HIGH PIT WILMA

Would love to see a 1957-8-9 set of pics of Upper Remove at Westridge,wi me ugly little fyess on!!!

Heh heh! This is the remains of the fi rst,and I repeat ..first...Upper Remove,and I would say it was taken after the 1960 summer GCE exams..[guessing on that bit mind!]. These aren't kids noo,they've grown up a lot since I left the class in 1959 to start the pits.[just as I was all hard muscle from puppy fat after a year of hard labour! Here we go....... [4]Len Thompson [5]Michael Lucas [6] Ian Cambell [7] Eddie Hedley [9] Lorna Barker [13] Ted Smout [16] THINK! Miss Nicholson [teacher] [17] Lillian Moore Racking me brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mind,half of the class is missing!....maybe some left to start work or failed exams and weren't present?????????// I also think that some of these pupils were integrated into the class after I left,cos I have written a list of those I can remember and out of 22 pupils, the ones above are all that are in this pic.[7 out of 22!] [15] Could be Trevor Hale,but unless he shot up in height,i'm wondering,cos he was a big broad-shouldered athlete at 15 yrs..the best runner in Northumberland at the time...a young Mo Farrow....nea bugga cud catch him on the track!...but he wasn't really tall....

....Er....afore a switch off,it just came ti me,when ye were aal getting ya baits tigitha,a line o' ye and ya marra's,thi trick was ti either switch ya caplamp off so thi little buggaa's would hang aroond one o' ya marra's leet,or ivrybody tek tha lamp off and put them a wee distance away,ti draw the swarm away from ye,so yi cud eat in peace!! Aam gone this time!! Keep a hauld fo' noo Marra's!

