HIGH PIT WILMA

Hi Eggy! This is a 1958 photo all right,these lads and lasses are too mature to be 12 years old!,which was the age we started,with 500 pupils gathered from all the senior classes in the towns schools. Some of these pupils are on my Bedlington Village Infants Class 1 of 1950,which I posted somewhere else on the site. No 15 looks like Derek Wales,21 is Lillian Moore [ Sadly Deceased R.I.P.Lillian],30 looks Margaret Thackeray,an old childhood friend of mine. Noo,Westridge had these classes wi [to me anyway!],stupid class names,Aa went into the "Upper Remove",after the first year,which was streaming pupils to sit G.C.E. Aam thinking that this might have been "Middle Remove"...[then there was Lower Remove....],and wat has me puzzled is the presence of Janet Hayes,cos her older Sister [Lynne] is the same age as me and was also in Upper Remove. I said in the original discussions about when Westridge was first opened,in 1956,[remember?],that for the first few weeks,we wandered around the school getting to know the lie of the land,and also it was a long period of trying to get a curriculum organised for 500 pupils,with new teachers,all at once! It seems that this class is a mixed bag of ages,with Lillian,Margaret,and Joan Wilkinson,Derek,and No 25,,all my age. In the beginning,we from the Whitley School were put into the same class en-block. Then as time went by,they started shifting us around,cos I ended up with a mixed class of Guide-post,Council and Whitley pupils. I'm noo thinking the idea was that of integration rather than segregation! I wonder if Vic's better half,and her Friend Maureen,now both in Canada,can remember any of this happening,to bear me out! I can remember 70% of my classmates out of 40-odd of them,where they sat,and who each one sat beside!,mainly cos we all moved up through the classes from the infant school,sitting beside the same mates![at the Whitley i.e.!] Hope the names keep getting added to! Cheers Eggy!

Hope my post above is readable and be able to understand! Lines not my doing...well,....not knowingly!

