HIGH PIT WILMA

The depth of the mine shaft is irrelevant to subsidence in a way,it's the workings where the coal was extracted,that causes the problems! [unless we consider sink-holes forming from ancient Monks' bell-pits etc!] Just thought I would try and clarify that one !

Merc,wat a strange co-incidence!..a wud be pleased ti meet yi one day! NOO!,aboot this Bower Grange debate!! Let's the facts straight,Eggy![.....says Wilma ...in his Mr Know-all voice...!!!heh heh ] Bedlington "A" Pit, closed in 1971,[not 1962..!!]...I was transferred there in 1965,from Choppington High Pit,[when it was about to close in 1966]. I was then transferred to Bates Pit in 1971,shortly before the "A" pit closed [ in 1971]..having qualified as a mine Deputy. I came back into the N.U.M.,disillusioned with Deputy-work,in 1978. One day,in around the 1980's,I was attending a safety course,on the surface,at Bates,when the course tutor,who was our Safety Officer,was called away to Bower Grange development ground-works. He had gotten a phone call to say a J.C.B. digging machine,with the back-actor,and it's operator,had fallen into old mineworkings,on the site where the foundations for the houses were. The machine went down about 20 feet,and the operator was obviously injured. The next day,I asked him what had happened,and that is what he told me,saying that the workings were uncharted,and were the remains of mining done by the Monks,hundreds of years ago. The coal seam workings had been dug out with a pick only,and the sides were as "straight as a die".....[meaningless to the uninitiated...but to those who have had to use a pick on solid coal,without explosives,will understand!!...coal is hard like diamond in some seams,admittedly softer in others....but still HARD!!] There was no mention of this in the press that I recall,and when I have spoken to residents,[strangers to me sometimes],when out dog-walking,they have been surprised to hear that the Gallagher Park Hill,was the biggest Pit-heap in the country,and was 140 years old when I started there in 1965!! Now the place where the machine went down,wasn't the first time old workings had been found,previous to that,a lot of years ago,they found old picks and shovels,with small baskets that the monks would have filled ,[having picked on for hours at the coal face,for a pailfull of coal],and then dragged out to the surface. In "modern" times,like.....after the war,the A pit used the Bord-and-Pillar method of extraction of the coal,and the High Main seam,which was ten feet high,was like the proverbial rabbit warren,with a lattice-work of criss-cross roadways...[or "Bords"] Pillars of coal 60 yards by 60 yards were left in to support the roof,and supposedly prevent subsidence......in a seam which wasn't 40 yards down underground! The seam was worked under the whole of Bedlington,along with the contribution made by the Bedlington "Doctor" Pit also. Just like Choppington,when the pit was about to close,and it was a case of fighting for survival,boundaries became meaningless,and officials gave orders to carry on working the seam,contrary to the mine regulations,and the plans laid down by the surveyors and planning department. But you see,it's all gone,and when Mr Budge,took over from British Coal,it was a well-known fact,that he destroyed most of the offices files at Team Valley,including personal files appertaining to me personally,which makes me wonder now,what was the reasoning behind all this,and why didn't British Coal ensure all files were protected and transferred to be archived? Also makes me wonder if his very good friend,thatcher-the-hatcheter,ordered him to do this....for some odd reason.....hmmmm! Seams which were deeper,such as the Harvey,the Denton low Main,etc,were worked using Longwall coal faces,otherwise known as "Total Extraction" Now if you add up all the seams ever worked at all the pits,[and at one time there were more than 76 pits in Northumberland alone..!!],you will see that a considerable amount of vertical support has been removed,so it's no wonder door-frames twist,and windows crack,due to subsidence!! The "experts",who know the bookwork,used to preach the idea of "Consolidation"...meaning when you extract ten feet of coal-height,it's only the immediate few feet above the seam,what will collapse into the void left by the coal extraction....the strata will eventually be strengthened by the "Pressure-arch" theory. ....and Consolidation will take place.[no risk of the collapsing strata reaching to the next seam,or to the surface. Try telling that to any miner who worked the Beaumont seam at Choppington B pit! The strata was what the "experts" referred to as "very friable"....meaning when a roof fall occurred,you couldn't stop it...the strata was blue shale,and full of "slippy-backs",which meant as fast as you filled the rubble away...more kept pouring in like water out of a barrel. I could go on for ages with these truths.......well...I just DID!!

