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Thank you for getting in touch, I remember you well, and my sister Ann was madly in love with you! sadly, you were not interested in her and the tears flowed. You all moved to a council house near the Bedlington Terrier pub. We used to play all sorts of games in Stead Lane opposite the Pudlers Row houses. All different now. How I miss all the days spent at Granma’s in the summer. The Fenwick family as far as I remember was Norman, Danny, Arthur and David. Often I would call round the back to sit in your settee and read all the comics. We didn’t get comics. Your mum used to chat to me and I remember she was a very good cook so I hung about in case there was something on offer. Ann I’m sorry to say died 13 years ago but she did marry another David who celebrates his 90th birthday in August, so there is only me, my sister Susan who sadly has dementia, Jenny my cousin has also died. Me, I keep going with arthritis etc. and am now 85 years old and I live near Maidstone in Kent. Thanks for keeping in touch as at my age I live with my memories and it was lovely to get a blast from the past.. KathyX

I remember the shop in market place very well. Jimmy Milne's. As mentioned you had so much choice. I used to visit the cafe on the right hand side and have tea and soup. The young lass I went out with at the time worked in the office there. Really nice lass and She eventually went and joined the police force. I imagine She would have done very well as an intelligent lass and could write in short hand which would have been helpful. It is rather sad all these places closed but it is the same all over. Time stands still for no one. Thanks for the memories. Regards. Jim

My Gt Grandmother and Gt Grandfather had a building business. His name was James Johnson Mole and he married Catherine Easton. I often wondered if the cottages were any connection to her.. They lived in Gibson house in I think Rothesay Terrace. Their son Robert who was my Grandfather built a lot of houses in Stead Lane and you will still find manhole covers saying JJMole on the pavement in Bedlington. I was born at 9 Stead Lane, which my grandfather built and the house Pearmans next door as well and I remember very clearly the shop which I was sent to get messages for my Grandmother Alice Mole nee Green. In 1944 my Dad came home from the war and being a cockney we had to come doon sooth which broke my heart as I loved Bedlington. Alas, there is nobody I know now, either they moved away or died but my heart is still a Geordie and I can still speak the language fluently. We played with David and Arthur Fenwick, Olive Tipple, Tony Savilly who was called by us Tony is a billy because we could pronounce his surname, his Mum married an Italian and lived in the house right next to the shop. We played lots of games on Stead Lane, no traffic then, went to pledge doon the river Blyth, a children’s paradise The memories come flooding back. KATHLEEN NOTT - Maidstone Kent

Coach Road is shown in blue on the attached 1897 map of Bedlington East End. The road is still there leading to Spring view and the last houses were demolished in the early 1950’s. The East End Church of England school was only about 250 yards from Coach Road so is fair to assume that this is the school in the photo. The school (shown in yellow on the map) was closed in the early 1900’s and the site is now part of Hollymount Square.

Jimmy was my grandad , my mother lived in the neuk, for some time in the flat above the archway , met a miner and my first shower was in the dr pit, no bathroom or toilet . I remember raff too and Bacchis

@Nicola Riley So pleased that you found her! A little correction: The photo doesn't show a PE class. Miss McLean (Later Mrs McDonald) was a PE teacher but this is a class photo for which Nancy (Miss McLean) was the form mistress. All classes had a form teacher. The class would go to her directly after assembly in the morning and she would fill in the attendance register before the pupils went to their first lesson. As Miss McLean was the only teacher of PE for girls then Joyce would certainly have gone to her PE classes.

April 2025

16th March 2025

You aren't too far off the mark, as both building's roofs could well have been constructed by the same contractor (maybe Bill Scott Engineering?), and they are pretty close to one another. It's the Millne Bike Factory behind the former Turk's Head Hotel in the Market Place (later to become Coop - Millne House, before recent demolition). Looks like the snow collapsed the roof. Date some winter in the 1930s I'd guess, but it could be the early 1940s as they were still making bikes for the Army, as well as Bailey Bridge parts up until around 1945. The roof would have been demolished by the Coop when they rebuilt the rear of the Millne department store. After WWII, the building became The Terrier Plate Works, thought there was still some remaining evidence of bike manufacture there in the early 1950s.