Thanks a lot,Canny Lass,and Eggy also.! Aye Lass,if it hadn't been for coal,and the down-trodden miners and wee boys,AND women,the industrial revolution wouldn't have taken place! The Navy wud still have been in wood ships wi sails and oars!...nae aeroplanes....nae steel....nae trains...... ....nae androids......!!!!!!!!!!! Back on thi subject of baits and fleas,wi say,truthfully,jam n breed,and dripping,but as time went by,and money became a little bit mair in miner's Wives' purses,there became a variety of interesting baits!! After having banana sammidges EVERY single day,[ sometimes 7 days a week wi overtime],for NINE solid years!,a came yem and aked me Mutha ti put apple sammidges in the morn,cos sumhoo a just got sick o' banana !!! Then after six years,and noo on the coalface,[as opposed ti being a transport and girder-lad],a started tekkin' Mars Bar sammidges,wi thi bar thinly sliced up,and only six sammidges,cos yi didn't hae time ti eat fowerteen,when yi were on piecework on the fyess!! One auld fella who was a canny quiet aad sowl,was caaled "Saalt",for a nickname,cos he played hell wi he's Wife for not puttin any salt on he's Corned Beef sammidges! Another fella who was a training instructor at the Yard seam training gallery at Bedlington Aad pit,tuk crisp sammidges ivry single day,and he used ti sit on the ootbye side of me,so aa was tasting bliddy crisps,which a detested!!,cos they made me want ti vomit!! When a got oot the pit and into cabinet-making,a used ti tek lime marmalade sammidges,and on a Friday,when the lads did the chippie run,a used ti cadge just fower or five chips ti put on me Lime marmalade butty.........gorgeous!! Anywheh,back ti thi pit,one young lad at Bates didn't tek any bait at aal,but he used ti sit doon aside yi,and pull a Kelsae Giant onion oot o' he's sack,and start chowing at it like it was an apple!! I kid ye not!! That lad noo lives in Perth,Australia,wi his family,and got in touch wi me after nearly thirty years,through seeing me Bates pit photos on Flickr!! When a was only nineteen,a did me coalface training at Bedlington aad pit,then went back ti Choppington high pit,onto a rough coalface,in the 6-0am shift,as a spare coalcutterman. A worked wi an aad fella caaled "Scrammer" Young,so-called because he came from Scremerston pit after it closed. He was a hard,tough aad chep,thin as a rake,strong as a horse,and a gud aad cutterman,wudda been aboot 60-ish,[but ti me as a young lad,he was a dinosaur!]. The face was teeming in wi roof-waata,the roof was brekking up atween ivry set o' gears,[one 6' plank wi a prop at each end,and a prop in the conveyor belt line..roughly in the middle= a set o' gears.],and a fyess-brek [face-break],occurred as soon as ye were cutting the face,and the roof literally lowered as ye were crawling slowly in front of the cutter machine. Where the seam was aboot 2'-6" ti start with,it was doon ti anywhere between 2-0' and eighteen inches high,and grumbling on aal the time...by thi time thi face was filled off. The coalface was under so much roof pressure as the strata started laying-on,and breaking up,that the face itself used ti "Bowk-off",that is...huge chunks of solid coal the height of the seam,and mebbe six feet lang,and aboot a foot thick,wud suddenly crack audibly and loud,and fly out from the face,scattering aal ower,and hurt when it hit you!! Whey one day,we finished cutting the face,we were soaking and up ti thi eyes of clarts,which was a mixture of fine coal and stone curvings,from the cutter jib,and of course,filthy black waata,which ye were lying in aal day,so we crawled through the whole of the face,150 yards,ti get ti thi Mothergate,which was a hell of a struggle ,in a seam that low!! Haafway down the face we smelt summick really foul.....aye,one of the "Pullers"..["Bumpers" at other pits...],had been caught short,in the middle of the face wi nae choice but ti drop he's gears there where he lay..........and we had just crawled like snakes on wor bellies,stryght thro' it!! The pullers were the team who advanced,or "pulled",or "bumped",the face conveyor over into the new track,ready for the coalfillers to start filling the shot-down coal onto the belt. Anywheh!!,we got ti thi Mothergate,and aa scraped me claas as best as a cud,wi a bit of sharp stone,like a knife,ti get thi clarts and sh.... off me,and start ti get me bait. Noo me hands were aal clarty,still,cos nae wesh-basins,so a held me sammidge by a corner,chowed the rest,and hoyed the corner bit away.[as ivrybody else did......except Scrammer!!] He followed me off the fyess,inti thi high,and started gettin a diddle a cupple o yards away from me,and as he did so,he started ti wesh he's hands under he's John-tom,using he's aan waata ti clean he's hands doon. Then he calmly sat doon amang the waata and clarts,cos naewhere was dry!!,and held he's bait,eating the whole sammidge!! Aa was disgusted at him,and sed "Ya mekkin' game aren't yi,Scrammer?" He sed "Hoo's that Wilma?" "Need a say,ye hacky aad sod..."....in banter-fashion of course! He sed "Wilma,it's YE that's thi hacky sod ,not me,aav got clean hands,me aan waata's a lot cleaner than that wat ye've just craaled through,ya sittin theor like aan aad tramp,wi ya clarty,sh......y hands on ya bait!" A had ti laugh,cos Scrammer was a hell of a character,and we got on really weel,seeing the big age difference! Years later,a used ti see him waakin doon from thi top-end ti gaan ti the Market club,in he's late seventies,from a haaf a mile away!.....stryght as a die,a thick crop of pure silvery white hair,and a peculiar gait....he was fit as a lop! Sumbody on here is boond ti hae knaan Scrammer Young!![John Dawson.....where are ye?!!!] It was a party trick for them that had a kink in thier sense of humour,ti throw thi proverbial "Sh..."into the blades of the auxiliary fans which were hung in the fresh-air stream,and which were used to ventilate solid drivages,which had a dead-end,like those in my pit pics. A sure-fire way ti draw the men oot of thi working....but a bit sick aa used ti think. There was a big young lad at Bates pit,on a fully -mechanised face,who was the laziest bloke in thi pit,[whey....ONE of them ....!],who,when aa was a deputy in charge,would tell me ti ....whey....where ti gaan..!,when a asked him ti help carry timber up ti thi face for he's aan marra's doon thi face,where the roof was badly breaking up,and stopping the conveyor belt.,wi falls of roof stone.[he was aboot 16 stone,and wasn't as strong as he's aan shadow!!] Whey as time went by,aa came off deputy-wark,and HE, went ONTO deputy-wark,then as overman. He was very badly-liked,and had a piggish attitude to everybody,especially the young timber-laddies,who hated him. One day,after several of his flasks of tea had been smashed by someone who had it in for him,over a few weeks, we were sitting getting wor baits,[me marra's and me..],when he came owa ti us and said "lukka this.....mind tha stooping low noo..." He had aal he's sammidges in he's hand,in the loaf-wrapper,and they were aal covered in human muck and had been re-wrapped so he wouldn't suspect owt till he had them on he's knee,ready ti eat his bait. Noo ye might say he deserved it,but me,aa wudda rather had it oot wi him man ti man,aa thowt it absoloutely disgusting for anybody ti interfere wi another man's bait. It was sacrosanct in the aad days,just wouldn't be thowt of,but this was in the mid-1970's,when a new breed of young miners came doon,who hadn't been browt up wi a gud greasing atween thi legs as an initiation ceremony, and they were browt up wi mechanisation on reasonably high coalfaces[3-0feet at least] If these kids had been thrust doon a pit like Choppington,or Whittle,or Longhirst Drift,where it was rough......they wudn't last two minutes! Whey,aam tired,hungry,and need me bait,after aal that coal dust chowkin' me throat!!