Thanks Merc for your kind comments,and Canny Lass......,Aa cudn't mek aal these stories up if a tried,noo a shudn't a sed "Stories"..[!],cos every single word aa type is,to the best of my memory,true and correct. One little snippet of info a missed oot,but ye's folks 'll probably knaa aalriddy,regarding lifting tubs back onto thi way,when they become de-railed,was what the lads at the shaft areas had, slotted through the belt haading tha breeks up..!.....an "A**se - Flapper",med oot o' a scrap biit o' aad conveyor belting,shaped like a Grandads old fashioned shirt tail, and placed as suggested......to prevent serious back damage due to lifting and pushing sets of tubs along the way, using thier backsides and legs to push with. Us lads on heavy transport and timber or girder -leading,inbye,never used a flapper,but the shaft lads could be lifting lots of times during a shift,they were dealing with sets of tubs every minute of the day! A pit-term dictionary would probably start with that term!When ye hear aad-timers,[of pit village origin!] sayin'...."Whey,it's time aa was in kip"....or....."Aam not ganna get nae kip wi aal that bliddy racket...".......then read on! "Kip" was the area leading to the shaft,as described above,and was formed by splitting the horizon of the roadway,usually aboot a hundred yards,sometimes less,so that the tubs ran slowly,free-fall,to the shaft ,after being detached from the haulage rope which brought them outbye from the conveyor belt loader-end. The creation of a lang, man-made, swalley,["The dish"],where the chummings could run into,from the shaft-sidings,ready to be coupled up into sets,meant that the "Dish-lad",hanging the sets onto the rope to go inbye,was working below the "Kip-lad",who was "Lousing-off" the sets [from the rope],and occasionally,dregging the tubs,and de-coupling them,so they would be sent singly to the shaft...... SO!...."Kip" refers to a raised area such as that which leads up thi wooden hill to thi bed-shed!.......Phew!,wat a thing ti try and describe to thi lay-person,withoot sending them ti sleep! At Choppington high pit,the kip and dish weren't separated by a great deal,so when you went inbye from the shaft,you were walking past full tubs of coal whizzing past you at approximately shoulder-height.[that was the wheels level with your face!!]. One of my marra's was working in the dish,hingin'-on,[attaching sets to the hauler rope to go inbye to be filled at the loader -end..],when he tripped and instinctively reached out to the kip to save himself from going down,....hand went onto the kip-rails.....tubs came by........fingers off....[have I not already told of that one?.....] That was in 1960-ish....other pits had a false floor laid,completely separating the kip,and the dish,with a small hatch through which the kip-lad would pass the clips........["Jockeys" ..as used in the High-Main at Bedlington A pit],down through the hatch,to the dish-lad. To describe the different types of rope-clips for anybody to understand,would take me a day,going at my pace! For reference,where google might be of assistance,here are some types.........:[1] Hambone [2] Jockey [3] Pigtail [4] Victor Dog-grips [5] Lashing-chain [6] Illegal [!!!] Improvisation....such as a "Belt-hinger" ....[a thin steel stranded wire sling]....or a short length of lighting cable [armoured..and very strong!!] ....or anything you could lay hands on that would work.....even a length of conveyor belt cut into narrow strips and half-hitched around the rope...!!! Howw!!,ya taaking aboot pitmen heor,ye knaa,thas nae cranes doon there ,or shops like lord tool hire......ye had ti get thi job done in stinking conditions,and if ye didn't have the proper gear,ye invented it!! Noo it's just come ti me,come on here, any aad pitmen who can say they remember,or used,the Victor Dog-grips...the most dangerous rope clip ever invented,and they were used on steep gradients ...