Bedlington Doctor Pit Outside Workshop.jpg

In this photo taken in 1965 are left to right Ron Kinghorn, Mick Mills, unsure, Jack Cramer and Bob Napier.  Taken outside the electrical workshop.

On 05/02/2021 at 19:03, Rigger said:

In this photo taken in 1965 are left to right Ron Kinghorn, Mick Mills, unsure, Jack Cramer and Bob Napier.  Taken outside the electrical workshop.

Should I add the names to your photo and posted it on the Bygone Bedlington group to see if we can get the name of the lad in the middle?

Yes, no problem, the one in the middle is Bon McGregor he was an electrician, my brain has just kicked in and I remember!

Should be Bob McGregor

@Rigger - names and info added

They are leaning against the "Modern"[!!] MC3 Gathering-Arm Joy Loader. This Machine made mincemeat of loading out a 14'x10' arched roadway full shot lasted out of the solid strata.

In my Bates' gallery there is a pic of me in an Eimco 625 Mechanical Shovel loader..loading a full shot onto a conveyor belt. I had to continuously drive in,track back,skew,then empty the bucket onto the belt.

With the Gathering Arm Loader,you just swept in at the left side,driving in inchy pinchy,and the floor was cleaned up,all you had to do next was track back,skew, drive in at the right side,and the arms on the spade at the front,just gathered like a human being would,and lifted tons of stones onto the belt in an hour! The machine was about 6 feet wide,so it was a very efficient machine. It became out-dated when they brought in the Joy Continuous Miner [JCM],Hence the bracketed ! mark in my comment at the start!