Aa can mind me Mutha puttin' Wor Auld Chep's bait up,when a was as young as aboot six![characteristically,because of the abscence of any bait-boxes!] The bait sammidges were wrapped in newspaper,and put in a string-tied "sandshoe-bag",which me Mutha wudda med,oot a bit o' aad cloth. Nae flasks....just a bottle of caad tea,in a Muter's pop bottle. A can see him clearly,wi he's pit mack on,[a broon one],bottle o' tea in one side pocket,bait-bag in the other side pocket.[nea biscuits or crisps for a snack!!] But earlier than that,[mebbe aboot 2 1/2-3 yrs aad,] a can clearly mind him lifting me on top of a big hessian sack of coal,which was draped owa thi cross-bar of his aad pit bike,wi him pushin' it up thi back of Storey's Buildings,and which he had picked of the Low-Pit heap at Choppington.[which a lot of pitmen did in them days,before concessionary coal was agreed upon...not "FREE" as folk always used to grouch about,but in lieu of a reduced wage,and so forming part of a wage in kind...[like a company car].When we got in the hoose,he aalwis had a jam sammidge from he's bait,wad he kept ..."fo' thi bairn.."!] So when aa started at thi pit,[High Pit]aa had me bait-bag as weel! Noo,cloth bait-bags were aal reet........until ye came ootbye,sowkin' wet....up ti thi eyes o' clarts,absoloutely buggaad.....,and when ye went ti get ya bait oot ya "Bait-bag" [ex-army gas-mask satchel!],and a haaf-duzzen fat mice jumped oot in aal directions,it wasn't sae funny! Noo,mice or nae mice,when aa wuz starving,the mice were lucky ti escape!..me bait wud hae aal the corners of the sammidges chewed away,as they dae,like,but aal a did was yank the chewed bits off and hoy it doon for thi poor little hungry mites!,and eat the rest!!! From me starting the pit thi forst day,a tuk six sammidges,["Wonderloaf"!],wi butter and banana ,and a spoon o' sugar sprinkled owa each sammidge. After a few weeks of really hard work,[for a 15yr aad kid stryght oot' o' skyeull!],a was asking me Mutha ti put a cupple extra in. This went on owa a few mair weeks,till a was tekkin' FOWTEEN banana n sugar sammidges,and walloping thim aal doon in thi 20 minutes bait-time we were allowed! Owld-timers used ti say,"Wilma, wheor thi hell are ye gaana put aal them bugga's?!...and a used ti just laugh,and say,"Just waatch!". Some o' them wud hae TWO sammidges,some fower,usually jam n breed,or if it was a Sunday neet or Monday ,they wud hae drippin' sammidges,wi a ton o' salt on!! Noo doon thi pit,tha's nae toilets or fancy wesh-basins,so yi get ya bait wi clarty hands,weshed in a clarty black swalley o' waata,wheor man and horse wudda been gettin a diddle in aal day lang![..and hae yi seen hoo much waata a horse diddles?!!!] After some blokes had tha baits,they wud say,"whey aam away forra sh.....e if Joe Barrat waants ti knaa wheor aam is! They wud usually gaan doon an aad worked-oot roadway...oot thi way of thi men gettin' tha baits,still. But some blokes delighted in gaanin doon thi roadway,on thi ootbye side o' ye,so ye got aal the foul reek.. Other blokes,[usually heavy drinkers],couldn't wait ti craal off the face,which was aboot 2foot 3 inches high,so they wud cock tha hint-end in between thi timbers,and just gaan ti thi toilet there!,sutimes happin it up wi a shuul-ful o' duff.[smaal fine coals]. NOO,when ye were craalin doon the fyess,yi mite unwittingly find the muck by puttin ye hands and thi whole of ya body in it,cos in a low seam ya craalin like a snake.! After a cupple of days,when mrs sh....tflea cums alang,lukkin fo' a nest ti lay two million eggs in,she is as happy as a lark!! When YE put ya hands in a well-fermented nest of writhing swirling maggots,the muck turns ti a liquidy jelly-like sludge...disgusting!! When aal thi little kids turn inti big kids,bingo......ya cap-lamps attract them like glue!!.....and thi little buggaas bite like hell! Will continue,LBJ crying at me legs here pitifully!!

