HIGH PIT WILMA

Fair remarks Eggy,not pulling you down in any way,where Babies are concerned,you need to be very careful. Having said that,I was about 3 years old when my Godmother gave me Tiddles,and Micky,my Kitten and Puppy,[lakeland/terrier cross],in 1947,at a time when we had no money to feed ourselves hardly,never mind pets! In those days,the cats would feed themselves naturally,or get scraps of meat off our table,after dinner.[Rabbit pie with a crusty baked covering over a cup in the middle of the bowl was a cheap delicacy!!...rabbits were ruining the country's crops,they were so abundant!....hence Myxymatosis!!] Our dog got everything we ate....full stop!...they were both healthy clean pets,no fleas and ticks....and no Vets! Micky roamed the woods and fields every day with me,and never ailed a thing till he met up with a speeding opencast coal lorry driver on bonus-work,and Micky lost his life,and I lost the best friend that man ever knew.... I've looked after birds and animals all my life,and at nearly 72 yrs old,I don't think I will die from any animal or bird disease............more likely to die from scumbag species who are supposed to be "humans",like the young blonde "girl",who drove a stolen car,with false cloned registration plates,straight into the side of my car doing about 40 mph,broadside front near passenger side,knocked my Wife unconcious,wrote my car off,terrified both my Wife,and my little dog,[who was asleep in the rear of my car],for ever getting back into the car again. Tried to drive away from the scene off the crash,her car seized up,she did a runner on foot,police helicopter,sniffer dogs,and police on foot searched the fields and streets,she escaped......probably doing the same thing again as we speak.....noo THAT'S where ya mair likely ti suffer from a shortened life-span!Humans.....not wildlife! [or domesticated pets!] My own Nephew,and a friends' Grand-daughter, are the only two people I have ever come across in my entire life,who are allergic to cats,runny nose and watery eyes,bad enough but not life-threatening!! Mind,Eggy,by the sound of things,you aren't living in England,where we don't have Chipmunks or Prairie dogs,but we do have Rats,and Squirrels,Weill's disease etc. I've never heard of anybody being bitten by a rat,but every week somebody is either stabbed to death,or mugged and severely beaten up....even old people in their eighties and nineties,suffering at the hands of young male AND female scumbags who are supposed to part of the "human" race..presumably with more intelligence than "Dumb" animals..........!![not forgetting the carnage on our roads every minute of every day god sends...!] Yes,fear of that which is not likely to happen is a common,[and I suppose understandable], thing,but you have to put life into context. I am personally more [very!],wary of the dangers of being among the human race,than I am,of being in the wild,among my friends out there!!

Jess poked among the 3ft tall thistles one stinking cold rainy night.....well....it was about 2-am-ish,in spring 2015,just along from our house..[about 200 yards away]. I tried to urge her to come with me but she set her feet,and was adamant that she wanted to investigate something,among the the forest of tall thistles. I feared she would be prickled so I went to see what she was so intrigued with...... When I shone my torch among the thistles,I was expecting to find a toad or a hedgehog or something...... This is what I found,hanging, [soaked to the skin], by it's wee skinny featherless wings! I gently untangled it from the thistles,which were totally embedded into thi poor thing's few feathers,and carried it straight home. My wife woke and came through the garage to see if I was alright,and when she saw it,she immediately started to help me,by organising a piece of soft cloth for the cage bottom to wrap him in,cos he was soaked and shivering,only a few days old. She got a small vessel of water,and a cocktail stick,and he immediately started to gulp the water droplets from the stick. I made him comfortable,cos he was too weak to stand on his feet unaided,and went to bed after about two hours watching him. My Wife couldn't rest and kept getting up to check on him. In the morning I hard-boiled an egg and mixed the yolk with some finely milled oats,and water,and started feeding him from the cocktail stick,with difficulty,at first,cos he was disorientated....but it didn't take long before I was shopping for more eggs!! He grew rapidly within a few days,turning from a dying weakling,into a happy singing fluffy bundle of healthy feathers! Now he was on a diet of seeds and fruit,and bits of worm at his choosing,still with the egg and oats paste..and also Thistle-heads ["clocks"] When I felt he was ready, I took Him to where he was found and released him,he went straight to the feeders and water-dripper bottles that I had hung discreetly among the trees. I used ti hang his cage outside in the warm sun,and every time I whistled to him,he whistled back,cos I did that from the very first night I found him! A happy ending to a very sad start for him!! Eggy,what would you have done.....left him outside?.........to die?....balance of nature? I think I will just keep on interfering with Mother nature appropriately!![she's getting on a bit noo,and needs help!] 'FLUFFY' FEEDING![SPRING 2015].AVI

