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I was almost unable to speak today at full council and this time it was passion not being forbidden to speak! I’m used to having a fight with the Administration to get anything for Bedlington, I hope today is the last time I have to have a go at the new bunch of councillors! The motion they put forward was badly constructed but there was one bit which I couldn’t contain myself about. If it had gone through then about 6 years of my time and efforts would be wasted with Bedlington losing millions of pound of funding. I couldn’t let that happen and so I had to say something: https://www.youtube.com/live/xi5sxPcTWWI?si=rWWEKF9yA76ksl0j&t=6171

Hi, Thank you for this suggestion - my Great Grandfather James Scott was born on 1 Dec 1879 and in the 1939 England and Wales Register for Ashington was listed against Coney Moor Farm as Dairy Manager In 1911 Census he was down as a Farmer at age 31 I know there was an Ashington Farm but I am not sure that is the same as Home Farm I have found some information in Northumberland Archives and it mentions several glass plate negatives showing "Home Farm one of the Ashington Coal Company Farms" I will ring them on Wednesday when they are open. Many Thanks for everyone's help any other information would be gratefully received Susan

@Susan J-D Have you considered that Home Farm and Coney Garth may be one and the same thing? The name “Home Farm” is traditionally used to refer to any farm that is part of the manor house’s demesne – often the farm lying closest to the manor house. These were often farmed by a farm manager, hired by the lord of the manor, to cater for the needs of his household while other land was rented out to tenant farmers. Looking at this map from 1859 you can see that Coney Garth (centre), located between Ashington and Pegswood, is a considerable size and just a stone’s throw from Bothal Castle (bottom left) and also part of the Bothal Demesne. Of course, your relative may not have worked for the lord of the manor. Much depends upon when your relatives lived there. The name Home Farm can live on for centuries after being used as such.

Hi when I was young living in Bedlington 1950s/60s Bedlington Council was rated as one of the best run Councils in the country, it seems since the amalgamation of Bedlington with Wansbeck that amount of capital investment towards Bedlington did not meet the requirements of improving the town a great deal. Bedlington used to have an open air swimming pool at Humford in the good care of Wilf Marley this acted as a social hub and a place to keep fit even though the water could be a bit cold sometimes and yet still Bedlington waits for a swimming pool maybe a Community right to build could be put forward to Northumberland County Council for the benefit of all ages of the Bedlington population. Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation. Malcolm G Allan.

Malcolm, I like the outside the box thinking. If nothing else it usually results in the people I deal with not being able to give a reply or adequate reason why not to do something. The Terriers is a difficult case given they had been stuck off by Companies House for not filing accounts and County Council had to step in to safeguard the ground for community use! There is a lot of work being done and the only reason for my cooperation is to make sure the end result is in community use! It will probably go to litigation so there are tight lips so as not to prejudice any case!

Thanks Alan, I think this is the guy that I have read on some of the posts of what the Council is doing are not doing, I have attended a lot of Glastonbury Town Council meetings even put ideas towards them never got a reply or thank you from them as it seems across the length and breadth of this country (England) that the majority of the populace have no great faith in the actions of our so called elected local Councillors, I wonder why. Do you just love Democracy? Malcolm.

Hi Alan Community Asset Transfer. It specifically refers to the transfer of assets (Land &Buildings) from a public body to a Community organisation often less than market value, with the aim of promoting COMMUNITY WELL-BEING just like Humford Baths all those years ago Alan just to finish a good legal structure for any Community is a Community Benefit Society (BENCOM) That's it. Thanks. Malcolm.

