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Malome Malcome Malcome .I think you are digging a deeper hole for yourself here, are you seriously telling us that the entire flower beds and grass on the large red lion roundabout would be done away with to site a monument that can be no more than a few foot square ? I very much hope not the displays on the red lion roundabout is one of the towns finest assets. If you mean just clearing a patch in the middle of the roundabout thus having a three or four feet square of less ground to tend to I doubt this would make virtually no difference to its maintenance requirements at all, and personally I would rather see those 6 workers employed goodness knows we have enough poor folk out of work . Our Valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations: are something to be proud of and cherish. moving them around like chess pieces on a board will not one jot of difference make to our heritage, would moving the market cross to a more conspicuous location make Bedlington more impressive to visitors ? or how about taking the blue plaques off our listed buildings and displaying them in more prominent place for travellers to see , I don't think so. Personally I would have liked to have seen something done about the large number of multi coloured steel shutters that blight the street , and the plastic windows and modern doors that seem to be appearing in growing numbers aircon units and satellite dishes and great big banners on the roundabouts, derilict bits of land that are overgrown and full of rubbish but no one seems interested in such things I would rather have things done and money spent for the benefit of Bedlington residents, not the occasional visitor who may be passing through on the top deck of the 400 on his or her way to buy some shoes or socks at a town that has some shops, but as you said earlier you are sick of folk complaining about that. I think the topic has been exhausted.

Where to start mow...... At the end as usual......you have every right to say how and where your taxes are spent and you should exercise that right next May! Putting Bedlington in the front of things instead of the back burner is the intention and with very little by way of budget or legal remit! Yes there are many things which need to be done in the town but 99% of them are NCC's remit, one of the main things a Town Council can do is try and promote the place with whatever they have to work with, in our case an enviable line of heritage which should be on show for any visitor or traveller passing through the Town. As for the costs question the savings to be made by not employing up to 6 workers every month or so to look after those grasses in the middle of the roundabout far far outweighs any costs that this project may or may not be costing! So to answer your question I'm proposing to still spend nowt on the monument but reduce the costs of the upkeep of the roundabout by using the monument ..................

Lets hope none of them marchers want ta use the lavvy Maggie, or the band will be playing yellow river at Atlee park

The Trotter Memorial on the roundabout could work. It would be safe and visible . Then people local and visitors may be curious and start to ask questions. Can anyone think of a better way to preserve the memory of this local hero. Access to be allowed on a Bedlington Heritage Day , say in June /July with a brass band playing and marching down the Main Street to Atlee Park. Folk music by the Unthanks, Jez Lowe and the Pitmen Poets. A true celebration of Bedlington East West and Central (plus all the Shire) Now where are those three rings to bind all to our heritage initiative. So much of our history is not visible . NOW all we need is a town centre. The Word the new library at South Shields shows what can be done. We have so much to celebrate /remember in Bedlington. An Ellen Mitchell room with all aspects of our history on display. The Bedlington Banners providing a reason to be proud of the brave men who worked and lost their lives in the mines. A little or lot about Ken Russell and his filming in Bedlington. Not to mention Cuthbert, Daniel Gooch, The Old Iron Works, and so many more history stories. One story could be the history of the Shire , the link with Durham then becoming Wansbeck and then NCC . ( no negative thoughts) Sadly it is only Weatherspoon's where our history is accounted for in displays and pictures. As the older children said about regeneration 'Something anything is better than nothing' . What we need to hear is 'money is no object'. Deeds not Words. No negativity allowed anytime anywhere. Bedlington will rise again.

That sstain on her dress was only soup, too,............ COCK-A-LEEKIE!

Monica Lewinsky siad she could not vote for Hillary as the last Clinton who was in office left a bad taste in her mouth

Received today from a friend in The USA: The unthinkable happened and enough idiots and extremists voted into office a buffoon who couldn't be trusted with a Twitter account. America has lost any last shred of moral authority it might have had. The rest of the world now must go forward knowing it cannot count on America for anything, least of all leadership. The portents are alarming, tax cuts for the rich at the expense of cuts to healthcare, Social Security, women's health and welfare, social and religious persecution, persecution of minorities, black people, colored people, anybody who doesn't conform to the Trump vision of the American Master Race. Deregulation of everything, free rein for dirty energy, protected lands to be turned over to private industry etc., etc. Hate crimes are already surging. Those of you in the civilised world please do what you can to show the Trump administration your disapproval. At least stop eating hamburgers and going to Starbucks. The Resistance.

I may have found it! Having nothing better to do on a sunny day like today I've gone through all 741 pages of the 1911 census for Bedlington, District 2. It started in Netherton Colliery (where I was surprised not to find a Plessey Street but a "2nd Second Street") before moving on to Bedlington and the Mason's Arms Inn. It then took me for a walk up the High Street (as it was called than), down Glebe Road, up and down a great number of side streets and in and out of many yards before arriving at Glebe ROW (not road). This row has been up for discussion before so we know it was on the right hand side of Glebe ROAD heading towards Choppington. The Arcade seems to have been tucked in between Tankerville Yard and Oliver's buildings and had only 7 dwellings. The Arcade may have been a name given to it by the residents as all use this name when filling in the census form. However, the enumerator himself simply calls it "Glebe Row". The census took me on a return journey, from the boundary with Choppington via Glebe Road , along Ridge terrace and back, then down Hartford Road, calling in on all side streets, vicarages and police stations (where there were two prisoners) on the way. It continued as far as the Manse before heading off back down the High Street again to The Sun Inn where it somehow headed off towards Hartford bridge and my journey ended. What a lovely day out! It gave a very different picture from the Bedlington we know today, in terms of housing, work and social conditions. On the one hand we have Hartford House with 32 rooms, inhabited by the mother and one son of the Burdon family together with eight staff (butler included). On the other hand we have the Old Hall, where families of 5 and 6 persons - plus 2 lodgers - are living in 1-2 rooms, or a house in Catholic Row where a mother and her 4 children share their two rooms (one of which is the kitchen) with no less than 3 coalmining lodgers! They must have slept in shifts! There was a diverse array of occupations outside of mining in Bedlington 1911. Everything from bookmakers to candlemakers, scavengers (working for the UDC), hawkers - one of them at the ripe old age of 84 years - and "colliery heap-keepers" who had "heap-lads" to help them. The mind boggles! I met one "chauffeur" on my journey, umpteen stable hands, a farm bailiff, several foresters and a couple of gamekeepers. It must have been very rural in those days. Even more surprising was the number of people living in Bedlington who weren't born anywhere in the vicinity. Among its inhabitants in 1911, almost every county in England and Scotland were represented. It must have been a popular place.