[every Westerly roadway at Choppington high pit],and never failed to detach themselves and send sets of timber and girders and machinery,......amain![running back doon the bank at ninety miles an hour.....ripping the roadway girders oot and closing the place!!!] Most of the time,in mining,aal these clips were attached to the tubs,and to the haulage rope,[usually 1/2" or 5/8ths " ]....with the rope constantly in motion,so when ye put thi clip on,ye had ti jump oot thi way in a flash,cos the tub wud "click"away,suddenly,from a standstill! Imagine us kids,aged 15 years aad,down the training gallery,at Seaton Burn pit,learning from a supervising instructor,[mostly aad-timers who had health problems and had ti do light work...],hoo ti put a lashing -chain onto a moving steel rope and hing it onto a tub......straight from wor classrooms ye knaa!! Sum of us didn't reach the blokes elbow height!! Anyway....ya standing beside ya tub,ye have the chain ready in ya hands.the chain is heavy,and aboot 3 or 4 feet lang,with a big round link at one end,and an oval-shaped link at thi other end. The links are made from 1/2" steel bar,the moving rope runs on the floor through a deep groove in a wooden sleeper,put there for this purpose. The tub is standing back,aboot three feet from this grooved sleeper. Every now and then ye hear a click,it's okay,it's JUST a loose wire sticking up out of the rope [like barbed-wire!]...catching the wood sleeper. Right!....ye step forward,put ya boot OWA the rope on top of the groove,in effect trapping the rope under ya sole of ya boot.....[H&S....?] The rope is actually rubbing up against ya sole....ye bend doon,IN FRONT OF...ya tub,hold the big link up against ya boot side ti anchor it,slip the rest of the chain under the rope,[avoiding ya leather glove being caught on a loose wire and dragging ye away ....],catch ya chain and dae the same again three times forming loops of chain aroond the rope,which all the while is slipping through the loops up against ya boot.......[hoping all thi while a loose wire doesn't come alang and rip ya boot,and ya foot...!]. Noo!The smart bit,[authorised by Her Majesty's Inspector of Mines,and the Regulations....1954 M&Q Act...]........!! Quickly,ye slip the small oval lnk through the big round link,keeping it loose....mind......!!....then...get ya sheckle,[a "D" link with a threaded pin/bolt],and put it through the oval link and hook it onti thi cruk,[or chain...as the case may be..],of ya tub,keeping the chain slack or else it will click away and pull the tub over you! Once ye have the sheckle bolt in and screwed up tight,ye step back and tek ya foot off the rope and the chain quickly tightens on and yanks the tub set away,with no mercy or forgiveness for any mistakes made!!...[ye had ti quickly learn ti hae ya wits aboot ye!] All during that operation,you are bent double in front of a set of tubs,with a moving rope,and the possibility that other tubs might bump the set from behind ...knocking you under the tub wheels. Which brings me nicely to another old pitmatic saying........"Aye poor owld Billy bumped the set last neet....".....old Billy came into a misfortune of sorts,either in the pit,or even crossing the road.......you know what it means. "Divvent ye **** aroond wi me,son,or else ye'll bump the set.."!....[a different connotation!] Well folks,a ownly came on ti say thanks ti ye's aal!!! Little Black Jess [LBJ],is biting me leg ti gaan waakies.......and luk at thi time.....again!

