HIGH PIT WILMA

Hi Joe,welcome to the forum! Ye wadn't hae been the little bugger hoo swore at me and spat at me when a waaked up me marra's garden path ti seek him....wad ye?!.....[aroond 1961-ish!!!] Young Joe lived next door ti me marra,and the two little we'ens were aalwis playing in the garden,and that day,one of the we'ens did just that for nae reason!!...... .....little bugga!![mind he wudda ownly been aboot 2 or 3 years aad!! heh heh!....kids will be kids..!] Aav just been asking Brian if Jimmy Steel is any relation,a Bates Pit Marra who went ti live in Australia a few years ago? [on a different page..] Cheers mate!

HI Brian,welcome to the forum! Are you any relation ti one of me aad Bates' pit marra's...[whey,"Aad" is a figure of speech,cos the lad aam taaking aboot was just a young'un when the pit was gaanin'!] Jimmy Steel? Went ti live in Perth Australia a few years ago. Aye,Ted was a crackerjack aal reet!,if we heard he was coming through the free woods doon Bedlington bank,[jungle drums!],we used ti climb up the tallest,thinnest tree we could find,cos we knew he couldn't climb that far up a tree for fear of the tree branch breaking off,or for fear of falling! That was our safety escape plan,cos if ye hung aroond by the river,he wud delight in tossing ye in fully clothed and wud watch ye droond....not so funny.[and aa cudn't swim,but a cud climb higher,and faster than any of the lads doon the woods...[cudn't run,used ti get caught by farmers etc for apple-raiding etc!!] There was aalwis loads of lads doon the woods in them days....circa 1954...[before that and after that also... aa was 10 yrs aad in that year] Sym,mebbe the cooncil was strapped for cash ti build a new block of classrooms,and had ti mek dae wi "Pre-fabs"..[they weren't portacabins],they must have been built after the end of the war,at least,mebbe earlier,but my eldest Sister started the family trend of attending the Whitley,[aal five of us..],and she would have started there in aroond 1948-ish,and I think....THINK,mind,!,that they were there then. I stand to be willingly corrected if I am wrong on that point.[they were there when I started in aroond 1952-ish.]

Vic,a wadn't o' thowt o' that in a month of weekend shifts! A tek it ye mean just type me story in the mailbox as if a was gaana send it ti sumbody,but really just using the box as a safety storage vehicle?[a get the cut 'n paste bit aalreet!] Thanks a lot marra!

Heh heh!....two mair came ti mind as a switched topics....Barbara [Babs] Thornton,and Rosemary Oliver..[ex-my class at the Whitley School..aal the way through life from the infant school..as was Dennis Green,Martin Nicholson,Bobby Cross,Len Thompson, Ted Smout,Lynn Hayes,Anne Pattinson,Sandra Short,Lorna Barker,and the aforementioned Joans Henderson and Hogg! That's 14 including Me,aal from the same class through school life,start ti finish!....[from the Whitley].....tha was only aboot 21-or 22 pupils in total in the Upper Remove!..[and aa was thi ownly one dumb enough ti gaan doon a deep dark dorty hole in thi grund!!] Dennis Green went ti Scotland,promoted to a Chief of the Police Force,Martin Nicholson went into the Royal Engineers as an Electrician,in Abu-Dhabi,Bobby Cross went into acting on T.V.,then back into Journalism..[so I heard],Rosemary Oliver ran her own business in Bedlington Station as a Florist,and I would be interested to know what happened to everybody else! Cheers Norman!..hope we hook up some time for a natter!

Hi Norman,again! Isobel Bowman definately!..[ Trevor Hale and her were very pally at school,dinna knaa if they ever got together later on]......canna be many mair,it was only a smaal class compared ti the Whitley School classes,where there were over 40 pupils in a class!

Hi Norman,great to hear from you! Dae yi mind if a mek a few corrections,and additions,if me memory is serving me correctly! Corrections first! The only Martin was Martin Nicholson [sadly deceased at a young age],ginger-haired Derek McGregor,Bill Allison [no "N"...cos that's me!],[tall]Eddie Hedley,[very tall!..]Micky Lucas,who was Sergeant Lucas' Son [at the top-end cop-shop!]. Additions..little Billy Brown,[my neighbour at Hollymount Square,Barry ?["Barf"...wore black Buddy Holly style glasses..],Derek Goodall,and.......correct me please if aam wrang here,Joan Hogg,and Joan Henderson. ...meanwhile....aa's thinkin'....!!

