Barrington

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Great poem Alan! Who were the Allison's ye mentioned?

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Can anyone remember the practice of "putting the coal†into the coal Cree's for pocket money. The free coal arrived and was dumped in a heap, close to the Cree. Certain families could not put the coal in and relied upon the local lads (junior school) for this task, which they got paid for. I was never involved with this business, nor did I try to muscle in. It was enough to put our own coal in. I was never aware of any hassle, with this pocket money business, but I do suspect that if anyone was daft enough to try you may get spoken to.

Incidentally, there was no police station/depot at Barrington. We had a visit maybe once a week with police on a bike from Bedlington. But we did have colliery police, but I am not sure how effective he was. Because of statement we used to use "you got a better job as a colliery policeâ€, in other words he had a very cushy job.

Just for correctness,not to be awkward,but there was no "free" coals,the concessionary coal was part of a miner's wages,from long-standing agreements.

It has always been a sore point with me,using the term "free",probably because the miners got slagged off by tory press during the 1984 strike,and this was always one of the bullets they always fired!

Sorry for digressing folks!

An old pitmatic saying was.."Yi tell mair lees thin a collry polis"....the colliery policeman had to justify his wage,and would take in young kids accusing them off tresspassing on the railway lines,or accuse men of stealing from the pit stockyard,and take them to court if need be.

I've had it done to me by a young  police officer [H.M.]twice when I was young,told bare-faced lies to the bench,[old Mrs Ainsley and co..],and got me fined for something I hadn't done.Colliery cops were the same!

[Alan dickson]

The Allison above was Eric Allison who went on to be Elect Engineer at Ellington.

Them days Barnt/n got its power from the old pit.

When it tripped on overload he had the job of going and resetting the panel at the old pit.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Would Mr Berkely have lived at Willow Bridge,Choppington,[the bungalow and land just over the bridge,on the right hand side,as you head for Scotland Gate?]

There was an orchard in the small green field,[called "Borkley's orchard"],and very thickly planted small wood,by the Barrington burn,and a big old house where the bungalow stands at the top of the bank.

In about 1947,when I was three,me,and my older Brother,and two older Sister's plus friends,[and Cousin's],used to play down on the pipe which goes over the burn.[ it was still there last time i looked over the bridge not long ago!]

Now when we crossed  over to the orchard, from Storey's buildings side,we usually got chased by "aad Borkley"....[the name even sounded spooky to us kids!]

What were kids as young as three doing,sitting astride a pipe and hitching over a clarty stream,helped by the older 7-year olds?!!!

We weren't 20 yards away from home.

One of my older sister's fell into the sleck once,[black silt from coal mine water],aged about 4 years,and she was covered from head to foot in the black

sleck,and stinking!

When her little friends took her home,[as I say...20 yards!!],my Granda opened the door and asked who the poor little lassie was,and for the others to get her home straight away,cos..."she'll catch hor deeth o' caad...."...[she will catch her death of cold....!].

The others all chipped in that it was "yor Betty man....".

Mother played hell wi Bett and smacked her backside,before cleaning her up...!!!!

This was in the middle of the war,rations,nae money for food,never mind clothes....hard times...reasons for an irate parent to act irrationateley?.....

...easy to criticise..but that's how it was in those days!

[Alan dickson]

Not to sure about this H.P .W ,I/be got a book somewhere which shows him in his garden and it seems to be on other side of road looking up towards road with big chimney/s in distance.

The old big house was Willow Bridge Farm and the tree/s below it were the remnants of the forest which went down to Cambois.

Last time I looked there was a small brick building behind bungalow which was pay office for brickyard across the road. Owned by Mr Foggo,

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Barrington School photograph, around 1947. Quite a small class compared with typical class numbers of to day.

Might have been a small class at Barn'ton,but at the Bedlington village infants School,and the Whitley Memorial,average classes were  around

40 pupils,20 of each laddies and lassies.

I have a class photo taken in 1949,at the Village infants school,which I am on,aged 5 years,and there was 43 pupils in that class!,all well-behaved,and kept right,at home as well,by parents who were at home to teach us right from wrong...."p's...n...q's..".etc!

I've got a copy of a class photo of Barn't'n school,when they had a fancy dress parade for the gala,or some other reason,Alan Dixon,will know better,cos

I didn't attend that school.

I'll try and upload it if I can!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Thanks Al,me being only three,nearly four,can just remember the older ones,aboot 7..or..8 years,frightening me and my little mates,by shouting here's aad Borkley,[slang!],and sure enough,aad Borkley wud cum charging doon through the trees,he never came owa the pipe,ti wor side,but as a grew up,a got ti thinking,that HE must have hated kids!

