threegee

Boycott Jet2!!! lol

Sunny Majorca from about £40 - pah!! I'm reliably told that Puglia (Apulia) is the only area of the Mediterranean with a sunshine guarantee.

A really good site to book a stay is: http://medvilla.eu - give it a try fourgee!

For London to Brindisi flights check: http://www.bookryanair.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi

Isnt anyone but you allowed to have an opinion

Have to side with Monsta here.

We might all have German Shepherds, Labradors, etc. etc. (doubtless on the "choose a pet to look like yourself" theory). But not paying homage to our local, ever-so-cute, furry friends is nothing short of sacrilege! Go wash your mouth out with Brown Ale!!

Congratulations Barry on doing 100% more than most folk ever do to research the biggest purchase they ever make in their lives.

If only a few hundred other house purchasers in the area had asked the obvious questions. Not mentioning any particular estates - of course!

Anyone got any shares?

June 22nd:

Thank you for closing down Northern Rock. The most positive move in years. I reconsidered closing my account but on careful consideration determined to leave £1 in it - just so you'll have the pleasure and expense of administering it for the next 20 years.

OMG my £1 is at risk then?!!

Maybe this is their come-uppance for treating the local communities that they built their business on like readily expendable historic artefact's?

English Heritage I respect. As one of their inspectors once said when visiting Bedlington: "If I see yet another [council designated] Grade II Listed Building I shall scream"

Someone remind me who elected our local Wansbeck Planning Committee to this task, and what authority (or qualifications) they have to tell us mere mortals what should and should not be preserved for future generations?

Do any of them have the guts to come on here and defend the indefensible? Only in the UK could we suffer such a total lack of local democracy!

IMHO they are a bunch of time serving, expenses garnering, non-entities, who should be held to account for the many completely wrong decisions they have made over the years. Many of these bad decisions have been to the detriment of our Town. Are there any honest members amongst this politically-tainted rabble? If so, come on here, tell the truth, and redeem yourself to future generations.

There; I feel a lot better for that! :D

i remember their used to be a petrol station on the right as you left bedlington, was it past that too?

That was Begbie's. The late Harold Begbie, and his wife's after he died. There's a daughter somewhere.

They looked like they had droped blocks of concrete on an angle to build the walls.

That's because they had! System building it was called. The same sort of system that brought us Ronan Point.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/2514277.stm

Except that I think you'll find that those in Bedlington were built to a lot higher standards, and hence survived much longer. Some much later private ones at Killingworth weren't!

You'll find that very few who lived in them (in the early days at least) had a wrong word to say about them - and that has to be the acid test. Virtually all have been replaced now, including all the prefabs (Millfield South etc.). So... I don't think you've much of a point on this one Monsta!

...they used dodgy concrete!

It was High Alumina Cement that was used in lots of civil engineering projects - motorway bridges, school roofs etc. in the 1950's, 1960's and maybe beyond. It was used because of the strength and rigidity. What no one knew at the time was that it deteriorated very quickly under certain circumstances. Until - one day - things started to fall down! The Top Club was particularly vulnerable because of the way the architect had suspended the outside walls to extend the floor area and give it an "ultra-modern look".

I'm not aware that ground stability was a factor, but if you are building again on the same site then, as an architect, you'd want to be extra extra careful in order not to get sued. Although - thinking back - maybe that's why many of the buildings on the East side of the Glebe Road were missing long before the Coooncil completed the demolition job (for the totally unnecessary dual carriage way)! And, it's from this (unnecessarily isolating part of the west end from the center) that has arisen all the problems.

Now why - you might ask - was the road connecting Ashington to the smoke deemed far more important than any of the other roads going in and out of the Town? Answers on a postcard to the: "Let's Screw Bedlington - Again!" Subcommittee, WDC Council Offices, Station Road, ASHINGTON.

Now the penny drops!

Until I read your quote, I didn't realise that this pair were supposed to be Andy Capp and Flo!

It all depends on who you believe whether John Braine wrote Room At The Top whilst working at Newbiggin Library. I mean wouldn't you have been "angry" having to work there in 1955? :D

But, I've always believed that Newbiggin must be the ideal setting - not to mention spiritual home - of Andy & Flo. I think that if Reg Smythe had hinted it was set there, both he and the town would have benefited greatly - it's a total natural!

Best thing they can do is to redress this omission and title it "Andy & Flo - the early years".

Second best thing is to follow Malcom's line - "is she or isn't she?". This has worked very well for The Mona Lisa!

This isn't rocket science. Councils everywhere don't spend money unless they need to. The Hairpin Bend is no longer the busy road it once was, being long since bypassed by the SE Northumberland spine road.

I can remember, many years ago, being in Bob J's car (the last Bedlington Town Surveyor?) when he'd unaccountably hit the brakes to record any potholes. The instruction would go down to fix them in the next days/weeks.

Believe me - compared with other parts of the EU were I frequently "Rome" - WDC is HOT on fixing bad roads. One thing you can't fault them for!

...

whats the deal with the 'twinning' stuff anyway? does it help at all?

Certainly! But only if you are a councillor on an all-expenses-paid goodwill visit!

