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On a happier note, these are my 'babies'. They cost me a fortune in crushed oats, sunflower seeds and carrots.They've learned to 'headbut' the bird feeder causing the seeds to gush out onto the ground and wait at the kitchen door for carrots. Not completely tame yet - they won't let me touch them but I can stand among them.

I am quoting myself here! Well as promised here are the photos of the viaduct that took the railway up to the pits. Hope it is appreciated 'cos they took some finding!

It was where Bedlington Mechanics had their football ground. Sure I had seen a posting about the owner (possibly Jimmy Milne!) and it was given to the people of Bedlington and can't be built on. With my memory, apart from Bedlington Mechanics playing there, that could be a load of bo******!

Hi Pil! I never knew that aboot Dr Ivory,being a pilot! Dr's Hickey,Ivory,and Robertson,[a Clark Gable lookalike!],were wor Doctor's and Dr Hickey must have set the idea of having a drawer full of sweeties for all the kids who went ti see him. They were thi days when they wud caal in ti see me Mutha in passing with a .."Hello Jean....everybody all right?" That was a regular occurrence,they wud have a cup of tea and a natter,then continue on their roond!! Mind,that was in the late 1940's-50's,when Bedlington was a relatively smaal toon,and aal the villages were pit ones....BUDC...Bedlington Urban District Council covered aal the pit communities which were Bedlington A,[Auld Pit],D,[Doctor Pit],E,[Bomarsund Pit],F,[West Sleekburn..."The Winning pit"],Netherton pit,Choppington A,and B Pits,and Barmoor Pit up beside Hepscott way.,oh!......and Cambois Pit. In them days,the Police had a canny little job,not much ti dae except tek sumbody in for being drunk mebbe,or not having a bell on ya bike,or loitering........ .....proper "Heartbeat" days! Whey wi aal thi pit folks being very close knit,they policed thasells,and ye got hammered if yi were reported by a neighbour ti ya Mutha for daeing owt wrang,so ye larn't not ti dae nowt wrang....simple!! Margaret,it wud have been in 1947-8-ish,when we played on thi pipe,we were absoloutely terrified of aad Borkley's,cos they had the orchard owa thi totha side of the burn,and thi aader kids used ti gaan in ti raid it,and get chased,which made us younger kids run twice as fast up the street a back of Storey's Buildings! Aav got a scar on me shin,which was caused by me climbing thi barbed-wire fence owa thi back lane,ti pat thi pit ponies. One pony bit me on thi cheek,made me faal,and a ripped me leg on the barbs! Did we ever dae owt reet here noo?,wat a load of tales aboot delinquents!!!!!!! Naa!! just like Wor Wullie,laddie-like things was aal we had ti dae....didn't use wor thumbs like kids nooadays!! It's great ti reminisce aboot them days!...life was slow and simple for us kids,but bliddy hard work for wa Mutha's!! Here's me first school class photo taken at the Bedlington village infants school,next ti Saint Cuthberts Church,in 1950,when a was 6 years old. The thumbnail has cropped thi pic sumhoo!!,and aam at thi extreme left,so aam cut off! Let's try it oot after a post it and see if it comes up full size.[aam at thi back row on thi first left.] Sadly,a lot of kids on this pic are no longer with us.

I recall playing on the 'black bridge' as we called it, on the way there was a small wooden bridge where the stream led from under the embankment of the railway and further on from the black bridge was a bed in the stream which was deeper and good for paddling in! UP the bank was the pit yard where you could sneak in and build all sorts of dens from the props stored there.