HIGH PIT WILMA

Hi Alan..on the old map it is called West Sleekburn Farm.[right side of the A1147 heading north] On Google Earth it is the site of the Toby Henderson Trust,The Earth Balance Shed,Redress,and the Sleekburn Horticultural Therapy unit for disabled people. The Shed is a community project to encourage anyone who feels they need a place to go for a cup of tea and a natter...or take part in crafting,whether it's woodworking..or whatever..My next door Neighbour ,Rob Ferguson,helps to run the project,and is a very likeable fella,who is a qualified woodworking teacher. Ken D..I am sure you would be made very welcome if you called in for a natter with the gang,you will probably get some more info from any of the old timers about the farm's history! Cheers and best of luck! Bill.

Hi Vic! Hope ye are keeping weel! Alan has answered your question very well!..thanks Alan! Also welcome to Pegwoman,and thanks a lot for your kind advice..you are right,I AM too tolerant!!..that's my nature..I always give companies a lot of time and space..thinking..I am not their only customer!!...but...when I start to fight..I am like a lion!! ....and NCC will find out if they mess me about!!heh heh!! Maybe I will try ringing them on Monday...my application will probably be "Lost"!!

AAM SAYIN' NOWT!!..[except they should slash every dinghy on the french srores!]

Hi Ken,and welcome to the forum! Elliot's Farm was,in the fruiting season,the scene of many a generation of excited kids going to raid the Apples and Plums..especially in the late 40's/early to mid 50's post war austerity years..but even as late as into the late 70's,when my own Son's generation ,the local kids in the street..it was their place of adventure! The farm was demolished some years ago when the EARTH BALANCE PROJECT was established on the site of the farm,some of the old original stone walling still stands as an unrecognised "memorial"! The site has now altered once more with "THE SHED" ,and "THE TOBY HENDERSON TRUST",and other small projects quite well established,and is on the A1147 road at Bomarsund opposite a row of bungalows called Prospect Cottages. Do you have any old photo's of the farm..it would be great to see if you have!! Cheers Bill.

Hi all,I re-applied for a renewal of my Blue Badge using Gov.com official website and template in January of this year.[2025]..After completing and submitting the application,I was asked [as usual!] for feedback!! "How did you find our Service?"[or similar]...Well,after filling about 50 pages of information which they already had a lot of,and seeing as I am 81 yrs old in a couple of weeks time..,Partially sighted and registered,with a load of other age related problems including very poor mobility..I gave them feedback!!.I sent a firm but polite statement saying that I found the Application form absoloutely deplorable..and said that I felt as if I was being treated like a foreigner..[no race hate intended obviously..just an old fashioned geordie way of expressing angry feelings towards the establishment]...[although now..foreigners are treated better than us!!] Anyway!!..my point is,I am now thinking my honest outspoken opinion has gone against me...7 months is a long time to assess an application,when I read the forums and on average folks have received their new badge within 5 weeks!! Has anybody else had bother like this when renewing their Blue Badge? Cheers! Bill.

Not politically motivated at all Threegee,but I think I can safely say I agree with your comments !! This lot have got my blood boiling!!

Hi Malcolm,and Alan,Canny Lass,and Loupy Lou..I started Westridge School the day it opened before it was even completely finished being built!![in 1956 but we have gone through that controversy about dates..!!]..so by 1968 I was a fully fledged adult Coalcutterman and Powerloading Shearer driver down Bedlington A Pit..with a Wife and baby Son!!..so sorry I cannot help you with names of your classmates..just responding to a notification I got from Alan.Welcome to the forum Malcolm,hope you have a successful reunion! Cheers..Bill.