From Wikipedia:

It originated when a young man (Klaus Floeren) from Iserlohn worked for some time in the town of Bedlington and met his future wife (Muriel Binks) there.

After moving to Schalksmühle with their young son Rolf, the couple suggested a partnership between the two communities. When Bedlington town council was merged with Ashington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea to form the district of Wansbeck, the partnership was continued by the new district council.

So, blame that bloody Binks clan again! Sorry Chris - err... just joking!

Andy is meant to be a working class figure, located in [Newbiggin], North-East England. His hobbies include pigeon racing, snooker, football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasionally cricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk (often falling in the canal and always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), womanizing, lying on the sofa, and fighting with his long-suffering wife.

... he was always seen with a cigarette dangling from his lip, until it was deemed politically incorrect... he no longer indulges in fisticuffs with Florrie...Instead, they now attend marriage counseling...

Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of poverty. Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation, rent on the house and contents are constantly in arrears, and Percy the rent collector despairs of ever being paid. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow, they always manage to recover it, and Andy is always able to afford beer and betting (usually by borrowing from Florrie)...

Shortly after ...[the creator] died, a campaign was started to have a statue of Andy ... erected in his... home town, [Newbiggin], as a commemorative gesture. However, no local businesses could be found to sponsor the venture, as it was deemed ... too politically incorrect, and perpetuated a negative stereotype of the Northeast.

After many years of public and even national debate, a bronze statue was commissioned. The statue was unveiled on June 28, 2007...

Only the location has been changed, and the well known character's name slightly fuzzed.

It's the pit heaps Pete

Not heard of the sequel to How Green Was My Valley? Gallagher Green My Pit-heap Now. :D

If this is - as I sort-of suspect - a Perrystone Corp. development, then no one will be able to answer this question accurately ...especially the planning authority, trade suppliers, the tax authorities, or any poor, deluded, buyers!

Hope this helps.

No, it doesn't help at all! Monsta might have been badly influenced by the devious Nick Griffin, but what Malcolm (and others) see is what I see. He cares about where he lives, and he is the FUTURE. That alone sets him apart from the other dumb ******* who visit but don't post.

Twenty years hence his latent intelligence will have caught up with his raw energy, and he'll be a force in the Town. By then - if we are alive at all - we'll be voting as we always voted, because that's what we always did!

alreet then if ye pay me entry fee's! 

You wouldn't need to pay entry fees if you said you were the reporter from the Town's website and were doing a write-up on the club! You'd be doing them (and the Town) a favour. A special seat and free refreshments are the norm, but I wouldn't push it until you have an established reporting record!

Turn your printer on and here you go:

.

No other town has this amount of free parking so conveniently placed. The ones at the West end of the Front Street are quite pretty too.

And.. before the disparaging remarks about well that no one uses them because there's nowt to do, nowhere to shop - that's would be a gross exaggeration.

...

As for the pubs, what marks Bedlington out there is the fact that we have so many and yet their always empty.

...

Plentiful UNCROWDED pubs would be a plus to a lot of people.

I see a few pubs have installed benches / tables / umbrellas outside now for the smokers.

Don't you mean sun parasols? :D

I Am the Walrus.

this forum is about bedlington yet the sports section never mentions bedlingtons own football team! why?..

A self-defeating post; you just did give them a mention!

It's all to easy to snipe and throw out one-liners, but there's nothing at all to stop you correcting this yourself. Go collect some real information, photos, etc. Do the best job you can and I will see that it gets tidied up by pro's and given the exposure it deserves. With this you have credibility. Without it you are just an angry young man tilting at windmills!

Did that come about because it was mart day at Morpeth or is there another reason?

Best explanation I've heard so far. But it's always been like that - since the time when only the wealthy had an ox cart to get to Morpeth!

It doesn't really make Bedlington any different from anywhere else, does it?.

Hadly the point, it's about personal feelings and choices.

I'd bet the sheer number of pubs in Bedders marks it out from the crowd though!

I have a question: Why are some shops closed half day on a Wednesday?

Because they obey the (outdated) law on closing days, which is supposed to be enforced by WDC.

The Sunday trading laws a "controversial subject"?...

No, but the wider implications of how government handles retailing is!

IMHO interference and mishandling by politicians has destroyed whole communities, and wreaked plague on our countryside. It has also cost the country billions!

In the case of our Town there's a particular case to be answered by certain local politicians. They are far too frightened to come on here and discuss the matter lest they offend the party bosses in Westminster, or say something which will be picked up by the opposition or national press.

....where are these specialist food outlets in Bedlington?Other than the butchers,and don't tell me you mean the takeaways and other eateries!

We've had a few delicatessens over the years. Smart one next to the PO when I last looked. There's also the outfit at Sleekburn growing/selling organic veg., not to mention the mini-brewery there. Caterers operating from private houses, the bakery at the station (sadly closed his Front Street shop, but you can't blame him with the attitude of the WDC to small business). At least two small butchers. A lady who makes cakes to order. The odd small fruit and veg shop still trading, and doubtless a few more non-chain suppliers of fresh goods I've yet to discover.