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Billy Mcglen was my Grandad. I often (on what would have been his birthday) Google his name. This year I came across your post. It's nice to think he is so well remembered.

Wow!

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas to everyone in this group from Bygone Bedlington:-

Just to keep everyone updated.......here is my 'application' for County Councillor. So we have a full list of candidates for the NCC Bedlington West Ward seat and it looks like an election has had its starter gate opened with claims, counter claims, spin and misdirection already! As I have said the only promise I give is to continue to do my best for the ward, so more of the same if you like! Like any job applicant a CV would seem an obvious starting option. So here are the main points in mine: As a resident I wasn’t happy with the way our Town’s needs had been ignored for decades so as a private individual I decided to try and do something about that. You don’t really need a position but you do need a commitment and some level of understanding as to how the system works. Set up the Bedlingtonshire Development Trust. Worked with NCC to get the sports pavilion at Gallagher Park. Ran a Fields in Trust campaign after getting Gallagher Park qualified as a QE11 Park and won a national award! Did the training in counselling skills so I could interact confidentially with people on a one to one basis. Completed training in procurement, project management, VCS development, planning training and others which I thought would be beneficial. Got the funding for and ran a Heritage themed event with Leading Link, which we had to go to Manchester and receive a commendation for. I had to go to Blyth Sports Centre and push in to argue with the Olympic Torch Committee for Bedlington to be included in their processional route so our kids could see it pass too. This after NCC said no! With Richard from Salvation Army and Lyn from Leading Link we had over 5000 people lining a very wet Front Street that day! Bedlington Terrier seats……..my design and my project with the money made paying for Xmas lunches for our seniors and support for our food banks. In May 2013 I was elected as a Town Councillor. The chevron parking on Glebe Road, my idea to stop the double parking there so others could pass. My project through the Town Council. New footpath down to Attlee Park, to stop the need for pedestrians having to step out on the main road. Again my project through the Town Council. After lacklustre and aimless two years under Labour control, which was more about claiming the council to be a Labour one instead of actually doing things, I was elected to the chair of the Town Council. What happened in the next two years was more than had happened at any time before! New Bus shelters throughout. Street furniture painted gold and green. Two new play parks at West Lea and Meadowdale. New Town Gateway features, which I designed and oversaw the project. Started on the discussions with a local resident who made sun dials internationally, but who couldn’t get one in their home town. Now in the Market Place! We bought the two new commemorative seats which now sit behind the War Memorial after I did the research and costing. Restarted the Town Fair and held it on the street. First to put on a show for the Xmas Lights switch on. Put in the original three defibrillators onto the street after the existing NCC Councillors refused to back them. Brought in a REDUCTION to the Town Council tax charge, the only one to ever manage that and do everything (plus) listed above. No wonder we got phone calls from all over asking how on earth we had done it. Then in 2017 I was elected to County Council. I said “I’m drawing a line in the sand…….we don’t go backwards from here!” First job get a light controlled crossing next to the COOP because it was gravely needed! All main roads into my ward area resurfaced. I recorded every pot hole in the ward and sent in the lists. I also had to stand up to what had happened at Arch and Active Northumberland to try and bring some resolution after unbelievably bad independent audits. Covid hit and while everyone else hid under the blankets I was running around dropping food parcels off because the government essentially locked up elderly people for 12 weeks! I made sure the ones I knew in my ward had something at least once a week. I got the 100’s of food parcels from the Salvation Army so I raised money for our food banks to make sure I wasn’t taking out more than I put it! West Lea Cemetery needs a special mention: First try and sort out the flooding issues which saw flooding on the children’s graves. Cleaned out the main culvert pipe which runs alongside the western side of the cemetery. Next the road inside the Cemetery needed resurfacing. Helped set up the Friends of West Lea Cemetery group. Did the D Day commemorative plaque at the side of the entrance. Renovated the old derelict hut which stands in there for a base for the Friends of West Lea Cemetery. Flooding reoccurred so I had to fight for new field drains fitted at the lowest bit on the South side. Did the Covid plaque at the other side of the entrance. Garden of Remembrance needed sorting out. The path between the cemetery and St Bennies needed sorting out too so QE11 Memorial Path, again after Bedlington not planned to get one. Now we have the best! New railings along the Front. Worked with Cemeteries management to turn the look of this cemetery around. It’s a popular place to visit these days and the Garden of Remembrance is now filled with flowers on tended plots. Plessey Woods needs a mention too. Went down 8 years ago and spoke to the staff there and saw it was only been used by a few dog walkers. Lobbied for the money to get the new playground done as well as path repairs etc. I got the funding on the proviso that I increased visitor numbers Put on events (children’s and adults) to get people there so they could see what was on offer. Argued for the extra parking area because it was proving that popular now. Had to get double yellow lines outside to stop the indiscriminate parking along Shields Road. Set up a Friends of Plessy Woods group. Continually argued for café and toilets upgrades which are now planned for end of this summer. Came up with the idea of Climbing Boulders as a way of attracting more people down there. Worked on the design, costs and siting with manufacturers and park managers. Should see them soon! More events in the pipeline for this park! Road speeds are an issue in several places, first one to tackle, Hazelmere. The internal roads have now gone to 20 MPH. Also the B1331 as it passes four school entrances……now 20 MPH after being told it wasn’t going to happen! New path opposite Hartford Hall, again after being told it wouldn’t happen. Had to fight to get Bedlington into the mix for a PlayZone but we were eventually. Then loads of fences and hoops to jump to get it actually built. Now being built at West Lea. The first new build leisure facility in Bedlington I can remember! I’ve also had to tackle house builders on behalf of residents and we have residents meetings with them (I’d like to say regularly but………) so problems can be worked out and residents made aware of what’s going to happen. Sensible communications is very often the key! I have documented just about every aspect to this ‘job’ over the last 8 years even to the point of being referred to solicitors when it doesn’t suit one party’s narrative! I’ve told everyone what’s going on, what’s about to happen and the reasons behind the way I’ve voted on most issues. I can’t think of any resident who has been in touch and who I’ve not responded to. We might not get the answer we wanted but all concerns have been forwarded to the right place. In short this is the sort of stuff I’ve been doing for the last 8 years, a lot of which aren’t really the remit of a councillor but hey it’s Bedlington, someone has to do something! This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, and for more examples in much greater detail take a look at the Historical Factoids I posted on my Facebook page: “Malcolm Robinson Bedlington West Ward.” If you vote for me it’s not difficult to work out what you will get! Trying to inject some common sense into the county council instead of the political spin and gyrations of the Political Party’s! ‘Residents First’ because I don’t have a political party to promote and gain benefit for, so the only people who tell me what to say and do are my residents. We don’t go backwards and we don’t leave anyone behind! It’s that simple really!

