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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnoWDHUrAQ&t=6834s

Big round of applause from me, Andy and Eggy - and Maggie for the first photos in what i think can be a great album.

On the mend, but still resting when the body tells me to at various points during each day🙂 @Maggie/915 - I see you have entered all the headstone photos, in one entry, into the album. I think it would be best if we arrange for @Andy Millne to delete all but the first photo and then enter each headstone photo into it's own entry in the album. If we leave it as it is then if anyone wants to comment on a particular headstone the comment, and any subsequent, will get confusing 🤷‍♂️. Do you agree and we can ask Andy to sort out = separate entry for each headstone👌

Actually I had thought this present phase two, i.e. the new frontage onto Market Place, would have been well on its way now and that is why I have been concentrating on the further phases 3 and 4. Having secured Bedlington’s place in the Borderlands Deal and been assured we now have a £3M offer on the table, (NB. This is for all of Bedlington) I’m now working with others on a board to get this money spent in the Town and surrounding area, depending on projects coming through. Obviously a main one is the Town Centre development but then so is the new railway station area. https://youtu.be/FYNE5Qy1QsA?t=1923 I have been told there is a renewed interest from retailers in the scheme so like everyone else I wait with bated breath to get any details.

I appreciate what you are saying that not every town will have every facility, and small villages will always rely on nearby towns for some things, but Bedlington is not a small village. Bedlington is larger than Morpeth, Alnwick, Hexham, Berwick or Amble. Think about the facilities these places have and think about what Bedlington has. Think about how much council tax we are paying in to the coffers of the council and think about what we are getting in return. The fact is that towns the size of Bedlington across the county (and the country as a whole) do have local facilities like leisure centres, cinemas, theatres, museums etc in fact I suspect that each of the towns I listed above has most or all of these facilities while we have none of them. Comparing the 1950s to the 2020s is a little misleading. I grew up in the 1970s and that was a different world with a fraction of the traffic and less petty crime and violence so as a 10-12 yr old I'd think nothing of cycling 5 miles to the nearest "bigger" towns for the cinema or the amusement arcades, with little fear of getting knocked off my bike or having it nicked. Plus few kids in those days grew up in households where both parents worked full time so there was more scope for parents to take them to facilities that were further afield. You can argue that life was simpler, happier and fitter back then but the world is a very different place and it is far more relevant to compare Bedlington of 2021 to Morpeth or Blyth of 2021 than to Netherton of 1950. The key for me is independence - as a kid I had access to facilities that were further afield because it was easier and safer to get around than it is today. The same applies to people of all ages for who transport is not affordable or easy. If the argument is "why can't people travel to use facilities?" then I'm not quite sure why this argument only applies to Bedlington and not Blyth, Morpeth, Cramlington and Ashington when it comes to swimming baths for example. As I say I don't mean to be disrespectful of other opinions but this is of material impact on the lives and livelihoods of the people of Bedlington and while it may be of interest to those who may once of lived here but now reside elsewhere it will have little or no impact on their lives. It is a little like the fable of the chicken and the pig

Earlier today I wrote a reply but then later deleted it, a reply to your comments, I wasn't sure it was my place to comment, like CL I questioned what facilities are available within the area? are there restrictions to the use of these, being from Blyth I used to travel to Bedlington, Ashington, Whitley Bay, Newcastle and many other places for my recreation, no parent drivers, no transportation at all. Saturday I traveled to our next town South to watch the Grand kids play some ice hockey, 150km each way, sometimes I travel north to watch some curling, 185km each way, any of our kids showing prospects in a sport often travel to these places for higher levels of competition. To have recreation facilities on your doorstep is great and desired but having them reasonably available is what really matters. It appears Bedlington has been left out for a long time and deserve to get some facilities to encourage youngsters to keep fit and meet others, socializing! I sincerely hope my comments don't offend anyone, just giving my opinion from a different perspective! (FWIW)

No disrespect intended but that is very easy to say if you don't live in the town. We moved to the town 12 years ago with a 3 year old daughter. She is now taking her GCSEs, A levels next year and then hopefully away for University. She has grown up in a town with virtually no leisure facilities other than a couple of playing fields. I really do hope we will get something other than retail and apartments - something like the announcement last year for example - but she will have her bags packed and will have left the town before the ribbon is cut to open it. That is a crying shame for a generation to grow up and leave the area having never had a fraction of the opportunities afforded to the kids of Blyth, Cramlington, Morpeth, Ashington etc. I'm sorry but a whole generation of kids shouldn't have had to wait.

I've moved all the images from the comment into separate gallery entries.

I see the album is now created so I'm assuming that you are 'back in action' already. I hope that whatever was ailing you is under control. Take it easy and listen to your body, because your body always knows best. When it says "rest" it means just that. When you feel like it, do you think that the stones in this topic could be copied to the new album together with the names on them? It would be a fantastic research material.