Heh heh! Wi me it cums natural,a just write wat aam thinking and it flows like ink oot a pen....mind,a write like a taak......!!![...live.....but not dirty....Sym,ye aad bugga!!] Sym,aa tried daeing wat ye sed aboot " Word",but it asks for me key,and tells me aav only got permission ti use it 25 times before it gets locked oot....noo aa dinna understand owt aboot text editors or Word or owt like that!! Canny lass,aal try that wat ye suggest next time! Thanks folks!

Aye Maggie,with wonderful hindsight,a wish aad found out more about my descendants when a was young!

Hmm....noo aav checked it,it seems ti be aareet noo....strange gaanin's on lately! Anybody be able ti tell me if lost posts can be retrieved sumhoo?

Hi Norman! Would I be right in thinking you were mates in the same class [upper remove],with Davy lees and another lad whose name I canna bring to mind,just I have this memory of when I went into the remove halfway through the class term,there were the three lads,who always stuck together at breaks etc,Davy was Head Boy when I went into the class...a smashing natured lad...it wasn't long before they all left Westridge to further their education. Nae disrespect intended if aav got it wrang,mind,nowt unusual for me! Cheers!

".......EVERY GENERATION....BLAMES THE ONE BEFORE......."....[SUNG WITH FEELING!!] ...Mike and the Mechanics track....lovely story lyrics...echoes real life situations in families! So true what you say Maggie!

A dinna knaa hoo me previous lang post has got "quote" marks in it......summiks gone wrang there!!

I just lost a story that I spent a half hour typing in,about a bad accident on a face at Choppington B pit,in around 1963,where a cutterman called Jimmy Prime was badly injured after being crushed by his coalcutter which danced oot from the cut and squeezed the life oot of him after it pushed him up against a hydraulic face chock. He miraculously survived and recovered after a hospital stay. A real canny fella was Jimmy. Any relation to you James neil?..if he is still with us,he might remember young Wilma wi thi lang hair and played the geeuuu-gaa!!

My Father started Choppington B pit [the High Pit],in 1929,aged 14 years,as a coal putter. I started there in 1959,and was transferred away just a few months before it closed in 1966. My Father went daft when he saw my letter informing me to start the High Pit,saying he would block me from going,as it was "Aal rough and ready,and there was lads hurt and killed every other week" Well,I did start,and I wasn't there but a few weeks,when I experienced the horror of a fatal accident occurring on the screens,which Lone Ranger should be able to remember. As time went by,and I was working underground,on heavy transport,my Father's words to me became more and more true,cos it was every other week that I had to go inbye with a "Three-barred-tram",[just a small vehicle designed to transport pit props and planks in to the hand-filling coalfaces],to seek an injured miner,and bring him out to where the mainset landed. The rolleyway was in the tailgates only,[no rails at all in the Mothergates],so an injured miner on the coalface had to be transported along the face to the tailgate,unless he could walk all right,in which case he would just go outbye down the Mothergate. Due to the wet conditions,the sleepers rotted,and became dislodged from the rails due to the ponies' hooves pushing against them while pulling trams inbye,uphill all the way,in really rough conditions. This caused the rails to either collapse from the sleepers altogether,["become parted"],or "catches" to occur at every other joint in the rails.When the tram wheels hit a "catch", the wheels jumped the rails and became "Laanched"..slang for "launched",and meaning that the tram or tubs were de-railed..or.."off the way"! So! it was,one day Joe Barrat,[the Overman],told me to take a tram into the first North tailgate,to bring a man out who had a broken leg.[not forgetting that it was illegal to ride on trams or in tubs...technically,but on the job,you gotta use common sense and act quickly in an emergency!] I went inbye and got the injured fella onto the tram,and set off outbye. [I was about 17 years old at this time] We didn't get a hundred yards when the tram jumped the rails and bounced all over the place,due to the wheels riding over the sleepers,throwing me and the injured man off the tram. Because we were going down a varying gradient on the way outbye,we used to put a dreg in the back wheels of the tram,to slow it's speed,and "brake" the front wheels with the sole of our welly's, bearing on the wheel flange,having pushed our lower leg through the tram's bars....[no H &S in them days!!] The more weight you pressed down on the wheel flange the more you would slow the tram,with the assistance of the rear dreg. This meant that the pony could steadily pull the dregged tram,but if the tendency was for the tram to speed up on a steeper part of the roadway,then you could control the tram from running onto the ponies' back legs [which happened very frequently.] Whey!,this day proved to be an absoloute nightmare for this lad with a splinted broken leg!! We got off the way about a dozen times coming outbye,and he was screaming and swearing like hell at me,as if it was my fault that the rolleyway was in the mess it was in.[The rolleyway-men used to concentrate on keeping the main roadways' rolleyway in decent condition,to bring the mainset in and out.]It was left to us young timber and transport lads to fix the way ourselves..which we tried to do,but nature was more of a force against us!![wet conditions!] When we got outbye to the main road,he got off the tram,cursing..."A wished aad just f..........g waaked oot....a wadn't hae had sae much pain!!" That wasn't the only time that that happened like that,but it was the worst,and it stuck in my mind all these years!! It was a happy little pit,wasn't it? Lone Ranger?!!!

