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 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.

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!

CL,I live next to the main road,and when the Bedlington Station High School is coming out,after 3-30pm,the "kids"...aged anywhere from 13-18 yrs old come past my front garden each day walking along in small groups,or some are on cycles.While it's wrong to generalise..I have seen a massive change in their attitudes over the last 24 yrs I have lived here..I have noticed how Boys aged 15-16 yrs ,a lot of them,act like wee bairns..in fact my two wee bairns didn't gaan on like some of these dae..and a think..when aa was 15 yrs aad..straight from my school desk...[yawn...roll eyes!!]..I was working and training underground at Seaton Burn Colliery..six miles away from home..I went down Choppington High Pit after my 16th birthday ,working with two older men,for twenty days "close personal supervision",then I was on my own..still working with the two John's,who were by now,my good Marra's..by the time I reached 17 yrs,my two older marra's left me to go to another pit to do their coalface training.After a few days.Ned Cushing,our old Training Officer,brought a lad inbye,same age as me ,and gave me a Certificate to say I was in charge of this lad  for twenty days,then he would be my new Marra..next day, Ned brought this Lad's older Brother in and gave me another Certificate putting me in charge of him also.My point is,at 17 yrs old I was down a mine,in atrocious wet,dangerous conditions,in charge of two strangers..who were to become great Marra's IN and OUT of the pit..Now!..when I see these "Children"[by definition"]..aged 15-17 yrs,acting like idiots..and showing off in front of the lasses..I think...by hell..a wadn't waant them buggers working wi me a thoosand feet doon and ten miles oot under the North Sea filling 24 tons of coal onto a conveyor belt..driving an old fashioned coalcutter,drilling hard coal and stone by hand..carrying heavy arched girders which weighed aboot the same as two bags of cement..on their shoulders...for a quarter of a mile at a time...if we ever get back to mining coal..we will have to bring the German Contractors in..as we did in the past sometimes when the NCB wouldn't invest in specialist tunneling techniques which were way above what we had at our disposal..like at the Bewick Drift at Lynemouth..so much Water pouring in and flooding the workings..they brought Thyssens in..who had specialist refrigeration and freezing techniques ...they drilled holes all around the tunnel roadway,pumped a refrigerant into all the holes under high pressure..and this froze the water..allowing concreting of the roadway to take place..which sealed the roadway from water ingress..and I think these Specialist mining companies from Germany..even China!! will mine our coal in the future..if at all..seems I am back again....sorry for digressing!! Cheers!!

All true CL,and Vic!..not so long ago,my GrandMother   was just one of a set of children aged 14 yrs old working at Ashington colliery with the  ShaftSinkers when they sunk the later shafts..the Men did the hard work drilling and firing the bottom up but the lassies,because they were small and took no room up in the confined space,were employed to fill the basket with the stones that were fired up.That would be in the very early 1900's..Ashington was five pits in one with five shafts ...5000 miners..and the biggest mining complex in the world in those days.

Hi Canny Lass,we are now talking about conditions under the National Coal Board which was invested [is that the right word?!]..in 1947,in which Widows were allowed to live in their family home.Remember my Mother was evicted by the coal owners thugs ["Bailiffs"...THUGS]...BECAUSE MY fATHER WAS IN hOSPITAL DYING..AND NOT WORKING DOWN THE PIT WHERE THE OWNERS THOUGHT HE SHOULD BE..THEY HAD NO CONSCIENCE..NO CONCERN ABOUT THE WORKERS AT ALL..BUT IF A PONY WAS INJURED OR KILLED..THERE WAS AN INQUIREY AND THE PONY HANDLER WOULD LOSE HIS JOB AND POOSSIBLY BE JAILED ON TRUMPED UP NEGLIGENCE CHARGES....sorry about caps lock being on..glaucoma now..difficult trying to type and watch the screen..didn't realise it was on!!..I live at West Terrace in Stakeford for thirty years..the first 14 yrs were under NCB ownership,and I paid rent weekly from my pay.Down the street there were several Miner's Widows living with families in those houses.But NOT in the days before 1947!!...The pony's were "hung" onto the tubs or trams with either tracing chains from their collar each side and onto the tub handles,or Limbers..["Limma's"]..Shafts either side attached to a steel yoke and coupled to the tub middle "CockHole"..[I explained a few years ago about that term!...not indecent!!"]..with a Sheckle and Sheckle pin.So they PULLED the tubs along behind them.