I said it on a previous posting,not being really critical of the D,M,M,,cos it's a great database of information,but they do have a few inaccuracies on thier records! These I know for fact,as some fatalities at Choppington,for instance,were recorded as having happened some years before I started there,when in fact....they happened minutes after I was talking to the fellas concerned! Also dates of seams worked are inaccurate,I don't know how this could possibly happen! It's a real shame about your photos,Eggy,but hopefully they are in safe hands and just filed away by mistake! Some years ago,I took my Bates Pit pics over to Woodhorn,on my Son's advice,[and before we had computers and printers!],for them to copy , for the museum. They gave me a signed receipt,with a promise to return them to me asap. This they did,and within a couple of days I had my original pics back. D.M.M. should have done the same![mebbe we should gaan on picket duty aroond the museum ti hae them reinstated!] Canny Lass,when a coal-face starts to "Lay-on",it means that the roof strata above your head is starting to break up,albeit in chunks the size of a street of terraced houses,sometimes,and all supported by an organised forest of timber planks and pit props .[in the old days!,but hydraulic heavy-duty steel "face chocks" in later years..] The weight on the timber supports used to make them crunch and grind,squeal,loud cracking,and splinter like matchwood,in front of your very eyes! The whole place where your lamp can shine,[approx 60 yards],used to move about like you had a few pints on board! When things got really heavy,and she started talking LOUD!..you were OFF the face in seconds,even if it was only eighteen inches high,and a very difficult crawl off! This lad,who was a putter,[used to take the empty tubs in,and bring the full tubs out..],was warned that the face was "Heavy"...[...i.e..Laying-on],and he continued to go through the "face"...[a bit of bad reporting methinks,cos when longwall faces came in,they had conveyor belts to bring the coal out!] Putters [either "Hand-Putting" or "Pony-Putting"],took tubs into "Bord-and-Pillar" workings,["Arc-walls"],where intersecting roads called "Stentons",or, as at Choppington High Pit......."Throo-shoots"..[pronounced...."Thru-Shuts".....]...,were driven,to ensure ventilation wasn't compromised.[usually every 60 yards] So this Putter was probably travelling along the Thru-shut [not the coal-face!] to tek the full tub oot,from the filler in the backroad..[or the "Tailgate"]...if he was supplying the two fillers with empty tubs.[one filler in each gateway...[roadway]. It would probably only BE "Tub-Height",that is,just a few inches above the height of the tub as it stood on the rails..so he would be walking with his back bent. So when it started laying-on,and roof-falls occurred,he would have had very little room to move,if he was taking a tub along,which would just about block his retreat. When the 3/4 seam at Bates pit decided to start layin-on ,the noise was like loud rattles of thunder,and I mean LOUD!...it was devilish,and when you retreated out of the roadway to a relatively "Safe" place,and shone your caplamp in,you could watch 14feet wide,by 10 feet high,arched heavy-section "H" girders,"dancing" all over,while being crushed by this tremendous pressure from roof and sides,and it was a queer sight, to see a whole length of roadway moving from side to side with smaller bits of stone rattling down everywhere between each of the girders! If a stranger came in,on a visit, and witnessed this,he would be out like a shot...but you get used to all the dangers,in any job,so we used to be all laughing and carrying on,except when it started when you were in the middle of a 200 yards long coalface,and you could literally see the roof lowering by the inch,THAT was a different matter![it was a case of "all hands off deck"...like sinking-ship rats!

