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used to have a pentax me super, then Nikon 601's, then canon range, now using a canon eos digital (mainly cos I could use most of my old lenses!!!) digital is brilliant but it makes a lazy snapper!! but again you can catch the moment by getting one lucky shot in a 100 you take!! I put off going digital for a long time because the best quality you could get was half page magazine unless you spent £15000!!! Use a little polaroid now to carry as its shock proof and waterproof si ideal for kayaking and walking the dog

This is a photo of the Francis Pit near the 'lonnen' at Netherton. I have never seen another but surely there must be one. It was taken with my first camera and I was attending Stalag Luft Guide Post so that makes it about 1956. Sorry about the quality but a Lord Snowden I aint!

The description of the lonnen or wagon way as I knew it as has been pretty accurately described I have mentioned elsewhere that I must have walked up it countless times, mostly in the dark and after midnight after missing the last bus! I learned how to ride a bike then a motor bike and a car down there.But it wasn't until I be came interested in early railways and waggonways that I looked at it in a different light and realised we had early 1800's technology on the doorstep. Starting from Bells ranch end it drops steadily around a gentle left hand curve past where the Francis pit was and by this time it is level. It straightens out then turns a rather sharp right hand bend again on the level and crosses the culvert over the Green Letch. Just before the top 'powder fund' (as we knew them. There were two the other was at the bottom about half way) there is a fairly sharp drop on the concrete part but not on the verge next to the powder fund, the verge remained a steady fall. Why? Well, when looked at closely, had the levels for the full waggons been kept at a steady fall between Bells ranch and the Sunniside houses it would not have suited either the horses nor the leaders as there was insufficient fall to keep the wagons moving and at the same time the leader would have to keep coupling and uncoupling the horse. The use of the sharp dip therefore was as an accelerator ramp that would give the full wagons enough momentum possibly to reach as far as the Sunniside houses without coupling up the horse again. Probable load would be 3 or possibly 4 loaded chaldron wagons of 53cwts each net. Different coming back with the waggons chum however where a gentle slope was required hence the difference in levels between the concrete road and the verge. Why not concrete the verge instead of the slope? the verge only needed to be the width of a wagon and the verge didn't go from top to bottom only past the sharp dip which suggests that there was a passing place and the wagon way was single track. Could there have been a dandy cart for the horse? This is speculation but there is a good chance that there was. Finally the wagon way was laid with horse drawn Bedlington Iron Works fish bellied malleable rail, how do I know that? Because I have a 15ft length of it from the waggonway on my back garden!

So comrade Corbyn nips over the channel to aid his No Borders thugs and Calais is brought to a complete stop. The French are fuming as a result. The practical result of this seal of endorsement by Her Majesty's "Loyal" Opposition is to completely undo everyone's efforts to discourage more mass economic migration. The damage to Anglo-French relations and cooperation doesn't matter; the further lives put at risk don't matter; the inconvenience to the European public doesn't matter; the expense to others doesn't matter - Corbyn's conscience has been salved, and he feels better for it; Hallelujah! As if fuelling even more uncontrolled migration wasn't enough, he's meddling in the Falklands again, offering to concede sovereignty above the heads of 99% of the population there. Thus hanging his left-wing democratic credentials clearly on the line: your vote only counts if my conscience says it's an ethical vote. If comrade Corbyn ever gets anywhere near power our country will make Hollande's basket-case socialist France look positively aspirational. The poverty and misery will all be OK, because we'll all be equally poor and miserable, and - way above all - comrade Corbyn's conscience will be totally clear.