[Alan dickson]

The fancy dress was 1949 Barnt/n Gala and contestants always marched down the road to be judged outside of school.Have a copy of same photo but can only name 19 of them, me memory must be slipping

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

As kids,my whole family,[brother and two sisters-older than me],had to help wor aad chep,to hoy the coal in.[when we moved to Hollymount Square,in aboot1948-ish]

He worked at Linton Colliery,and the load was mair stone,and "band",than coal.

It was straight from the coal face,nae washery,and full of Sulpher and Iron Pyrites..["fool's gold"],which sparked and spat cinders oot aal neet.

Thi clippy mat in front of thi fire was aal burn-marks!

Nae fire-guards in them days,not in wor hoose anewheh!

As a crawling baby,at Storey's Building's,I crawled too near the fire,so to warn me off,my Father,[wor aad chep],touched me on the inner thigh

near me croon jewels,and literally burned me,leaving me with a lifelong scar the size of a two-pence piece..no kid!

He would have been drunk presumably,30 years old,in 1945-ish,and to me,having been told how I got this big scar by my Mother,he should have been shot!!

Let's keep to the subject,he used to fill the buckets,and break up lumps of "bandy"coal separating the stone bands from the coal,to be put into the bin!

We kids took the buckets up the long garden path,and Mother would throw the coal into the cree,using the massive lumps to build a wall  at the front to hold the coals from spilling oot.

Linton pit was known to have the worst quality coal in the area,in later life,[1959]I started Choppington High Pit,[hence my nickname!]

and found out that the Beaumont seam was just aboot thi same quality as Linton,so it may have been thi same seam that Linton worked.

Now,by comparison,in 1971,I started Bates pit,up in the Beaumont seam,again,but the seam was only three feet high,of very good clean quality,miles out under the North Sea,whereas,at Choppington pit,the seam was nearly nine feet high,in the 2nd west face,full of stone bands, and down to about two-foot-three inches[and less] in the  north and south faces.[very variable in height ]

Lone Ranger,can you mind the joke about the rabbits up the 2nd west mothergate,we were so close to the surface,[25 feet] when it finally finished!

Can you mind of Jacky Queen,from Guide Post?,he told me a week or two back,that there was a pitfall in the woods up Choppington fields,a while back,and the girders were exposed,he tried to get down into the roadway but it was too blocked with fallen stone.

Wished a knew where it was!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aye Alan,aav named aboot 38 oot of 43 on my class photo,aged 5 years,but the trouble was,as new hooses were built after the war,people shifted hoose,and sumtimes yi just got friends wi a kid,and he was moved away ti another school,it happened a few times in wor classes.

My long-term memory is great,and vivid,but it's me short-term recall that's suffering since a had a heart-attack six years ago,and very ill,[life-threatening],

exactly this time last year,it's the life-saver drugs,have the effect of  short-term memory loss.

A can picture yor aad chep,as if he was standing in front of me,and can hear he's voice clearly...."whey Wilma , a think we'll hae wa bait..."

[wi thi compulsory baccy-chow,in place!]

He was great ti work with,as was he's off-spring!!...heh heh!![back in the mid 1960's]

Aam still writing me book,been on owa three years noo, a bit at a time,but aav got loads of memories of the aad days in aal the pits a worked at,and aal

thi lads a ever worked with,loads of stories,just not enough time ti sit and write,[mebbe a shud be daeing that,instead o' rabbiting on here!!]

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Rafie - my mate Ralph Lowe says his brother is on this photo and he will be seeing him in 3-4 weeks time so should be able to put some names to picture. He also thinks he has seen this one in A Cree Full of Coal, with names.

Barrington School Football Team season 1947 - 1948

Left to right: Back row - Brian Patterson, Billy Foster, Jimmy Bailey.

2nd back - Billy Cook, Billy Spratt, George McCauley.

2nd front - Stan Bowey, unknowm, Tommy Chappelhow.

Front - John Lowe and Tommy Kinghorne.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Class 1 - photo taken at end of school year 1955 - no names

 

[Canny lass]

43 Children and only one teacher! You wouldn't see that today! 20 Children require i teacher and 1-2 assistents in my neck of the Woods.

[Maggie/915]

School places are in demand and all to often class sizes are increasing.

Support assistants are often awarded to support a child with special needs.

With the rise of Academies the rules are made by the school and governors.

Sweden is third on the list of the best places to live in retirement.

We are only tenth.