Check out your introductory post,Liisa. Hope somebody else can help you as well. The Lone Ranger,also worked at the High Pit,and knew your Dad,but he is like the Scarlet Pimpernel......[heh heh,just joking Brian!!]

Hi Diana and Bill! I may be a bit late of welcoming you to this site,just came across your kind comments to the Country club organisers. Alan was old mate and neighbour of mine,we were brought up together from very very young......about 6yrs old in my case,Alan is about two years older than me. He was one of our Councillors for many years,and always tried to fight for more leisure and sports facilities for Bedlington,which,over the decades.....escaped Bedlington,and went to Ashington instead. Alan has been very ill over the last few years,and had to retire due to to ill-health. Although I have never seen him for lots of years,His Wife has kept me up to date with his progress. I am a bit sorry that no-one has seen your kind remarks,and responded from the Country and Western club on this forum. If you have been back over here since,then I hope you enjoyed your stay very much!! We're a canny lot over here! Cheers, Bill.

Merc,if ye cross thi road and come owa the fields doon from Eastgreen,yi might bump inti me and my Little Black Jess! We waak owa them fields towards your place from Bomarsund,just aboot ivry mornin! Yi wud knaa us by hor being a little Labrador /cross,and me an aad silly bugga waakin alang singin me heart oot,[cos aam an aad Muso-guitar player who canna sing, but tries anyway....!] When thi pits were gaanin,Choppington was like every other close-knit mining community,everybody knew everybody else...whole families worked doon the pit together...Fathers,Sons,Brothers,Uncles....Friends...Neighbours....etc. Pleased yi have settled in,and enjoy living here!

We were learnt ti write letters in block capitals. Noo a find oot it's bad manners using capitals on computers....whose the boss here...us or them!!

Nae gud me sayin owt.....aa naa nowt![ Whey a dae.....a little bit.......Pitwark and gud cyavils!!]

Smudge,it was great sitting in thi middle of the shaft rails,and hoying stones doon thi shaft and hearing the deep booming soonds as ya styens boonced off the waals on tha way doon! Little things pleased little minds eh!

Set'di aftanyuun matinee,if ye were lucky enuff ti get a treat,Roy Rogers,and ivry bugga slapped tha arses aal thi way doon the street from thi top-end pitcha's!! Mind,even at a very young age,it was H.G.Wells for me preferably...aa was aalwis fascinated by space after Sputnik was laanched. Robbie the Robot!!...a used ti fantisize wat it wud it be like hevin a robot runnin aroond the hoose,and nae bugga wud pick on yi ootside! Jim Bowie and Tarzan,kept the Sheffield Steel industry inundated wi orders for Bowie knives.....musta dun man!! Us kids used ti gaan reet doon inti thi oppencast cut,and play on the Draglines feet and aal aroond the other machines...nae security then.....didn't need it....naebody damaged owt.......if a set of ten-eleven year olds were gaana damage Bucyrus Erie's bucket,or any of the Euclids,a divvent think they wud be much gud for howkin oot thi biggest Man-made hole in Europe in 1954! They were lang happy days !!

Hi Christine,my Wife has corrected me,and it seems my memory has let me down for once!! Tommy lived in West Terrace,not the East side,and I am,according to my Wife,mistaken about the reference I made to the colour of his Wife's hair,and name! Hope someone else can be of more help luv!

Merc,if you had looked out of your back windows in the 1960's,you would have seen the second biggest man-made mountain,next to Bedlington A pit's pit- heap!! They were enormous and always on fire at the top,smouldering embers fanned by strong winds made them glow ghostily at night !! Sulphrous fumes hung around all over on calm nights......ahhhh the gud aad days eh?!

