johndawsonjune1955

as a young lad my friends and myself usedto play quiots we never had the proper ones so we used to use horse shoes when the pit ponies were re shood we got the worn ones

Thats a fantastic piece of info. Its good to know these facts and record them for future generations.

hi,

not sure if were talking about the same charltons.

Does your wife remember an George Trevor charlton (known as Trevor) who married Isabella Oliver (known as Betty),these were my granda.parents and they had two sons Alan (my dad) and David

thanks

yes a different side to my wifes. good luck with your research

Anyone else got some sports pics to share. Lets get the memories flowing. I will put more up soon from my archives.

The Howard Arms, Quoit Club, Bedlington, 1928, Champion quoit player is second left, Jack Barnes. Sadie Barnes is far right. Other names in the photo are John Caine, Topper McGlen, and a Mr. Ruddy.

The photograph was taken at the opening of the quoits bay at the Welfare Park, Bedlington. Throwing the quoit is Councillor Dickie Hindhaugh. Jim Carley (left) next to him is Henry Brown (my wifes grandad)and on the right is John Temple (my wifes uncle)

Anyone put a name to the others ?

Yes Thats my Dad Bill Potts on the right side, he was one of the founders of the quoites club, I believe that the quoites were made in the machine shop at Ashington pit where he worked and the clay was made by adding oil to soil.

Do you have any more like this??

yes i have. upload them during the week.

sorry to hear that tucker had passed away i got on very well with him he was a nice young lad

thanks very much

is this the tucker dawson that lived at eastgate during the 1940s and 50s that i can remember also was he a pidgeon man ?

yes thats him. my uncle. he died about 12 years ago with cancer of the brain. but still the same fella and good crack to the end.

Im not sure how it was taken. Cracking pic tho and one i treasure. What you say is true enough, but will ask the chap who took its son and see if he can shed any light on it. hehe, thats a funny one aint it "Shed any light on it" must be turning a comic these days

BTW ww1 and ww2 stories updated on our website. http://www.sixtownships.org.uk have a look its interesting. Will be putting more Bedlington history on at the weekend.

Anybody remember Hartford Camps?,

Or

Like me lived there, we lived at 54 Netherton Moor, that No1 camp, as you drove in from the main road the garage was straight in front of you we lived on the left proberbly just where the Information centre is now.

More Happy days.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This photo was taken in 1949 Maybe some of your relatives on here?

Johnny Rea lived there too. Not sure at which camp tho. BTW, thats a really nice pic from the camp, not many around, but a really nice pic. Thanks for sharing it.

For my 100th post i decided to put this great pic up of my dad and some family members and his friends. Taken at the Choppington High Pit in 1961 i believe.

At the rear is Geordie Wharton, father of Joe, Sep, and George.. Middle left to right, Sammy Neal, Thomas "Tucker†Dawson, my uncle, Bart Dawson, my uncle. Front left to right Leighton Bush, and John Dawson my father.

I think Sammy Neal raced pigeons, i may be wrong, but have an inkling he did.

Quoits is it still played ? Heres a pic from my archives of the Sun Inn Quoits Club in 1967. I remember they played around the back.

Know anyone or memories ?

Lets get some memories flowing. I have been looking through my personal pics of the past and found some very interesting ones indeed. Ca

n you remember the Domino and Supermac on his birthday ? i can't recall how old he was, but it was in 1973, Were you there ?

Or recognise anyone ?

yes had to be one of the best chippies along with tini rices at the gate. When ya went in RHodas the seating was next to the window. Remember her hubbie "Tommy" nice fella too. You know when they sold out and the Chinese took it over, she put it in the contract that they had to sell fish and chips for six months, as RHoda knew us folk loved her Chippy. When the six months was up they stopped it. Mind you, it was never as good as Rhodas fish and chips.

Me minds gone blank. Shame on me, as im Scotland Gate born and bred. What was the name of the bakers at the Gate. I remember on cold days putting my hands on the outer wall and the heat would warm me as it was that hot.