[Canny lass]

Try telling that to the Swedish pensioners! No subsidised dental care. No free Health care - they pay for every contact they have with any kind of health care worker. No free prescriptions (until you reach 130 GBP. Then the rest of the year is free). They pay for their food when they are in hospital and also for the ambulance that took them there. No free bus pass (but they do get a reduced rate if they travel outside of rush hours). No heating allowance and definitely no Christmas gift from the government. However, they are well used to it - it's the same for everybody, old and young alike.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Class 6 - 1955 - just 3 names

 Class 3 or 4 - 1954 - many names

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Posted in Bygone Bedlington as Barrington School c1920. I know with most digital imaging packages the photos can be made 'black and white' &  'sharpened' from 'antique' images but this photo just doesn't look right to me. I'm probably just being too sceptical of an extremely clear image from a bygone era!

 

 

Previous posting of a 1930 Barrington School photo

[Vic Patterson]

Eggy, some of those old photographs can have a great resolution, have a look at this Shorpy site, I get a lot of Model T pictures from there, you can blow them up and see tremendous detail. The cameras used big plates and lonnnnng exposure!

 

http://www.shorpy.com/node/20254

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Eggy, some of those old photographs can have a great resolution, have a look at this Shorpy site, I get a lot of Model T pictures from there, you can blow them up and see tremendous detail. The cameras used big plates and lonnnnng exposure!

 

http://www.shorpy.com/node/20254

It's just me Vic - Shorpy = good pics, hadn't seen that site before. 

Now we just need names for this lot :-

Barrington CP c1920

Barrington CP Class n 1954 

Barrington CP Class 6 1955

[LOWE]

On 14/02/2015 at 14:51, Eggy1948 said:

Barrington School Football Team season 1947 - 1948

Left to right: Back row - Brian Patterson, Billy Foster, Jimmy Bailey.

2nd back - Billy Cook, Billy Spratt, George McCauley.

2nd front - Stan Bowey, unknowm, Tommy Chappelhow.

Front - John Lowe and Tommy Kinghorne.

Hi Alan,

John Lowe on Line brother of Raffie. This was the first Barrington school football team with the school providing new Yellow football strips. Jimmy Bailey, Will Foster and Spratty ended up at Bedlington Grammer School playing along side Bobby Charlton .Will became a teacher and Jimmy Bailey a linesman at the Bomarsund pit along side Rex Parker Happy days hope this fills in a few missing gaps.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Just now, LOWE said:

Hi Alan,

John Lowe on Line brother of Raffie. This was the first Barrington school football team with the school providing new Yellow football strips. Jimmy Bailey, Will Foster and Spratty ended up at Bedlington Grammer School playing along side Bobby Charlton .Will became a teacher and Jimmy Bailey a linesman at the Bomarsund pit along side Rex Parker Happy days hope this fills in a few missing gaps.

Cheers John - just checked the Gallery as I thought I had this posted in the Gallery - Historic Bedlington - Barrington County Primary School, but I hadn't.

Thanks for the info - I have added the photo into the gallery. In the Gallery, there is also an Album for Bedlington Grammar school and there is a photo of the grammar school team, with the Barrington lads & Bobby Charlton. 

When you say - This was the first Barrington school football team with the school providing new Yellow football strips. - are you saying the first ever football team the school had OR the first team that got those yellow strips that nicknamed the team - The Canaries?

Edited November 21, 2016 by Eggy1948

[LOWE]

Hi. The photograph was of  the first football team at Barrington school.  When we played away games, mostly at Ashington, we had to walk to Choppington Station to catch the bus.                                                                                                                                                         Another story from Barrington is that when my father took me and my brother to see Newcastle play we caught the bus at Choppington Stn as usual, went upstairs for a good seat and guess who was sitting there - Jackie Milburn on his way to play in front of 80,000.  He had been working in the mines on the Saturday morning; needless to say I got his autograph,that day Charlie  Wayman scored a hat-trick and Len Shackleton scored the other.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh! THEM were thi days when players WANTED ti play for the Passion of thi game,and loyalty ti thi fans....my opinion,and a knaa NOWT

aboot fitba' except thi players get owa much money,obscenely , for kicking a baal aboot!

A bet wor Bobbie and Jackie,cringe when they think back on life what they had ti dae..as ye say ,like Wor Jackie Milburn also.

[Ingrid]

Hi. Also researching my family tree and my grandmother lived at no 3 Double Row, Barrington. She was born in 1921 Elizabeth Walker. Her dad was William Walker and mum Mary Alice (nee Lake) William worked as a miner, not sure which pit though. She had a brother (Francis) Norman who also worked as a miner, seems all the males did in my family 😍 If anyone has any information I would love to hear it. My grandparents later lived on Deanery Street in Bedlington (she married William Atkinson in 1944) 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi  Ingrid,check out my reply to your post on "Miner's killed in the pits"..I knew a fella called Jacky Lake down Choppington B pit,from 1959 -1965.

Hope this helps! Bill. [HPW]