Eggy,I completely agree with you,on the basis that we are talking about a fully grown old ewe,or a stag,or any other big wild animal...house them in appropriate shelter outside if needed,due to either injury or starvation.I have had a tame ewe jump in and out of our small tourer caravan,if you turned your back for a second,and mind....they are pretty "warm"!!,to be kind to the species,as are goats!Noo!!,would you have left the cardboard box and it's contents lying in the freezing cold,which Canny lass rescued,above,or would you see a baby hedgehog lying dying because it has somehow strayed from it's mother,maybe the victim of careless drivers who deliberately go for these poor things at night,which I have seen drivers do many a time. I would have thought that anyone with a heart in them would help the defenceless creatures...but then,I am just soft as clarts and crackers as weel!!

Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! What a lovely response from canny caring folk! A divvent swear,but a did quietly in me kitchen,when a saw the wee pup...the same type of scumbag who dumped LBJ oot the car onto a busy motorway in Newcastle,ti try and get her killed,rather than just take her to a shelter to be re-homed.....and the same scum who vandalised and eventually burned down the Blyth Wildlife trustsanctuary for birds and wild animals.[where Porcy came from before that happened] Thanks for posting Canny Lass,and Vic.

Really appreciated Barby! Somehoo not wat a remember,aav aalwis had in me heed a black bridge exactly thi same pattern as the thi Blyth and Wanny ones!![steel construction] A shud be ashamed,a was up there plenty reet up inti thi 60's! Interestingly though,this is similar to what the opencast coal bridge was like,owa the river Bltyth,when thi Acoen Bank site led coal owa the waata ti Bebside pit.

Heh heh!! A posted this last neet,[or early this morning..!],and hadn't seen last weeks Leader,so a glances through it thi day ......and wat dae a see? Ye'd think for a second that NCC had stolen one of me pics!! Thi guys risk a slap on the kuckles from H&S ......nae safety hard hats on!! Thi article in the Leader doesn't tell you how the potholes are getting back to wat they were as every day gaans by!!

Heh heh!....like wat ticks on thi waal.....ticky paper!.....[in Chernobyl....!]....ughhh!

Looking after a Herring Gull has to be a long-term commitment,as the longest recorded lifespan of one,was in America,and the bird lived for a known 42 years,...the average is over thirty years at least! So not to be taken lightly! Fortunately I have generous help from friends who are fishermen,and who donate spare catches from time to time,to help with Percy's upkeep,cos his main diet is from cheap tins of dog meat,which I buy each week,supplemented with tins of cheap sardines as a treat once a week,and food scraps of fat etc,from our table.

Porcy was aboot eight or nine months old on that clip,he hadn't had his first years moult. Note the smaller black beak and dark legs,also his disabled wing which he cannot straighten out,compared to his good wing which is pretty massive when spread fully!