Welcome back! You are right when you say that there were lodging houses at the entrance to Mugger’s Neuk in 1861. There were in fact two, but in 1851 these were one larger lodging house. As I mentioned earlier, housing was scarce for the increasing workforce so as well as the lodging house which housed 17 lodgers (and the family of three who ran it), there were a further 60 people lodging in the market place within the homes of various families. However, I don’t think your relatives were lodgers of either sort. In 1851 there were no Dixons living in the lodging house or lodging with private families in the area where the lodging house was ie. the market place. If your relative is who I think he is, Charles Dixon with father of the same name and a mother named Dorothy, then he did live in the Market Place just to the left of the Howard Arms when facing that building. Why do I think this? The enumerator’s route, 1n 1851, went from “the first house in the corner below the Cross to the last house at the east end of the town on the same side”. He then crossed the road and enumerated “the south side of the town from the first house in the Mill Yard at the east end to the last house in the Half Closes on the same side”. There was a general lack of postal addresses in the 1851 census as the postal system hadn’t really developed at that time. However, there were schedule numbers for each household in the census documents and certain locations were identifiable by the occupation of the residents – such as “innkeepers” and “grocers” who usually lived on the premises. Looking at the 1851 census for Bedlington, district 2a (which includes the market place), and following the enumerators route, as he himself describes it above, the first house below the cross has schedule number 1. Successive sch. nrs. are given in sequence to the various households along the route. NB. The sch. nr. applies to a household, NOT a building. There may be several households in one building. Continuing eastwards in the enumerator’s footsteps from Muggers corner towards Leadgate House (on the corner opposite the Northumberland Arms) you will find at sch. nr 29 an innkeeper with the unusual surname Petrie. Unfortunately, there is no name to the inn. However, if we look up Petrie in the following 1861 census, we can see that he is in the same position and that his business is the Howard Arms. That sorted out we leave sch. Nr 29, the Howard Arms, and get back onto the enumerator’s route. We don’t have to go far to find Charles and Dorothy Dixon together with 5-year-old Charles Dixon and his siblings because he is at sch. nr 31, almost next door to the tavern. At sch. nrs. 30, 31 and 32 are three small households which probably, but not certainly, occupy the small row of buildings which I’ve arrowed blue in the map below. What I can say with certainty is that Charles Dixon lived in one of the buildings - or the buildings in the yards behind them -which I’ve marked in red.

