johndawsonjune1955

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 ?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Lets get another topic going for you all. This should bring memories flooding back. I will get it started and see the response for not only the older generation, but the younger. This photograph shows a young girl filling water into a bucket at the communal tap. Do you remember doing this ? For the youngsters of today, "yes†this was village life. Do you know where it is ? Its in Bedlingtonshire if it helps. How times have changed. Now it's modern living. A lot of villagers never even had a cooker. Look how heating is now, after a lifetime of shovelling coals onto an open fire, we now have gas, and central heating. No central heating in those days. Do you have any stories to share, especially with the the younger generation ?.what was it like in those days. What about the communal tap ? There was plenty of gossip whilst villagers waited their turn.

hi wilson. two good pubs you mentioned there and the gardners arms was spose to be a great place where the bedlington terrier fanatics met and discussed the breed over a few pints.

no you can view the website. for the forum just register and your on in secs. x any probs call direct: its our group phone on 07850465009

go to http://www.sixtownships.org.uk then in pics choose choppington. my family, belle, dorren, tucker, harry and bob dawson are in it too.

rance woodhouse was his name. i will find the pic of him opening up and post soon.

yes. it was also the "gaff" ganny mather looked after it in the 50s. its in the record books as smallest projection boothe in the world.

contact me on the groups phone: 07850465009. Its our contact phone asnd is visible on our websites, so don't worry about it on here. Can discuss it with you it should be no problem at all to convert to DVD.

Hi m8. A good programme and its what i use is Ulead Photoimpact version 12. You simply upload your pics to your computer and open one up at a time. Click in edit and resize, and click to reduce the size. Simple. I will look see if i still got my old version as it did the same and if i have you can have it.

Hi all Its John Dawson, local historian. Just a few mins of your time to take up and let you know that your local history website is up and running in a new format. All the groups archives will be put up over this coming year and we now have a Forum. You can make yourself a member instantly and get going on it. The website is at http://www.sixtownships.org.uk We have began putting up "Our Colliery Village" archives from 1873. Amazing this. Have a look and see what your colliery village was like in 1873. Over 140 years ago, what do you think it was like ? There are a huge archive collection to go up, but add the site to your favourites and keep looking back. Why not stay in touch with the Forum ? Any ideas on how the site could change a bit more ? Let us know. The site is your site and remember its Your Memories and Your Heritage. Keep it alive. Many thanks for taking the time to read this regards

I was born at 60 East Gate Choppington in 1955. It was my grandparents house, Thomas and Margaret Dawson. Big family too there was Eddy, Bart, John who was my dad, Bobby, Harry, Tom "Tucker", Doreen and Bell. i lived at 19 East Gate. John Tasker's daughter lives in that house now. My Uncle Bob knocked around with Geordie Archbold and they did a lot of poaching. I did too with them as a nipper. Jackie Ramsay was a good friend of my Uncle Bob. My Uncle Bob also had the fish and chip van, does anyone remember ? Who remembers the Swinhoes, Richardsons, Lumsdens and the Gobins? I have many happy memories from Scotland Gate and a place that i take pride in writting history about.

Malcolm have a look on our website at http://www.sixtownships.org.uk Go to our archives and Our Colliery Villages from 1873 and choose Bedlington and see what was said about the Market Cross then and Bedlington as a whole. We are now beginning to put all our archives online for everyone and all free. It'll be a huge collection too and take the best part of this year and maybe longer. The Forum is up and running too. Just register and get instant access Malcolm.

Our new look website is up and running. We have began putting our archives up, but itll take a good part of this year, maybe longer as our archive material is huge. If anyone would like to see how its going have a look at http://www.sixtownships.org.uk Have a look in our archives and see Our Colliery Villages series from 1873. Pick the Barrington section or others and see how the villages were once. Theres a good few on what we uploaded today and many more to come in that topic of Our Colliery Villages. We aim to bring all our visitors the biggest local archives collection anywhere for free. We also have our new Forum up and running too. Have a look and register and get instant access. Add our website to your favourites, tell your friends and research your interests at our site. We hope we can help. if not the Forum is there for you too.