Bedlington Station Park?

[kalee]

Hi all,

Just driven down Palace Road to view the new high school and see how things have changed. I was surprised to see the old Park keepers cottage is still there and indeed lived in and now called "Tanglewood cottage".

Also the old bowls pavilion and bowling green are still in situe although looking very much neglected. Could not find any trace of the old play park or the way into it (all overgrown).

Anyone remember the park, bowls pavilion or know anything about it? I am surprised it has not all been demolished and absorbed into the massive new School?

I can find nothing about it online or indeed ownership of the land. Did the park belong to the colliery or the local council? If so then the park keepers cottage must have been sold off at some stage?

Paul.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Kalee!

Welcome to the forum,hope you enjoy visiting,there's some clever people on here!

I'm from Hollymount Square before I got married 50 years ago,and I married a Station lass,we used to walk around the park when we were courting,mainly cos I was skint,and we just had to go out walking.

The park was very well -kept in the '60 s,as was the Dr Pit Welfare Park next to Hollymount Square.

The park-keeper would chase us aal owa Bedlington,if we just as much as stepped on his precious bowling green!![we were just little kids!]

I'm sure if you keep checking ,you will get more help from someone on here!

Cheers!

 

[kalee]

Hi Wilma,

Yes i remember it being very tidy and I remember the swings and rides in the park quite clearly. There was a "witches hat", a "Teapot lid", a "hobby horse", that sat about 6 kids? also some very dangerous shuggy boat type rides that scared me and once I say a boy get flung off one of these and split his head open badly. The park keeper took him away and an Amulance came for him.

The bowling green was imaculate and the birds had to fly upside down over it! The bowling green and pavillion was inhabited be old men smoking pipes, playing bowls and generaly putting the world to rights.

I seem to remember the pavillion was identical to the old one in Dr. pit park? Perhaps the same builders? Not seen any photos anywhere of the park in its prime?

Thanks,

Kalee.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@kalee - I have asked, and searched, on a couple of Facebook sites but never managed to get any photos of the rides etc. When the new school was being built I was doing the same as you Kalee - driving down and seeing what was left. I remember doing some checking on Tanglewood Cottage but I can't find, at the moment, the info I turned up. I seem to remember a relative of the occupants of the cottage  saying how they had objected on the Northumberland County Council planning site but got nowhere. I will try and find the info I turned up. Although I couldn't find any photos of the actual park rides these are images, from other parks, of the rides I remember :- 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

This is one image I had saved when I was looking around  - Google satellite image - 2015 + the 2014 Artists impression of the new school - and Tanglewood Cottage in the bottom left corner

[Canny lass]

3 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

 asked, and searched, on a couple of Facebook sites but never managed to get any photos of the rides etc. When the new school was being built I was doing the same as you Kalee - driving down and seeing what was left. I remember doing some checking on Tanglewood Cottage but I can't find, at the moment, the info I turned up. I seem to remember a relative of the occupants of the cottage  saying how they had objected on the Northumberland County Council planning site but got nowhere. I will try and find the info I turned up. Although I couldn't find any photos of the actual park rides these are images, from other parks, of the rides I remember :- 

Lollipop? We always called that the witches hat and the high flyer we called the 'shuggy boat'.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Canny lass

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

2 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Lollipop? We always called that the witches hat and the high flyer we called the 'shuggy boat'.

Lollipop was all I could come up with but witches hat is ringing a bell. I remember after we would get board with going round and round as fast as we could we would start swinging, the whole witches hat, too and fro so the metal ring at the top would clank off the central pole.

Still can't find the images of any of the buildings - there are a couple with the local football in front of one of them.

@HIGH PIT WILMA - did the Dr Pit Welfare Park have a 'quoits bay'? I know there is a photo, with the tag :-  councillor Dick Hindhaugh opening the quoits bay at the Bedlington Welfare Park - but don't know which park - Bedlington Station or Dr Pit. 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh!!....memories...!

At the Dr Pit Park,through the wee cut down at the bottom end of Hollymount Square,you were confronted by the high tennis court wire mesh fencing,which ..[as proper villains did in them days!!....]....we used to climb up,mek on we were gorillas,screaming and shaking the wires back and forwards,as if we were caged up,to attract the attention of the Parkie,who used ti chase us aal owa the shop!![mind...we were only about 10 years old......and the parkie didnae hae a mobile ti caal  for the only copper in Bedlington on the beat....Constable Jimmy Mann...very well-known...][Heartbeat country in them days!!]