Its getting pretty acrimonious this election period. First rebuttal, "It seems the Labour canvassers going around today are saying the schemes and projects I’ve listed in my ‘CV’ post are only what I’m claiming to have been part of or done, in other words a figment of my imagination? Well the lists are there if you want to challenge them, Im quite happy to justify each and every one! In fact if you want some more………. Ill just say this in response, we had a Labour councillor for the four years before I got in and he picked up the nickname……..”The Invisible Man!” Lets not go back to those dark days! We have lost trust in the national government in record time, God forbid the same happens to our county!" Second one, "Just by way of a post script to my last ‘political’ post another claim by the Labour canvassers was that I always vote with the Conservatives. Doesn’t take too much effort to show that’s not true either! As part of the last NCC pre Budget presentations all councillors were given a large number of papers to read through. As I said at the time the financials alone were 467 pages. It would seem I was the only one to pick up on the Advance proposals they contained. You might think with tens of millions of pounds at stake it would be a stand alone item but I could only find three quite curtailed references to it. As usual I asked about it because I didn’t understand completely what was intended. Once I had the explanations my words were……….”That’s a deal breaker for me, if I went along with it I couldn’t look my residents in the eyes ever again!” Now I’ve put that in inverted commas because that’s exactly what I said at the time in the faces of the main political and professional players at County Hall and that why I voted against the conservative proposed budget. Fast forward to the recent vote on the restructure of Advance, only a month or so ago, and we see the whole Labour group vote with the conservatives on this issue with only Independents voting against. These days I only believe half of what I see and nothing of what I hear, that might be good advice for residents in what is fast becoming a pretty acrimonious election period. I’m trying to remain positive and not descend to levels others are crawling around in, but it’s hard!"

An honour and a great privilege to lay a wreath today at the Bedlington Cenotaph on this, Remembrance Sunday, on behalf of all residents in my Bedlington West Ward.

https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/miller/5241321 Those who remember Joyce Miller (and Biffy the dog), please see the attached. She loved Hartford and telling patients “there’s no such thing as can’t - if you say you can’t you really mean you won’t”.

Hi Hi @AvrilG! Welcome to the forum. If Edward was 2 years and 10 months, rather than ‘almost 2’ then I believe that the following is his obituary, published in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on March 15 1929. My 11-year experience of rummaging through old documents, digital or hard copy, leads me to believe that the churchyard you refer to is Cambois Churchyard. Old newspapers, and therefore digitalised copies, can vary in quality due to the ravages of time. I can understand your mistaking Cambois for Cambels. The letter ‘i’ can look very much like the letter ‘l’ in faded or blurred print (compare the ‘li’ in ‘Bedlington’ next to the MORTON name). Likewise, ‘e’ and ‘o’. It might help you in your search to know that St Andrews (Cambois) was a small church built in the 1860s as the mission church of St Peter (West Sleekburn). West Sleekburn is often referred to as Bedlington Station, as in the obituary. St Andrews didn’t have the full status of a parish church but was supported by the parish. You could say that St Andrews was a ‘subsidiary’ of St Peters (West Sleekburn) which was the parish church of both West Sleekburn and Cambois. St Andrews was, therefore, served by the vicar of St Peters with the help of a non-stipendiary priest until its consecration in 1998 when it became a parish church. All parish records for St Andrews would be held at St Peters (West Sleekburn) until that date. Andy has given you a link to St Andrews and here you can see where St Peters is. Good luck with your search! I have some newspaper cuttings about Edwards death if you would like them.

I had it confirmed this week that West Lea in Bedlington will get its new Playzone. This is something I've been fighting for since they were first considered for Northumberland! Originally 12 were projected, none for Bedlington but I managed to get that decision changed! It represents a substantial investment not just in terms of finance but in leisure activities as well! So for anyone who doesn't know what a PlayZone is, and they are not just for football, here is a taster...........

Seasonal Greetings to all here and wishing you all a happy New Year.

Is that Wilf i can see loitering by the traffic lights? Hopefully it is, cos that means it's officially Christmas! Whoopee!!! A very merry Christmas to everybody. I hope to be a bit more active next year as two eye operations have meant I've had to rely on someone else to read and write for me for a couple of months. Reading has been a little bit easier but only if I lift the laptop to within an inch of my face. However, I'm on the mend now but can't get new specs until the beginning of February when everything is healed. Have a great Christmas and knock hell out of what's left of the year!

