http://www.rediffusion.info/

[Andy Brown]

Very interesting, but not a Bedlington building I think. Note that Rediffusion has two f's. http://www.rediffusion.info/

It looks like the pic was taken in front of Bedlington High School, have a look at here

[threegee]

It looks like the pic was taken in front of Bedlington High School, have a look at here

Goodness I think you are probably right. Never been that far down Palace Road for several decades. Thought it might have been Sleekburn school, but not even close, forgot about the old "Bedlington Station Grammar School".

Google has caught someone popping up from behind a bush at the bottom of the road. Seems you can't even play truant these days without getting caught on camera!

[Keith Scantlebury]

It looks like the pic was taken in front of Bedlington High School, have a look at here

I thought that Andy, never thought about google earth . As GGG said it could have been the old Grammar school.

[peterhastie]

Yes! it certainly looks like Bedlington High School, the crest with a Nbl shield and the date underneath (1925)

[norman]

Capt om Murphy in your photograph was my uncle. My father William Turner (Bill) also served in Bedlington Home Guard as a sergeant, he remained in the HG until it was disbanded and was commisioned into thr Northumberland Fusiliers (TA)

[mickypotts]

3rd from the left in the back is w potts who may be my grandfather, he died during the war so I never met him, mr hostler was headmaster at whitley and a great cricketeer

[Keith Scantlebury]

3rd from the left in the back is w potts who may be my grandfather, he died during the war so I never met him, mr hostler was headmaster at whitley and a great cricketeer

Micky, I don't think the man in the picture was the headmaster of the Whitley, although it could be some relative. The Headmaster at the Whitley was called Fred Hostler, he lived in a bungalow on Stead Lane next to the cut that ran down to the Oval alongside the Oval school field. The guy in the photo looks older than Fred Hostler would have been in 1943. Matty Hall [whom I am sure you remember taught there] and my dad were school mates. Fred Hostler would not have been much older than them [my dad would have been 20 years old in december 1943], the man in the picture looks a lot older.

[mickypotts]

Micky, I don't think the man in the picture was the headmaster of the Whitley, although it could be some relative. The Headmaster at the Whitley was called Fred Hostler, he lived in a bungalow on Stead Lane next to the cut that ran down to the Oval alongside the Oval school field. The guy in the photo looks older than Fred Hostler would have been in 1943. Matty Hall [whom I am sure you remember taught there] and my dad were school mates. Fred Hostler would not have been much older than them [my dad would have been 20 years old in december 1943], the man in the picture looks a lot older.

that may be true keith but it does look like Mr. Hostler a good bit, time plays tricks on your memory I suppose, We used to visit Mr Hostler at his House, Desmond Reay used to live right across the street( RIP )we were good mates back then and Alan Hall lived a few doors down from Desa. Mattie Hall was a very good teacher except if you were on the wrong end of his blackboard ruler!! did they ever find out why the whitley burned down?

[Keith Scantlebury]

that may be true keith but it does look like Mr. Hostler a good bit, time plays tricks on your memory I suppose, We used to visit Mr Hostler at his House, Desmond Reay used to live right across the street( RIP )we were good mates back then and Alan Hall lived a few doors down from Desa. Mattie Hall was a very good teacher except if you were on the wrong end of his blackboard ruler!! did they ever find out why the whitley burned down?

People still come up to me , even now , and remind me of the time Matty Hall took that blackboard ruler to my ass. I had short pants on and that ruler had a crack in it. It nipped my ass so bad I could hardly walk for a fortnight. The crap thing was I used to be at his house most nights after school [i knocked around with his daughter, Sandra] and he used to give me a gentle kick up the butt as I whent through the door. I wont mention any names but the guy who burned the school down had served a prison sentence for a particularly nasty crime he had committed in the late 60's [or thereabouts] He was sent to prison again for burning down the school and got a job re-building it when he was released. Edited March 30, 2011 by keith

[mickypotts]

People still come up to me , even now , and remind me of the time Matty Hall took that blackboard ruler to my ass. I had short pants on and that ruler had a crack in it. It nipped my ass so bad I could hardly walk for a fortnight. The crap thing was I used to be at his house most nights after school [i knocked around with his daughter, Sandra] and he used to give me a gentle kick up the butt as I whent through the door. I wont mention any names but the guy who burned the school down had served a prison sentence for a particularly nasty crime he had committed in the late 60's [or thereabouts] He was sent to prison again for burning down the school and got a job re-building it when he was released.

Thanks again for the info, such a shame that it burned Eh? some great childhood memories up in smoke, anybody remember Billy Catalan the only black kid in town? he was adopted and had a rough childhood, I got on with him but he always seemed to land himself in trouble poor guy..... how about Mrs. Bink,s sweet shop next to the Whitley, my favorite were the Poor Bens...........

[johndawsonjune1955]

It looks like the pic was taken in front of Bedlington High School, have a look at here

It is for sure Bedlington High School.

Did you know that we had an auxiliary army. ?

Well they were actually the "Secret Army" Now there is a lot of history connected to them and the Home Guard. We actually did a book on the secret army, not available now, but i can get it in its computer format and you could print it off yourself on ya printer.