Hi all,seein' as aam guilty of gaan off-topic,withoot realising it till it's done,a thowt a wud set this one away aboot my tame..[???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!],disabled Herring Gull. Anybody else who looks after an injured/disabled bird or animal,a wud love ti hear from,being an avid wildlife lover!! Mebbe Mods can shift me comments and stories aboot Porcy,[where a strayed a bit!],owa ti heor,alang wi comments applied to him from other Members....is that possible? Just ti re-cap,aav had Percy,[hereinafter referred ti as Porcy!],more than three years since October past. A tuk him in as an outreach carer for Jon at Blyth Wildlife Trust,which was savagely attacked twice last year by scumbags,who wrecked cages,released baby hedgehogs which were being cared for constantly,as they don't hibernate as juveniles,and also released loads of other injured and sick birds and animals,in the middle of winter..leaving them to die. Here's wor Porcy! IMGP8338.AVI

Heh heh! Thanks Canny Lass! It's not easy mind,he has ti have he's bathwater changed almost every day,sumtimes twice a day when he moults,and also when he pollutes it with bread thrown for thi other birds,and fish particles etc. If he's water isn't clean,he won't go in to bathe,which he has to,being a seabird,several times daily. Thi first two years of being a juvenile,I had to put him away in a big dog cage at nights,lined with straw which Dave,the farmer just across from me,let me take oot his fields after the corn was taken in,I filled several bin-liners with the dry straw,and it lasts all winter,having to change the straw bedding every two or three days. I used to put the security light on,aboot midnight,say quietly to him...."Howweh Porcy,it's bed-time..",and he used ti toddle away in front of me and hop inti his cage nae bother,[after initial period of guidance and patient training!] A had a cover owa his cage aal sides and front,wi plenty ventilation,in case Foxy came in and terrorised him,but that never happened. A didn't knaa then,that Herring Gulls have no direct predators,other than when they are in the egg,or just hatched. Even then,it's the Black-backed gull which predates the nest,but not the Adults. This year,a took his cage away,in the spring-time,ti see hoo he wud fare up,and he just perches on the stream stones reet ootside me big patio windae,aboot three feet away from the glass. Thi minute a show me face in thi morning,he struts across ti thi conservatory door and pecks on thi glass repeatedly ti tell yi that he is famished!![a tin of cheap Sardines in tomatoe sauce noo and again,as a treat,meks ye he's friend for life!!...he LOVES them!] He is a fully-grown adult noo,and me Wife thinks he is a lot bigger than the wild ones at the lakesides,due to being fed and not getting flying excercise. He does try and fly aroond the garden for a few minutes at a time,flaps his wings furiously,mekking his feathers fly oot!,and then rests for a while,in between playing inquisitively with bits of sticks and he's stotty baal etc!! It takes a lot of dedication,but it is worth it to know he was saved from certain death if he had been left to fend for himself. When he is really hungry,and I am hanging washing on thi line first before feeding him,he comes across and pecks at my shoes from behind,and pulls at my jeans around me ankles....I have ti watch him like a hawk,cos I am on Warfarin,and cannot afford ti risk being punctured by his strong beak......seeing as he can pulverise a 2lb Codling's bony head in two minutes flat,by stabbing repeatledly like a woodpecker at it!! He was on Radio Newcastle Jonathan Miles breakfast show,a couple of years back!! That's another lang story!

Thanks Foxy! Aa nivvor had any pocket money till a started thi pit when a was 15 years aad,so a cudn't buy any bullets. One of me mates's Father was the Engineer in charge of Bedlington Aad Pit,and they had a car,telephone,everything he ever wanted for christmas,but funnily enough,he was aalwis a great mate,and wasn't thi typical spoiled brat associated with wealthy Parents. Every day,from as young as 8-or-9 yrs aad,at thi aad Whitley school,he went inti Binks little shop,next ti the school,and bowt 2 oonces of wine gums,and 2 oonces of dolly mixtures,and he aalwis passed them behind he's back,in class ti us other lads,cos he sat in thi front,and risked the cane off aad tyrant nicky,thi heedmaster,if he was caught daeing that,cos ye weren't allowed ti eat anything in class.! When we started Westridge School in 1956,he did thi same thing every day,at 12 years aad,but noo he went inti that shop,which ye say was Keenan's. He was a very generous kid,who knew we weren't as weel off as he was,and aalwis shared what he had,with the phrase,"a friend in need....is a friend indeed.!" Queer hoo the nyem of a shop stirs ya grey matter! Does anybody knaa hoo thi Engineer was at thi Aad pit?...[just a trivia ....cos aa knaa!]