I have attached photos of the only ironworks building remaining. The first one was probably taken in the 1950’s and the second one taken about 5 years ago. The building is now completely covered with ivy. I asked an East Bedlington councillor on site a few years ago why they were allowing ivy to cover this important historical building. He replied that once it was covered with ivy, no one will know it is there so the building will not be vandalized. An unusual way to protect historical buildings! I have attached a copy of Chris Bergen’s book on the Ironworks that may be of interest. Old ordinance maps should show the layout of the ironworks. History of Bedlington Ironworks.pdf

not at all. I have even got a paper hat which was worn by one of my uncles at the celebration

That's difficult to read even when you zoom in! Try these:

CL,I live next to the main road,and when the Bedlington Station High School is coming out,after 3-30pm,the "kids"...aged anywhere from 13-18 yrs old come past my front garden each day walking along in small groups,or some are on cycles.While it's wrong to generalise..I have seen a massive change in their attitudes over the last 24 yrs I have lived here..I have noticed how Boys aged 15-16 yrs ,a lot of them,act like wee bairns..in fact my two wee bairns didn't gaan on like some of these dae..and a think..when aa was 15 yrs aad..straight from my school desk...[yawn...roll eyes!!]..I was working and training underground at Seaton Burn Colliery..six miles away from home..I went down Choppington High Pit after my 16th birthday ,working with two older men,for twenty days "close personal supervision",then I was on my own..still working with the two John's,who were by now,my good Marra's..by the time I reached 17 yrs,my two older marra's left me to go to another pit to do their coalface training.After a few days.Ned Cushing,our old Training Officer,brought a lad inbye,same age as me ,and gave me a Certificate to say I was in charge of this lad for twenty days,then he would be my new Marra..next day, Ned brought this Lad's older Brother in and gave me another Certificate putting me in charge of him also.My point is,at 17 yrs old I was down a mine,in atrocious wet,dangerous conditions,in charge of two strangers..who were to become great Marra's IN and OUT of the pit..Now!..when I see these "Children"[by definition"]..aged 15-17 yrs,acting like idiots..and showing off in front of the lasses..I think...by hell..a wadn't waant them buggers working wi me a thoosand feet doon and ten miles oot under the North Sea filling 24 tons of coal onto a conveyor belt..driving an old fashioned coalcutter,drilling hard coal and stone by hand..carrying heavy arched girders which weighed aboot the same as two bags of cement..on their shoulders...for a quarter of a mile at a time...if we ever get back to mining coal..we will have to bring the German Contractors in..as we did in the past sometimes when the NCB wouldn't invest in specialist tunneling techniques which were way above what we had at our disposal..like at the Bewick Drift at Lynemouth..so much Water pouring in and flooding the workings..they brought Thyssens in..who had specialist refrigeration and freezing techniques ...they drilled holes all around the tunnel roadway,pumped a refrigerant into all the holes under high pressure..and this froze the water..allowing concreting of the roadway to take place..which sealed the roadway from water ingress..and I think these Specialist mining companies from Germany..even China!! will mine our coal in the future..if at all..seems I am back again....sorry for digressing!! Cheers!!

Hello. I posted on this forum a few years ago and exchanged some info with member @Rigger. Is he/she still around? He posted a photo of the Anvil Inn, Guide Post, which is useful in my researchers. I'm updating my website and the website designer is checking I have copyright to use the photo he posted. I just want to check it's ok to use it, and I will credit him/her as owner of the pic. I think it's good etiquette to credit - it's not right to go lifting stuff off the web. I don't make any money from this, so this is really a courtesy Thanks, all.

my Father was coal minor at isabella pit Jonty jobson as kids the joppa's would steak in and nick the pit props and cut them up for firewood we were chased by the caretaker one night as it happens we got a good hiding good old days the gala every year my first taste of caramac 1950's

Hi Canny Lass,we are now talking about conditions under the National Coal Board which was invested [is that the right word?!]..in 1947,in which Widows were allowed to live in their family home.Remember my Mother was evicted by the coal owners thugs ["Bailiffs"...THUGS]...BECAUSE MY fATHER WAS IN hOSPITAL DYING..AND NOT WORKING DOWN THE PIT WHERE THE OWNERS THOUGHT HE SHOULD BE..THEY HAD NO CONSCIENCE..NO CONCERN ABOUT THE WORKERS AT ALL..BUT IF A PONY WAS INJURED OR KILLED..THERE WAS AN INQUIREY AND THE PONY HANDLER WOULD LOSE HIS JOB AND POOSSIBLY BE JAILED ON TRUMPED UP NEGLIGENCE CHARGES....sorry about caps lock being on..glaucoma now..difficult trying to type and watch the screen..didn't realise it was on!!..I live at West Terrace in Stakeford for thirty years..the first 14 yrs were under NCB ownership,and I paid rent weekly from my pay.Down the street there were several Miner's Widows living with families in those houses.But NOT in the days before 1947!!...The pony's were "hung" onto the tubs or trams with either tracing chains from their collar each side and onto the tub handles,or Limbers..["Limma's"]..Shafts either side attached to a steel yoke and coupled to the tub middle "CockHole"..[I explained a few years ago about that term!...not indecent!!"]..with a Sheckle and Sheckle pin.So they PULLED the tubs along behind them.