Heh heh!....it should read "Tubs"....not "Tubes"..!

I wonder if any photos were taken of the whole 500 pupils together in 1956 when the school was [maybe unofficially!!] opened? Maybe as part of a press report?

Only for correctness,Eggy,but I take the phrase .."First Intake" as being the very first to start Westridge School,and,as already covered in another thread,this was in August 1956 ...not 1958! My apologies if I have ignorantly mis-interpreted the phrase! I would be really chuffed if you could find any class photo's of the Upper Remove from the years 1957-8-9..[1959 being the year that I left school..].

My Wife [then 15 yrs old! in 1961] came home on the day she left school....[Friday..],and passed Barnes at the Station..,she saw an advert in the window,and went inside to enquire about the job vacancy on the advert..and the boss of the shop,started my Wife on the following Monday!...no summer holidays for that young lassie! Raisbecks!...one of them,I canna mind if it was Joe,had a unique collection of phrases directed towards passengers....."Howweh then,lowp oot!"......"Ennybody fo' thi boneyard ?!!"....[Westlea Cemetary], amongst them!!

Thanks a lot Maggie,it's always nice to be appreciated by someone!

By the way,as Vic said,these were jobs you did,as you worked your way up to be a coalface worker....Shaft bottom,pulling chummings oot thi cage wi thi Onsetter,and shoving full-uns in.......dish,or kip,loader-end,timber-leading,heavy transport,then face-training.....and onto the face as coal-filler or stoneman on the caunches...etc

Heh heh!Thanks a lot for your very kind comments folks! Ye knaa,it duzn't tek much ti set thi baal rowlin' here wi me!! Can a just tell ye aal this one? Me older Brother and me were born on thi syem day..but exactly three years apart. Our birthdays were just at the end of July,when school was breaking up for the four weeks summer holidays,when aal thi leavers wud be gaan ti thi Labour Exchange.......a fancy govt word for thi Dole Office!.....ti sign on ti seek work. Whey,in them days,it was nowt ti see owa a hundred kids standing in the queue,seeing as class numbers were in the 40's for each class x aal thi schools in Bedlington. So,in1956,[the year aa started Westridge School on thi first day it opened after the holidays...],me Brother started he's first day at Bedlington A Pit training gallery. He finished he's training,and was sent to work in the "Dish",down in the Harvey Seam.[the "Dish" was an area not far from the shaft-bottom,which was a collecting point for all the empty tubs which were sent down in numbers of four at a time....two "chummings" in each deck of the cage.] If you reckon on about 30-40 seconds winding time on coalwork,[fast!],you were getting maybe six tubs a minute,rattling along towards the dish,which was a long dip in the roadway,where the tubs had to be coupled together in sets of a score each time,then "hung" onto a constantly moving endless steel haulage rope,which had no mercy....if you got a hand or even a finger trapped in the "hambone" clips which attached the tub to the rope. The tubs had a "Cruk"[crook] at one end,and a three-link chain at the other end,at tub-axle-height.[very low to the ground!] You had to quickly acquire the skill of holding the chain ready,back bent.. head turned to watch the approaching tubs.......and the split second before the steel capped buffers slammed together with a deafening thud,had to quickly throw the chain over the cruk and get your hand out before it was flattened between the buffers! The cruk had a short piece of steel bar at the top at right-angles,as a means of preventing the chains from uncoupling themselves accidentally. This meant that you had to twist the last link sideways before hoying it owa the cruk.... a bit like trying thi hoop-la the shows! Sorry this is taking so long but it's hard ti explain!! Whey wor youngin,[as we caaled each other,] started alang with another experienced lad for 20 days close personal supervision. After that he was on he's own. One day,I was upstairs,[12 years old still!],and I heard my Mother's voice very loud and almost crying. When I ran downstairs to see what was wrong,I saw my Brother...white-faced..and in an awful state of shock. His hand was bandaged halfway up his arm from his finger-tips......he wasn't fast enough to get his hand out from between the tubs before they smashed into each other,and he got caught between the buffers,which were about seven or eight -inch-square section.......bigger area than an outstretched hand,so not much time to couple on the tubs and keep safe!! When he got his bandages off,his hand and arm were all purple and black,and twice the normal size,and excruciatingly painful for weeks. Mind,it didn't take long to speed up and do the job like an expert,safely,apart from the odd minor finger-end knocks,usually in fore-shift,at three o clock in the morning!! By the time I was 15 yrs old,I knew a lot about pitwork,from his stories,and reading library books on mining methods and machinery. I think most kids paid the price for being too slow on a job they would never have envisaged what the consequences might be!.. It's like I have said a dozen times before....you had to grow and be a man....fast!