Hi Alan I am a bit rusty with my definitions as I am now retired but had some experience in Workers Co-operative sector. Have found out some interesting things. From the Community Right to Buy introduced as part of the Localism Act 2011. There are 4 categories as follows. Community Right to Buy. Community Buy Out Community Asset Transfer. Community Right to bid. That allows community groups to nominate land or buildings as "Assets of Community Value" that does not guarantee the community the right to buy but it does trigger a process where the Community gets first opportunity to bid when an asset is put up for sale I have been reading about Bedlington Terriers and the problems they have as a Community Interest Company (CIC) with a company that wants the Bedlington Terriers to vacate the ground that has been part of the local football fabric for a very long time. If the Bedlington Terriers could look at those 4 categories that I have displayed and they got some legal advice from a Co-operative Development Body in the region this could be of some assistance in their case of keeping Bedlington Terriers at their home ground for years to come. I don't know if this would be helpful in anyway as there is a very pro-active councillor Malcolm I am not familiar with his surname so apologies for that but he might be interested in this Localism Act 2011 and the categories that could benefit the Bedlington Community in the future as a form of building up Community Assets. I hope this is helpful information. Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation. Malcolm.

Hi Alan would like to thank you for your assistance in my efforts in trying to locate past classmates and friends in the Bedlington and Wansbeck area now have had a few good responses also I would like to extend a invitation to you to attend the get together at the Red Lion in Bedlington time 7 pm on Sunday 14th September 2025. Keep well. Thanks from Malcolm.

Hi Alan..on the old map it is called West Sleekburn Farm.[right side of the A1147 heading north] On Google Earth it is the site of the Toby Henderson Trust,The Earth Balance Shed,Redress,and the Sleekburn Horticultural Therapy unit for disabled people. The Shed is a community project to encourage anyone who feels they need a place to go for a cup of tea and a natter...or take part in crafting,whether it's woodworking..or whatever..My next door Neighbour ,Rob Ferguson,helps to run the project,and is a very likeable fella,who is a qualified woodworking teacher. Ken D..I am sure you would be made very welcome if you called in for a natter with the gang,you will probably get some more info from any of the old timers about the farm's history! Cheers and best of luck! Bill.

Hi Vic! Hope ye are keeping weel! Alan has answered your question very well!..thanks Alan! Also welcome to Pegwoman,and thanks a lot for your kind advice..you are right,I AM too tolerant!!..that's my nature..I always give companies a lot of time and space..thinking..I am not their only customer!!...but...when I start to fight..I am like a lion!! ....and NCC will find out if they mess me about!!heh heh!! Maybe I will try ringing them on Monday...my application will probably be "Lost"!!

@Vic PattersonBlue Badges are for disabled drivers to use when parking in the disabled car parking spaces and on yellow lines on main roads. Has to be renewed every 3 years

Im Bill Straughan lived on Hartford road, Lane Farm, Bedlington. I'm on the back row of the picture. Also interested in your September get together.

Got to say that, I agree with Elon Musk on the two-tier policing comments. Not many weeks ago, there was video on YouTube of people in full garb parading the flags of Hamas (a proscribed terrorist organisation) past the beaming faces of met police officers. Astonishment was expressed that zero action was being taken - others have their own examples of police inaction. Now we are told that terrorism laws are being invoked against ordinary UK citizens. Mark Rowley, however, dismisses any suggestion that different standards are applied to different groups out of hand. That simply doesn't wash - but we can expect this, as Rowley is simply a puppet of a government that is astonishingly rapidly out of its depth. Starmer could dampen all the protests by simply coming out and making a statement that his government recognises that there is a major problem, but that he needs a few months grace to tackle it. The present Labour government was elected by barely 20% of the electorate, so he has zero mandate for any radical measures, let alone the Draconian misuse of laws designed to mitigate external threats. When you have the confidence of so little of the citizenry, as the first priority, you really should be listening to what the people who refused to vote for you have to say, and make bold efforts to gain confidence. Starmer is doing the exact opposite of this, and it won't end well!