Hi Folks!.Canny Lass,ye knaa me,not a nitpicker,only for correctness,for the education of the uneducated!!...but miner's coaal was never FREE!!..NOR WERE THE "FREE" houses they lived in!!..They were part of a miner's wage in lieu..and speaking personally,Linton Colliery gave the Miners coal which otherwise would be tipped on the pit heap..more stone bands than coal,also full of "Brass"[!!]..Iron Pyrites..which used to spit out onto the clippy mat and us if we sat too close!!..So!!Putters!!..the pic in my gallery on here,of my Father aged 14 yrs old,with his pony,in 1929,is when he was coal putting to his Marra,the older fella who was a Hewer.My Father putted the tubs out to a landing,where the other putters did the same thing..when there was a set of six tubs or more..the Drivers used to drive the set of tubs to the shaft bottom to be taken to bank.Every pit had it's own terms,but putters was generally the term used either for hand putting,or Pony putting.Hope that clarifies the subject.Never heard the term Cartman anywhere in any of the pits I worked at..[5 in total].

Aaahh,Scott,I am so sorry to read of your Dad's passing.We worked down Choppington High Pit in the early 1960's,when we were very young.We recently caught up again,and I know Eric was really ill with his reduced lung capacity...please accept my sincere condolences,from my Wife also.My deceased oldest Sister June was friends in the same class at the Whitley in the 50's..as your Mam,but we all knew her..she was always a lovely Lass. Kindest regards Scott. Bill.

Sorry Alan,canna help here,but mind there are two lads who I thought I recognised but they have been named..Cheers Bill.

The aad photo of the shop is hoo aa remember..broon painted shop front..roller shutters in later yrs,probably after the break-ins..the war hadn't been owa just four yrs prior ti my first seeing this Aladdin's cave..the only sweets I ever got at that age was when me Mother tuk me ti Doctor Hickey's Surgery,at Choppington,just up the bank from where a lived in Storey's Buildings,doon aside the Willow Bridge at Choppington Station..Dr Hickey aalwis kept a big tin of sweeties on his table at the side,and every kid who went to see him,even if it was their Mother who was the Patient,they got a sweetie..that was the way to befriend the kids and allay any fear aboot gaan ti see him!![dinna forget..we didnae hae the drugs we hae nooadays..us kids picked aal sorts of infections up..!!

Hi Folks,Wemyssies was a confectionery wholesaler when aa was a bairn livin doon Hollymount Square from 1947..as a got ti aboot five yrs aad,me aader Brother,who would be eight yrs aad,[taakin aboot 1949 noo!],used ti tek me aroond and up Bell's Place,and aroond the corner..and we used to gaze in the windae of Wemyss shop,at the piles and piles of big sweet jars of sweets of aal description..we kids had nowt..me mutha cudnt gie us a jam sammidge in the afternoon when we hungry between meals..so we used ti drool owa the sight of aal these big sweet jars..we used ti watch vans coming and gaanin,loading and unloading whacks of these jars at a time and wondered what was gaan on..we didn't knaa wat the words "Confectionery Wholesaler" meant!..we were pitmans kids..a still wasn't at school yit..[a started in the Autumn term at the Bedlington Village Infants school in 1949].In later years,some of the Millfielders broke in and stole jars of sweets,the same ones broke into the Clayton Ballroom..they got caught and fined..it was a big crime scene in them days..hearing of local lads being taken to court..Bedlington was a quiet peaceful little village!!..It seems that building hasn't changed much owa the yeors...but Bedlington sure has!! Cheers!

First chance a get,aal hae a luk in at the aad school and tek a picta..aam not shy o just waakin in and asking the Heedmaster and tell him/her aam a historian and original first day of oppenin pupil!!..in 1956...![dinna want ti open that ancient debate again mind!!],,aal see wat a can dae  folks..it's difficult gettin oot noo..me Wife is ill,and aav just been diagnosed wi Glaucoma in both eyes..!!..me bike riding days seem ti be owa sadly!!..itll be me driving the way things are gannin!! Cheers folks!!

Hope everybody has a better 2024 than this year!! Aal thi best Folks!!

On 19/12/2023 at 19:45, Canny lass said:

.... and the same from me! Merry Christmas to everybody. Take really, really, REALLY good care of yourselves and we'll meet again in the new year.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you C.L. Cheers Bill.

On 21/12/2023 at 19:40, Maggie/915 said:

Happy Christmas to you all 

Maggie 

 

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you Maggie! Cheers Bill.