Hi Canny Lass! Depends which area the tragic fatality occurred.If they were using a "Simplex" ratchet jack for some reason,maybe against the roof in a very low seam,to move a coalcutter,and the roof broke up,it would naturally cause a roof fall which would "Cant"[knock] out the adjacent pit props which were holding the roof up. If you put a pit prop in against the roof,and it isn't vertical,[on a horizontal seam that is!],you would say the prop was "on the cant".[sloping!] If the coal seam was in a rising plane,you would refer to the seam being "on thi cant",therefore you would put your props in on the cant also,ensuring it was at right-angles to the floor.[whatever angle the seam was ]. In Yorkshire,and other areas,they use terms we haven't heard of! At Choppington High Pit,where roof conditions were atrocious,and accidents happened almost weekly,if not daily,the caunchmen used to put two long thick props in at a cant,with a long plank horizontally,between the props,to "stay" up the stone strata facing,where coal had been extracted from underneath,[the "Caunch"], and they referred to these props as "Brow-stays"..[pronounced.."Brew-stays"],as they supported the "Brow" of the Caunch. Now,supposing other pits did the same thing,they might refer to them as "Jacks"...[speculation!],I know they didn't use this method of support at the other pits where I worked,only Choppington. If I knew what report the quote came from,and could read the whole report,it might be easier explained! I hope at least you have a bit better understanding of some of pitwork methods,Canny Lass! If you visit my Bates Pit Pics,on Flickr,you will see what a "Caunch" is![or other pit pics on other sites on Flickr,it's a great site!] On a closing note,I would eat grass,if the judge didn't lay the blame on the miners,for negligence,and cleared the coal-owners[his cronies!],of any blame. Check out fatal accidents enquiries at the "Old Bailey" ,in the years circa 1890-ish,or anywhere around the beginning of the coal industry. It is full of.."the miner didn't have enough timber in......" ....."the boy was riding illegally on the limbers"....."the miner failed to observe the mine-owner's rules".....! He didn't have enough timber in,cos he wouldn't have ENOUGH to put in,cos the greedy Coal-owners wouldn't invest in safety. It was still hanging on like that at Choppington,for a long time,they used to have a man underground,with a "girder-straightener",in which he would be pumping away on a hydraulic operated device handle,for hours to straighten one girder or steel plank which had been bent under roof pressure![rather than send new ones !] They re-used old pitprops over and over till they were rotten with being waterlogged constantly,and which caused roof falls on the coal faces,but nobody said owt aboot it....it was the way it worked! Eeh!,time ti wesh me dishes,then it's waaky-time for LBJ! Ta Ta for noo!

