Canny lass

The funeral chapel was still standing - just - in 1988 on my last visit to the cemetary, and I attended a funeral there as late as summer 1983. If you look in the fantastic picture gallery on this site, under:

-Historic Bedlington

-Bedlington & Netherton Old Photos

-Page 1

you'll find a b&w photo of the chapel (Last photo on the 2nd row named "Bedlington Church") kindly uploaded by Cympil.

The Bank Top

Merry Christmas to one and all. Any chance of a white Christmas in Bedlington? We just got our first snow of the season today, a month later than usual, here in Sweden. Doubtful if it'll stay though. It's just nudging the minus mark on the thermometer! Normally we'd have a good foot or so by now.

I'll just add my six pennerth, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!!

I think I do Keith! There was a Richard Coulthard in my class. Tall, thin, slicked back hair and "Buddy Holly" type specs. Could that be the same person? I don't recognise the others though.

And, while we're strolling down memory lane at Westridge, does anybody remember Mr. Johnson the science teacher? All this talk of punishment made me think of him. As far as I know he never doled out corporal punishment himself - by the look of him, he probably wasn't strong enough. However he had an inimitable system of chastisement built on the premiss that the punishment should fit the crime. The offender had to write 400 words on a given topic dictated by Mr Johnson. The topic was always a single word. On the two occasions when I was on the receiving end of the stick the words were loquacity and verbosity.

Now, when you are 12 and a bit such words are not the stuff of everyday conversation round the dinner table. Neither are they heard too often when your playing moont the cuddy (now there's a memory!) or enjoying a leisurely spot of cricket between 2 dustbin lids in the back street - not in Netherton anyhow. So the first part of the punishment was to give up your break, go to the library and try to find out what the word meant. That wasn't always easy because you didn't always know how the spelling was!! When you did finally manage to find out what it was you'd been ordered to write about you inevitably found that you had to write about the "sin" you had committed - in my case talking too much.

Even today, 53 years later, I still can't work out just which principles of pedagogy Mr Johnson was applying or if they worked. Today I can't remember a thing about science but I've never forgotten either the meaning or the spelling of loquacity or verbosity.

No, no, no Keith! Holland's far too strenuous. The highest peak, Vaalserberg, is an enormous 1,060 ftä. Try Denmark instead. The highest you'll find there is Moellehoej with a staggering 561 ft.

Symptoms wrote: a Geography teacher (name gone!) used an enormous white sand shoe.

Was it Mr. Grainger? Tall, blonde, quite young. He taught PE as well, but only now and then. He fancied himself as a bit of a ladies man.

Beautiful baby! Beautiful name! Congratulations!

At last - and well worth the wait!! The split peas took ages to get here thanks to the Swedish customs who opened the parcel and investigated the contents. I guess 3 lb of split peas looks pretty much like 3000 Ecstasy tablets on an X-ray! I boiled the ham the night before and in honour of the occasion I even baked a batch of bread. I took half the 'pudding' straight from the oven and mixed in ½ beaten egg and a large kn?b of butter and left it to cool, as I have vague recollections of seeing this done as a child. Next morning I cut a thick slice and fried it in the fat from my bacon. Delicious!

Rating: 10/10 This has to be the sandwhich to beat all sandwiches.

PS It has to be the most expensive as well as the postage on the parcel was £18!

Thanks! The split peas are winging their way to me as I write. I can't buy them here - only whole yellow peas with really tough skins - so I've arranged a delivery from England. You've set my mouth watering and I can't get pease pudding off my mind now. There'll be no pleasing me until I've tried this recipe. I'll let you know how I get on.

I have a vague recollection that my mother mixed a beaten egg and a !*!@# of butter into the warm pudding and put it back into the oven for a while. It could then be cut into slices and fried when it was cold. Anybody remember this in a recipe or am I going senile?

I thought it was always Mr Abrahart (history) who administered 'wackings' to boys who were sent to him by other tachers. I remember that it was Miss Craigs (Needlework) that we girls were sent to but we just knocked on the door, entered and said that another teacher had sent us to borrow a needle and a bit of black thread! It worked fine!

If there's anything I don't miss it's an outside netty on a winter morning.

Sorry! I meant to ask if it was hot or cold ham stock.

Hot or cold water?

Gala day! I'd forgotten all about that - or maybe i'd just repressed the memory. I was, unfortunately, one of those who threw up all the way home. Couldn't have been the toffee apples or the candy floss that were to blame as I don't like either of them. Travel sickness my mother called it. I had the same problem with the rides at the Spanish City (was that also called the White City at some time)? I can't remember getting a toy either but I remember we got a banana and a white paper bag with 2 sandwhiches and a cake. The sandwhich filling was always tongue, which I didn't like - once 'd found out what it was - and was always full of sand before I could force it down. You can see why I've repressed this memory, can't you!

You from Netherton Keith?

Raisbecks Bus! Now there's a memory! You've talked about all sorts of stripes and colour combinations but my first memories of Raisbecks bus are a plain green bus with a large bonnet up front. We're talking mid 1950s here and it shuttled back and forth between Netherton Colliery and Bedlington station. It even had a conductress called Nelly (Halliday, I beleive). There was no messing about with her. She ran it like a battle ship! She had a heart of gold though and many's the time she'd help lift furniture into the bus for people moving from the colliery rows to West lea. I have a clear memory of sitting on the bus with a double matress in the centre aisle!! That bus ended up as a stationary 'mobile home' behind the then newly built Coop (opposite the institute) and stood there for many years.

Thanks Brettly, it was a bit worrying to find myself getting a reputation at my age! But if it's in the interests of promoting community spirit then I'm all for it.

Hi everybody and thank you for making me feel so welcome. Just one little question: What's this 'reputation'that appears on my profile and why does the number keep changing? (Explain in simple terms please)!