Hi Ian...don't know why I am wasting my time addressing you,since the last time I came to your office a few years ago..desperately seeking help and explaining how my Wife's family and myself were going through a very traumatic time ..my Wife's Mother was terminally ill in hospital..[and later died]..and when I came to you for help on a separate issue,you didn't even look at me but kept talking to your union cronies..and virtually ignored me..I remember walking out of your office in disgust saying I would never ask for your help ever again.Well well well! When this Building was in the process of surveying the land,I started taking photo's and videos,and I continued to do that every few days..right through from drilling for the reinforced concrete underpinning,laying the foundations,every step of building the carcass..till the day came when the arrival of the multi-million pound CYCLOTRON was announced on national television and all the tabloids covered it.SO!..away I went with my trusty old video camera and stills camera..and as the CYCLOTRON was hoisted high in the air on a crane rope,and lowered into the building through the roof..the television cameras were there...and so were you,along with a dozen "dignitaries"..chains of office glittering in the sunlight...and SO WAS I!!..NOW!!...from that day on there was not ONE word mentioned about the progress of the installation and commissioning of the CYCLOTRON....NOT ONE WORD THAT I EVER SAW OR HEARD!!..as time went by,many months...still nothing..except we had power cuts sometimes three and four times a week..unexplained...when I contacted the electricity company they said there was nothing wrong with their systems and that I could have a faulty meter..I told them it was a recent new digital meter,and that I suspected the outages were from the new Proton Beam unit attempting to power up and drawing too much current for the grid to handle.I was laughed at...then an employee of the energy company told me they couldn't get it up and running because it needed too much current to operate it,and that a new set of pylons carrying dedicated overhead power lines from the Switch house at Cambois,would have to be laid...but there were disputes between the landowners and the owners of the Rutherford Centre about the cost of all this....The pylons never got erected..no power lines...then the hospital closed down.Since it closed down in 2022,WE HAVE NEVER HAD ONE POWER CUT!!..Now,Mr Lavery,would you tell me honestly[massive request..not impossible..but highly improbable!!]....HAS ANYONE EVER HAD TREATMENT FROM THAT PROTON BEAM THERAPY UNIT..NOT CHEMO OR NORMAL RADIO..BUT PROTON BEAM,AS IT WAS HEAVILY APPLAUDED AS BEING A MIRACLE TREATMENT!!!...I AM SURE AFTER ALL THE HULLABALLOO WHEN IT WAS INSTALLED...THAT THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MASSIVE NATIONAL TELEVISION COVERAGE OF THE SUCCESS OF THIS TREATMENT..SEEING AS IT TOOK A COUPLE BEING PROSECUTED FOR TAKING THEIR CHILD OUT OF HOSPITAL HERE,TO ANOTHER COUNTRY FOR TREATMENT..TO SPUR OUR GOVERNMENT TO HAVE OUR OWN HOSPITALS...AND NOW IT STANDS MOTHBALLED...ABOUT £50 MILLION POUNDS IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY....[BUT I STAND TO BE CORRECTED ON THAT ONE!!] SO!!...Mr Lavery,WHY has this hospital been standing mothballed for three years?....where have you been...has it took poor Harry to wake you up to try and get some answers? I told the Architect outside my house that he was an idiot..he just laughed and we chatted,but he asked why I thought he was an idiot........I said well only an idiot would choose to build a new Hospital using NUCLEAR facilities on land where I personally was involved in extracting coal beneath the very spot where the hospital was being built,[in the 1960's],and that there are six scrapyards [burning tyres and complete cars through the night!]...two household waste recycling plants,and a coal merchants..just a few hundred yards away over the fields..I also asked why they didn't build this hospital next to the Cramlington new hospital..he waffled like a politician,and said this was the best,most favourable site we could find!![the field is heavily subsided due to coalming over the past hundred years!!!]...well I told him my opinion..and that was "Damage Limitation"...and I leave it there for you to ponder over!! p.s.If anything dangerous ever happened on that site ...I have a lovely portfolio of hundreds of photo's and video's..I have been laughed at before..but every dog has it's day!!

Hi Alan,this excellent little shop has been there for I don't know hoo lang noo..but it is ganna be a big miss..there is aalwis a steady stream of customers aal day lang!!It is like what we used ti say aboot Matty Robinsons..in the 1960's.."if ye ask for a pink elephant they will get one for ye ..if they hevn't aalriddy got one in stock!!" The shop is like the TARDIS!!..it is full of every known item ye might need in everyday life!..and the Owner,Liz,and her assistant Sharon,are really friendly and helpful. Aa canna praise Liz enough for carrying on the business..a mammoth task...after losing her husband Marcus,who also was a great guy.R.I.P. Marcus.

Well done to all involved in this brilliant transformation!! It looks really nice.I put my feelings on the subject somewhere else on the forum..earlier tonight..but don't know where!! Cheers and a Happy New Year to all!! HPW.

I have just seen the article about the remembrance garden restoration project..it looks fantastic,and I am sure it will be well appreciated by visitors. Well done to all who were involved in the planning and creation of this fine garden.It will be lovely when spring and summer flowers start to bloom.A very nice garden to just sit quietly and think of loved ones..Thanks to all involved.

Shame on me!!..I forgot to give credit to Cathy,and also Rebecca,[Liz's Daughter]..two reet canny lasses as weel..Many thanks for providing the people of Bedlington the best service for all round Household and D.I.Y.tools and Stationery. I wish Rebecca all the best for her future..[currently at UNI.]

Hi Folks!..it is sad to know that Sonia's at Bedlington Station will be closing for good in a couple of weeks time. Liz,the owner,and Sharon,her shop assisstant,have managed the shop admirably since the loss Marcus,Liz's Husband...and nothing has ever been a problem to them.They have always been pleasant and a pleasure to shop with.There is nowhere else as local to fulfil our d.i.y. needs,and Sonia's as a name will be sorely missed.However,I wish both Liz and Sharon all the best for their future.TWO REET CANNY LASSES!! CHEERS BILL.

Hi CL and Sym! Aam a bit late in catching up but appreciate your comments! Hope you all have a nice time over the festive season!! Cheers and all the best!![that goes for Alan and everybody else that contributes on this great forum!!]

Heh heh Thanks for your kind comment CL!..you remember a few years ago,I mentioned on here I had started writing my life story,from as young as I can vividly remember..approx aged 2 years old..[cos I can still see my leather reins with white felt fabric star shaped decorative buttons kept in place by chrome studs..]well,I started writing that book in 2009,and for a yr or two I hadn't even looked at it..until a few weeks ago..my Wife wanted to read it,all 600 pages ,so far,and still not complete.!!...So she read a wee bit every night,which spurred me on to start where I left off,writing a few pages each night...Trouble is,it's hand written in pen and ink on A4 pads.If only I had had computer knowledge,in 2009,I would have typed it..and stood a chance of it being published. I went back a few pages to recap where I had finished the last writing session,a year or two ago,and found myself absorbed in it!!..then I thought..it's interesting..and it's ME that aam writing aboot!!...hoo crazy is that?!! Cheers to all!