Hi Pauline! I didn't know Daniel Mclean,but wonder if an old real canny fella called Jackie Mclean,was any relation,he was a Deputy at Bedlington A pit,when I started there from Choppington pit in 1965,and he was an old-timer then,maybe in his 60's,which was old when I was only 21 yrs old![young now that I am in my 70's!] His Daughter,Nancy,was a lovely P.E. teacher [very young then],at Westridge School in 1956 when it opened as a brand new school. Might be of some help in some way!..[even by elimination!] Best of luck in your search!

Heh heh! Nice one ,Canny Lass!,and thanks for your kind comments!

Hi folks! Just ti let yi aal knaa a hevn't forgotten me promise a med above,aboot Baits and .......fleas....etc! Aam hevving a rough check just noo domestically....i.e.,me Wife's health etc,but wa gettin theor! Keep ahaud! P.S. .....mebbe it wud be a gud idea if a start a new topic on that subject,cos a dae gaan on a bit!

Hi Merc!Just walk up the bank from the bridge,heading towards the rail crossing.aboot three-quarters of the way up on ya left side,just walk over the wide green bit till you come to the edge where the field starts. Look among the large bushes at the rear,and you will find the remains of the old chapel wall....nowt exciting....not exactly a castle,but a few courses of old handmade bricks from [probably] Choppington brickworks,and with a little bit of history. I was chuffed ti see them cos I used ti play on that wall at age three years,in aboot 1947,and had to be lifted up by my older Sisters. in reality,the wall might have only been aboot three feet high for aal I knaa!! Alan Dickson lived in Storey's Buildings in the latter years [1970's I think],and he has already posted info about the street and shops etc somewhere else on the site,maybe if you go back a canny few pages you will find the info. Pilgrim,you may well be right about Embroidery,but the only sewing I ever knew among aal the marra's I had when I was underground,was stitching wa breeks wi thin detonator wire[capwire],whenever they got ripped,which was every other day! That,and also,stitching the "Airbags"....when the blast from the shots being fired tore them to ribbons....and they were our lifeline.....no airbags....no air!! Airbags were flexible ducting in lengths of about 25 yards,which we had to couple together as the roadways advanced inbye..,and were fed by Auxiliary fans which were stationed outbye in a fresh air stream. You can see our airbags on my Bates Pit Photographs on Flickr. Pilgrim,I can picture,and smell,the oilcloth tablecloths yet...red tartan,sometimes yellow,and sometimes wi fruit and vegetables aal owa them for a kitchen tyeble...heh heh!!

When I was very young,my Mutha used ti mek clippie mats,and send some doon ti London,courtesy of her Sister,me Aunt Nancy,who was married to a reasonably well-off fella,and who paid the postage to send the mat,then she sold them for a small fortune,and sent me Mother the takings. They were very well received down there! Cany Lass,I think a lot of families were the same as yours,mine was,and a lot of my friends also,same regime regarding who did what during the clipping making process! Bedies,oilcloth was oilcloth......not Lino,which posh folk had when it's full name was Linoleum! Oilcloth was what pit folks referred to as "Tarry-toot",cos it was made from tar residues and burned like hell!! You could rip it into small bits to hoy onti ya bornfire on guy faaks's neet,ti mek the fire bleeze up quicker! When Lino became affordable for poorer off Wives like my Mother,they found it great to fit cos yi cud cut reet inti corners,withoot risking it tearing like oilcloth did. Mind,if ye had any damp in ya floor,it stunk whenever it had ti be lifted!! John,as kids living in Storey's Buildings on the willow bridge bank,we used ti climb the wall and play aroond the chapel,aroond 1947-ish. Part of that wall,which was at the back of thi chapel,can still be seen ,so far doon thi bank,surrounded by trees noo.

Just remembered,in 1991,I worked at an engineering company in Blyth,wat used ti be Swinney's,and one of the lads' Wife worked at the old glove factory up Barrington Road,[ "Fuggles Brewery" in later years],only now,in 1991,they were making Jeans,for Geordie Jeans company. When any denim was left in appreciable amounts,they used ti run up a few pairs of jeans under the same pattern,only unbranded,and sell them for a fiver a pair!!! We thought they were cheap!,twenty-five years later,Asda are selling branded jeans for six quid a pair!!....noo that's cheap!