Hi Canny Lass!..many thanks for your kind reassurance and good advice..it is much appreciated!..aye,my Sister is ten years younger than me,and she has had Glaucoma since she was a lot younger..and has had Cataracts removed,and she is still enjoying reasonably good vision,but she has never driven..with me ,and others like me,having to stop driving is like cutting my legs off!!..but I'll get by!! The medical team at the RVI are magnificent!..aye,aam on two sets of eyedrops morning and night..have to see the team in eight weeks time..I do 't drink coffee,and not much tea ....and I aam a teetotaller ,so hopefully things will stay stable!! I thought my laptop screen was fading,cos my pit pics are ,or appear ti be,fading..but's it's me gaan bliind ye bugga!!.. Cheers folks,luvly ti hear from ye's again!! Bill.xx

@HIGH PIT WILMA Glaucoma is a serious illness, HPW, but it doesn’t necessarily have to lead to complete sight loss. You’ll probably need eye drops for the rest of your life and while they can’t cure the Glaucoma or restore what sight you’ve already lost they can prevent further loss of vision so keep using your drops and doing what the doctor tells you! We also have glaucoma in the family and were recommended to avoid caffeine which can increase the pressure in the eye. Avoid, or at least decrease, your intake of: coffee, tea and chocolate. (Tea has only half the amount of caffeine compared to coffee). Take real good care of yourself!

Laura Fawcett, my grandma, the small girl in the front row, was born at the house in April 1900. She would be approx 3-1/2 yrs old in this photo. "... altho' my mother said Laura was born at the waterworks house, it doesn't match with the census (1901 census has them at Pioneer Terrace and Thompson still working at the Bedlington pit as a Colliery Engineerman)"

My great grandpa, Bedlington native, Thompson Fawcett (1873-1953) was the Engineer at Humford Mill for many years. He always wore a trilby and had a bushy white moustache (he may the suited gentleman on the right in the photo above). They lived at the mill in the house on the left with the bay window (the 1911 census lists Thompson, his wife Margaret and daughter Laura. Thompson is listed as Stationary Engineerman). Earlier (1901 census) he worked at the pit until he was injured in a pit incident. By 1904 he was working at the Waterworks as he hosted the wedding reception for Sam Mortimer and Isabella Swann at the house at the waterworks 26 Sept, 1904. (I will post a picture if I can find it.) When the waterworks shut (or possibly earlier) he and his wife moved to Hepscott where he tended some pit ponds.

Don't panic! Keep on clarting!

Unfortunately CL I am at the stage where I don't want to start learning, and paying a monthly charge for, some new 'photshop' software . I enjoy the world moving forward and advancements in all fields progressing and making the working day easier for the professionals but I'm in my little world using the Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 (MDI) software that I clarted with for many months finding out what I could achieve. When I first bought a new Desktop with Windows 7 I did export the MDI software from the vista PC and import it on the Windows 7 PC but the software wouldn't load so I have kept the old PC going for the last 5 years. I have, three weeks ago, replaced my Windows 11 Desktop PC (that one daughter said wasn't 'fit for purpose' ) for a new PC with i5 16GB processor and if I was into gaming I would have gone for the i7 with 32GB RAM but I am not into gaming, just clarting

It's a man thing. Trust me, I'm a woman!

Thanks for that little gem, @James! I thought that I'd researched my old school (Nedderton village) well but I never knew that it was once a church school.

Thanks Alan but I've just this minute found her! Westridge 1959 PE class.

The photo is the Doctor pit at Bedlington, not the 'A' pit at Bedlington Station

@loopylou - just checked, on the PC I don't have to 'shuffle' to, and these are a couple of comments from the Bygone bedlington group :- and I added the names + the surname you gave for No 6, to your photo :-

@loopylou - your list of names you sent me added to your photo.

@loopylou - space for names added to your photo. I'll ppost this one on the FB group Bygone Bedlington and see if any member can identify a relative 🤞

From Crewroom D. 1983-1988 British Caledonian Sales Manager. From 1988-2000, freelance to United Airlines, then job in Scotway Independent Travel Agents, then private consultant in Communication skills in a company/business. In 2000, Mansel retired and he and Margaret moved to Selby, Yorks. Keith