Sometimes you didn't need,or want ,to put a dreg in,and would put a wedge,or even a piece of stone,owt ye cud get a haad of,in a hurry!!,UNDER the front wheels,just as a temporary quick measure,to hold a tub or tram in place......easily knocked out to let the vehicles roll again,used at the Kip mostly when handling large numbers of tubes coming outbye from the loader-end.[talking in "scores" of tubs.......my Brother used to be handling sets of up to 30-score of full tubs,at the shaft bottom at Bedlington A pit Harvey seam.]....a "Score" is 20 tubs....and this would be at the end of the shift when the shaft was riding men,[night-shift coming down],and the last of the back-shift coal would be loaded and on it's way out to the shaft bottom.

Hi Folks! "Sprags" was another name for "Dregs"..the latter term being used in every pit I worked at. I think "Sprags" might have been a Durham/Yorkshire pit term,maybe even the Midlands. Whenever you were needing to control the speed,or halt,a pit tub,you hoyed a dreg in between the spokes of..[usually] the back wheel of the tub or tram. Why the back wheel?.....think about it! The tubs and trams had no steering mechanism!...four wheels mounted on two rigid axles,and sitting in rigid,[bearing-less] "Cods",like a half-bush-bearing. If you dregged the front wheels as a vehicle was taking a turn in the roadway,you were asking for it to jump a catch on the rails and hoy it off thi way!! [Refer to Eggy's excellent film..."Jowl...jowl..and listen" where it shows you how to lift a tub back on the way....well....suggestively!] The free-rolling front wheels would ride around a turn,and roll alongside a moderate catch on the rails,while the dregged rear wheels would by now,be skewed and following the front end. A "Catch", on the "way",was a bad joint between the sets of rails as they were laid,usually lack of fish-plates holding them in place,or loose bolts on the plates if these were in place,causing the rail joint to open up,and fall out of line,so producing a "Catch",or "Jump". Choppington High Pit was run on a strand of a shoestring,and we were lucky to even have rails,in the Tailgates,and none whatsoever,in the Mothergates,until the last year or so,when they drifted down to the Top Busty seam,and laid rails in both gates. But in the Beaumont seam,where my Father also worked as a 14 yr old putter,in 1929,nothing had changed by 1959,when I started as a 15 yr old. Now the seams all rose steeply to the West,and it was a hell of a pull for the ponies,taking in heavy machinery,girders ,etc,and the "Way"..[rails-rolleyway..],was badly deteriorated due to all the water running down the roadways,constantly,and forming 100 yard long "Swalleys",up to your waist in places,nothing unusual. The rails in the tailgates never had any fish-plates to tie them together,and a scarcity of sleepers,nails and dogs..[dog is a nail with a turned-over head,which gripped the rail flange to the sleeper,as opposed to a proper nail which went through a hole in the rail flange,into the sleeper.] SO!! .....going up a typical tailgate,was like going up Murphy's Switchbacks!!....zig-zag all the way with most rails having catches on them. Getting off the way with a coal-cutter stator..[motor section],weighing 23cwt..[nearly a ton and a quarter..],in a swalley in waist-deep black stinking water,with your pony deciding it was toilet-time,and passing 200 gallons of ammonia into the water,as well as other things...........wasn't much fun! We would get back on the way,heaving with sweat,and knowing that the Electrician would condelm the motor with an earth-fault, would still have to persevere our way right up to the coal-face!! Now,on the way back outbye,we would be dropping severely in places,so we would put a wood dreg in the rear wheels of the tram,climb aboard,and stick our wellied-foot through the bars of the tram,and put the sole of our welly onto the flange of the front wheels,and "brake " the speed of the tram down the steepest parts of the roadway,still travelling at speeds of about 15 mph or more on straight stretches!!....which is incredibly fast when the roadway arched girders are only 12 inches from your face!!!! Sometimes dregs broke,and the tram just went "Amain",[out of control],with the pony galloping like hell as the tram hit his fetlocks.....we didn't have "Limmers" [limbers],just thin tracing chains attached to the pony's collar,each side,and attached to the tub or tram. We HAD to rely on dregs all the time. The reference to a "Spragger",would refer to a young kid,just started the pit,who worked at the shaft top,on the Heapstead,dregging "chummings"..[empty tubs] as they approached the shaft flatsheets.or at the shaft bottom,either working in the "Dish",dregging the chummings ready to send inbye in "Sets" on the haulage rope,or on the "Kip",dregging full'uns [full tubs],as they came free-fall to the shaft bottom,ready to send to bank..[the surface],after being filled at the "Loader-end", which was usually a canny distance inbye from the shaft bottom. More kids than enough had badly crushed hands doing these jobs,[including my older Brother,AND Myself,cos you had to couple and uncouple the sets of tubs as they were moving..[no H&S them days!] I often wonder what the average 15 yr old kid would say nowadays if he was stuck into a job like that! Nice to be back on the forum!

Thanks Eggy! This is a great film,a cudn't leave it ti gaan and put thi kettle on! Browt back a lot of memories again. Aa was 15 yrs aad,and working on thi screens,when a had my first experience of a fatality. The fella was a real canny owld sowl,and he went in ti oil and grease aal thi shakers,and conveyor belt gearboxes,which he had done for many many years,till that fateful day. We didn't actually witness his accident,but got graphic details from those who did witness it,and it lived with me for the rest of my life. It was a case of Jimmy was cracking jokes and getting he's bait with us one minute,then when he didn't return from he's tasks,after a half-hour had passed,we were told he had been fatally injured. It was a traumatic event for a 15 yrs old kid to experience. When I got home and told my Parents ,sitting at the dinner table,my Father went daft with me,cos he hadn't wanted me to work in the pits,especially THAT pit,cos he had worked there as a 14 yr old laddie as well,in 1929. His words were,"Thi bugga's aal rough and ready,and ye'll get bliddy killed doon that bugga"...[exact quote!"] That pit didn't change right to the day they closed it in 1966!....it was STILL rough and ready....I never witnessed so many accidents at any other pit as I did at Choppington High Pit! I've still got deformed and disfigured hands and other scars yet from my six years down that hell-hole.

....Hmm.....colour change.....mines a purple one......!!.......bah![pun intended!]...[and approved.....I thinks.....]