Heh heh!! Creasing me up ye aad bugga!!.........."Get Maggs and H.P.W." .....Opening soon at selected venues!![er....!!........div a need ti explain it...or hev a spoilt it by sa'in' "div a need ti explain it?!!]...a passing thought..Gud job Sym got it in thi reet order or we wud aal be in thi nick in nae time..heh heh!! Noo wi knaa why aad Sym defected!! [Mind,hoo aam aa ti taak....tha's a dark side ti me an aal!.....a once got caught by the forst copper-car-cops in Bedlington,wi a baigie under me jumper for me Mutha ti mek thi Sundi dinna wi..as laddies did in 1954....at ten ya aad!!![Hard-up laddies that is!]

Heh heh! Nice one marra,thanks a lot Bedders!Aav been doon aal thi Ashington streets owa thi years,but nivvor knew where Pont Street was,musta aalwis escaped me! It's great seeing the street plan wi thi tubway in ivry raa! Me Mutha used ti tell us kids hoo she used ti dreg the set up,Lowse the powny off thi set by tekking thi sheckle pin oot,waak thi powny aroond ti thi other end of the set,hing thi powny back on by putting thi sheckle pin inti the sheckle on thi limma's ,once the sheckle was lined up owa the middle cock-hole on thi tub.Tek thi dregs oot,and away the Set-lad wud gaan,wi he's chum-set,and back ti thi pit for anutha full set,ti dae thi next raa! Noo,as a 14 year owld Lassie,wi a gud memory till she passed on at 95,she cudn't mek a story like that, up, as colourfull as she used ti tell us,when we were bairns!! She used ti help the set-lad ti hoy thi coal oot thi tubs once they were cowwped owa onto the roadside! But then,as she was the youngest in a mining family wi her Dad and brothers aal pitmen,[not forgettin the lads were in thi pit at fowteen years aad],her tasks were ti clean oot and refill,then polish,aal the carbine lamps,sharpen the drills wi a rasp,[nae Tungsten Carbide tips in them days!],put baits up,and clean and polish the pit byeuts for thi next shift!!...[a knaa..!..."carbine"....just a pitmatic slang word for the stuff!!] Her Mother left her family when she was only six years old,and buggad off.They later traced her in Doncaster bigamously married again doon there.Nowt sed aboot that,they were only happy to be re-united again.....by then aa was aboot 12 years owld,and loved me new Grandma ti bits,cos even though a knew the story from me Mutha telling us,a was still too young ti understand much aboot the carry-on. The owlda generations had that much ti say aboot the 1960's generation....sex....drugs....rock and roll....free love...aal that.......!!....thi buggas were worse in the generations before us!!!!

Wow,Sym! Ye bugga,this is mair interesting than bliddy pitwark! Tellis mair!