Around from the courts there was a lovely hedged rest garden,which was always kept immaculate.Keep on the little path,that tuk us ti thi old Whitley School,and the swings etc were doon at the bottom of the kids playing field,which got neglected as did the swings and other things,cos time and money was always spent on the Adults amenties.

We had four swings,a "Roondie" [your witches hat],a teapot lid,low flyer , hobby horse,high flyer,and a small playing field.

The "big lads" used ti pull on the high flyer till it went up so high,it lifted them six feet off the ground as they grabbed it on the return ready to pull on it again..[as the photo shows...only these seem to be adults playing on that one!!]

As always,the vandals gradually destroyed everything in the park,snapping the swing chains and wrapping them around the top bar so they were out of order completely,smashing the wooden slats on the teapot lid and the roondie...

One day, there was a lot of excitement went through the playground in the Whitley,at playtime,word came around that the Council were repairing and painting everything...it was great,never saw the park so full for a while after!!..it was like a brand new park again!

At  the right hand side of the park were the Bowling green and Pavilion,flower beds,aam sure there was a quoits bay,and a grassed area behind the tennis courts,where the disabled paraplegic lads from the Dr Pit,[accident victims],used to practice archery with aluminium Longbows.[extremely accurate,with sights on as well!]

We kids used to watch them shooting at the target,then we used to run doon and collect aal the arrows and bring them back to the lads,they were very grateful,and used to let us have a go with their bows sometimes....only we weren't strong enough to pull the arrow back![the lads were all wheelchair-bound,and I distinctly remember how good-natured and likeable they all were , I think they were pleased to be out and doing something creative,and enjoyed people's company,even though it was a bunch of little kids sometimes.]

At the far right of the park was the Football field,which still remains only a bit more upgraded to what it used to be back in 1954!!

Aye,as aa say.....happy memories!...that's the beauty of this forum!!

Big thanks to Eggy as usual for the gud work!

P.S. My Wife says there was definately a quoits bay at the Station park,she remembers the auld cheps [my terminology..not hers!],playing there sometimes .

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Canny Lass...the "Shuggy-boats" we knew were at Blyth beach,where each "Boat" sat two people.

There were two ropes suspended from the overhead beam ,and hanging within each person's reach,but offset to each other.

Both riders would pull on their respective ropes,to set the boat in motion,and pretty soon the boat would be "shuggying " back and forth,like a conventional swing,getting higher and higher!

Cheap entertainment ,bliddy hard work for little kids,and gud excercise!![and many years later,happy memories of tekking ya aan bairns ti Blyth ti gaan on the "Shuggy-Boats"!]

A think aam teaching me Grandma how to whisk eggs,Canny Lass,so ti speak,but some younger folk might have needed an explanation....!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

If wor Parkie had seen blokes and lasses as auld as this misusing the high-flyer,he wud hae been at them like a dog at broth....!!

Was it a Gala day aam wondering?!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

This is the only photo of the Welfare Park area at Bedlington Station that I have but no visible proof, just me mam's writing on the back - 'A' Pit Gala Day, so this will be on the football field, I guess. 

As me dad was not a pit man, and me mam's dad & brothers were all the Dr. Pit, the only time we would of had any tickets for the 'A' pit gala I would suspect if our next door neighbour's, Jim Temple & family were away on holiday and gave us their tickets.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Nearl forgot - this is the photo that has done the rounds on Facebook Bedlington groups and it has only ever been tagged as the Opening of the quoits bay at the Welfare Park so never knew if it was Dr Pit or Bedlington Station.

Looking more closely at the building I would have thought this was the Dr Pit Welfare Park, what do you think @HIGH PIT WILMA?

[Canny lass]

2 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Canny Lass...the "Shuggy-boats" we knew were at Blyth beach,where each "Boat" sat two people.

There were two ropes suspended from the overhead beam ,and hanging within each person's reach,but offset to each other.

Both riders would pull on their respective ropes,to set the boat in motion,and pretty soon the boat would be "shuggying " back and forth,like a conventional swing,getting higher and higher!

Cheap entertainment ,bliddy hard work for little kids,and gud excercise!![and many years later,happy memories of tekking ya aan bairns ti Blyth ti gaan on the "Shuggy-Boats"!]

A think aam teaching me Grandma how to whisk eggs,Canny Lass,so ti speak,but some younger folk might have needed an explanation....!