Great pic! Brings back loads of memories of my childhood playing up there and on the shaft rails! We did thi syem thing doon at aad Barn'ton pit shaft,cos it was covered with rails also.. Aa was 12 years aad in 1956,and that's when a used ti gaan up ti help Raymond Bell [me deceased brother-in-law],ti feed the livestock,and dae other jobs aroond the ranch. A might a knaan ye Barby!! There was some aaful stories that went aroond aboot the poor lad who fell doon thi shaft. As laddies gaan,it didn't stop us from playing dangerous games in dangerous places like the shaft.

Hi Canny Lass,a think he took maths,and probably other subjects as weel,cos most teachers did in them days. Matty Hall taught a few subjects,as did Mr Davidson.Smashing teachers they were..great with thi kids! Mr Davidson was always telling us tales from his Army days in Egypt and other places like being in the Alps in thi winter etc.....!

Great! it worked! Photo credit goes to my old pal,Jim Hardy,who is next to me at thi back row,second from the left. 42 Pupils in thi charge of one teacher! .....and not a Nike,or an Umbro to be seen!!

Hi Pil! I never knew that aboot Dr Ivory,being a pilot! Dr's Hickey,Ivory,and Robertson,[a Clark Gable lookalike!],were wor Doctor's and Dr Hickey must have set the idea of having a drawer full of sweeties for all the kids who went ti see him. They were thi days when they wud caal in ti see me Mutha in passing with a .."Hello Jean....everybody all right?" That was a regular occurrence,they wud have a cup of tea and a natter,then continue on their roond!! Mind,that was in the late 1940's-50's,when Bedlington was a relatively smaal toon,and aal the villages were pit ones....BUDC...Bedlington Urban District Council covered aal the pit communities which were Bedlington A,[Auld Pit],D,[Doctor Pit],E,[Bomarsund Pit],F,[West Sleekburn..."The Winning pit"],Netherton pit,Choppington A,and B Pits,and Barmoor Pit up beside Hepscott way.,oh!......and Cambois Pit. In them days,the Police had a canny little job,not much ti dae except tek sumbody in for being drunk mebbe,or not having a bell on ya bike,or loitering........ .....proper "Heartbeat" days! Whey wi aal thi pit folks being very close knit,they policed thasells,and ye got hammered if yi were reported by a neighbour ti ya Mutha for daeing owt wrang,so ye larn't not ti dae nowt wrang....simple!! Margaret,it wud have been in 1947-8-ish,when we played on thi pipe,we were absoloutely terrified of aad Borkley's,cos they had the orchard owa thi totha side of the burn,and thi aader kids used ti gaan in ti raid it,and get chased,which made us younger kids run twice as fast up the street a back of Storey's Buildings! Aav got a scar on me shin,which was caused by me climbing thi barbed-wire fence owa thi back lane,ti pat thi pit ponies. One pony bit me on thi cheek,made me faal,and a ripped me leg on the barbs! Did we ever dae owt reet here noo?,wat a load of tales aboot delinquents!!!!!!! Naa!! just like Wor Wullie,laddie-like things was aal we had ti dae....didn't use wor thumbs like kids nooadays!! It's great ti reminisce aboot them days!...life was slow and simple for us kids,but bliddy hard work for wa Mutha's!! Here's me first school class photo taken at the Bedlington village infants school,next ti Saint Cuthberts Church,in 1950,when a was 6 years old. The thumbnail has cropped thi pic sumhoo!!,and aam at thi extreme left,so aam cut off! Let's try it oot after a post it and see if it comes up full size.[aam at thi back row on thi first left.] Sadly,a lot of kids on this pic are no longer with us.