Hi all! Although I never knew Joe personally, [A] 'Cos I was a teetotaller and never drank or went into pubs or clubs..except to entertain. In the 50's I was too young to know,and in thi 60's I was courting seriously and entertaining,still. Joe was always either in the Ashington Post or Blyth News,or Chronicle,with his feats,and I was always under thi impression that his record crisp-eating was 53 packets in under an hour without a drink. His Son,young Joe,lived next door to my Marra,who was to become my Best Man at my wedding,this was in 1967.That was at the bottom of the Beattie and Haig roads,on Millbank Road. As time went by,in the 1980's a young lad came down Bates Pit,called Jimmy Steele,a strong,powerful young'un,and a gud hard worker underground in bad conditions. He is a "distant"relation to old Joe,and is now living and working in Perth,Australia. He got into contact with me after nearly thirty years [since Bates closed],through visiting the Flickr site and seeing my Bates pit pics! He is the only Steele of that family I knew. The amount of pies that old Joe went through in a session was incredible,according to what we used to hear and read of in those days!

Hi Newbedders! Many thanks for your mail,and for posting these interesting maps,it proves my Mutha did still "have all her marbles" [quote: her last remarks before she passed away,at 95 yrs old!] She was born and brought up in Pont Street,which I cannot see on these maps,so I think there must be other sections available in the archives,showing the rest of the colliery village...VILLAGE!!!!.....Ashington was the biggest mining town in the world in the early days...5 pits in one,with over 5000 miners employed there! Hi Haffy! Just ti clear up any unintended confusion,when I moved into West Terrace,Stakeford,in 1970,it had ootside aad-fashioned flush toilets,across the yard,wi a high wall aal aroond,but the floor of the building was the original old Netty ,and shaped with a curved sill at the entrance doorway,the purpose of which was to prevent the contents of the netty being pushed into the yard,when the midnight shuveller used to push he's shuvell into the little ground-level access hole which was in the main ootside terraced wall! One little hole ootside every hoose in the street of 100 hooses![mind,when ye luk at these maps,it must hae been a neetmare for the coal-leaders,and the netty-cleaners!!] So a divven't knaa when thi aad netties were done away wi,at Bomarsund,Stakeford....[cos wor hooses were built for thi Bomar pit lads originally.] Thi mind boggles if ye start thinking aboot hoo they managed aal this,and where the tubloads of netty slag went and wat they did wi it! We'll leave it at that eh?!

A forgot ti taak aboot the blacklocks and their eggs which a found in different places when a pulled aad door frames oot,and especially the triplex range,coal oven......it was a breeding haven for the little buggers! Too late noo,aam jiggered,need ti gaa ti kip...leave it for anotha neet,unless anybody can also relate stories aboot them! Bob Bethwaite Jr comes ti mind at thi Bedltn Aad pit,in the mid -1960's] [That's me reminder for next time!]

Lone Ranger,are ye still gaanin' strang yit?...been a lang time hearing from ye! A think one of the pics at thi top reminds me of Norman Smeaton,but mind........1971 was a lang time ago!!![a cud be reet or wrang!] Canny Lass,a divvent knaa if a telt thi story elsewhere on thi site,but aal tell it anywheh! When a was alang wi Dougie Moore,at Netherton,in 1971,daeing me Deputy's three weeks training,[which was part of a 16 week course,],we were sitting at the Deputy's Kist,getting wa baits. Dougie proceeded ti tell me aboot another old-timer Deputy,who worked in this district where we were,and sat at the same kist,getting he's bait,many years before us were. One night,in the night shift,[5-0pm start-not to be confused with "Fore-shift"....which was a 12-0 midnight start..],this aad Deputy was getting he's bait,on he's own,in a long black dark roadway,as they are underground! Something caught he's eye in the distant darkness,and he could make out a pinprick of light,[Carbide lamps in those days!],which steadily got nearer,as the minutes passed. He carried on writing his Mines and Quarries Act 1954 "General Inspection" report on the state of his district,as to safety,production progress etc,when a movement caught his eye again. Looking up from his report book,he saw a figure of a very old Miner walk past,unseeing,and unmoved,just sauntering slowly outbye,with an unlit clay pipe in his mouth,and an old-fashioned cloth cap and muffler on,typical dress of the real old miners...1800's style. When he related to others what he had seen ,later on,he found out that a few other men had seen him frequently,and even had an affectionate nickname for the old fella!...but each one hadn't said owt in case others thought they were nuts![so to speak!] Have you or Maggie ever heard that story before? Be interesting to find out who the old fella was,and if it was on record,maybe he suffered a fatal accident,or died in the pit while working during his shift.

Templars....?!........maybe....eh Sym?!!.......