Maggie,there was a Geordie Jeans shop in the Keel Row at Blyth for a canny few years,my Son in London used ti come up and buy aboot ten pairs ti tek doon wi him.Saved him a fortune compared wi London prices of Levi's etc! One day me Wife and me were taakin' ti an aad friend reet ootside thi shop doorway,next ti Willie Armstrong's Statue,when a kid,[a big kid!] ran oot thi shop,chased by the shop-owner, a woman who was a bit of a rough diamond!! She was fuming,and when a asked what was up,she said the kid had tried ti steal a pair of jeans. She explained how the kids worked as a gang......[nae cameras or mobile phones in them days...! One kid would saunter inti thi shop,choose a pair of jeans,rip thi security tags off ,then put the jeans under the pile,mebbe four pairs doon. He's marra wud run in,snatch the fourth doon pair,and fly oot thi shop,nae alarm bells ringin'!! Trouble is,thieves alwis get greedy,so they were caught at thi finish,and the wifie,in her paddy,shouted out to us..."thas no f...........er steals from my f.............g shop...!! Me and me Wife were tekkin aback wi her choice of vocabulary,it wasn't common ti hear pit lingo come oot of a woman in them days!!

T'otha day I bumped into two strangers,both women,ootside Dennis Todds music shop.Got on cracking wi thim,as yi dae like,one turned oot ti be somebody a knew when a was a kid. She had a shop opposite the Dun Coo pub,in 1955-6 ish,mebbe a bit sooner or later,meks nae odds!!....point is,me Mutha wud send me aroond for a loaf o' bread on Sunday mornin',and tell me ti hide it up me jumper.....it was against thi law,and Jimmy Mann thi polis used ti be on thi beat! Later in thi afternoon a wud gaan owa ti thi black Bull for a bottle o' Mackie's Stoot,for me Faatha.....a didn't need ti hide that,it was legal,and aa was aboot 11 or 12 years aad!! We laughed aboot it when we got on aboot the aad days,but it meks ye think hoo much of wa laws are an ass!

Brian,Matty Hall used ti sing on Parents open days at the Whitley,and I distinctinctly remember him singing one song called "Tommy Lad.....Tommy Lad"...etc,in a deep baritone voice. He was also a champion boxer in his army days,so they reckoned. He was also a "Stinger".......with thi 4 foot lang blackboard ruler! Arris hayley was a real canny youngin',he used ti come ti school wearing Swiss [?] leather traditional short pants,looked heavy and bulky,and seemed as if they would be really uncomfortable!....can you mind them Brian? One day he came over ti thi park,[beside the Whitley],flashing a gun,not a toy gun!!...I think it was a small derringer type,maybe a .38 cal....he was thi envy of aal thi kids!! Come ti think on't,where was Arris from,or,should I say his Parents....Arris isn't a typical British name is it?.....!!!! So,Brian,did your Bill gaan ti thi Whitley as weel?,cos tha's summick puzzlin' me.....

I'm referring to class middle remove 1958,Ray Barret was also in my Whitley class,he started Choppington High Pit,after me. His Dad was Ventilation Officer at the pit,Uncle Joe was an Overman,Uncle Danny was a Deputy..all at High Pit,and Ray went on to the Surveyor's team.

If no 5 is Jackie Hindmarsh,and it looks like him,then his twin brother was called Tommy,from Millfield,but the number nine doesn't resemble my memory of Tom. They were both in my class at the Whitley,and I grew up,played down the woods etc,and eventually,Jackie delivered all the building materials for the National Coal Board,to all the Colliery hooses in the Bedlington/Ashington area,for donkeys years!....including to my first hoose at West Terrace,Stakeford. Reet canny lads,both of them!

