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Hi folks,aam still alive!,just fully taken up time-wise..noo,aa luk oot me sitting room and kitchen Windaes ivry day of me life,at the remains of the Choppington Low Pit heap!..it's still big enough not ti be missed,but luks a lot nicer than it did many yrs ago!! On the great photo of the mountain,ye can see where the Bogies have been re-sited ti start tipping onto another part of the land adjacent ti the Mother heap! If the pit had still been ganning,tha wudda been Twin Heaps by noo!! My Uncle Tommy Cadwallender and his family lived in them hooses,and when my Parents lived doon on the Willow Bridge,in Storey's Buildings,me Mutha used ti tek us bairns through the pit yard ti see them. A distinctly remember,in aboot 1947,aged three yrs,seeing this massive pipe gushing filthy stinking black watta inti a greet big pond..[the pit ponds!!],and me Mutha frightening me by warning me not ti gaan and play near them ponds cos tha was a laddie droonded in them..a just canna remember the laddie's name. Aa nivvor forgot the noise and smell of the waata gushing..it was terrifying ti a wee bairn like me..then we went through the yard,passed the screens and the rail sidings..loads o knocking and bangin from the tubs up in the Heapstead,the tipplers,the creepers,the cages rattling up and doon..steam blaan off wi the steam winders,black smoke from the boilers,AND the tankies shuntin' the trucks under the screens and being teemed inti ...Noise,Smells,loads of locomotion constantly..wat a dangerous environment it was!!..but that was pitwark..and we aal knew nowt else!! The heap was on the right of the rail line wat went up ti Choppington High Pit,which was used ti bring the High Pit Coal doon ti join the main line. It is noo knaan as Choppington Community Wood Walk..and a lovely walk it is..well done to the friends of Choppington Woods Project!! Cheers,Bill.

I'll check with @johndawsonjune1955 via the Past Times History group and see if there are still copies available.

Wow, not even a token white male in cabinet! This IS interesting. Agree with you on the Heath-Wilson thing Eggy. And it was at a time when I used to vote Conservative too! Heath was actually a more dogmatic socialist than "pragmatic" pipe-smoking Harold. I'm no longer quite so sure that Heath was the worst PM ever though. Anyone with a mature sense of proportion wanting a good chuckle should revisit the news coverage of the Heath-Wilson years and the huge commotion there was about our £1.3 billion annual trade deficit. Everyone was blaming everyone, and the end of the world was predicted unless it was quickly eliminated. (Hint: It's now running at a cool £27.9 billion a year!)

Thirsty Thursdays still on Vic.............

Hope you and the family fully enjoy your visit. You might meet up with @John Fox (foxy) - @Andy Millne or @Malcolm Robinson if you visit the Red Lion.