I remember them! And we called them shuggy boats as well even if they were quite different.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi Eggy! ...when aa was transferred ti the A pit from Choppington High  Pit,in 1965,Foster McKenzie was wor Union Chairman,and Mick Gallagher was wa Union Secretary.

Noo a canna think that aal the Station lads,like Foster,and the Temple Brothers[?],would be at the Dr Pit Welfare Park.......

...aam glaaky...!! ..they CUD hae been playing the Dr Pit Team![and Foster looks aboot the age he was when aa forst met him..]

Aav aalwis had it in me mind that the Dr Pit Park pavilion was made wi wood, painted Blue...unless that was just the front steps and balustrade..,and a divven't think there was any shrub beds at each side like on this pic.

A dae remember that when ye looked doon the path past the tennis courts,the Pavilion was prominent,with a few park bench seats alang the edge of the bowling green,and aal the lovely flower beds,very picturesque.

Aam tending ti think that this was the Station park Pavilion.

A worked wi Jimmy Temple on the shearer coalfaces at the A pit ,in the mid-sixties,lovely fella,very serious,hardly ever smiled,but very sociable,and an Amateur  Radio Ham,in the days when the Hams built a lot of their own radio gear,cos it was cheaper than buying it new.Me and him had some gud conversations aboot Q.S.L. cards, B.F.O.'S and Local Oscillators......etc!

Were the Temples three Brothers?,cos I only knew Jimmy..and yet Harry's face is very familiar...maybe he worked at a

different part of the pit,from us .

Naa!The mair aa study this pic,the mair aam sure it's the Station!....it doesn't feel warm ti me sumhoo.........

Canny Lass,they were happy days,wi simple pleasures,in the days when ,for my family,just gaan ti Blyth  beach,was a 

really happy day oot...or Newbiggin aan aal,and that wasn't very often!we had a saying in thi pit communities..."Nae Mun-Nae Fun"!!

Most miners used ti crack...."so where ye gaan fo' ya summer holidi's...?"......"Worgit"..."Wheor thi hell's that?"...."Wor Gate"!!

and also...."Wheor yi gaan?....etc"...."Seehooses"....."SEAHOOSES?!....BY HELL,EE MUST HAE  SUM MONEY!......HAE YI GETTN A TRIP UP?"....."Naa....it's ownly a few yards away!"......"Whey ye sed Seahooses,it's a canny lang way up the coast"..."Ner man....wa gaan ti see thi hooses...!" [new cooncil hooses being built aal arroond!]

Aalwis a bizzarre sense of humour!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

18 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

A worked wi Jimmy Temple on the shearer coalfaces at the A pit ,in the mid-sixties,lovely fella,very serious,hardly ever smiled,but very sociable,and an Amateur  Radio Ham,in the days when the Hams built a lot of their own radio gear,cos it was cheaper than buying it new.Me and him had some gud conversations aboot Q.S.L. cards, B.F.O.'S and Local Oscillators......etc!

Were the Temples three Brothers?,cos I only knew Jimmy..and yet Harry's face is very familiar...maybe he worked at a different part of the pit,from us .

@kalee this is the norm to drift off the original topic but I will get back to it -  if I can find the positive info!

@HIGH PIT WILMA - The Jim Temple that lived at 4 Coquetdale I do remember as an amateur Radio Ham as came and fitted some type of filter to our TV to prevent interference from his setup. I seem to remember an outdoor aerial that was twice the height of our houses.

I don't know how many brothers Jim had but , only that one of his brothers was Harry (the one in the quoits photo) who had a son, Harry, that I knew and I think Harry junior would have been born 1946 to 47 and he went to Westridge. A younger son in that family was Alan Temple that is in the Westridge 5 photo Symtoms posted of their class at Ford Castle.

This is a photo of the three families - Nos 3 Lally), 4 (Temple - Jim, Sadie, Sheila, John (in the quoits photo) & Jennifer) & 5 (my clan - Edgar) -  at Cambois Beach c 1955    

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

19 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Hi Eggy! ...when aa was transferred ti the A pit from Choppington High  Pit,in 1965,Foster McKenzie was wor Union Chairman,and Mick Gallagher was wa Union Secretary. Noo a canna think that aal the Station lads,like Foster,and the Temple Brothers[?],would be at the Dr Pit Welfare Park....... ...aam glaaky...!! ..they CUD hae been playing the Dr Pit Team![and Foster looks aboot the age he was when aa forst met him..] 

