mercuryg

"....she struck me as very dedicated and professional and I do hope that the 'county' realises what an asset they have there...." I haven't seen her for some time - we were good mates at one point a number of years ago and often had a few beers together - but I can vouch she's a great girl, loves her job, and the sort of approachable, pleasant and enthusiastic person who would be a genuine asset. Great to hear she's still on it.

Aah, sorry, been out of town so much I'm losing touch (The Lion's takings must have plummeted, they've not seen me since Tuesday!)

You forgot Malcolm's 'tache, Foxy, that must take some funding.

this is quite the thing vic, the documents are there but its just not out in the open, the Petwood Hotel involvement is much publicised, but a whole host of big houses around here also played a part. It is fascinating

"the actual interaction of local folk in shops" This is of course the downside. Related, the one thing I miss about working for myself, from home, is the company of others, the laughs during breaks at the coffee machine, the lunch time and office banter, the friendships made. All of this will go in the name of efficiency, but mark my words, it will happen.

"..wasn't there a plan to include Bedlington on the metro network?..." Malcolm (and others) may be able to answer you more readily but I do seem to recall that there was such a plan; was it to use the same line as the current Blyth and Tyne route uses (of which there were/are plans to restore a passenger service)? "I am wondering how much employment was contracted out locally?" I don't know, and get your point.However, I do know of many local people who have been to the walk-in appointments regarding future employment at the hospital, and it is going to need a hell of a lot of people!

"The glib answer these days seems to be 'do it online' - all very well but they seem to forget the obligation to have a several hundred pound PC and paying a broadband package." This is true. I am an advocate of the online route - I work online and see the benefits - but fully understand that there are many for whom this is an unattractive option, in particular those of the older generations. I do believe, however, that in the years to come - and not distant, either - more people will telecommute, work from home, more shopping will be done online, and the effect on traditional retail will be massive. Of course, as many have pointed out, it's great to go to a shop and actually see and feel what you are buying, try it out and so on, but it's only for certain items that you actually have to do that. the sheer convenience of online retail will (and in many cases does) outstrip the inconvenience of having to get out and go to a shop, pay for petrol, and parking, and use up time getting there and back. Thus, the very fabric of the way we live our lives is changing before our very eyes, all the time. As an aside, broadband need not be expensive - anyone with a landline is already paying around 75% of what they need to in order to have a broadband set up (I pay £21 a month, all in) and a laptop is no longer a several hundred pound investment, more a couple of hundred. I think the problem is that we are not (and I'm not singling out individuals, but talking of us all as a whole) not looking at the ay things are moving; more supermarket chains will close more stores as they become unsustainable, for example, it's just the way things are.

No flying yesterday! Boring!! Anyhow, having got tons of work out the way yesterday I returned to the museum with a view to finding someone 'in charge' and trying to get a look at their archives. Having explained the Tumby Lawn connection I was duly introduced to a nice lady by the name of Marie, who led me to a locked shed (no, not one from 50 Sheds of Grey). What she wanted to show me was a large ledger, a book for you uneducated oiks, that listed the many houses locally that, during WW2, had been requisitioned by the government as billets for local airmen and military officials. I'd always suspected that this house was among them, given it's prime location in the middle of at least six or seven bomber fields including Woodhall Spa, East Kirkby, Coningsby, Spilsby, Scampton (take note of the last) etc, and there it was: Tumby Lawn, home to servicemen across late 1942 until the end of the war. Now, the ledger directed us to a register, specific to the house, which listed the men who stayed in the house across the years: goose bumps. One name stood out, having lived there for seven months up to the first week of July, 1943: none other than Wing Commander Guy Gibson. The significance of the date is not lost on me either- it covers the infamous Operation Chastise - the Dambusters Raid. As someone who is extremely interested in aviation history this was of immense excitement to me. Gibson, and the crews of 617 squadron, stayed in this house. The fact that bomber command personnel were billeted at the Petwood Hotel for most of the war, just down the road at Woodhall Spa and where Bomber Harris and Barnes Wallis both stayed regularly, probably means Gibson and other officers spent the months other than at Tumby there. I will do more digging and find out. The upshot is this: this house is intrinsically linked with WW2, Bomber Command and one of the most famous (or infamous) airborne raids in UK history. The sobering thought is, how many of the 53 who did not return were living at Tumby? Interesting, too, that Gibson, a Wing Commander, stayed where his men were staying for at least some of the time, rather than at the Petwood, where I would have expected him to be. Did Harris or Barnes Wallis ever visit this house? Did any other notables? Are there, underneath the paintwork, scrawled signatures and messages from the men who stayed here? I have actually been tremendously moved by the experience, and it has brought me closer to understanding what these men had to do. I couldn't spend long there yesterday as I had to be home for the kids coming back from school, but I have express permission to return as and when I wish to peruse the archives further. It's an arduous task, but I would like to compile a list of the men who stayed here, and find out more about each, what they did, who they were, and whether they survived the war. For the record, I've attached pictures of the house itself, and of the Bluebell Inn, in Tattershall Thorpe, which I visited yesterday,and was the favourite watering hole of the men from 617 and 627 squadron. A tradition exists to this day for visiting airmen to sign the ceiling - if you're ever in the region it's a great little place with a rich history dating back to 1257 or something, serves excellent ale and good food, and the staff are welcoming and very friendly.

On the subsidence thing, I heard stories that parts of Hazelmere were sinking. I know a lot of people on there and nobody has disappeared below ground yet. "....the lass that does Carlisle park is very approachable and very professional...." Is it still Emma? It used to be, and she's a Bedlington girl!