Heh heh! Many thanks for your kind comments,Bayardm and Margaret! You reminded me of a tale me old deceased Mother used to relate to me. We lived just a few yards up from the burn,at the Willow Bridge..and I was only a wee bairn,when me Granda,who lived in with us,answered the door to a knock. Two little lassies were standing there,aboot 6 years old,one was covered in black sleck...[filthy black coal silt and mud],and was unrecogniseable. They were both sobbing their little hearts out terrified. Me Granda looked at them both,and said to the "clean" lassie.."Eh!who's this little bairn,where dae yi belang me bonny lass,tek that bairn yem....she'll get hor deeth o' caad..!" The lassie said "Mr,it's your Betty,she fell in thi born trying ti waak owa thi pipe ti cross thi born"..[burn].... Me Granda didn't knaa it was he's own Grand-daughter! Me Sister got cleaned up and her hint-end clipped for "coming in droonded"!![hard-up times during thi war,nae money ti buy new claas....folk had ti "mend and make do"]....it wud be easy for modern P.C. folk ti be horrified at me Mother clipping thi bairn,withoot knaa-in' thi stress she was under bringin a family of four kids up wi a Man who wadn't work sumtimes,and used ti gaan away gambling wi he's aan family for days on end and drinking he's pay when he DID work!!! Later on[ from me Sister's plight] ,as I grew up,at age three,I can clearly remember me me Granda opening the door to a knock ,exactly the same,and me seeing me older Brother,blood all over him,sobbing,and being held up by he's little friend,both would have been aboot 6yrs old.When Granda asked what happened my Brother's friend said they were climbing the Black Bridge,when my Brother had fallen off and had split his head badly. My Mother went beserk and clipped him after rushing him to Doctor Hickey's surgery,just a few yards up the bank from where we lived,and the Doctor stitched my Brother's head. She had warned him before he went out to play,not to go near the bridge,cos that's where aal the bairns played. He got clipped for disobeying orders!! He recently told me that he hadn't been playing on the bridge at all that day!![aboot 70 years later mind...but never too late to confess!] What HAD happened was,he and his friend had been playing in a side-tipping pit tub,beside the Low pit[up thi fields,in thi pit timber yard].,and they were trying ti move the tub,which must have had a stone under the wheel,[which was how you sometimes stopped tubs running amain...out of control]. The tub started to run amain,down a slight gradient,getting faster as it went ,and my Brother was half in and half out of the tub,with his head literally bouncing off the railway sleepers. He was thrown out of the tub,fortunately,hurt,but alive and nearly passing out as his friend half-carried him back home. He was terrified to tell the truth,so he went for the little white lie route to my Mother. He can vividly recall feeling his head stotting of the sleepers to this day!! Whey,wat dae yi expect laddies ti dae?!!!!...laddies were laddies in them days...ye HAD ti mek ya aan enjoyment.......!! We used to sit on thi aforementioned pipe ti try and catch water spiders at three and a half years aad,wi wor older brothers and sisters!!..[thi pipe is still there yet!!!..just a few yards down from the bridge]

Just a final note from me, There's a smashing book in Guidepost library called A Methodist Victorian Childhood by Sir Victor Murray.He was brought up in what was Wards paper shop. Went on to become something high up in national Methodist movement. Wonderful description of Victorian times in Choppington lovely map of Choppington in book circa 1890s in book.

For the member looking for info on Hartford Hall. Heres a little more on Augustus Edward Burdon. Hope it helps you out. Few county gentleman were better known or highly respected in Northumberland than Augustus Edward Burdon. In all that appertained to agriculture he took a deep interest, while the public life of the North laid in him one of it's most devoted servants. A keen student of the social and political movements of the times, he was a well known figure at public gatherings, and when he spoke he was listened to with the respect that his knowledge and attainment commanded. He held a high position in the Masonic craft, and also took a prominent place at leading society functions. He was the son of Colonel Augustus de Butts of the Madras Engineers, his mother being Hannah Georgina Elizabeth, daughter of Admiral Inglefield, C.B., a distinguished officer in the British Navy. Intended for service in the army, he was educated at Sandhurst. For a time he served in the 17th Lancers, but eventually left the army. His retirement did not, however, produce a lessened interest in military matters. He became an officer in the Northumberland Hussars, and rose to the position of Major. In 1870 he assumed by Royal Licence the surname of Burdon. He married in 1875 Alice Gertrude, third daughter of Major Thos. Pakenham Vandeleur of Bellfield, County Limerick. Mr. Burdon had been for many years a county magistrate, carrying out the duties connected therewith at Bedlington, where he later became the presiding justice. He was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1908. Other public duties included that of representative of Bedlington on the Northumberland County Council, and a member of the Standing Joint Committee. His interest in Freemasonry was great and extended over many years. He was Provincial Grand Master in Craft Masonry for Northumberland, succeeding the Right Hon. Viscount Ridley. In addition, he held high office in Mark Masonry, being a Past Grand Warden of the Province of Northumberland and Durham. He was also an officer of the Grand Lodge of England. Major Burdon devoted great attention to political affairs. He was an active supporter of Conservatism in the North and had often been asked to come forward as a candidate for Parliament, but he always declined. The affairs of the Primrose League found in him a whole-hearted supporter. He was Ruling Councillor of Bedlington Habitation from it's formation, and during the summer season with Mrs. Burdon, entertained the members at garden parties at Hartford House. He was chairman of the Wansbeck Division Conservative Association and a member of the executive committee of Northumberland Division of the National Association. The popular president of the Northumberland Lawn Tennis Association, Major Burdon, assisted by his wife, was of great service in bringing the organisation to success. He succeeded Lord Armstrong in that office, which was formerly held by Richard Clayton. In addition to Hartford Hall, near Bedlington, Major Burdon had seats at Wooperton, Newbiggin and at Prior Hall, Penrith. His kindly disposition and constant desire to help in every deserving cause made him extremely popular with all classes, while his unassuming nature prevented him from accepting public honours, for which his abilities and position made him in every way qualified. In November 1908 he went to London for the purpose of undergoing an operation, but the doctors advised that he should return home, and the operation performed there. For a month his health had not been satisfactory, but none except his close friends knew the gravity of his ailments and his sudden death in December 1908, came as a great shock to them all. He was survived by his wife and a family, a daughter being the wife of the Hon. Arthur Joicey, eldest son of Lord Joicey of Ford Castle.