I forgot to say many thanks for your kind words ,Merc!,I used to live just over the Bridge on the left side,as you go up the bank,to thi Barnt'n road turn-off. Storey's Buildings was a terrace on the left side. I lived there from almost birth till I was aboot three and a half yrs old1944-ish to 1947-8 -ish. I was christened in the Church next to you,St Paul's.

Right!,Merc....! Stand on the path ootside your hoose,and face the road leading up the Whinney Hill ti Guidepost. Waak alang sae far,and ye will come ti the opening driveway,that takes yi ti the welfare building on the right side,[up this side opening on ya left,mind!!] If ye keep waaking up that drive on ya left,off the main road,ye'll come ti a gate leading inti Choppington Woods. THAT ROAD ya standing on,was the entrance ti Choppington A Pit...[referred ti as the "Low" Pit] The pit was set back off the main road,aboot a hundred yards or so,mebbe not even that far. If ye waak reet up the path up the woods,ti thi far end,ye cum ti thi place where Choppington B Pit was..[referred ti as thi "High Pit"]....and THAT'S where aa started as a 15 year aad laddie from schyuul!! Rake aroond on thi groond wi ya byeuts ,and ye'll find bits o' coal,and bandy stone,which is the remains of the pit heaps after they flattened them wi heavy plant machinery. Yi might find bits of coal wi a lot of yellow bands in them,[sulphur],which came from the Beaumont seam,[at 10feet high,there were more bands of shale, and ironstone,than there was coal!!] Noo if yi waak doon the aad tarmac from the woods,[remains of the original High pit road,which I travelled on every day for six years!!],yi cum ti thi main road leading ti Morpeth,from Guidepost. At the entrance ti that aad road,off the Guidepost road,cars might be parked,and there is a big information board,showing flora and fauna which can be found or seen,in the woods. Another info board shows an aerial photo of Choppington High Pit................!...only........it's NOT the High Pit!! ....it may be the Low Pit,but after showing a lot of my old Marra's a photo of it,none of them recognise any of the surroundings at all!! I have zoomed it,and sat for an hour or two,studying the image,and can't place it at all. The reason I am sure it isn't thi High Pit,is cos thi High Pit was a tetty pit,built with corrugated iron sheets,a hundred years ago,and when my Father started there in 1929,[aged 14 yrs],and I started in 1959 [aged 15 yrs],nowt had changed,the sheets were rusted through,and used to bang and flap about in the wind,the Steam winding engine house was old and built with huge blocks of stone,typical of the period.[but a lovely engine within!] The info board pic shows a more modern brick-and -girder - built set of buildings. The layout is totally different,the screening plant is in the wrong place relative to where it used to be,it is just a totally different pit altogether. There must have been no available pics of the High Pit,or else it was too ugly a pit,literally falling to pieces,to attract people to the area! The exception being the brand new Electric Winding Engine house,which was built prior to closure,as a means of deeming the pit "uneconomical",as they did with every other pit in the 1960's....invest where no investment was necessary!! All the electric winder did for thi High Pit,was slow down coalwork,cos the winding speed,and acceleration of the cages,was much,much slower than the fine old steam engine which it replaced. I got a big spanner over my knuckles for thoughtlessly daring, to just lean, on a polished copper cold-water pipe,[by the old winderman.]...[the "Brakesman"]....well....I was still fresh from school,at 15 yrs!!

The only time we got any money,was by picking blackberries,and selling them around the doors,our regular neighbours were always pleased,cos most housewives baked and made jams and chutneys in those days. Then we sold bullrushes,cos they were fashionable ornaments after the war,some painted them with distemper,others ,like us kids,dipped them in paraffin, lit them,and threw them in the night air,like the Indians in the cerbouy pitcha's![canna seem ti find the reet spellin ti convey hoo we sed that one!!] Rose hips was another gud seller........! Me Mutha was Victorian,in her ways,and made us go back and return any little bit of money,[usually a silver thruppeny-bit],for gaan a message for any of our neighbours,sayin"If ye canna dae a gud turn for nowt,then ye canna dae it at aal"! But it was different selling stuff we had worked for!!

