HIGH PIT WILMA

Thanks a lot,CL,for all your kind advice!..on the subject of Audiobooks..heh heh..My youngest Son has been a Recording Engineer/Producer,and now Editor of Audiobooks for nearly 20 yrs!!..we have a few in the house already,what he brought for his Mam to listen to..a while ago,but she couldn't get into them,so one night I started to check one out,and got into it the first five minutes..but didn't intend listening to it all..my spare [!!] time is spent wi my second love..my guitars!![I am easily pleased in life!!].I see the RVI Consultant Opthalmologist in a few weeks time..so we'll see what happens..I surrendered my driving licence back to DVLA a few days ago..mind,that's like cutting me legs off!! Apart from aal that moaning aam aareet and Chinkaplonka!!

Cheers Bonny Lass!!

Billx

Hi Canny Lass!..many thanks for your kind reassurance and good advice..it is much appreciated!..aye,my Sister is ten years younger than me,and she has had Glaucoma since she was a lot younger..and has had Cataracts removed,and she is still enjoying reasonably good vision,but she has never driven..with me ,and others like me,having to stop driving is like cutting my legs off!!..but I'll get by!!

The medical team at the RVI are magnificent!..aye,aam on two sets of eyedrops morning and night..have to see the team in eight weeks time..I do 't drink coffee,and not much tea ....and I aam a teetotaller ,so hopefully things will stay stable!!

I thought my laptop screen was fading,cos my pit pics are ,or appear ti be,fading..but's it's me gaan bliind ye bugga!!..

Cheers folks,luvly ti hear from ye's again!!

Bill.xx

*UPDATE* 10-6-2024..I will be 80 yrs old in July, in a few weeks time..and have just been diagnosed with Glaucoma in both eyes...I am now enjoying looking back at my younger self and my old Marra's..before my eyes become so dim I won't be able to see these pics at all.Thanks a lot to Alan Edgar once again for the hard work he has done,keeping these memories alive!! Cheers Marra!! Bill.

10-6-2024...UPDATE!!...This car park is now the site of a brand new built housing estate.Hope the Builders informed their customers who bought the new houses,that the car park used to flood up to three feet deep,or more..during Gale force easterly winds piling up an already very high Spring tide,causing backflow of sewage to flood the plain!! [the pit canteen used to be flooded out over four feet deep also!!]..there are photo's of the car park under water on other sites on Facevbook.

A bit late,but just catched up heor..the year luks a bit mair accurate..but the number and some name still dinna add up!!

Heh heh!..dae ye forget things as weel Alan..aad age is hitting us hard doon heor in the backwoods!

A think 1953 -ish luks aboot reet ..aa wudda been aboot 9 years aad then..as wud these kids.

Cheers Alan,hope ye keeping not too bad.

Aam wondering hoo me friend Jim Bower wasn't on these pics..mebbe he was  away on Holiday or playing footbaal or summick.

Thanks anyway Alan for the update,ya still daeing a grand job,aam full time lukking after Cath noo.

Heh heh,the gable end is of my longstanding Marra's hoose at Doctor Terrace.

He said he wadn't shift oot till he got the hoose he wanted at Millfield in Bedlington...and he GOT the hoose he wanted!!

On 25/03/2021 at 11:57, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@James - posted the photo on the Bygone Bedlington group to see if anyone recognised the two men but nothing so far but there were some interesting comments from Tom Eltis :- 

 

Tom Eltis

I started Bedlington Dr Pit 1954 which was split into two parts you had the pit which used electric lamps and the drift where I was placed which used carbide lamps.

 

Tom Eltis

 I remember when I was a timber lad leading timber into the face with the pony there was an old shotfirer He said when I'm going to fire shots hold a bit of wood in front of your flame when the shots go off the burning stick will relight it but make sure the stick is out.

 

Tom Eltis

 

 Hi Alan when I worked at the Dr Pit the stone men who drove the roadways got their powder free but the coal fillers had to buy theirs.

 

Hi Tom,a bit late in catching up,but didn't ya striker work on ya Carbide Lamp?.Puzzled aboot the bit aboot thi stick!!

Cheers,Bill.

Acetylene naked flame lamps,cos the pit was considered as "Gas-Free"..with regard to explosive Methane. Great conditions here,we at Choppington High Pit would have said this was "Stannin' like a Palace"!!

High,dry,good roof conditions,even the coalface is a good height,aboot 2"- 9" a wud guess..mebbe even the Yard seam.

Great pics. Willy Ward knew hoo ti get a gud shot in darkness!