Hi @Keith Harle I didn't know Mansel Dinnis but I had a quick look through the newspaper archives to see if there could be anything to help you. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot. He did indeed work for Caledonian Airways but only for a short while it seems, 1986 - 1988. Here are the few snippets of information I was able to find: 1971 He seems to have been working for BOAC and is reported on as having represented the company when giving a talk on the company’s organisation to the Elland Round Table. (Huddersfield Weekly Examiner) 1987 Mansel represents British Caledonian Airways (BCA) where he is sales manager, Scotland. He hands out the first prize (two tickets to Dallas USA) on behalf of BCA who donated the prize. (Dumfries and Galloway Standard) 1990 in October he joined the management team of the Westerwood Hotel, golf and country club. He is reported to previously have been British Caledonian’s sales manager in Scotland from 1986 to 1988 before operating his own management consultancy practice. The hotel is due to open early in 1991. (News & Chronicle) 1991 Just 3 months later, in January, he leaves “to pursue other business interests”. The general manager, Stanley Fredman resigns shortly after. The hotel is due to open in a couple of weeks so these two resignations make headlines in the local press. (Cumbernauld News) Of course, he may have returned to BCA at a later date. 2003 - 2005 he is on the electoral roll as resident in Selby, Yorkshire. Hope this is of some help to you.

My half brother Colin Jordan. Who died suddenly at home earlier this year. He'd often nip up and drive around the areas he grew up in; North Ridge, Netherton colliery, Steadlands Square, Clement Avenue etc.

@loopylou - unfortunately still no one in the photo identified by any of the ex employees of the Welyn that are members of the facebook group Bygone Bedlington. Latest comment was :-

Bower was my grandad , I was a kid and lived near the yard

Piper Award certificated presented to the volunteers.

@loopylou no luck with ant names from from my sister in law. I could post your photo, with space for names, on the Facebook group Bygone Bedlington and see if we can get anyone identified and I will add the name(s).

@loopylou I have a sister in law whoworked there in the lat 1960's I will see if I can get her to have a look at it and possibly identify anyone in the photo. Don't hold your breath

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) The Welwyn is well before my time, so I don’t recognise anyone either! I think this was my great-grandmothers photo. 🙂

Sorry, this is in bits and pieces ... As Mr Boll Sr. was schoolmaster at the village school throughout his career then I think it's fair to assume that this is him (standing at the back) in the photo from 1902. He bears a bit of a resemblance to the man standing centre back (with moustache) in the group photo.

William Henry Jr was born in Netherton Village and like his father went into teaching. In 1916, living in School House with his parents, he goes to war. Luckily he survives and in 1921 he is engaged in full-time studies to become a teacher. He marries a Newcastle girl in 1929 and they move away from the area at some point within the following 10 years. Certainly in 1939 he is living in Penrith and employed as a schoolmaster but he and the family seem to move back to Newcastle as he dies there in 1963. I have never been able to find any evidence that either of the two worked in the infant school in the colliery. I've scrutinised the group above and if it is correctly dated to 1912 Mr Boll Sr would be 50 years old. Mr Boll Jr. would be 14 years old. The latter could be one of the older boys but I don't know if there are any 50 year-olds there. It seems like a family group to me.

No, I don't remember Mr & Mrs Boll from the 1960s but if there was a Mr Boll living to the left of the school in the 60s then it wasn't Mr Boll the schoolmaster because he died in 1950. However, he did die at Rowanbrae which still stands today somewhat to the left of the school building and adjacent to the old hall. There were two 'Mr Boll' - father and son both named William Henry and both School teachers. Mr Boll Sr was actually born in Netherton in Old Colliery Row which was very close to what we know as Nedderton Village. His father was a miner.

@James update to the names and info. Jean McDonnell (nee henderson) has named No 15 as Freda Allen and No 32 as Doris (not Dorothy) Armstrong - Jean says she was on the trip but not in the photo. Joan Davison (nee Muckle of Lilly Avenue) has named her as No 19 and says it was 1956.

Welcome to the group Kathleen. I can't really tell you any history behind te East Homes Cottages other than, as @James has written above, that what is in one of Evan Martin's books on Bedlingtonshire. In the book Bedlingtonshire Now and then this is what evan Martin posted :- The name Gibson House in Rothesay Terrace doesn't ring a bell with me but that's nothing unusual these days. I know at each end of Rothesay Terrace there was a large detached house. As far as I remember the one across the road from the Easton Homes used to be lived in by the manager of the Bedlington 'A' pit and it is now Holmside Residential Care home. At the other end of Rothesay Terrace the detached house is now the Willows Nursing Home :- No 9 Stead lane is a cottage that I would assume from the back garden you would be able to see the Furness bank down to the Furness bridge and the river Blyth where you would have been plodging - ioor as we would say - you went plodgin in the clarts I don't recall anu of the names of the lads you played with around Stead Lane. I lived behind the Oval shops, Coquetdale Place, from 1949 onwards and we were regulars in the council estate across from Stead Lane where my mam's aunty lived in Elenbell Avenue and we used to go to a shop, Doyles, in Stead Lane.