Another sad loss in the music industry. His playing and musicianship are shown to be incredible in the empty stadium on "Fanfare for the common man"..[as are his fellow musicians!] I'm an old-fashioned "whistler",always have been,and this tune is constantly destroyed by my feeble attempts to whistle it,usually when I am in the garden..... R.I.P. Keith.

VERY good point Foxy!!...for a number of reasons!! Already we are seeing quite a few failures....it's still early days yet!

Canny Lass,I'm shocked and really vexed ti hear about your Grandson. I'm not religious,so to speak,but I do believe in many of the Bible teachings we were brought up by from being a child,and the one I REALLY believe in is..."an eye for an eye,a tooth for a tooth",and also "let the punishment fit the crime". If he was my Grandson,I would want to get this swine,no.....that is an insult to an innocent animal,this scum,and give him a good hiding,to teach him a lesson or two. OOOOOOOOHHH! I maybe have stepped over the P.C. thresh,and shown myself to be a thug also............never had a fight in my life until I was also attacked innocently going about my own business,in 1989/90,outside my own home,10-30pm,in darkness. The attacker was drug-crazed,and set about starting to "kick the s.... out of me.."[in his seething temper...his very words..] He was head and shoulders above me,and half my age,[I was 46 yrs old at the time,and strong as an ox] I backed off for about twenty yards as he kept pushing me,and throwing punches,missing me,as i was sober and he was drugged to hell. But one punch landed right on my eyebrow,almost blinding my left side,momentarily,and I saw a red mist. One fast left-handed uppercut to his chin,[a non-voluntary reaction],made both his eyes go crossed,his legs went like jelly,and he slithered slowly to the ground. He was out for the count,but I just went for his throat to throttle him,cos I was now as crazy as he was,through no fault of my own. My good neighbours pulled me off this scum,and thankfully he was o.k.,and he sulked away home. When the police came,he had the nerve to come back out,and walked over,combing his hair,James Dean style,as if nothing had happened,and asked the policeman what was going on...!! It's a longer story,but suffice to say that he never bothered me again,I learned that I could stand up for myself when required!!! I often used to wonder if I could handle myself if the time ever came,and that night my confidence was boosted no end,but again,thankfully,I've never had to defend myself physically since,although several times bullies who have threatened me,even recently,for "being in the way" with my little dog,have never taken up my offer to come back and stand their ground...,because they are all big-mouthed cowards. All these bullies I mention,have been cyclists who have been riding with no lights,no bells,and dark clothing,on the narrow footpath with no street-lighting,near my home,and who have nearly ran me over,riding away shouting obscenities,and threatening to "fill me in". Sorry for going on,but bullies like this one who has injured your Grandson,always pick on people unexpectedly,or elderly or infirm people. Your Grandson wouldn't have stood a chance with a laser shone in his eyes before the attack took place..that's cowardice. I hope he made a good recovery,Canny Lass.

Went back ti Live again just noo,and thowt ti mesel,aye,it might hae been a novel gud idea at thi time,but it must be one of the very few gud ideas,which are very effective,and STILL in use at thi same site,60-odd years later,in thi LIGHT[!],of aal this new L.E.D.. technology! Wonder.....has anybody at NCC,thowt of replacing the lamps inside the bowls,wi CREE L.E.D.'S...?[or aam a bit behind thi times and it's mebbe aalriddy been done?]

Hmm!!...wondered what time thi X21 got ti thi top-end......noo a naa,thanks ti Live!! Can anybody tell me wat thi purpose is of seeing thi Market-place at neet,constantly?....aam aa missin' summik? ...a mean,it's NICE ti see it aal lit up,cos a was browt up there,lang afore tha was any Belisha beacons flashin!,in fact a can mind when thi very forst one was put in,and that one was doon aside the Nothumberland Arms/Chemist's shop crossing. Aa musta ownly been aboot eight or nine,mebbe ten years aad,mebbe even younger,but aal a remember is me aadest Sister coming in from sumwheor,and being excited,and starting ti tell aal thi family aboot thi new "Belisha Beacon",which,at my young age,soonded a freaky weird thing..!! She started ti explain wat it lukked like,and so aal of us in thi family went up ti see it.....nae kid!! When we got up ti thi Market-place,tha was a lot of folk aal stannin aroond and taakin aboot it!! Seems absoloutely ridiculous noo,ti think aboot it,but remember,we still had aad gas street leets in places like Hollymoont Avenue,Bell's-Place...[wat leads doon ti Hollymoont Square],so this new-fangled electric flashing leet seemed a marvellous affair!![most of thi aad colliery hooses and other aad terraced hooses still had gas leets in thi hoose,fed from thi Doctor Pit Gasometer.]