Rhoda`s chip shop in Guide Post.

Having a "sittie down" as a special treat during the school hols, when she would open the side room on a Friday afternoon.

Pie, chips & peas. Oh & as an extra treat; a slice bread & butter! Cut in triangles of course. Bliss!

Kids would laugh at you these days if you offered that up as a something special.

Bring back the simple life.

BH! I genuinly think I regressed there for a minute.

I`m fine now thanks.

yes had to be one of the best chippies along with tini rices at the gate. When ya went in RHodas the seating was next to the window. Remember her hubbie "Tommy" nice fella too. You know when they sold out and the Chinese took it over, she put it in the contract that they had to sell fish and chips for six months, as RHoda knew us folk loved her Chippy. When the six months was up they stopped it. Mind you, it was never as good as Rhodas fish and chips.

I left hirst terrace in 1969 for newbiggin, I,m thinking they knocked hirst terrace down around 1974=5 so maybe 72-73??

Hi. im in Newbiggin now. God its changed, and for the better, its a pleasure to live there.

The Shane Fenton show was an all ticket. I seem to recall it was Monday night, the Friday night was the hop and nothing clashed with the hop. I arrived at the Clayton at about 10pm after a few drinks at Craiges. Only to discover that the Bedlington boys had been throwing pennies onto the stage and Fenton had packed up and gone home. I was not happy, but maybe it was a lucky escape. Does anyone else remember that incident ?

I also seem to remember in those days the pubs closed at 10.00pm and the dance hall close at 10.30. Times have certainly changed.

i think there weas a Fat Mos Disco at the Station ?

This photo reminds me when I was very young chap, dashing across the railway foot bridge at the Station to miss the engine smoke. I am sure the engine fireman through some extra coal on, just make the smoke as black as possible.

I also seem to recall that every Friday there was a racing pigeon special train. The platform was often seen with many pigeon baskets ready to be loaded on the special pigeon train. I have never being involved with pigeon racing, hence I have no idea where the final destination was ?

Your right there. i remember the bridge crossing well and you could see the black smoke on it from the trains from either side of the lines. Happy days of our youth

What about school dinners ?

Not many happy memories from Guide Post Secondary Modern.

We had long tables and over your time at school worked ya way up to either a server or head of table.

Remember when first went there, didn't like it at all.

But as SPLINK says Waggon Wheels, the originals. bought them at break time at school, not the mini wheels we see now.

Funny mentioning this as just talked about it tother day to my wife.

Oh, and Dobsons Sweets, they were something. Not a sweet hand these days, but can you still get them ?

What was that sweet factory called in Blyth in Wright Street at the car park to the old Prestos ? its now Morrison ? The smell from there was lovely when they made their sweets.

From disused Wallaw Cinema to luxury nightspot in nine weeks. The Club Domino, at Bedlington Station opened it's doors in April 1968. It cost £25,000. Do you have any memories ?

Ok i will start. "I met my wife there" Been married 31 years this July.

I met Malcolm McDonald there on his birthday night too.

While I agree it is macabre it is also a famous part of Bedlington history. History cannot be airbrushed, and the murders have become part of local legend. I did think the police had them on display at one time - perhaps John can shed some light on that?

no they never had the, a lass from blyth had them, her husband was a builderr and cleaning the old office out came across them. they were to be skipped. we gave her £1000 so we could get an insight into jockers mind at the time. he was troubled and the letter proove it. his wife was planning to leave him with another man long before the murders. the letters explain part of that. could she have been salting the money away without his knowledge ? she left bedlington with her sons and her man friend. sadly returned a few years later, without her sons, landed in bedlington workhouse and died there.

The Sunn Inn murder artefacts are up for sale for a collector.

Its 100 years next year. Murders letters, photographs, Sgt Barton truncheon, 2 different sets handcuffs, And more.