On 31/05/2021 at 14:50, James said:

This photo taken by Willie Ward shows 3 miners ‘cavilling’. This was a system used by teams and individuals on ‘piecework’ whereby lots were drawn to decide on their workplace. The ‘cavil’ was the workplace number written on the piece of paper. The system prevented management favouring a particular team or individual and also meant that it was the luck of the draw whether you ended up in a section with good or bad conditions which could often affect your earnings.

"Cavilling" was pronounced as " Cyevillin''

1949..??!!...I went to the Bedlington Village infants School in 1949..aged 5yrs..Paddy o Malley,and Terry Bradley..[deceased at a very young age R.I.P. Terry],became friends of mine in later years because of  my close friend and Neighbour,Jimmy Bower..who went to school with all these pupils,a got ti knaa a lot of them through gaan wi Jimmy ti the school youth club on Sunday neets,when we were aboot 16/17 yrs aad.[we were aal the same age,Jim was only a couple of months older than me..]

Strikes me that these are big 5/6 year old kids!!

Normal rules forbade Protestant Schoolkids from attending the youth club,but because the Bower family were well known and respected in Bedlington,Father Mark allowed Jim Bower to bring his "Protestant"[!!] friend,[which was me!!],there were a lot of luvly lasses and lads went there,aal a canny crew who welcomed me,a stranger ,into their club.

People I well remember were Paddy o' Malley,Terry Bradley,Catherine and Mary Tait,Frances Weightman,Terry.["Tot"] o'Neil,Anne Brewis,Terry..["Tot"],Docherty,Billy McGlenn,and a canny ,bonny wee Italian lass caaled Rhoda Black,she lived in the"Huts/Caravans" in the Grey's Farm field,next ti the 20 acres Showfield,around 1961/2.

The day after a got ti know her to speak to her as a friend,her Parents sent her back to Italy to live with her Grandma..aged 16 yrs..pure cruelty taking her away from her schoolfriends and mates,after being brought up here from infanthood..she was absoloutely devastated,I remember her friends ,Catherine and Mary Tait,and Frances Weightman,all being in tears for days after she got the plane back to Italy.

They wrote to her several times,and never received a reply,my guess was,old fashioned Italian Granny didn't want her to correspond with English..anywheh....!

On 05/03/2020 at 11:55, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Bill - checked on the 1951 football  photo and updated the names on this class photo and the football photo

A bit late of catching up on this one Alan,me aad Heedmaster taught us kids better late than never..so here's a late thanks for aal thi work ye dae for others!! Cheers,Bill.

Heh heh! Alan,wud be a queer sight seeing unmentionables fleeing through the air,and landing on sumbody's windscreen gaan at sivinty mile an oor!!

Hope ye are keeping areet,Cath not grand at aal..me like ye,lossing me legs and struggling ti keep vertical!

Cheers Alan,it's Bait-time!

Bill.

25-4-2022..Frankie,who abandoned his Windy Driller,when thatcher gave the word to switch off and pull out..switched off,and said "and ye can stop theor!"

Frankie,a smashing Marra of mine,and me other Marra's,sadly passed away a few years ago,leaving this legacy.

R.I.P. Frankie.

Well,well well!..it's now 25-4-2022,and the Russian President,Alexander Putin..[or,as we say,Putrid!],is invading Ukraine,so all the Civil Allies have created Sanctions against Russia.

The result is,he has cut the Oil,and Gas supplies to us all,creating a massive Energy crisis,with price hikes of 54% and a further massive hike expected in the Autumn of this year.

The environmentalist do-gooders don't want Fossil fuels used at all!

Go Electric..with Cars ,Lorries,Ships,and AEROPLANES....!!

So,where is the electricity gonna come from?

The silly buggaas dinna fully understand the ludicrous demands they are making!!

Blyth Shipping Warf is STILL bringing in Shiploads of supposedly "CHEAP" coal from China!! We have over 100 million tons of clean Virgin coal seams under Bates and Ellington Collieries,under the North Sea,where these Pics were taken,and which was abandoned in 1986..for cheap oil and gas from RUSSIA!!

The bubble has burst mate!

...and in 25-4-2022..I am now 78 yrs old and waiting and hoping that justice will be seen to be given to those of us still here,who lost their jobs and Communities due to thatcher-the-hatcheter and her evil cronies.

25-4-2022...I bet if this one was powered up ,it wud work like the day it was abandoned in 1986!

25-4-2022..aad forgotten hoo bad it REALLY was!..

25-4-2022..update..Tom ..sitting in the machine,passed away a few years ago.

R.I.P. Tom.

Update on 25-4-2022..Still busy with my book,and wonder if aal ivvor get it finished..since a started writing it in 2009,loads of me Marra's who figure in the book,are now not with us any more.