LOATHE.....LOATHE....LOATHE......! That aal thi roads up where me caravan is,as shown on me pics of the "Jet-Patcher" machine above,are a million times worse noo than wat they were when this machine clagged tarry toot inti thi pot-holes,aboot three years ago! Thi roads are so bad that me car grounds in places,and yi can hear aaful crunching underneath even as yi gaan deed slow,and weave from side ti side ti miss as many holes as yi can,but it's an impossibility ti miss aal of thim. A had brokken coil-springs on me last car,[thi one that got written off by thi hit and run bitch last year],and aav noo got a broken one on this car,which is gaana gaan in next week for service repair and Mot. A wonder if a send the bill in ti NCC,will they pay it?!!!!

A think it musta been a foggy neet,and aav been dog.....[!]....tired not ti hae seen this damage,unless it's just started ti break up recently,but ti be honest,the breaks in the aad concrete dinna luk like recent breaks,mebbe they were cracks and mebbe a heavy vehicle has clipped the fence and pushed it owa,which would be consistent wi thi type of collapse that it's aal displaying! Nivvor mind,nae mair rabbitin' as lang as it does get fixed....nice one Mr Gilbert,whoever yi are!!

Whey it seems up ti noo aa got it wrang again!!....tha NOT deaing thi dirt track alang ti thi Station,[but they might eventually!],tha daeing VERY essential repair work on thi Welwyn bridge itself. LIKE.. the fact that it's actually being done,cos a waaked LBJ alang there last neet,at midneet as usual,[!],and a saw where the road AND the concrete base which holds the fencing,is collapsing,and being undermined by heavy rainwater. If it had been left much langer,one day we wud see a bus or other heavy vehicle parked doon aside the Welwyn buildings,lying upside doon! Noo aav waaked alang that road many a thoosand times,but nivvor on the east side where tha's nae footpath,so yi dinna see thi damage from the proper footpath and yi dinna see it from thi car as yi drive owa thi bridge,cos yi hae ti waatch wheor ya gaan......! Just hope after thi bridge is fixed,that they continue alang thi road ti thi Station,and gie us a gud road alang theor.

Heh heh!!FINALLY.....FINALLY!.....the Welwyn bridge is closed for traffic,cos they are .....FINALLY....re-surfacing the dirt track road from the bridge to the Station![mind,it's only for a few weeks cos thi water board,or gas,or BT,or sum bugga else will come along and decide a trench needs digging to lay pipes or cables..... ....broadband.....fibre-optic cables.........heh heh!!!!] That stretch has been deadly for bikers for years noo,and it griped me when a full road crew,with planer....etc,re-made the road....in the back lane....at Milburn Terrace complete with signs,restrictions,road markings,etc......a back lane!!!!.....mind,a very senior NCC official happens to live there,nowt personal against the fella,just seems a bit........whey,ti me,the main roads should take priority owa a back lane!! Loathe....Barrington road also a dirt track fast becoming!!.... Nae money for that...it's aal gaan ti Ashington!!!...[see this weeks leader!]

A did Steve! Cheers! Bill.

Sarky Sod!....watch your windaes marra......!! Just been browsin' aroond and cum across ye here,Steve!!......thi lads doon thi pit used ti say aa was 21 when a was born!![mind...aa divvent knaa if that was an insult or a compliment...!!] Cheers Steve for ya kind observations!