A just thowt on,as a was on me way oot noo wi LBJ,a came back ti ask if anybody knew the Cadwallenders that lived and worked at thi Low pit,Tommy,and Jackie. Tommy Morton,and "Syker"[?] Broon.They were aal me relations on me Faatha's side.[Uncles,and "half-Uncles"] A can mind me folks taakin aboot aad Bob Lumsden,Jimmy Kidd lived beside us at Willow bridge unless aam mixed up,a think he was a Spitfire pilot....not sure,but a knaa sumbody WAS a pilot, definately,in Storeys Buildings,during the war. Gotta go! LBJ biting me leg! Nite Nite!

We have an aad static van up thi country,not far cos me Wife canna travel very far,but it's nice and quiet,owa-lukkin' Cragside. Thi back roads are lethal. When NCC got funding ti repair aal thi pot-holes....this is what they invested in........[LBJ canna resist gettin' in on thi act!!] At thi time,it was highly efficient,daeing loads of lang road stretches at a time,great!....the first winter came, and aal the heavy farm traffic,bin wagons,JCB'S etc,and noo it's slowly getting back ti wat it was!!.....thi result of patching up instead of proper re-surfacing! NOO!...aav noticed that the entrances and BACK LANE,to Milburn Terrace,in Bomarsund ,Stakeford,opposite ti where Liddel's Garage used ti be,THEY aren't breaking up.......no!.....cos the County Councillor who lives in that street had the whole monty....road-planers,doon ti hard rock almost,a complete convoy of motorway road surfacing crews with every machine required,even down to the roadsweeper vehicle,and illuminated 20mph restriction,no entry,and local access only...road signs,topped off with highly visible road markings through-out!!....in a back lane!!!!..it's like legoland when you go doon there noo. The other residents asked for an explanation as to why this was done,when they had pot-holed streets full of ponds aal the way down.....response was to spray tar and surface chippings down West Terrace where I used to live,meanwhile I'm waiting for a very serious accident to happen doon Barrington road...wi aal the heavy goods vehicles,loaded with concrete beams,and other heavy loads,stream in and out of the industrial estate constantly,breaking the road up all the time. Mind,whoever gave the go-ahead to build an industrial estate there to start with,where the access road was laid down for horse and cart transport..........begs belief! Rant over!

