Canny lass

No cause for worry Pilgrim. Your senility hasn't advanced too much. There was indeed a small shop just as you describe. However I can't remember newspapers being sold there - but just about Everything else! It wasn't large (I've owned bigger garden sheds since those Days).It was at the bottom of our garden and can be seen on Eggy's photo at the bend in the road between G and M. It was owned by Bob and Esther Rochester from Netherton village. Bob worked at the pit "on bank". They were a wonderful couple. They had no Children of their own and used to spoil the colliery Children something rotten. They took over the 'new' store building, opposite the institute when the coop moved to West Lea.

Good work, Eggy!

I Think Brett should change his Picture. Just joking Brett!

Having thought about it I realize that the long building at "I" can't be the new houses I mentioned earlier as they were on the same side of the road as the store. The building must be the pit baths built in the early fifties and next to it the pit canteen. I Think the baths were opened at the time of the queen's Coronation but the canteen was there long before.

Nice photo eggy. May I take a copy for personal use? A - First Street B - Second Street C - Plessey Street D - Third Street All house numbers running from 1 left to 25 right in the picture E . Netherton Institute F - The Chapel (Methodist, I think but not 100% sure). Not in use during my time. It was ownwd by Bill Mullen (Redhouse farm area) and used for his Haulage Contraction Business The area behind it is the football field. G - Netherton Infant's School H - Blue House Farm - better known as Fail's farm (owner Geordie Fail) I - Depends when the photo was taken. The long building could be a row of new houses built in the ?50s but the "store" (Cooperative Wholesale Society) was here as well. J - Netherton Pit K - Netherton Working Men's Club L - A Chapel (denomination not known), unused as such in my lifetime. Was owned by the Bell family of Third Street who used it as a pig "farm". (Discussed somewhere else on this site). M - Waste ground. There were rumours that there had been Another row of houses here and there was a lot of rubble under the grass. Strangely, it was skirted by a pavement on it's left-hand side, so possibly there had been houses. There was one more Chapel in Netherton - the Weslyan Chapel. It was still in use. It's the larger building seen to the left of A and in a direct line NW of L. Hope this helps.

If I remember correctly I stared going there a couple of years Before I left school in 1n 1962. It was quite new then.

You mean there are more than one Pete?

Thanks Maggie. I had no idea what the man was doing! It looks nothing like the flame thrower I had för the garden paths - a small hand held thing. It didn't go too well with the house being built of Wood so I had to get rid of it - Before it got rid of the house!

I'm afraid you've got me beat there, Maggie. Is there a clue in the Picture?

Who's not counting! I Think he's 21 with 47 years of experience - just like me!

There must be a couple of very proud parents in Bedlington today!

Well you certainly kept that quiet!! Happy birthday from me too.

Lovely pics! Did I see people in short sleeves and without socks! You can send some of that weather over here! We are barely hitting double figures on the thermometer.

You do the talking HPW just let it flow "like water from a tap"and let Mercury do the writing! You'll get it done in no time.

There you go HPW. That's an offer you can't refuse!

Couldn't agree more, Mercury. Can't you persuade him to write a book?

I cannot imagine it being easy to find your way around in a coal mine. Everything's more or less the same colour and there can't be too many landmarks about.

... and we've led a very sheltered life above ground HPW. That's why your stories from underground are so interesting for us. Experiences and knowledge are best when shared. You'll find Bilbao on the North coast of Spain - I Think. Yes, just checked and it's exactly where it was last time i visited.

That looks absolutely lovely! Good initiative. Well done.

I Always thought it was slang, so I was surprised when Brian's post showed otherwise.

Glad to be of service!

I was wondering the same thing HPW! Must be Spanish as that's the spanish coat of arms in the middle.

Gruesome Reading 3g - except for Sanson's operating of the device "in dead earnest". That caused a chuckle but perhaps I have a warped sense of humour. It's no coincidence that the doctor's name was Guillotin. That was his real name and the Word guillotine is an eponymous construction - just like watt, wellington, stetson and volt. Even though the device was around long before the good doctor revolutionised legal murder, by making it more humane, it wasn't called a guillotine until the late 18th Century in honour of his work.

It's got a diminutive ending - might be something to do with guillotine perhaps?

A rather nice turn of phrase, Pilgrim and definitely not sad to remember it. Maggie, that's a nice thought to play around with on a rainy day: What will our politicians be called by future historians? Maybe they will still be called politicians but - language change being what it is - the meaning of the word maybe something quite different!