Hi Folks!.Canny Lass,ye knaa me,not a nitpicker,only for correctness,for the education of the uneducated!!...but miner's coaal was never FREE!!..NOR WERE THE "FREE" houses they lived in!!..They were part of a miner's wage in lieu..and speaking personally,Linton Colliery gave the Miners coal which otherwise would be tipped on the pit heap..more stone bands than coal,also full of "Brass"[!!]..Iron Pyrites..which used to spit out onto the clippy mat and us if we sat too close!!..So!!Putters!!..the pic in my gallery on here,of my Father aged 14 yrs old,with his pony,in 1929,is when he was coal putting to his Marra,the older fella who was a Hewer.My Father putted the tubs out to a landing,where the other putters did the same thing..when there was a set of six tubs or more..the Drivers used to drive the set of tubs to the shaft bottom to be taken to bank.Every pit had it's own terms,but putters was generally the term used either for hand putting,or Pony putting.Hope that clarifies the subject.Never heard the term Cartman anywhere in any of the pits I worked at..[5 in total].

My latest offering........... Been told off several residents today they have received their postal voting papers today and they have filled them in, ticking my name, and reposted straightaway. Thanks very much I really do appreciate the trust you have shown! I have tried to steer well clear of the shenanigans going on at the minute with political posts in Bedlington, preferring to illustrate lessons from recent Bedlington history we should all be aware of. Failure to learn from the past is a recipe for continued failure and I think we have had enough of that! As all the main political parties played roles in what I see as snubbing the needs of this Town I cannot understand how anyone can trust them again. Time and time again we have seen decisions based purely on political party benefit and that’s why I think the political parties are part of the problem not the solution! It’s also one of the main reasons I get reprimanded so much by chairs in meetings because I call it out every time I encounter it. There are excellent Independent choices at these elections, people with real experience and knowledge, people who have leant how the system works and where the failures are, so they know what to look out for and how to get around them. That takes years to learn, not 5 minutes! I said at the very beginning of this election this is about trust, I don’t think we can trust any of the political parties given how they have screwed us over every time they have been in power. Even at national level we can see how much political manifestos are worth and if they can get away with it what chance do we have at this level of government? In the last 8 years of being a county Councillor I’d like to think I have never broken the trust and faith people gave me when they elected me, from day one! It’s your choice, please use it wisely.

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) I think the bungalow you reference as River View in the older picture is actually the second one in, number 2? Maps has a no 1 River View which nearly lines up with a corner house in Tomlea Avenue . But the current end house (2) is a bit further down. I assume a few got demolished over the years.

@loopylou & @Canny lass the only old photo I have seen that includes Craggs Buildings is the 1930s one in one of Evan Martin's books on Bedlington :- And I think Craggs buildings are the ones I have marked with a red star in this copy :-

I don’t know if there are photos of Cragg’s Buildings out there, but there were some in the papers in 1943 after it was on fire. (No. 5, 6, 7 and 8).

@Canny lass thank you very much for your research 🙂 @Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) thank you for the maps and image comparison I didn’t think that I would be able to see a photo of Oldgate Row (or that any existed) so this is a great help. My ancestors lived there for a few years 1908-1911 then (John Rooney) died so from there they were scattered around the Bank Top & Furnace area. A lot of the rows (Back, Brick & Stone) and then Craigs/Craggs Blgs. I have info about the other places but Oldgate was always the outlier 😁

Sorry about that! I started to doubt myself but now I can say that my posts were correct. You have got it right Eggy. Doctors Row in the first photo and Old Gate Row in the second photo. The building which "looks as if it is being demolished" is in fact the old gate house from which the street above got its name. There used to be five families living in that at one time.

My uncle Bill of 34 Shiney Row Bedlington was a school child during the First World War and each child at his school was given a first aid kit in case another zeppelin was dropped on Bedlington