Heh heh! Many thanks for your kind comments,Bayardm and Margaret! You reminded me of a tale me old deceased Mother used to relate to me. We lived just a few yards up from the burn,at the Willow Bridge..and I was only a wee bairn,when me Granda,who lived in with us,answered the door to a knock. Two little lassies were standing there,aboot 6 years old,one was covered in black sleck...[filthy black coal silt and mud],and was unrecogniseable. They were both sobbing their little hearts out terrified. Me Granda looked at them both,and said to the "clean" lassie.."Eh!who's this little bairn,where dae yi belang me bonny lass,tek that bairn yem....she'll get hor deeth o' caad..!" The lassie said "Mr,it's your Betty,she fell in thi born trying ti waak owa thi pipe ti cross thi born"..[burn].... Me Granda didn't knaa it was he's own Grand-daughter! Me Sister got cleaned up and her hint-end clipped for "coming in droonded"!![hard-up times during thi war,nae money ti buy new claas....folk had ti "mend and make do"]....it wud be easy for modern P.C. folk ti be horrified at me Mother clipping thi bairn,withoot knaa-in' thi stress she was under bringin a family of four kids up wi a Man who wadn't work sumtimes,and used ti gaan away gambling wi he's aan family for days on end and drinking he's pay when he DID work!!! Later on[ from me Sister's plight] ,as I grew up,at age three,I can clearly remember me me Granda opening the door to a knock ,exactly the same,and me seeing me older Brother,blood all over him,sobbing,and being held up by he's little friend,both would have been aboot 6yrs old.When Granda asked what happened my Brother's friend said they were climbing the Black Bridge,when my Brother had fallen off and had split his head badly. My Mother went beserk and clipped him after rushing him to Doctor Hickey's surgery,just a few yards up the bank from where we lived,and the Doctor stitched my Brother's head. She had warned him before he went out to play,not to go near the bridge,cos that's where aal the bairns played. He got clipped for disobeying orders!! He recently told me that he hadn't been playing on the bridge at all that day!![aboot 70 years later mind...but never too late to confess!] What HAD happened was,he and his friend had been playing in a side-tipping pit tub,beside the Low pit[up thi fields,in thi pit timber yard].,and they were trying ti move the tub,which must have had a stone under the wheel,[which was how you sometimes stopped tubs running amain...out of control]. The tub started to run amain,down a slight gradient,getting faster as it went ,and my Brother was half in and half out of the tub,with his head literally bouncing off the railway sleepers. He was thrown out of the tub,fortunately,hurt,but alive and nearly passing out as his friend half-carried him back home. He was terrified to tell the truth,so he went for the little white lie route to my Mother. He can vividly recall feeling his head stotting of the sleepers to this day!! Whey,wat dae yi expect laddies ti dae?!!!!...laddies were laddies in them days...ye HAD ti mek ya aan enjoyment.......!! We used to sit on thi aforementioned pipe ti try and catch water spiders at three and a half years aad,wi wor older brothers and sisters!!..[thi pipe is still there yet!!!..just a few yards down from the bridge]

Does NCC think that kids walk from Guidepost to Bedlington Station through Stakeford... a distance of a few miles...?!! The kids these days winna waak anywhere at aal except from Daddy's..[or Mummy's!]POSER JEEPS,which are usually parked on top of sacrosanct zig zag lines at pedestrian crossings next to the school gates...as AT GUIDE-POST school!![AND the schools at Bedlington top-end creating mayhem wi traffic!] It's been a canny lang trial for traffic lights,half of Bedlingtonshire already has the new Cree-Led lamposts and lights erected and operating,with the control lights they already have!!....and THAT'S a massive project,which a must admit,the organisers of the project deserve a pat on thi back for a change,cos mind,..tha's sum streetlights in sum queer aakward places,like wat they've just done in the last few days at Moorland Avenue junction at Bedlington Station,and the ones doon from the said Welwyn Bridge at Red Raa,doon ti the traffic island joining the A1147. Them lads on the job are sumtimes risking tha lives just being there daeing tha job,wi sum of thi idiots hareing aroond the roads nooadays! Another pat for NCC,me Son reported the 30mph signs at Bomarsund as having failed illumination at night. Two days later they were lit when a tuk LBJ oot at neet. A telt me Son that them signs haven't been lit since LBJ and him came to live wi us......nearly six years ago!! Mebbe aal the NCC engineers ownly work backshift!!

That was when he was still only aboot a year old or more..with his little black beak....you wanna see hoo big he's gob is noo!! He swallows whole fish like it wud be an impossibility to get it doon,but he oppens he's gape,....... a tennis baal wud gaan doon it!!Here he is noo! Off-topic again....a get carried away....hoo dae a start me aan thread ti keep it fair? Cheers for putting up wi me , folks!! [Merc!!ye wad set me away!!] IMGP9665.AVI