Sym,ya probably sitting on a Scottish Mansion somewhere.....Laird Sym!! My Mother told me before she passed on,that my 5x Grandfather was a Scottish Laird.no more details to be found on that one. Maybe that's why I have been pulled to Scotland all my adult life,firstly for my Honeymoon in 1967,then forever more,every year,three times a year,until my Wife's ill-health meant we could no longer travel so far. Even Wooler,every weekend up the Cheviots with our tourer,for over 20 years,walking them thar hills from sometimes 5-am [sun-up],till 11-0pm..[sun down]!! Ye canna imagine a scene of so much blood and death in so small an area,I've been there many many times,and often wondered what could be found with a good metal detector! We used ti love watching the old bus towing GGG's marra's up owa the top of the Yeavering Bell,and breaking away wi a characteristic drop in revs,and a roll to Port!!! Did I get that yin reet or hev a med an A.....e o' mesen? It wudna hae been ye,GGG ....wud it?....spoiling the tranquility of a Sunday afternoon..!! We went from 1977-ish on,then withoot the van,just for a day noo and then,up ti thi present time.

Whey a nivvor knew that James! Live and larn. A lived in Bedlington from aboot 1947 till a got married in 1967,and nivvor twigged aboot thi cooncil motto. Mebbe cos aal a was interested in was larning the guitar,tuk nea interest in nowt else but aal things connected wi thi space race......oh!...and the Clangers and Metal Mickey....mind a was still a kid! Queer motto ti hae an iron cross on it eh?[ ner.....it's not the George cross...it's a bliddy Jarmin one!]

Hi Haffy! Ashington was a different kettle of fish! Whereas Bedlington hooses were little hovels med nice by proud miner's wives,in thi aad days,the raas and raas of hooses in Ashington were better built,and still stand yit as the high end of Ashington bears testament. Portia,Katherine ,and aal thi rest of thi lasses nyems in one part,aal thi nyems of trees in another part,hundreds of hooses,still as gud as ever,cos they were built wi better bricks etc.Mostly aal private noo,and sum luvly hooses amang them,when yi gaan doon them streets. Me Mutha was born in Pont street,[thi Ferguson family,Billy thi buck,George,John,Matt,Lily,Nancy,and Jean,who was me Mutha,a think Granda Ferguson was also John senior,but not too sure aboot that.] There was also a young Alfie who died aboot 18 months old,and he wud have been the last in this large family,in the old days....me Mutha was 95 when she died a few years ago.Matt was also 95 when he passed on,so aam wondering if yi knew any of the family. A knaa at one time,there were 5000 miners in Ashington village,cos thi pit was five pits in one. Me Grandma McDonald,passed on many years ago,was working in one of the shafts when the shaft was being sunk. Coal-owner-days when bairns,including lassies were employed in inhuman conditions for up to 18-hour shifts...as young as six years old..underground. Me Grandma told me that after the sinkers had drilled and fired the sinking shots,the lassies used ti hae ti load the "Kibble" [ a basket],wi aal the loosened stones,and clean the ground for the next drilling operations. The men would have ti rest,cos tha was nae powered drillers in them days,it was aal brute force hand drilling...very slow hard work,but they did it. Me Mutha used ti tell me stories aboot hoo there were tub rails doon every street,and the miner wud lead he's pony doon the street fetching pit tubs wi thi miners' hoose coal.he used ti tip thi tubs oot on their side ti empty thi tub next ti each hoose,and me Mutha had ti use a big pan shuul ti hoy thi coal oot thi tubs,and help the guy ti put thi tubs back on thi way..[thi rails],ready ti gaan back ti be loaded up for the next run. She was only 14 years aad,then she went into"Service",looking after rich peoples hooses and mekking meals and deaing hoosewark.and god knaas wat else,when yi trace history back aboot wat happened in them days ti young lassies![mostly Jewish folks in them days,at tynemooth,Then doon ti London.] Can ye add ti any of this history,Haffy,a mean on a porsinal level,or even substantiate any of me comments,cos it's mostly wat a was telt by the aad folk when a was a bairn.[ me Grandma was aroond in thi late 1800's,so nowt unusual aboot her daeing pitwark.] Me Mutha,as well as loads of aad miners,used ti tell in detail,who the midnight shuveller used ti cum doon thi streets wi his horse and cart,ti clean oot aal thi aad netties,["ashpits" they caaled thim!!]....wat a job! Eeh,a cud gaan on and on![heh heh!.... a dae!]