Westridge

[Maggie/915]

Not heard anything Bedlingtonian.

So many of these new builds are Private Finance Initiatives.

Local and national tax payers finance the schemes on buy now pay later.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Maggie,did ye twig on wat a meant by the bloke saying we would evolve with only thumbs and no fingers?[...think.......walking down the street....seeing everybody around you...on buses...even riding cycles on the road,kids going to and from school,or just ambling along,at bus stops,in shops....

....even actually whilst driving vehicles on our main roads!......two thumbs going like the clappers!!....eyes staring down at the small screens.....!]

Yep!....thi bloke was probably right!

[Maggie/915]

Aye HPW

That will be all they need to work the computer.

Mind I use the one finger approach.

I should have stuck at those typing lessons.

When they started to play music

'tea for two cha cha' they lost me completely.

[Symptoms]

Let's breathe a spot of new life into this particular old Westridge thread.  Perhaps, at some stage all the Westridge threads (3 or 4 of them) could be glued together on here to make for a more comprehensive read.  

[James]

On 28/02/2013 at 02:10, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

I still have my old school badge with St Cuthbert's cross,and the School Motto embroidered on it...."De Profundis"...

which was latin for "From the depths",to indicate Bedlington Community's links and heritage due to CoalMining.

When the school opened in September 1957, the Bedlingtonshire Urban District Council was still functioning. The motto of both the early and later versions of the BUDC emblem was "De Profundis" which was adopted by the school for its motto.

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Whey a nivvor knew that James! Live and larn.

A lived in Bedlington from aboot 1947 till a got married in 1967,and nivvor twigged aboot thi cooncil motto.

Mebbe cos aal a was interested in was larning the guitar,tuk nea interest in nowt else but aal things connected wi thi space race......oh!...and the Clangers and Metal Mickey....mind a was still a kid!

Queer motto ti hae an iron cross on it eh?[ ner.....it's not the George cross...it's a bliddy Jarmin one!]

[Bella]

On ‎21‎/‎03‎/‎2013 at 16:39, Symptoms said:

And so ... "The Great Grand Piano Scandal".

It was a drudge always being marched into morning assembly expecting the same old God bothering tosh. Us kids stacked-up from front to back, boys on the left, girls on the right, with the beaks on guard at the outside edge. In he'd march with his team in tow to mount the stage, with a scowl to check all was well he'd signal us all to sit down at ease and those tubular chairs with their canvass slings, clattered back to take the strain. When he'd move forward to the lecturn spot and command us all to sing then his wife at the piano crashed down the keys ... THUD, THUD, THUD.

One morning before school started I pinched a roll of Izal* bog paper from the boys' netty, then crept into the assembly hall via the stage doors (back corridor near the workshops and changing rooms). The piano was always parked on stage ready for Mrs Hemmings to bash-out the tunes. I lifted the lid, depressed the sustain pedal (to lift the hammers off the strings) and slipped in a double layers of bog paper into the space between hammers and strings. Closing the piano lid I then made my escape. The effect of this was to completely muffle the piano's action rendering it silent ... I knew about how pianos worked because I went for piano lessons. I'd noticed that Mrs Hemmings always had a exuberant playing style and she usually led-in with a rather flash, and extended introduction to the hymns ... a perfect target for a jolly jape. I was never caught.

*Izal bog paper - hard shiny stuff ... non-absorbant and could easily produce 'paper cuts'. Amazingly, it's still available!

Perhaps next time - "Tales from School Camp".

Was this Headmaster Hemming's wife. Does anyone recall her name?

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

10 hours ago, Bella said:

Was this Headmaster Hemming's wife. Does anyone recall her name?

@Bella :- I'm not saying you will find the answer to your question  but have you input the name "Hemming" into the search box, top right hand corner, to see the topis the name Hemming is linked with?

I see a similar question has been asked on the Facebook group - Bedlington remembered by a new member, Diane, from Canada. Is there a link between Diane & Bella?  

[Bella]

Thank you. Yes that is me. Working on my family history from Canada and trying to find out Mrs. Hemming's name and whether they had children. Thanks again.

[Bella]

4 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

@Bella :- I'm not saying you will find the answer to your question  but have you input the name "Hemming" into the search box, top right hand corner, to see the topis the name Hemming is linked with?

I see a similar question has been asked on the Facebook group - Bedlington remembered by a new member, Diane, from Canada. Is there a link between Diane & Bella?  

And yes thanks, I did do a search earlier which is how I found out he was married. My Hemming grandmother came to Canada in 1912 and I am trying to piece together the genealogy. Thanks again.