Been bid £500 but the collector lives in Cornwall. Havenot excepted the offer as yet. However, nice to keep them in this area.

Interested ?

call our group phone on: 07850465009

A piece of rare history up for you here.

Well someone was posh "companion set" never saw one until the middle 60's. We couldnt afford one.

What about toilet rolls? never had them either. I remember cutting newspaper up into squares at my granparents and putting a bit string to hold the paper and clipping it in the toilet. Can't remember the name of this can you help ? me mam and dad got a box with scented paper in to use. We were posh with that, better than newspaper. What was it called ?

oh update to the sixtownships website. Barrington Stories,

Stories- mining- choppington- mining death.

<p>This is fantastic to talk about. However, what do you remember by ways of remedies in your younger days?

Heres a story, but believe me i don't recall it as i am not that old

Old wives tales and superstitious beliefs, particularly in the curative properties of animals, still exercise a world wide spell.

Macbeth's witches in their incarnation round the cauldron sang of :-

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fang and blind worms sting,

Lizards' leg and owlets' wing.

In Hull during June, 1936, a couple were sent to prison for neglecting two children. An inspector of the N.S.P.C.C., stated that the woman had told him that she had given the children, who were ill, mouse pie because she thought it was the best thing to cure them.

The belief in the curative properties of mice, which lingers in Yorkshire and other parts of England and Scotland is more than 6,000 years old. It was held by the ancient Egyptians, who gave mice as medicine to their children.

On research I found out that on Egyptian papri written about 1400 B.C., it described the eating of a skinned mouse as a remedy for an infantile ailment. There is positive evidence that the use of mice for children was many centuries older than this written record. In a pre-dynastic Egyptian cemetery, which at the lowest possible computation is over 6,000 years old, the remains of mice were discovered in the mummified bodies of children in circumstances which proved that the little animals had been skinned before they were eaten.

The belief still persists in some parts of Europe. There are unquestionably many persons living today who in their childhood, were given skinned mice as a remedy for infantile ailments, though probably in the majority of cases they did not know what they were eating.

In North-east Lancashire, fried mice was regarded as an infallible cure for whooping cough. Instances are recorded of the cough passing away after the taking of "mouse medicine†though whether due to the treatment, I would not like to say.

Just thought i would start another topic on Barrington. Could do with some stories as i am getting a little bored at the moment. The group is back together at the end of the month and will see what it brings up of interest.

Anyway. In the other Barrington topic i found it very interesting and i mentioned the Barrington Toll Gate and that i thought it was the Fletcher family who ran it for a lot of years. I checked some of the groups records as i promised and put a pic on for you all. Here is the info that we have in our archives. Can anyone add a bit more to it ?

The Fletcher's were on duty 24 hours a day working for the Coal Company. When it closed it was operated by 56 year old Miss Jessie Ann Fletcher, who took it over after the death of her mother, Margaret, in 1902. Jessie was solely dependent upon her employment as means of a livelihood.

Levies were, motor vehicles and horse drawn carts and traps were 6d. Cattle 1/2 d per head, which sum permitted free access to the road for the remainder of the day. Sheep were charged at a farthing per head. The toll did not affect pedestrians, cyclists or motor cyclists.

In 1884, local newspapers carried the story of Dr. Carmichael who refused to pay his toll when on a call to Barrington at night. He was alleged to have hit Mrs. Fletcher with his riding crop and was taken to court by the local Coal Company, where he was fined for assault.

Carmichael, who was Medical Officer of Health, later condemned some of the Coal Company's houses, so gaining revenge for the incident.

Lets keep our heritage alive.

Don't forget if you like this sort of history why not get online at the groups website at : http://www.sixtownships.org.uk

All our archives are going online over this coming year and it will be the place to visit in your quest for history on our area.

We have hundreds of old photographs of this area to go on line and very rare ones too.

I am enjoying my time on here lets keep our memories alive. As i always said. Its your memories and your heritage.