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Spoke to my Dad who's 87 who remembers a few tunnels or similar structures in different parts of Bedlington. The Church Lane tunnel could possibly be the culvert where Jocker Amos was found following the Sun Inn murders. There are some images of the culvert elsewhere on this site. There was a surface drift which was part of the Doctor Pit which ran under where Tescos is situated and started nearer to the gas works/police station. There was also a 'cundy' which is a type of underpass which ran from the colliery rows to the gas house near the new police station bypassing the Doctor Pit yards. There are also 2 tunnels which emerge at the bottom of the Furnace Bank right on the river bank next to where the bandstand used to be. I think one of them is clearly visible although the entrance is silted up. This one may be the one with 'abide ye' or similar carved on the stone arch. If you're looking for it, it's about 50 metres west of the Furnace Bridge on the north side. Dad reckons these structures were actually water inlets which filled up at high tide. Several bore holes were sunk into them along their length to obtain water for the ironworks.

Good topic there stevenmcvey963

Please, please, please, CL negotiate a deal that prevents sprouts from being eaten anywhere except Brussels. Strike a bargain with Brussels - they can have the sole rights to sprouts; growing, boiling and eating, and Melton Mowbray can keep it's protected name for it's pies when we leave the EU. ( don't pull me up on this, I know the chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association Matthew O'Callaghan, who is also chairman of the UK Protected Food Names Association, said the protected status could be maintained). The European Union granted the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie protected status in 2008 which meant only pies made in the area could carry the label. This must also apply to Brussel's Sprouts Cutting an 'X' in the stem of a Brussels sprouts to aid cooking = Br-x-it. Is it only me that hates the taste, and the smell when cooking? If however the miners had of taken sprout sarnies down the pit then I am sure the smell of the sprout sarnies and the expulsion of the sprout gasses would have driven the 'shit-flies' out of the shaft and Symtoms wouldn't have his current project to prove how those flies survived the byeways of the pits.

ha ha ha just remembered one game when Rockys team was short a player,and me and Paul "Tuc" Fennel were sitting outside the club when his brother Geordie said "which one of ye two is the best bowler" we both said Tuc straight away so he said "right you're opening the bowling for us" now tuc was about 15 or 16 and the opening bat for the other side played for Bedlington so as he was walking out his mates were shouting "mind the windows in my car".well the first ball whistled round his ears and the second one clean bowled him.when he came back he said "there's nowt rang wi them bowls lad" we used to play cricket on the bandstand,a strip of grass at the top of the "picca bank" with a bin lid stood up with a stick through the handle,came off there with many a circular bruise to show for being to slow with the bat,and that was off a tennis ball.

The fact is nobody else can be bothered; and from now on, neither can I.