But they are remembered forever if my book ever gets to be read by people other than my own family.

34 yeors after this pic was taken,Bill is a fine lukking distinguished grey haired aad chep..trying ti convince me he is fit as a lop...!!

Wi lungs like a Blackboard after yeors of coalcutting n hand-filling coal onti a conveyor belt,a think he will be mair like me..blaa'ing like an aad cuddy,and as much gud as a nrokken paor o' limma's!!heh heh!!

25-4-2022 update..Still nae response from anybody in Local Council or Government to refute my claims and take me up for slander...cos its aal true!

Noo,Alan,we need Musky ti invest and follow up Nicola Tesla's free energy from Space-generated and transmitted-to-earth Electricity project!

Howw,Alan,a few years ago Cath n Me were at thi Lake District,and oot on a run.We came across a Country Event at a big mansion and gardens like Cragside. There were several exibitions stands like the RSPCA etc.

One stand was the Water Board..and among the exhibits was a stall selling Wind Turbines.

A wee one for the garden ti charge ya car  batteries was aboot £200..!

Cath said ,Billy,ye cud buy a lot of Batteries for £200!

A big yin ti power aal ya hoose was a few thoosand quid!

A said ti thi canny guy,a just want boil thi kettle man,a divvent ti buy a power station!

THAT was aboot 20 or more years ago!

Cheers Alan!

Update..4-2-2022...and no-one from govt or any other official body has come on to dispute me about Archbold having a personal vendetta againdt Bates Colliery in the 1980-s..Now the Russian President Putin has invaded Ukraine,and is cutting oil and Gas supplies off to the West,our energy prices are rising by thousands of pounds a year,it will be interesting to see if we re-open some of the drier pits in Nottingham and other places...gotta dae summick!!

Hi Folks,a bit late,but just caught up with one!

Around 1962,my lass got me a camera for Christmas,and to gain experience and to learn how to drive it,[yes!..Shutter speed,aperture,focus,depth of field..rings!],I went around taking reference pics of objects and places which I knew would always be the same...including this stone.

Well ,I knew about this stone from being a kid about 10 yrs old..maybe younger!,cos us kids used to play all over Bedlington,Cemetary included!

Now my theory of objects I thought would never change,is blasted to hell!

I was saddened to see how this stone has deteriorated over the the last 60 years,since I took those pics!

Us kids always thought that the figures at each side were Werewolves!...I learned later in life that they were Gargoyles,and the purpose of them was to ward off evil spirits!..I stand to be re-educated on that one Canny Lass!

If ever I can find those old photos,I will post them,and you would see how much this stone has deteriorated,partly due to vandalism..the chips taken out of the top ridge suggests that modern kids haven't been like us kids,and just played,they have been destructive..we just used to climb the conker trees or play hidey seek in the dark neets!..

1741..it's stood there a long time eh?!

Aahh! lilbill, a really appreciate ya kindness, but aam as stubborn as they come, My Family GP, the Consultants in Cramlington Hospital a fortnight ago, Nurses, even my Gud Nybors have aal said the same, I really shud have help, but as lang as aam on me two legs.. aal manage! A canna express me gratitude enough, towards aal the caring kind folk like  yasell, mind, right from the first lockdoon, last March, in 2020,me two sets of Nybors, have tekkin torns daeing shopping for Cath and Me, owa a yeor and a haaf!! Cos we were classed as vulnerable, but we have both been double stabbed, and feel a lot more confident noo. 

Thas only ten hooses in wor street, and every nybor has said Bill, just ring or put a shopping list through the door, if ye need owt! Wa really spoilt! 

Cheers! 

Aav got a, short Dvd video, of The Opencast site, which was apparently an old 8mm Cine film reel, which somebody rescued from a skip, and had transferred it ti Dvd. A think the Six Townships were selling it, and my Wife got it for me for Xmas, a few years ago. It shows the 42 ton Coal Haulers crossing the river bridge, and proved what a told me two Sons, and me Wife, for years, aboot the centre span of the bridge bouncing up and doon like a Yo-Yo!. as the Coal Haulers went across the bridge! 

Amazing Engineering, those Bailey bridges, and a never saw another one for another 50-odd yrs, till they renovated the old bridge at Rothbury, a few years ago, and they built a temporary  Bailey bridge next ti thi aad yin, so they could close the aad yin ti start work on it. A took hundreds of photos and videos of the different stages of work in progress, every time we went from the Caravan owa ti Rothbury! The design of the Bailey Bridge sections hasnt changed one bit since a first saw them in the mid.. 1950's.. right up ti thi present day!.. Well, if it ain't broke... dinna fix it!!!