This will be long! Make a cuppa and get your feet up! The Gibson family research has had to wait while I've been without specs. The six weeks I was told would be needed before getting new specs after my ops turned into three months. I had the temporary specs only ta few days before I got a bleed inside my eye, another op and an inflammation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy! However, the Gibson family didn't have i easy either - read on! I left the widowed Henry Gibson in 1881, then aged about 67 years, living in the family home on Front Street east in Bedlington. He is still head of the family and the ironmongery business. Also resident are his two sons Philip Hedley Gibson, aged 34 and as yet unmarried, and William James Gibson, aged 26, who has with him his wife of eight months. She is Sarah (nee Mostyn), born to Edward Mostyn and his wife Anne in Flintshire, Wales, but the family moved to St Helens, Lancashire a few years after her birth and it is in St Helens the marriage took place. Sarah seems to have been a gifted child and was studying to become a teacher at the age of 17. Both brothers, having branched out into the world of banking, give their occupation as “Ironmonger & bank agent” but William James has the addition “nail & chain manufacturer”. The company is now calling itself “Gibson Bros & Co.” The “& Co” bit consists of – or at least includes - the husband of their sister, Jane Elizabeth, whom I mentioned earlier when she married engine wright John Archbold in 1863. Just when the partnership was formed is difficult to say but I can say with certainty that it ended in 1883 when, according to a notice in The Commercial Gazette 24 May 1883, the partnership was dissolved due to debts by William James Gibson and Philip Hedley Gibson to John Archbold. Thereafter, the Gibson family, father Henry and the two brothers, continue to run both businesses and despite being owed money, John Archbold doesn’t seem to have done too badly. On his death in 1897 he leaves to his family £2 871 – worth about a half million today (2025). The dissolution of the partnership is not the only misfortune to be suffered by the Gibsons around that time. William had married in 1880 and now it was the turn of older brother Philip Hedley. Like his brother, Philip Hedley does not marry a local girl but takes his bride, farmer’s daughter Jane Brookes, from Salop (Shropshire). They marry September 27, 1882 in the parish church of High Ercall, Salop. The marriage is, unfortunately, not to be a long one for Jane’s death is registered in the 2nd quarter of the following year. They were married for less than one year and as Jane’s death is registered in the Morpeth registration district it’s fair to assume that she had moved north to Bedlington with her husband. By 1891 we can see big changes in the family. Henry, the father, is now 77 years old and still working but the roles of father and son have now reversed. Philip Hedley, 44 year-old, is now the head of the household and his father, 77 year old Henry, is his assistant in the ironmongery business. Bank House must seem very empty now with only Philip Hedley, widowed, and his father living there together with a live-in general domestic servant. However, as I mentioned earlier, sister Mary Ellen and three of her children return to live at Bank House for a while before her death in 1901. William and his wife Sarah had, prior to 1891, moved to a home of their own, which brings me back to a photograph, posted by @johndawsonjune1955 which appeared in his first post in this topic: John Dawson could date the photo to 1888 and raised the question of where it might have been taken. @Maggie/915 thought it might have been taken at Vulcan Place, in Bedlington. I am now inclined to agree with her as it is in Vulcan Place, a few doors down from the Northumberland Arms, that William James and his family are living in 1891. At that time the couple have five children: Mary 8, Edward Mostyn 7, William Henry 5, Lilian 4 and James 9 months. If the photo is dated 1888 then the child in the photo could be the eldest child, Mary, who would then be about 5 years old, and the woman behind her could be her mother, Sarah. I’d then hazard a guess that one of the two men behind Sarah could be her husband, William James Gibson and the other may be his brother, Philip Hedley Gibson. Just a thought! The clothing of the three persons, 2 male and 1 female, to the right of the group suggests that they are workers and the tell-tale soot above the door behind them suggests to me that this could even be a nailer’s workshop. Could this have been to the rear of the buildings in Vulcan Place? The woman and child look as if they've just stepped out of the house for a minute, rather than being on a visit away from home. The man in the middle is, however, a mystery. Following the death of their 80 year-old father Henry in 1902, the brothers continue to run the business. Philip Hedley continues to live in Bank House on Front Street East and if the following photo is from 1910, as stated by Cympil (Gibson house is first on the left), then it must be Philip who is responsible for the neo-classic details, of which some still remain, on the building, and the new entrance (now blocked up) into the banking agent’s premises. Philip doesn’t marry again and has no children to take on the business after him when he dies shortly after his father, in 1906. Strangely, while Philip Hedley’s death occurs in Bedlington, his address is given as Newcastle on Tyne. He didn’t do too badly either, leaving £1 395 - worth about £216,761 today (2025). William James, on the other hand, has plenty of children and it’s to them I’ll look to see what happens the ironmongery and nailing business. A bit more research to do yet but it’s a fair bit easier now that I’ve finally got my specs! Watch this space!

Thank you. I just tried to message him direct. Can you add this link to the page? https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/miller/5241321

@Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)Make yourself a cuppa! This is going to be long! It’s quite easy to mistake schedule numbers with house numbers. Another common mistake is to think that every schedule number is a house. What the census documents record are the number of ‘households’ and it is these ‘households’ that are given a schedule number. Space was at a premium and living space could be rented out by the room so that several households often lived in the same house. This was very common practice in Bedlington. At the time of the 1911 census, the ‘Market Place’ had 33 households of which one was a common lodging house with 25 male residents and one private house which was unoccupied. If we look at the enumerator’s summary book these 33 households, with the exception of the Post Office, the Turk’s Head public House and the Howard Arms Hotel all had the same address – Market Place Bedlington. This, you could say, was the ‘formal’ address at which the household resided. This was the address written by the enumerator on the census form which he delivered to the household to be filled in by the head of that household. It was also the address he used when transcribing the completed form to his summary book. While this system worked well for the enumerator, who had a set route to follow, it wasn’t the ideal system for the people who lived there should they, for example, need to impart the whereabouts of their home to intended visitors or tradesmen. The residents of the Market Place (and many other places) found their own way of describing their location and this was usually by means of easily identifiable features in the vicinity of their home. One of the wonderful things about the 1911 census is that the forms filled in by each household were not destroyed once the enumerator had transcribed their content to his summary book. The householders, regardless of what the enumerator had written on his part of the census form, often wrote their address in the manner in which they would give it to would-be visitors. So is the case with MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, which greatly eases the task of identifying where he lived. The schedule nr 26 refers to this address written by the enumerator: Mr John T, however, gives the following address as his place of residence: In other words, John’s household comprising himself, his wife and his grandson, lived in the yard of the Rawlings family home. There were a number of such yards all along Front Street, Vulcan Place and Glebe Row. The main family home, in this case the Rawlings, faced the main street and the yard faced away from the street at the rear of the house. Basically, anything in the yard that was deemed ‘habitable’ could be rented out. They could be small houses to accommodate employees but equally well they could just be small outhouses or lean-to buildings. Mr William Rawling lived in the Market Place in a building facing the main street and in this building was also his business - Merchant Tailor & Mens Wear. The location is easily identifiable from its location, next door and to the east of the Howard Arms hotel, as recorded in the summary book. As I said, the enumerator had a set route to follow: Here is the Rawling family home and business, arrowed red. I’ve also marked a doorway, adjoining the tailor’s shop, in blue. This opened into a passageway leading to the yard: If you look closely at the angle between the house which I’ve arrowed and the larger building to its right, you can just make out the roof and chimney of the yard buildings where Mr John T lived. I don’t know the date of this photo but the map below is from 1910 and you can clearly see that there are two small buildings in the yard. These had each two rooms, one of which served as kitchen/livingroom/diningroom (and at times even as bedroom). In the first of these two buildings (marked green), adjoining the tailor’s shop, lived Mr William Errington, the previous occupier of the tailor’s shop. It was in his day, however, a grocer’s shop. He occupied just one room. In the second of the two houses (marked red) lived MarknMargaret’s relative, Mr John T, who occupied two rooms – probably one up and one down. On the map I’ve also arrowed in blue the doorway to the passageway which I marked in blue on the above photo This is the same doorway shown on Alan’s photo (reproduced below): Hope this is of help. If MarknMargaret would like copies of the original documentation let me know. If they could pass on an e-mail address through yourself, Alan, that would be ideal.

That picture of the Platform Ticket brought back fond memories. Back in the 60s loads of us lads used to go to the Mayfair in Newcastle to see bands ... we'd get the United bus from the Red Lion to the Haymarket. Trouble was the last bus back from the Toon would have been maybe 10 or 11pm, so no transport back when the show ended at 1 am approx. The only solution was to go to the Central Station and catch the 3am London to Edinburgh Mail Train which stopped at the Toon and Morpeth. We'd then walk from Morpeth to Bedders. The trouble was you couldn't wait in the Central Station as the British Transport cops used to throw you out unless you had a ticket. We weren't going to buy one for the full travel cost to Morpeth but always got a Platform Ticket out the machine (I think it might have cost 2d), waited in the station, then got on the train ... no ticket checks that time of night ... we did this for years.

PS Your great grandfather was still at the same address in Bedlington in 1914, before moving to Walker, Newcastle. His business appears in Kelly's Directory of that year.

Would that men more Haggis - Neeps & Tatties

Answers to last week's Christmas special: 1. Untidiness and disorder. 2. Green or tan. 3. 48 hours, 11 minutes and 7 seconds. A quiz master who became an international hit during the Covid-19 lockdown is now a World Record holder. Tom Finkill, from Bury, made a name for himself by hosting quizzes online, and now holds the record for the longest livestream quiz. 4. 25 (No el)! 5. The Anglo Saxons. It meant ‘Good Health’. 6. 3 (Dasher, Dancer and Donner). 7. Deep pan, crisp and even. 8. Deck the Halls (with Christmas holly). 9. 1914 10. Mele Kalikimaka 11. Dr Seuss 12. Sugarplums 13. Martin Luther 14. Hula hoops 15. A blessing 16. Strengths 17. Tinsel 18. The German version of mulled wine. 19. A hen. 20. 3 – Indiana, Arizona and Georgia

The awrd initiated by @Bedlingtonian in 2020. Last year, 2023, the members voted for https://www.facebook.com/Thefriendsofwestleacemetery The first three years we had a poll, created by @Andy Millne, and last years was a suggestion that the members agreed with with so no poll. As it has been another quiet year, even for the regulars @Canny lass - @threegee - @Vic Patterson & me, I would suggest the same method as last year but naturally if anyone wants a pool then please ask Andy to set it up. Even Piper has had a quiet year and hasn't even had his coat trimmed for the trophy and is lying down on the job My vote this year would be for Malcolm Robinson. Regardless of his politics he has fought tirlessly for Bedlington and kept us and Facebook members aware of what is going on, or not going to happen, in Bedlington.