[Canny lass]

Hi Bella!

I left Westridge in 1962 and the headmaster was Mr George Gemming. His wife worked at the school as well, as some sort of secretary/clerical assistant. She wasn't, as far as I know, a teacher and I never heard her play the piano at morning assembly. That task was reserved for the music teacher. However, Symptoms may have been at the school after me and new routines may have been introduced. I believe Mrs Hemming's name was Elizabeth.

[Bella]

3 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Hi Bella!

I left Westridge in 1962 and the headmaster was Mr George Gemming. His wife worked at the school as well, as some sort of secretary/clerical assistant. She wasn't, as far as I know, a teacher and I never heard her play the piano at morning assembly. That task was reserved for the music teacher. However, Symptoms may have been at the school after me and new routines may have been introduced. I believe Mrs Hemming's name was Elizabeth.

Thanks very much! I have just found them in the 1939 Register in Longbenton, and it appears she was Alice (nee Clark). On that record her occupation was "unpaid domestic duties'! He was an "Assistant Schoolmaker". Thank you for the clarification re teaching.  

[Symptoms]

George 'Geordie' Hemming's wife taught music at Westridge during my time there (61 to 67).  If she wasn't a 'qualified' teacher then she would have been an 'instructor'; back then you could teach in schools as an instructor.  The reference to "Assistant Schoolmaker" in the 1939 Register was probably an entry mistake (very common) ... it probably should be "Assistant Schoolmaster" and his wife down as "unpaid domestic duties" just means 'housewife'.  Mr Hemmings taught Geography and French.  Every year, at the end of the Summer Term,  he would arrive at the school with his caravan hitched to his car ready for a quick getaway for his touring holidays in France.

Oh, in Geography he had this technique for drawing 'cartoon' outline maps of different countries on the blackboard ... I loved this trick and still employ it even after 50 years!

Edited July 5, 2018 by Symptoms

[Canny lass]

You were starting just as I left, Symptoms. I left very suddenly, due to a family crisis, mid way through the spring term of 62. I was sent to Mrs Hemming,s office (next door to the headmaster's) to have the necessary paperwork completed. I always thought that she looked like quite a 'hard' person but she was wonderfully helpful that day. I've no memories of her teaching. Miss Greaves was the piano-playing music teacher during my time.

Mr Roley, followed by Mr Granger, was my geography teacher but I recall Mr Hemming stepping in to fill the gap on odd occasions. Ialso remember his map of Britain even if I can't quite remember the number sequence. "7,7,1,5,2,3, gets me to the Lizard point then i reverse it. However, I know it finished with "a flash of lightning" northwards on the west coast of Scotland.

[Symptoms]

Is the old school building still standing?  One of the posts above suggested it was going to be demolished but Google Street View dated 2023 shows it still standing.  It would be great if a local could stick a camera around the gate post during the Easter holiday (no kids about!!!!) and then share with us expats what the place looks like now. 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

14 hours ago, Symptoms said:

Is the old school building still standing?  One of the posts above suggested it was going to be demolished but Google Street View dated 2023 shows it still standing.  It would be great if a local could stick a camera around the gate post during the Easter holiday (no kids about!!!!) and then share with us expats what the place looks like now. 

No idea @Symptoms . Don't know if we have any local members that could help.

Google street view 2009 

Youll have to ask @HIGH PIT WILMA to ride through the main gates on his motorbike and take some pics

Google street view 2023

Google aerial view 2023

Edited March 16 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

First chance a get,aal hae a luk in at the aad school and tek a picta..aam not shy o just waakin in and asking the Heedmaster and tell him/her aam a historian and original first day of oppenin pupil!!..in 1956...![dinna want ti open that ancient debate again mind!!],,aal see wat a can dae  folks..it's difficult gettin oot noo..me Wife is ill,and aav just been diagnosed wi Glaucoma in both eyes..!!..me bike riding days seem ti be owa sadly!!..itll be me driving the way things are gannin!! Cheers folks!!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

3 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

First chance a get,aal hae a luk in at the aad school and tek a picta..aam not shy o just waakin in and asking the Heedmaster and tell him/her aam a historian and original first day of oppenin pupil!!..in 1956...![dinna want ti open that ancient debate again mind!!],,aal see wat a can dae  folks..it's difficult gettin oot noo..me Wife is ill,and aav just been diagnosed wi Glaucoma in both eyes..!!..me bike riding days seem ti be owa sadly!!..itll be me driving the way things are gannin!! Cheers folks!!