Hi Merc! I can write mair stories aboot Percy,than a hev aboot me mining experiences on this site! It's mair fun watching his antics than waatchin owt on thi telly!! He can be pecking aroond at thi bottom of thi garden,as this morning answers,and as soon as a show me ugly mug in the conservatory windae,he stretches he's neck,curious-like,aal oppen thi glass door,shoot oot ti him..."Porcy,howweh get ya bait....!",and he cums up thi garden like a hare,wi he's gud wing flapping like hell,and he's otha wing at right-angles,cos it's deformed at thi elbow,and he canna stryten it oot. It hasn't been brokken,he was born like that,so will nivvor fly,and they can live up to 35 years.....so at my age,aal be getting a telegram from the queen....[or King?!] if a live lang enuff!,and he will be doon wi me at thi palace ti get wa medals....!!!! Aav got hoors and hoors of video of him splashing furiously in he's bath,playing wi aal he's toys.......... Little Black Jess,me little darlin',is frightened noo ti gaan doon thi garden on her aan,unless aa gaan doon wi her,and aav gotta chase Porcy up thi garden, oot thi way!! T'otha mornin Jess went ti sniff at some scrambled eggs [oota date...]wat was Porcy's bait. He was up agyen wor hoose windae where he perches aal thi time. He got he's eye on Jess at his bait,what he wasn't interested in afore this,cos he had eaten he's fill...... Next thing aa knew was...he came doon thi garden like a rocket wi he's wings mekkin a breeze in the still air,and he's viscious beak snappin oppen and shut.... and he went stryt for poor little Jess's tail.....whey she was terrified and a had ti play wi her ti calm her doon! In the summertime,they both lie in the garden,in the sun...he gets up and starts playin' wi he's aad spongy baal,carrying it aroond and dropping it in he's bath,and mekkin it float aroond....he's incredible man..! This is a different bird ti what ye see at thi harbours....they are striving ti survive,Porcy's been hand reared, from just oot thi nest at Killingworth lake,where he was rescued three years ago by a gud samaritan,and handed ti Jon who runs the Blyth Wildlife Trust. Jon asked me if a cud give him a home,after I released four other gulls at different times from him. He did say mind,Bill,it's a lang commitment,and needs a lot of dedication,but see hoo yi get on and keep me informed of he's progress. Whey,after three full successfull moults,owa the last three years,he's the loveliest looking herring gull ye'll ever see!! We've been feeding him on tins of budget dog food,aboot 1 tin every three days,as well as scrambled eggs,fat off any meats I cook,seeds etc,and whatever he feeds off naturally. Aav twice seen him swallow mice whole sale,seen thi little tail gaan doon last...!! Aav got video of him chasing a rat oot thi garden like he did wi Jess,and he's beak snapping like hell! Nae wonder the herring gull has no predators![Google "Herring Gull!] One day aa was watching him oot thi big patio windae,[floor ti roof,so a gud view of aal thi garden.] He was on he's favourite perching stone on me little stream,three feet away from me at thi otha side of the glass. A hord a screech,and in a split-second the sparrow-haak came in like a rocket.....40 mph,straight doon at Porcy........aa was mesmerised! He stopped short and landed in front of Porcy[Percy....ahem!],aboot three feet away,and spread he's wings and flashed he's teeth menacingly at wor poor little bord,thinkin' he was onti a gud dinner!! He backed a losser!! Porcy spread HIS wings,aal four feet span nearly,not quite cos he is disabled,and snapped he's beak wide open and started screeching like hell,then lurched at the hawk,and chased him doon thi garden. Thi hawk flew up onti the high fence,6 feet up,and kept squawking,Porcy canna fly otha than a couple of feet up off thi grund,but he boonced up and doon screeching like hell,till thi hawk flew away!! This has happened three times that aav seen close up,and aav nivvor seen thi hawk back in the last couple of years.[a regretted not having me camera handy like a usually dae!!] He leaves aal thi little birds alone,but chases aal thi big rooks and jackdaws and magpies oot thi garden aal thi time!! Me neighbours cat slinks doon thi bottom of thi garden,under the bushes,wide-eyed,and meks a fast bee-line for thi other side and oot!!...and that's nearly every day! When he waaks inti the kitchen for a leisurely stroll,like an aad hen,he sqwaaks lood as hell as soon as he sees wor lass, cos he thinks he's ganna get an apple gook,which he usually does! He doesn't eat the gook,he only gaans for the apple pips,which must be like caviar ti him! Thi behavior wi aal thi animals and otha birds will happen every day in thi wild,unnoticed by humans,but it's fascinating ti watch from a few feet away,in ya aan garden,which Porcy has claimed as HIS territory,naturally. In the summer,when we sit oot in thi garden,for a cuppa,he cums owa and drops doon in front of wor feet,like a little duck sitting there,watching ye..and if thi nybors hear me Wife and me taakin away ti him,and little black Jess,wor Labrador /cross,they'll think we are both crackers!! Ye only get confidence from bords and animals by taaking ti them aal the time.....it's voice vibrations that coont,not the pitmatic twang!! ..... IMGP8387[INQUISITIVE PERCY!].AVI