Heh heh! Merc,we used ti have a dozen of these badges each,every kid had them,every time anybody got a thruppeny bag o' chips,they got a badge. Me and my Brother never got pocket money,so we either got the badges off Jeannie,[fish shop opposite the black bull],or given by gud friends,or swaps for bullrushes,or other laddie-stuff like that. The slogan doesn't have THE in it!!......disregarding the top line on the badge....THAT isn't the slogan!! I lived through all these first-time campaigns,and this was one of the dopiest ones going!! "Why Ask Me Ask Whispering Fish"....= "W.A.M.A.W.F."........NOT "W.A.M.A.T.W.F.".....doesn't have the same effect does it?[it's musical....if you have a sense of rhythm!!]......rap.....rap.....rap! At the time,in the very beginning,it was a trivia question from kids who hadn't yet got as far as getting a badge...me included,so it must have been a successful advertising campaign for it's time,not as successful as Pepsi,though!! ...........and I'm still waiting..........for the Pepsi slogan.......!!

Noo,why has me post needed approval.....aam a a spy or summick? Mighty queor ti me! tellyiwataamgaantibednoocosaamabootbuggaadaanamnotgaanasitheorinwaitfosumbuggasyenitsaareetwilmaaakaynitenite!!

One day,I was sitting in my small conservatory,enjoying a cuppa tea,in the warm sunshine,when a loud booming made the flimsy old-fashioned conservatory shake. My Wife and I thought it was a mini Earth-tremor. Later on we found out that it was the first of a series of demolition stages,down at the power station. I phoned the police,and asked if they could inform me before each successive stage would be demolished,as I was a bit of a historian,and would like to be there ready with my camera,for posterity. Sure enough,I was put on the list that they reserve for the press,etc. So,I was there in readiness,and captured all the explosions,thereafter. Prior to that,I went down and captured all the buildings,best as I could,from different angles. I used my trusty Halina 35x ,[35mm film],which my Wife,[girlfriend at the time!],bought me for a Xmas present,in around 1963-ish..!! Consequently,I have packs of decent quality pics of all the demolition,plus 8mm videotape,footage of the chimneys coming down. I went and asked the security guard if I could have a quick run over and get a piece of the chimney for a keepsake,which he agreed to,so that is on my little collection of stones from various interesting places,over the years,and it lies on my wee stream and pond wall in the back garden!! This was a day or two after the chimneys came down...not the same day!! They sure are a miss as a landmark to bring you home![better than a sat nav,if you were just travelling around Northumberland!]

Abram Lyle has had the answer for a hundred years or more.....just read the small print on his tin,and tell me what you find! Everything on this planet is a killer.......even Oxygen!..............[in the wrong proportions]....... "A little bit of what you fancy does you good"! ........in other words,a variety of foods in moderation,is the key to a healthy lifestyle.... ...it's the same with opinions.....every one on here has a bit of a valid point in their argument..not totally correct in their thinking,but looking at the whole picture,we all agree in some small proportion......just like tetties and torpins[!]........and greazy yorksha puddin's...! Sym,it intrigues me hoo yi picked up aal the sooth foreigners twang,for being a Bedltntonian[!!!!! meant affectionately mind!!nae disrespect!] Off-topic,but just that wor Daz has been doon theor for 25 yeors,and a knaa he taaks aal queer ti them lot doon theor,like clients etc,but the minute he's on Northumbrian soil,[or on the phone],he taaks like he shows he's browtin's -up!!!![he hesn't forgettin' the ootside nettie, and ice layers in the bath,arly in thi mornin,cos o' nae heatin.....just an observation,Sym,ya still a crackerjack!!!

........as the wheels went ro-oond.........!!!da da da da da da daa..... daaaaaa![sorry,a canna put the dots in....!]

Maggie's meks mair sense!! AND it has a localised theme! Weel done Maggie!