Hi Ken,and welcome to the forum! Elliot's Farm was,in the fruiting season,the scene of many a generation of excited kids going to raid the Apples and Plums..especially in the late 40's/early to mid 50's post war austerity years..but even as late as into the late 70's,when my own Son's generation ,the local kids in the street..it was their place of adventure! The farm was demolished some years ago when the EARTH BALANCE PROJECT was established on the site of the farm,some of the old original stone walling still stands as an unrecognised "memorial"! The site has now altered once more with "THE SHED" ,and "THE TOBY HENDERSON TRUST",and other small projects quite well established,and is on the A1147 road at Bomarsund opposite a row of bungalows called Prospect Cottages. Do you have any old photo's of the farm..it would be great to see if you have!! Cheers Bill.

Hi Malcolm,and Alan,Canny Lass,and Loupy Lou..I started Westridge School the day it opened before it was even completely finished being built!![in 1956 but we have gone through that controversy about dates..!!]..so by 1968 I was a fully fledged adult Coalcutterman and Powerloading Shearer driver down Bedlington A Pit..with a Wife and baby Son!!..so sorry I cannot help you with names of your classmates..just responding to a notification I got from Alan.Welcome to the forum Malcolm,hope you have a successful reunion! Cheers..Bill.

A photo that shares some of those names

Hi Symptoms I remember those days at the Mayfair my first Band was Family we used to get the Morpeth train back and then walk back to my mothers house arriving at about six am were my mother would rustle up some breakfast for the lads, saw many good bands at the Mayfair before I left Bedlington in October 1973 to go and live in London. Jazz is not dead it just smells a bit funny. FZ Thanks for the memory. Malcolm G Allan.

Thanks Alan for your information as I now have lived in Glastonbury for 35 years and it's a bit of a long shot if anybody was on the Bedlington.uk page in all reality just want to see who is still alive and what they have done in their lifetime as we all must be in our seventies now, Westridge school days seem like a lifetime away as it's 57 years ago or there about since those days. Hope your well Alan as well as all the good Bedlington citizens just let the good times roll. Yours in the Spirit of Co-operation. Malcolm G Allan.

This was resolved just before todays meeting! Sense has prevailed!

Your great grandfather, James Scott, also worked as an agricultural labourer. In 1901 when Ralph gives his occupation as Farmer/butcher, James is working with his brothers on the farm as a labourer. In 1903 he is still in the area, presumably working at Westfield, when he marries. His children are born: Ralph at Springhill, just a stone's throw away from North Sunderland, Mary Jane is, in fact, born at Westfield and Henry at Elford - also a stone's throw away from North Sunderland. It's not clear if James was living at Westfield or elsewhere. The children may have been born at the homes of Mary Jane's relatives which was quite a common occurance. Mary Jane, your great grandmother, was from Norham, which is also on the map just south west of Berwick so she was a local lass. By 1911 James and his family have made the move from North Sunderland to Holborn about 11 miles south of Berwick on Tweed. It is here he becomes a farmer, working for himself at West Holborn. Lowick Beal. Address: Farm House, Holborn West. (See https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1156167 for map and better photo or ‘drive’ past on Google maps as I did). The farm is now a grade 2 listed building. If you’d like any of the documentation from which I’ve taken this info leave your e- post address in my mail box (move your marker over my ‘hat’ and choose ‘message’. It’s not wise to leave it here on site.

Hi I have just joined and was searching for Coney Garth Farm and Home Farm. I noticed this stream and the info on Coney Garth Farm my Great Grandfsther was apparently a dairy manager there. He lived at Home Farm and was down as Farm.Manager . I have pictures of my Granfather , my mother and Aunt as young girls . I just wondered if anyone had information about Home Farm and where it is I think it is a housing estate. Many thanks Susan

I noticed the post office location behind the people when did it move further up the street? The pram! the transport of the day, we have seen them full of bairns, yes top and tail or full of groceries, or a combination of both, even seen a bag of coal but not at the same time as the bairn. Parked at the front door, hat, mitts and harness on while mom got her housework done! different era. Did anyone see a dad push a pram in those days? (no prams in the club I suppose)