For the Secret Army, The bank manager of Martins Bank in Bedlington was an officer and the commanding officer was Anthony Quale the actor, don't know if his name is spelt right. You know the bank manager lived in a big house on the left on ya way to the golf course and had enough explosives in his shed to blow Bedlington to bits.

Will sort out some topics i have promised to complete for members and if i get some more time i will post on the Home Guard in and around Bedlington.

BTW. Me grandad was in Choppington Home Guard. He was in the Battle of the Somme and was gassed by the Germans and sent home. It effected him the remainder of his life, God Bless him, and a lovely man he was. So when WW2 broke out he enlisted in the LDV which was later changed to the Home Guard.

Edited January 6, 2012 by johndawsonjune1955

[pilgrim]

interesting comment re Anthony quaile - I was aware of he site at Plessey but of course any information is not easy to get.

[mercuryg]

Interesting stuff this 'secret army' business! I had a dig around and found an interesting letter in The Northumbrian (https://www.thenorthumbrian.co.uk/127/letters.html?letter_id=104 - can somebody make that a 'clickable please?) that indicates the Plessey OB may never have been operational, I quote:

 

"There were 21 Operations Bases (OBs) built by the 184th Special Tunnelling Company, the Royal Engineers. One at Paxtondene and another near Bedlington were moved, one after being seen during construction and the other for water issues."

 

Also, if you access his site - address in the letter - and do a bit of reading he makes mention of a patrol at Choppington, but not Bedlington.

[tomtom]

Fascinating history - anyone know of any book titles that cover this piece of local WW11 history.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

My older Brother's Wife,was born at Netherton colliery village...and her Granda was in the Home guard,as was her Father.

One day,in the early 1960's,when the couple were still courting,My Brother took me up to Netherton,to meet her Granda,as he was Bandleader of the Netherton Colliery Brass Band,and I was learning the guitar,[self-teaching],with a view to getting some tips on music.

While we were there,my Brother asked Granda  if he would show me something he had upstairs.

Granda said "Take him up and show him....".

So my Brother took me to Granda's bedroom,and, leaning down to the floor,pulled out from under the bed....................THREE big wooden ammunition

boxes,in army green livery.

One was full to the brim with clips of .303 cartridges,and machine gun belts full of cartridges.

The other two were full of  small cardboard boxes of .38 and ..45 [snub-nosed] cartridges....hundreds of them!!

Enough to blow Netherton village up!

I was about 15 years old,and started shaking with fear,at the sight of them,and just wanted to get out of the house!

They were "left-overs" from the war,ammunition which was supplied,and never had the opportunity of being used. 

They were later handed in during amnesty,but I bet it raised a few eyebrows at the police station,who were probably used to getting the odd .410

or Army service revolvers,or small-time weapons,being handed in!

There must have been thousands of bullets in these boxes,and to me,the most fearsome looking of all them were the .45's .

Granda had been a weapons instructor in the Home Guard,and authorised to hold the ammunition.

It was the same when they pulled the old houses down ,in Bell's Place,to build the rest of Hollymount Square,in the very early 1950's/late 1940's

I lived in the first half of the square,when they were built after the war,around 1947-ish.

We played in the deserted old terrace,which was being pulled down,and one of my older friends,found some shotfiring black powder fuse.

I think I related the long story elsewhere in the forums,but the point is, the elder generation seemed to hoard stuff like that,then die!

Mind,in those days,the old miners had to buy all their own pit gear,and explosives,and they used to keep the powder and fuse "wire",in the coal oven

heater cupboard,near the mantelshelf,to keep it dry!

[pilgrim]

had to laugh at that Wilma re the buying your own gear etc. as a very young child and having a father as a 'shotfirer' there were always 'strange - do not touch' things about the house and I do recall being allowed to play with my great uncles service revolver - not loaded of course and only in the house. The high point of my very early days - I don't think I had even started school!! was being allowed to push the plunger on the det box to blow up some old tree stumps on our land. Im sure special branch, anti terrorist squad and the social services would have had a major operation on that these days. (mind you - I also recall him signing the poison register at the chemists for cyanide to use for disposing of some wasps nests we had -- can you imagine that these days ??? 

Edited January 22, 2015 by pilgrim

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh pil!! my turn to laugh!!.....CYANIDE!! ....for a wasp's nest!!

Reminds me of a tale I was told by the shotfiring instructor,at Darnley Road Mining school,in  1971,when I was doing the Mine Deputy's course,.......

the bomb disposal squad,police ,C.I.D. etc,were all called to an old house in Ashington,years before the tale was told,to a garden shed...

The new tenant of the old property had been clearing the shed out,and found sticks of powder with " Nobel Explosives" written on the waxy paper wrapping.

He panicked,and got the experts out.

When the police made enquiries around the old-timers they wondered what all the fuss was about......"ivry bugga knaas the pooda's gud for killin' thi slugs on ya garden man!"

They used to unwrap the explosive,and sprinkle the powder around the cabbages etc!![mind,it was ultra-safe,but if it had been black powder.......different tale!!]