Heh heh! Sym,hoo did ye get it,not googlin' a hope.....![cos any daft bugga can find owt by daeing that!!] A wud buy ye a pint, but aam tee-total sacrosanct! Eggy,hae yi got thi badge,or did ye search for it? My Son in London tuk a shoebox wi aal thi badges in,both his and my aad ones,[like the lovely enamelled Esso etc badges],when he moved doon theor. This one was on every kids jacket lapel,sumtimes in plural,in the mid-1950's! It was a big marketing campaign,ti get the public ti eat mair fish [and chips!].Posters up on aal the fish-shop walls etc. Neabody's telt me waat thi Pepsi rhyme was ![and thi story attached......]....aam still waitin'......[whistle whistle........] By thi way,there was no "THE" in the slogan,even if a cartoonist has dropped it in.......otherwise the badge wud have had a "T" in it!! It was simply......"Why Ask Me Ask Whispering Fish" Bliddy daft a thowt,but theor yi gan,it stimulated a bit o' interest!!

Heh heh! Thanks Maggie,I enjoy telling me stories,but me family have heard them 92 million times owa,so it gets a bit tiring,especially for me Wife,every time a meet up with an ex-miner,whether I know him or not,there is a common bond between miners all over,so when the coal starts being flung aal owa the path we are waaking on...me Wife's eyes start rolling stryght away!! It's taking me ages,years,to try and get my life story book finished,before I turn senile!!

Sorry,Canny Lass,very good attempts but nowhere near,although one word is close,but the theme is what you will never, in a month of Sunday's,...guess! Why am I so sure?.....cos the bugga's absurd!![but it was a national phrase designed to boost an already well-founded institution...if that is the correct word to use!!] The whisper is,that Vic seems to be the only contender here!!.....[clue in there!]

Hi Christine,and welcome to the forum! I went to school with Tommy all my school life,starting at the little Village Infants which is in a very sad dilapidated state,opposite St Cuthberts Church. Tommy was always a very quiet laddie,and a canny lad. I hadn't seen him for years,after leaving school,getting married,and moving to West Terrace Stakeford. Then one day he was walking up our street,and I got on talking to him,and he said he had moved into the street,on the East Terrace. As time went by,he had a bad experience in his domestic life,and his health started to deteriorate. I moved in 2000,and hadn't seen Tom for a year or two,then saw him at Bedlington Station,waiting at the bus stop. I gave him a lift home,and tried to cheer him up a bit,reminiscing about the old days at the Whitley School,but was saddened to realise how much worse his health was. I haven't seen him Since. I didn't know his Brother,or any other family members. I would have known you,when you were a kid,but even though I have a vivid memory of my childhood,some events and people in more recent years are starting to slip from my memory. If I'm not mistaken,and I apologise if I am,I'm thinking you were named after your Mam.[a red-headed lass-I think...] I am also 70,Tom was in my class at the Whitley School also. When we were all kids,we weren't stuck for friends to go out and play with....there were the "Parkies"..[who lived beside the park..],the Haig,and Beattie, roaders,the Lily Avenue lads,the Millfielders,the Hollymount lot,[where I lived]....quite a lot of friends to choose from,and we all went to school together, and played out,down the woods usually,or over at the park,...no X-boxes in those days!! I hope somebody else can add to my memories of Tom,in a more enlighting way. Cheers Christine! Bill

Wimps! Get them doon thi black hole wi me for ten minutes,in an eighteen inch high coal seam,wi a big George Rock shuul and a six- foot cutter jib,amang waata and clarts,and bad stone roof,and they wud be crying for thier mammy's!! ....divven't knaa tha born man! Seriously,we can manage physical stress,by hevvin a blaa noo and again,but mental stress is a real killer. When a was a young lad,strong as a horse,and deaing aal that wat a said,nowt wud stand in me way. Noo aam older,and hopefully ,wiser,a realise wat mental stress can dae ti a person,and have a Son in London,and a Son at home,both have mentally stressful jobs. Me lad in London lives for his work,has his own recording studio,is a respected[in the industry] record producer,but always says,"Dad,aam not filling twelve yards of coal off ,like ye used ti dae,but it's mentally draining,seeing a project through,even though a enjoy daeing it......" Me youngest lad comes home mentally exhausted,after 8 hours in a recording booth also....no fun in his industry. So we should sympathise wi anybody who suffers like this lad has...not ti mention wor lads owa thi otha side of thi world,fighting a losing battle against evil.