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Replace the unelected House of Lords with a publicly elected body The House of Lords is being abused by our elected officials by filling it with cronies. It costs our taxpayers around £100 million a year (probably much more) The House of Lords is the largest parliamentary chamber in any democracy. It is surpassed in size only by China’s National People’s Congress. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/170686/ 20,899 signatures (at time of posting)

Looks like it was a very successful weekend.

Here's Trevor playing against Blyth Spartans in the F A cup 1970s @Stu Green

Have you thought about doing a DNA test Symptoms. It shows details of origin and can be very interesting. Scottish Island life , I can recommend . The scenery from Ullapool taking in the Summer Islands and out to Lewis is so beautiful.

HPW wrote: " Templars....?!........maybe....eh Sym?!!....... " Yep, all those fellas and much further back ... Mind, the other strands on Sym's bloodline don't make for happy reading ... escape from the Irish Potato famine to work in the Cumbrian iron ore mines, deaths in those pits, walking over the Pennines for work in the Durham coal fields when the iron ore ran out. Others were the Jocko fishermen from the Outer Hebrides settling in Shields. The real nightmare for Sym is all that Jocko blood flowing though his tubes with the only relief being that it's been diluted by Norman juices from "1066 and all that". Some amazing characters have cropped-up in the Sym Saga and there's still more to do. Maggs, you're right, once you start you can't stop the research.

Roslyn Chapel is the place to visit. It looks like an old barn but is a stone masons dream. Ancestry is addictive . From the old days and micro film it is easy to link with other research .

There are Templar connections not far from here; check out the chapel at Delaval Hall, a very interesting building indeed.

Just try to imagine what it must have been like back then ... charging with pike or sword and trying to chop the other fella to bits! Until recently the only references we had about what it must have been like were all those sanitized Hollywood movies, until, until, until ... The Battle of the Bastards episode in of Game of Thrones. My God, that had to be what it was like! For those who haven't seen it search it out on the internet (it must be there somewhere). HPW - Yep, Ye Olde Sym has plenty of Jocko ancestry all who lived in various castles. For most folks you usually can't research further back than circa 1800ish because for the masses nothing was written down about them. If there's a nob in the family then it's a huge game changer ... just like horse breeding EVERYTHING was recorded. You wouldn't believe just how far back the Syms go.

Maggs wrote: "Some of our ancestors must have been there." I've recently been doing a load of family tree research and have found two of my ancestors who were killed at Flodden: Sir John Semple my 17x Grandfather Sir Robert Colville my 18x Grandfather both buried at Branxton. Not father and son but father-in-law and son-in-law.

Hi Bedlingtontonians, May I thank Symptoms for photo of climb of Skiddaw Keswick man that was a long time ago, I remember walking up there on a hot sunny day with a magnifecent view across the Lakes and to Morcambe Bay.Yes Symptoms come to the Westridge Class Renunion the more the merrier as we can converse about our lifetime experiences and what we have done and where we have been. I remeber Carol Suthers now Carol Sneddon, also know Janet Commons address if Carol wants to txt me I will give her Janets address I am sure she would be pleased to hear from you Carol. Also I don't use my nickname anymore I am a grown man and as seen my school and youth days are far behind me now, so I am not been snobish or anything but could anyone posting use Malcolm as my name, I would sincerely appreciate that as in all things in life we got to move on even though we did get our Rocks Off at The Rex Hotel, Mayfair and de Cellar in the old days which i can vaguely remeber through a drunken haze as now only drink on Sunday when I perform as The Blues Geordie at Backdoor Blues Jam Hawthorns Hotel in Glastonbury. Just remeber what Uncle Frank Zappa said "The mind is like a Parachute it does not work unless it's open" "Keeping an open Mind" Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation Malcolm G Allan.

Yes I believe it is, his presentation was excellent. He provided a thought provoking insight into the subject. Tactics as well as Time and Place. He even found time for the Old Alliance!

Maggie, Is that Chris Burgess the archaeologist? Also NCC conservation officer.

The Bedlington History Society on Monday featured the Battle of Flodden and the background to the event by a guy called Chris Burgess. He was an excellent speaker and it was a talk everyone with any interest in history should have attended. Sorry, due to a technical hitch I could not mention it sooner.

Nope, I flunked the flying-saucer handling test - somewhere near the Market Place! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/521441.stm

"The only time I momentarily lost control of an aircraft........" And here's us thinking you are a space cadet GGG!

Ah, yes: https://maps.google....t=h&mra=ls&z=17 I remember it well. The near exact spot where I almost ended up in a crumpled mass of metal some time circa 1972. The only time I momentarily lost control of an aircraft at raa..ther low-level, but even now hesitate to tell the tale...! :D The incident had nothing to do with Flodden Field as such, it just happened to be an awkward rise in quite the wrong place. I wonder if that burn to the North West is where the Scots pikemen got bogged down - which is reported to have determine the battle (and the history of England/Scotland)? BTW you can zoom in to road level from that link, if you place the little mannie first.

The school trips to Ford Castle in the 60s always included sessions on the battle. The boss gadgy at Ford always told us kids that James's ghost used to roam the corridors at night ... I'm sure it was just a typical teacher under-hand trick to keep us in our dormitories at night as I never saw the ghost.

I think today 500 years ago, the battle took place. What a waste of life. Something to remember today, when there is talk of battle or intervention.

Keith your talents are wasted.