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Heh heh! Nice one marra,thanks a lot Bedders!Aav been doon aal thi Ashington streets owa thi years,but nivvor knew where Pont Street was,musta aalwis escaped me! It's great seeing the street plan wi thi tubway in ivry raa! Me Mutha used ti tell us kids hoo she used ti dreg the set up,Lowse the powny off thi set by tekking thi sheckle pin oot,waak thi powny aroond ti thi other end of the set,hing thi powny back on by putting thi sheckle pin inti the sheckle on thi limma's ,once the sheckle was lined up owa the middle cock-hole on thi tub.Tek thi dregs oot,and away the Set-lad wud gaan,wi he's chum-set,and back ti thi pit for anutha full set,ti dae thi next raa! Noo,as a 14 year owld Lassie,wi a gud memory till she passed on at 95,she cudn't mek a story like that, up, as colourfull as she used ti tell us,when we were bairns!! She used ti help the set-lad ti hoy thi coal oot thi tubs once they were cowwped owa onto the roadside! But then,as she was the youngest in a mining family wi her Dad and brothers aal pitmen,[not forgettin the lads were in thi pit at fowteen years aad],her tasks were ti clean oot and refill,then polish,aal the carbine lamps,sharpen the drills wi a rasp,[nae Tungsten Carbide tips in them days!],put baits up,and clean and polish the pit byeuts for thi next shift!!...[a knaa..!..."carbine"....just a pitmatic slang word for the stuff!!] Her Mother left her family when she was only six years old,and buggad off.They later traced her in Doncaster bigamously married again doon there.Nowt sed aboot that,they were only happy to be re-united again.....by then aa was aboot 12 years owld,and loved me new Grandma ti bits,cos even though a knew the story from me Mutha telling us,a was still too young ti understand much aboot the carry-on. The owlda generations had that much ti say aboot the 1960's generation....sex....drugs....rock and roll....free love...aal that.......!!....thi buggas were worse in the generations before us!!!!

This is my effort ...

Hi HPW, just for you.

Hi Newbedders! Many thanks for your mail,and for posting these interesting maps,it proves my Mutha did still "have all her marbles" [quote: her last remarks before she passed away,at 95 yrs old!] She was born and brought up in Pont Street,which I cannot see on these maps,so I think there must be other sections available in the archives,showing the rest of the colliery village...VILLAGE!!!!.....Ashington was the biggest mining town in the world in the early days...5 pits in one,with over 5000 miners employed there! Hi Haffy! Just ti clear up any unintended confusion,when I moved into West Terrace,Stakeford,in 1970,it had ootside aad-fashioned flush toilets,across the yard,wi a high wall aal aroond,but the floor of the building was the original old Netty ,and shaped with a curved sill at the entrance doorway,the purpose of which was to prevent the contents of the netty being pushed into the yard,when the midnight shuveller used to push he's shuvell into the little ground-level access hole which was in the main ootside terraced wall! One little hole ootside every hoose in the street of 100 hooses![mind,when ye luk at these maps,it must hae been a neetmare for the coal-leaders,and the netty-cleaners!!] So a divven't knaa when thi aad netties were done away wi,at Bomarsund,Stakeford....[cos wor hooses were built for thi Bomar pit lads originally.] Thi mind boggles if ye start thinking aboot hoo they managed aal this,and where the tubloads of netty slag went and wat they did wi it! We'll leave it at that eh?!