EVs are a brilliant idea ... until (as others here have said) you look at the vehicle charging infrastructure; I'd buy an plugin EV if I could be sure of decent range and loads of FAST charging stations. My observations when out and about is how scarce they are and when you see one that works there's usually a queue of cars waiting to get a connection. I currently drive a 'mild hybrid' - 3 litre diesel engine with a big battery under the floor for the leccy motors so don't plugin. They talk about fast home charging but most of the UK housing stock has limited electrical capacity - if you're lucky it'll be 100amps but more usually 80amps so good luck with getting a fast charger with that sort of 'crippled' supply even if you're lucky enough to have a driveway to park the motor; ditto the street lamp idea ... limited electrical capacity. So what about the hydrogen route ... makes sense for HGVs until you look at our old friend the infrastucture issue. There's an article in The Engineer magazine discussing the issue in the USA and the ENORMOUS cost of building it. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/news/project-launched-to-advance-heavy-duty-hydrogen-refuelling-infrastructure So, SYM says, burn the diesel and to hell with polar bears.

Photo from Simon Williams :-

I think you may have understood me. I was referring only to EV sales in Sweden. I can't speak about Europe as media reports are unreliable. As I'm sure you've noticed, I am no great fan of newspapers. They cater for their potential readers and their advertisers (as you rightly point out). The problem is (in relation to EV production and sales - and just about everything else) that different newspapers report the situation differently to suit clients needs and readers' expectations. For every report that says sales are decreasing you'll find another which says sales are increasing. I based my statement on statistics from Mobility Sweden (MS), the branch organisation for producers and importers of vehicles, who publish statistics of newly registered vehicles every month. Sales of EVs are down 21% this year here.

The news bulletin was just released on Friday night. What Northvolt have said is that "1 600 jobs must go". From what I understand, 1 000 of these jobs are at the factory, 400 are at the labs for product development and 200 at the head office in Stockholm so they are spread over the whole company. As yet nobody has been given notice of termination of employment, so you won't see any changes yet. Just a couple of weeks ago they were talking about just 300 jobs that must go! Naturally, the unions are up in arms. I think most people have expected this as Northvolt has been experiencing a financial crisis for a couple of years now and bankruptcy has been up for discussion on several occasions.

Pity they aren't interested in establishing themselves here! Northvolt premises should be available soon! They promised the earth but despite having thousands employed they haven't been able to produce more than 5% of what they promised. BMW, one of their biggest investors has withdrawn an order for billions because Northvolt simply isn't meeting the promised production and Scania have done likewise. Plans for a further three factories has been placed on hold. Soon there won't be any need for batteries here as sales of EVs has plummeted because of the uncertainty. Having said that, it hasn't helped that Northvolt has had a spate of 'mysterious deaths 'at their factory this year or that petrol prices have reached an all-time low.

All true CL,and Vic!..not so long ago,my GrandMother was just one of a set of children aged 14 yrs old working at Ashington colliery with the ShaftSinkers when they sunk the later shafts..the Men did the hard work drilling and firing the bottom up but the lassies,because they were small and took no room up in the confined space,were employed to fill the basket with the stones that were fired up.That would be in the very early 1900's..Ashington was five pits in one with five shafts ...5000 miners..and the biggest mining complex in the world in those days.

My great grandfather worked underground 1861 when he was 9 years old at the Bella pit. his mom would carry him home.

Thanks HPW! I read a wonderful book some years ago called the The White Slaves of Britain which described vividly the social conditions of 19th century Britain. Some of these "white slaves" were women and children working in Britain's coal mines. The woman would be shackled to a 'cart' (sometimes called a corv) in exactly the way you describe. with a chain from a belt around her waist. She was then called a 'hurrier'. It's the one and only time I've ever seen that word and I've never been able to find its origins. With no child-minding facilities, and needing money, she would have her children, as young as 4 years old, employed in the mine as well - the cheapest of labour. They would push the cart from behind to assist her and they were called 'thrusters' or 'putters'. These people worked in tunnels only 60 cm high. Thank heavens as things got better the tunnels were high enough to stand up in and eventually enough to get a small horse into.