Aav aalwis had it in me mind that the Dr Pit Park pavilion was made wi wood, painted Blue...unless that was just the front steps and balustrade..,and a divven't think there was any shrub beds at each side like on this pic.

 

On the quoits photo the John Temple is the young lad in my family photo after he he married and left Coquetdale (late 60s I think)  I can't remember the estate he moved to but I do know he drank in the Sun and played quoits for them, as did his Uncle Harry (Jim's brother). That's why I always thought it would have been the Dr Pit Welfare park.

This is a photo posted by  Janet Henderson on the sixtownships group site with the comment :- Bedlington Terriers Football club. My Grandad ,Robert Coe Storey, who is on the back row, 3rd from the right, coached the Bedlington Terrier juniors, not sure what year.

The club house looks very similar to the one in the quoits photo and there are houses in the background but can't be sure what estate it is!!

Where did Bedlington terriers play? 

[kalee]

I knew Jim Temple quite well. I went through a phase of building radios (with valves in), when I was a teenager and used to go to Jim's house for advice and to admire all his woderful Amature radio kit. Lots of which he had built himself.

It was my dad who put me in touch with him as he knew of him from the pit. Dad worked at Netherton until he had a serious accident and had to come out of the pits, which he very much regreted "Once a pitman allways a pitman", he used to say.

The photo looks very much like the pavillion at Bedlington station? Perhaps they were all built to a standard design back then?

Kalee

[Symptoms]

19 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

A younger son in that family was Alan Temple that is in the Westridge 5 photo Symtoms posted of their class at Ford Castle.

Now, the important question:  Does anybody here know where my old classmate Alan Temple is now as I'd love to get in contact with him?

[John Fox (foxy)]

23 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

On the quoits photo the John Temple is the young lad in my family photo after he he married and left Coquetdale (late 60s I think)  I can't remember the estate he moved to but I do know he drank in the Sun and played quoits for them, as did his Uncle Harry (Jim's brother). That's why I always thought it would have been the Dr Pit Welfare park.

This is a photo posted by  Janet Henderson on the sixtownships group site with the comment :- Bedlington Terriers Football club. My Grandad ,Robert Coe Storey, who is on the back row, 3rd from the right, coached the Bedlington Terrier juniors, not sure what year.

The club house looks very similar to the one in the quoits photo and there are houses in the background but can't be sure what estate it is!!

Where did Bedlington terriers play? 

What a great photo, Eggy we need this numbered and ID put on here @Eggy1948

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

10 hours ago, John Fox (foxy) said:

What a great photo, Eggy we need this numbered and ID put on here @Eggy1948

Not sure of their ages Foxy - apart from Kingsley Wake,  Ronnie Phillipson and possibly Wallace & Gromit 

As you look at the photo - right hand side, back row, the bloke, two in with the dark tie, is bugging me and I feel is if I should know his name - @Ovalteeny -has he been involved with Bedlington football teams for years?  

[Ovalteeny]

I beleive that the football is Bedlington Juniors FC, circa 1962 or 63. The lads that I recognise are all 3-4 years older than me. I played a few games for the club when I was 16/17 in 1964/5ish. The Chairman was Bob Storey (back row, 3rd, from right). The only other non player I recognise is Bob Dodds (in between the 2 players on the back row, at the right). The goalkeeper is, I think Brian Richmond, Ronnie Phillipson is in the middle row to the right go the Cup and then I can name Kinglsey Wake (front row far right) and I think the lad 2nd. from the left could be Alan Wilkinson (a kind of wild guess on my part). I also think, though not positive that the lad in the back row, far left was called Wakenshaw.

Definitely the Station Park.  

Edited July 9, 2017 by Ovalteeny

[Canny lass]

19 hours ago, Ovalteeny said:

I also think, though not positive that the lad in the back row, far left was called Wakenshaw.

Quite right. Robert Wakenshaw.

The footballer to the right of him could be Ken Johnson from Netherton. What do you think Bluebarby?

Edited July 10, 2017 by Canny lass

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Struggled with me left & right so added numbers and just a couple of names.

No 11 (or 3 ) is my granda, the coach - Robert Coe Story says Janet Henderson of Facebook - sixtownshps group.

As it is bedlington Station Welfare then the houses, top right corner as you view the photo, must be Queens Road (surely not Tanglewood Cottage). 

Edited July 10, 2017 by Eggy1948

[John Fox (foxy)]

4 Robert Wakenshaw  6 Ken Johnson 21 Alan Wilkinson

[Ovalteeny]

11 is Bob Storey,