!. is I think ? Dodds and 2. I am not sure of. 3 George Grahame 4 Martin ? 6. John S Smith. 6. Brian Richmond, 7. ? Cross, 8. I think it is ? Turner, 9 ? I have forgotten. hope this little helps.

A bit late,but just catched up heor..the year luks a bit mair accurate..but the number and some name still dinna add up!!

@Canny lass I posted the photo + the info from @carly on the Bygone Bedlington (BB) Facebook group and there have been a load of replies from members who had relatives that had lived in Coach Road and had attended the Vulcan place School = the Whitley Memorial. Normally I would take a scree-shot of the comments and paste the into a picture file to post within this group. However since posting on the BB group I have replaced my aging Desktop PC with a new one and the new keyboard is driving me mad. The new keyboard dosem't have a 'Prt scr' button and although I have found a way to get a screen shot I haven't found a way to get it into a picture file. (The software I add the names and info to the jpg school photos etc I play with is no longer available and I have an even older PC with that software on. The software only runs on Windows Vista and I transfer (via email) the files I clart with from one PC to the other. I can still do that but screen shots and saving and editing them has me beat.) After I posted on the BB group 'carly' joined the group and these are some of the replies (not screen shots just copy and paste of text) that she has recieved :- Kathleen Newcombe Egen Carly, I have a family of Weddles in Coach Road. Spelling does change but could be related. Im in my 70's so obviously a lot older than you. My Granny was Hannah who died of the Spanish flu in 1917. I'll have to search out info I have of the family... lovely to see the pics. Janet Jackson Top contributor This photo is great. My grandmother Mary Isabella Waddell/Waddle was born in 1878 and lived in Coach Road and would have been 14 at the time of this photo. However I know she was away in service in Longhorsley from the age of 8 so the Mary Waddell in the picture may not be her Ann Bower Vulcan school was the old Whitley Memorial School, it burned down around 1970ish. I had only been there a few weeks at the time & think I was 9 but could be wrong on the year. Judith Bosomworth Top contributor I would have said Vulcan school was the whitley school as based in Vulcan Place

No 5 Witson not Wilson.

The information attached is from a St. Cuthbert's church history booklet.

I didn't know you could have a 'senior moment' at the age of 21

I think the school may well be the Village School, as looking at a photograph from more recent times (before demolition) the brickwork does seem to match.

Thank you so much for looking into this for me. The little boy on the bottom row, third from the right is my great, great Grandfather David Waddell. On the 1891 census he was 4 years old and was living on Coach Road in Bedlington. I am not 100% sure, but believe that his older sister Mary is on this photograph too. I think she is the girl on the second row down, second in after the little boy standing next to the teacher with the curled under fringe. In 1891 she would have been 12.

I know in the late 1950's we would run along the path from one end of the cottages to the other but can't remember us ever stopping to read the info on the plaque between numbers 6 & 7. I would assume it has Emily Easton's name and the year they were built. I'm surprised @John Fox (foxy) has taken a photo of the plaque

What about No 40. Should I change it to Christine Rowell?

With help from one of the girls from the photo 15. Dorren Anderson, 16. Margaret Coppin, 17. Margaret Morton, 18. Jacqueline Armstrong, 19. Pat French, 20. Pat May?, 24. Barbara Smith?, 25. Anne Tyler, 26. Janice Hindhaugh, 27. Lesley Bainbridge, 31. Kathleen Brown, 32. Eileen Brown, 33. Joyce Butcher, 34. Lorraine Armstrong, 35. ?, 36. Yvonne Williamson, 37. ?, 38. Ann Chapplehow, 39. Ann McClellan, 40. Janice Rowsett, 41. Anna Thain, 42. Margaret Humble?, 43. Lorna Hudson

Think it was pre-Brexit Wilma!

Divvent ye dare!