Doesn't seem any other reason to mine these tunnels in what would have been torturous conditions,with very poor ventilation,and I am very experienced on that issue,thinking about what it was like in some of the pits I worked in.These miners would most likely have been the Monks,who were among the first to mine coal for the fires of their monasteries...they didn't know when they were tired!! They would natch away all day with a crude pick,straight off the solid,no explosives...for a pail or two of coal!! But remember,these tunnels are not in coal seams,they are what is correctly termed as "Cross-measure Drifts",meaning they are driven at an angle,either incline or anti-cline,through differing types of strata,so they would originally encounter pretty soft clay,then progressively hard sandstone,shale,maybe thin coal seams,more sandstone,more shale,["Blue" to us miners],and so on. Roof water would also have been a problem in places,especially as they got down to the river level,you just need to walk down there and see all the springs oozing out of the exposed strata on the riverbank sides. We had it rough in the pits,but I wouldn't have liked to have been on those tunneling projects! There were about 40 bell-pits mined by the Monks of old,at Nedderton Village,on both sides of the mound after you pass through the main village street,where the "new" estates were built upon. There were a lot of old workings in the seams,very shallow,about 20 feet down,where Bower Grange is built,where primitive picks and shovels and other bits of gear were found,left abandoned by the Monks of old,so that's how I base my assumptions as to who might have dug these tunnels out. There's no doubt in my mind that secrecy was a prime factor! Also,nothing comes free,so where did the funding for these long term projects come from?,somebody had to pay for materials,ventilation was most likely to have been provided like old-fashioned coal-mining,that is.....erecting a centre hanging "Brattice cloth",all the way,with a fire at the entrance,drawing air out of one section,which in turn,pulled fresh air [ excruciatingly poor!!!],down the other side of the brattice......can you picture it?[this is how we had to clear any quantities of Methane or Blackdamp,even in relatively modern times,until an auxiliary fan could be brought in.] Aye,methinks the only people with real money were the religious fraternity,Bishop of Durham owned Northumberland,did he not?,please correct me if I am wrong on any points here!!!! Er!!,upon proof-reading,it looks like I am saying we used the fire system in more modern times!!!,definitely not!,it was the brattice cloth we used to use,and when it was wet,you couldn't lift the sod![and it stunk wi mould!]

Hi Pauline,hope you keep your quest going,and find some more interesting info on the tunnels,aam fascinated also,but owa bliddy stiff and owld noo ti be scratching aroond like a used ti,when a was doon thi pits!

Naa Eggy,thanks for the suggestion,but aam a one-finger typer,and a proof-read everything a write,naa,tha's definitely a glitch either wi thi site,or wi my laptop,but if Canny Lass has had similar problems,it rules oot my lappie..methinks! Nae big deal,it's worse when ye tek an 'oor ti write a story,and loss it cos it'll not save and post it!!

Theor it gaans again.....font-change withoot my permission!!.......technology!!!!!.....and a was just praising it afore!!.......aa divvent knaa....!

Hi Brian,and welcome to the forum,which,if you browse aroond a bit,ye'll find sum interresant bits o' history,especially if ye happen ti cotton onti the Bower family topic,seeing as ,....your Brother Billy....[? hope aam reet heor!],used ti knock aroond wi young Jimmy Bower,and me being Jimmy's marra,also used ti hang aroond wi thi two of them.!! Noo isn't it queer hoo time gaans by,and ye wud nivvor hev dreamt that sum day ye wud hook up wi folks from thi past through technology!! Billy Turnbull was a reet canny lad,and a can picture his face as a 14 year aad yungun' even noo. A hope welshconnect comes on and finds this topic....that's Jim!! Can ye remember the tunnel at thi side o' the keep,Brian?

Just aboot ti switch off,and noticed the bold text....not my daeing....!! ..wat's gaaning on?!

Hi folks,aav just seen family back off ti London,weshed me dishes and had LBJ oot for waakies,so aam buggaad,a need summick ti eat,and pile sum zzzzzzzzz's up n thi bed-shed,so aal hae ti pick anutha neet ti update/educate you's on thi finer points of [A]Baits. and S...-fleas! Believe me,I have had plenty experiences on both counts,and not only fleas,but other intriguing insects as weel,not normally found in coal-mines!! Another night beckons!