I was guessing at the 1940's based on the ciggi machine and that pram. Googled the ciggi vending machine history but didn't find anything to put a specific period/decade they were introduced into the UK - gave up after 30 mins I must have used the ciggi vending machines in the 1960's but preferred to visit the local Co-op, at the Oval shops, and get 10 JC, cos that's what me mam smoked and the bloke in the Co-op assumed I was just getting them for her. Don't have any photos from the 1940's of me, or my two older brothers, in a pram so no idea what we spent our first years in. As the three of us were born in consecutive years and I can't imagine my family having a twin pram etc I do wonder how me mam got to the shops! There again me grannie had nine children, between 1920 & 1937, so I would guess they had to learn to walk early and the youngest one had the pram. Or would they 'top-and tail' in an old pram?

First one: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/fury-northumberland-line-station-delay-32011486?fbclid=IwY2xjawLZ-UBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBVRDlnYnl0NVZWekc1Y3NkAR7Dd-pkV5BoAwCDM8In2oJ-nZLVQwqdJn42ln4AuB9nl9nZgnDxcCOarlsbug_aem_pxynPYlhOs_k1bJAbfj1fg Follow up: So I’m getting a bit of flack about the comments I made in the press about the rail station situation here in Bedlington and the fact that this town has been overlooked for decades! Let’s just put it in perspective: Starting with the station, about 6-7 years ago I stood on the old platform with the then Government minister when the reopening of the lines was being discussed and he said with what we already had this was going to be the easiest station to get reopened! I was at one of the original presentations about reopening the rail line and we were told in no uncertain terms that if the costs couldn’t be brought down to around the £100M mark then it wouldn’t go ahead. They were currently about £160M at the time. The Bedlington station project was estimated at around £20M One of the reasons this was wanted, as stated, was it could open up about 10,000 new housing units. Also it would kick-start economic regeneration around these new stations. I’ve asked about this fantastic economic regeneration, which I think is a no brainer, and was told oh yes you are getting a café. Fast forward a few years and the cost is around £300M, so someone somewhere made that decision! Shades of HS2 here? The new station at Newsham goes £20M+ over budget and the Bedlington station gets moth balled for a year. Coincidence? We hear about structural problems and unexpected anomalies here is Bedlington, wasn’t there a comprehensive engineering assessment done when the contract was awarded? Are there penalty clauses in the contract? We now see further delays due to……………..errm we haven’t been told but I can guess! Parking is going to be an issue but the main car park which was envisioned at the planning application stage has been ‘put on hold’ for up to 10 years to assess the need for it. In my opinion it’s as if even when we get a new station they don’t want people to come and use it? Other places get 200+ new parking places, we get something like 20 odd including electric and disabled ones. Even just this quick overview, is anyone really going to say we have been treated in the same way other places have? And that’s before we get onto the Town centre debacle and the other multitude of examples………..

Full council meeting today and many people won’t be aware that all members have been told not to contact NCC officers directly. In fact we now have to submit any problems, concerns or suggestions we raise on behalf of residents to a generic email address which is supposed to be answered within 10 days. I don’t feel that allows me to do my ‘job’ properly on behalf of my residents! In fact I think it’s a retrograde step taken by who I don’t know. Now there might well be valid reasons behind this but as yet I haven’t been informed and even if my suspicions are correct then this really does interfere with the way I do this ‘job’. I have quite a few ‘issues’ which residents have been onto me about and I have expressed them directly to the responsible officers but it seems I haven’t had the normal relies which always used to be the case. I can only assume they have been told not to reply to any member questions either? This isn’t going to work and the Independent Group, which I’m now part of within NCC, is fighting this, what seems to me at least, to be an irrational decision! I like to get back to any of my residents who contact me as soon as possible with a reply to their concerns but this is seriously hampering that! There are other wholesale changes going through which again need to be challenged but the above is the main bone of contention for me!