Hi! I lived in Storey's Buildings,[right side of the road going down to the Willow Bridge from Bedlington],from about 1945-48-ish. At a time before the pits were nationalised,and miners went through really hard times due to the viciousness of the coal-owners,the idea of even a suggestion of a golf course in the front fields would have been ludicrous! Who would have afforded to play on it? Choppington was an infant village totally centred around the two pits.[but mainly the Low pit as it WAS in the village!] Those fields had huge ponds along them as a result of the Willow Burn flooding in bad weather.the fields were wide open,with no plantations then,apart from the Willow saplings that grew along the banks of the burn. The Black Bridge was a couple of hundred yards up the burn,from the bridge,and carried coal from the Choppington pits[ A and B pits.],to the main line. The first golf course I ever saw was constructed at Acorn Bank,Hartford road,in Bedlington,after Costain Mining opencast re-instated the land after mining operations ceased. Mind who am I ti taak aboot golf,when,in those days,I and a think most hardworking miners also,wouldn't even have known wat one waas! Even in the late 1960's,it was well-known that the Bedlington Golf Club members consisted of businessmen,Doctor's,Lawyers,and such well to do people! Eventually,my next door Neighbour and pit marra,at Bedlington A pit,managed to secure membership,to the amazement of aal his marra's,and he had loads of mickey-tekkin aboot being in wi thi "Nobs"!! The Barrington pit ponies were aalwis in thi back fields,nae golf there....unless this rumour went back even further than before the pits came alang...1700's maybe? Intriguing suggestion!! Mind,I used to take my family up the Cheviots with our little touring caravan,for nearly twenty years,most weekends through the year,[from around 1977-1996], and it was not long before I had to give up the Caravan due to my Wife's ill-health,that I found out from the locals,in conversation about the history of the surrounding countryside,that there was a golf course on top of one of the hills on a plateau!![Doddington golf course] It was madness trying to walk up to the area,never mind play a roond of golf up there!!...ninety mile an hour winds......etc!![seriously ill-exposed!] So!....in context,maybe there might have been an amatuer course,owa the fields,at Chopington, for the lads who might have used a stottie baal and a hezzel twig,or a willow twig,for a club!! We used ti play quoits at bait-time,doon Choppington high pit,for ten minutes or so,[You were only allowed twenty minutes bait for a whole shift in stinking wet conditions],and we used ponies shoes for quoits!![ improvisation by way of example!] I would love to see any pictures of the bridge,as I used to play in those fields and watch the coal trains going over the bridge very frequently....very exciting for us little whippersnappers in those days!...we were used to seeing horse and carts,so a tankey was like a hero of a thing to see!

Mr Routledge was a teacher at the old Whitley school,when I was there from around 1951-ish....to 1956,when I started Westridge School. I never knew his First name. He was a smashing natured teacher,always up for a laugh with thi kids,as was his co-partner Mr Bebbington. Anybody else remember him.?

Mods, what's happening with the Edit facility?......Cheers!