"daft or what??" Great idea, but the rail network would have to be vastly upgraded, the roads improved, and so on. Oh, and the 'NIMBY's' wouldn't like the bloody great lorries and the inevitable call for new housing that the surge in employment would bring.

I'm not going to trawl through a thousand towns, 3G, and you know exactly what I mean. Post offices, shops, businesses are closing down in small towns across the country all the time; bigger, better supported neighbours get favoured by councils everywhere; the country is full of 'forgotten' towns. I'm in Lincolnshire right now, and yesterday passed through two small towns on the way to the one where I could shop/buy clothes/take the kids to the swimming pool.I'm no saying it's right, but that it's life. "The sheer volume of through-traffic says this is a reasonable wish." I'm at total odds with you here; the vast majority of traffic coming through Bedlington is from those who live here. there is practically no 'through' traffic thanks to the Spine Road on one side and the A1 on the other. Who is going to divert through the town to get to others nearby? And why would they? The majority of locals - those with cars - are happy to drive five minutes to Asda at Bebside. That will always be the case, as that shop has everything they want. 'We' can't compete with that. Those without cars? That's what we have to look at, the truly local cause. What's the answer? I'm not qualified to say, I'm simply experienced and open-eyed enough to see that a small town such as this trying to compete with the out-of-town shopping centres is on a hiding to nothing. I've said elsewhere, if we ar to create that 'through' traffic, i.e. persons coming elsewhere to Bedlington to experience something we have to offer, it has to be something the surrounding area does not have. That is no retail, as Asda, Manor Walks, and teh retail parks on Cowpen Road have that sewn up. So, what is it? What can we come up with? What original thought have we got?

These things depend entirely on who has been asked (and also if anyone has been asked). Ask one random group of 100 people and you'll get a different answer to a different random group. It means nothing. I don't think Ashcroft's lying, he thinks they can hang on to it. He's right, they can, if they get the votes. 'Can' is not 'will'.

You've described one of many hundreds of small towns in the Uk and elsewhere. The thing is, and I know we've been here before, but do we really want a great big shopping centre? I don't.

Touche!

Malcolm, you do know know that the ultimate Latin origin of the word 'pencil' was 'penis'?

I remind you of the (probably untrue) story about NASA spending billions of dollars to develop a ballpoint pen that would work in zero gravity for the space shots. The Russians used pencils. Good old Ivan! Saviour of the Graphite!

Thanks very much Canny Lass! The Lion wouldn't have let me put a buffet on, and have restrictions on how many beers you can have when there's kids involved (which I wholeheartedly agree with, I might add) so the free back room at the Monkey - and I should say it's ideal for a party such as this - was the best solution!

Was well worth the visit, a carefully created and authentic exhibition with 'Just Jane' as the centrepiece. She's not close to getting a CofA but she is ever nearer. I think I've attached some pictures for you. The shot of agricultural machinery with the placard 'Tumby Lawn' was of particular interest to me, as Tumby Lawn is the name of this house and its grounds! It so turns out that the creator of the museum, whom I am on the search for more information about when I return, lived here for a time and attempted to buy the place, and donated a collection of old wartime and prior machinery and items for display. The owners wouldn't let him buy, so he bought the lease to the airfield instead. The Typhoon was on the circuit at Coningsby - unfortunately I only had the camera on my tablet, so it's hard to see how close he actually was! Oh, and the blurry picture IS a Barnes-Wallis bouncing bomb!

Just found something very amusing. There's an air museum at East Kirkby that I plan to visit later today. I looked up bus times on Google maps. Apparently, I need to walk 15 minutes to the nearest bust stop, travel for 14 minutes towards Horncastle, then get off. Then wait for the next bus to come along and take me towards East Kirkby. Wait. And wait. And wait. For almost eight hours. Then travel for a few minutes, and walk another 15, to get to the museum. Then, to get back, well, I can't. There is no return journey until later in the week. The place is a massive 5.7miles from where I am sitting right now, by road. As the crow flies, I could walk there in an hour across the fields. I can almost see it from here. Good job I have a car. (edit - when I ran a second version on Google maps, it said the journey was now 16 hours.)

Sym you'll be glad to hear I'm at Sismerc's place for a few days (location secret, but right next to Coningsby) and will try and take some hush hush shots of Typhoons doing their stuff. Afraid their won't be any Russian Bears this far inland, but you might be lucky enough to get a trio of the triangular marvels, they were doing three at a time runs yesterday, was quite spectacular. Must say Cranwell was very busy yesterday, too, with twin-engined training birds on the circuit when I came past last night, and watched a couple of Hawks doing low level runs in the Pennines on the way down. It's all wings in Lincolnshire!

I'm forming my own party. It involves pencils.

Eraser?? What happened to 'rubber'!

Disgraceful! Outrageous! Is that the best you can do Threegee? You are showing your true, Bedlington-centric colours, which really should not be allowed on a Bedlington website! I shall be contacting The Authorities about you, once I've sharpened this pencil.

"It does make me wonder where any of these 'makeweights' could get work in the 'real' world at anywhere near this income?" I doubt they could, Pilgrim! In my own opinion, I believe one of the major problems with politics these days is that the players are in it for the money, not to make a difference. Pay them a sensible, living wage - perhaps a little above the London average (apparently around £35k) and see what they say.

I'm outraged! I'm furious! I just snapped a pencil in anger (although thanks to Maggie and her kindness it can now be revived)! How DARE Bedlington.co.uk advertise on this website! Have other towns been given the chance? I smell one-sided advertising rules that are unfair on the likes of Morpeth, Blyth, even Choppington! It's a disgrace, and I demand an explanation.