HIGH PIT WILMA

Heh heh! Wat an interesting spring were gonna have,I hope there is a big bucket ready to be put inside the council offices,accompanied by a few violins! I know one thing for sure,burnt fingers take a lot of pain,and a lot of time to heal!! ME.....aa knaa nowt aboot politics,so aal stick ti pitwark! Sym...master of alliteration!......as well as metaphors! We had a saying doon the black hole....."It's not my job ti gaan roond shooting stinking fish"....!....[shooting=shouting!]

Folks,just back in from Jess-walkies! ....where was I? Aye,aam just thinking,a hope all ye canny folk dinna think,that aa think,that visitors built the pyramids outright!! It gaans withoot sayin' that the Egyptians,Romans ,Greeks,and all the others,were brilliant engineers,astronomers,etc...! My theory and belief is that they had massive help in thier education,and physical,mechanical help in the building of the pyramids. Iv'e never been abroad in my life,but even just visiting St Paul's cathedral,Westminster Abbey,and hundreds of ancient churches throughout the lengh and breadth of our own country,has left an impression of awe in me. You stand and look at the gorgeous woodcarvings,plasterwork,gilting,etc,and wonder,just how did they do it? When I left the Pits in 1987,I attended a re-training course in carpentry and joinery,at Felling. Among the the other courses was a Stonemasonry one. It was the the only course which,for obvious reasons,was held out in the open,with just a port overhead to keep the lads dry-ish....a bit! One of the lads explained to me what the course procedures were,exercises etc. One of the first things they had to learn,was how to carve a sphere from a cubic block of stone. I watched this lad every day,at different times,as I was passing,etc,and slowly saw a sphere take shape,with every drop of sweat that poured from his brow,in the middle of the 1987 winter,which wasn't a particularly good one!He was freezing,and sweating,at the same time. I realised what it must have been like for the masons of old who would have had arms and shoulders,that you wouldn't want to mess with! As I became a proficient and quite skilled cabinet-maker,I worked with the best wood-carvers you could wish to watch! One fella,called David Majors,[it's ok to say his name..],was awarded Britain's best carver,after winning a national competition run by a major[no pun!]woodworkers magazine. He brought his winning project into the workshop for me to see,and I was awestruck. It stood about 18 inches high,and was a Falconer,standing with his bird on his wrist,and his labrador by his side. It was carved from the photograph on the back of the "Barbour" coat manufacturers catalogue..[in Alnwick] The Falconer's grainy,weather-beaten face,the Falcon's beady eyes and vicious looking beak,and claws,the eyes of the Labrador,and mostly,the folds of the coat...all so realistic,you expected them to move any minute!! Why all this story? Just to remind folks who say "aye,we haven't got the craftsmen like there was in the aaden days...."! We HAVE! But back to the pyramids,other things that are astounding,no mess or curvings anywhere inside the building,a dust-free atmosphere inside the king,and queen's chambers,paint that hasn't discoloured in the abscence of daylight,like my skirting boards have in dark corners of the rooms....[google why paint goes yellow in darkness!!] Tutankamun's face mask is as gorgeous now as the day that it was made...who learn't them how to smelt gold and other metals? Can you remember when a coachload of tourists were blown up on the road over to the great pyramid,a few years ago? Well,my oldest Son was on that coach,fortunately,it was the week before that tragedy. They stopped tourist trips for a while,but also for another reason... The heat and humidity from so many bodies passing through,plus the heat from the lighting,had started to degrade the wall paintings,and restorative treatment had to be done. Bed-time already...again![1-10 am!] Last word!,Men,[and Ladies,and cherubs!]all with white dresses and feathery wings........no-one has given me a decent explanation....yet![i don't go for the usual religious explanation that you have to know how to interpret the meanings of the Bible!] Tell you what,we all missed our vocation!!,but Billy Graham didn't!! "How to become a millionaire...[billionaire?]..in ONE easy step-!"....[and THAT was one SMALL step for a man!!]

Canny Lass,methinks we are going have a bigger frying pan than a fire....in May.....and MIrreil Matheur [spelling?]....her lyrics may have to be re-written!

Canny Lass..this is gonna be the most interesting May we will hae seen fo' a lang time!! Malc,you just made my night posting that vid of Chris! Aav adored that song since a first heard it in 1989,but nivvor seen any videos of it.My Wife and myself saw Chris at the Whitley Bay ice rink in concert,years ago,and he sang and played that song just as it is on the record...stunning! A aalwis thought it would have been very controversial,to the religious community,and raise hackles,but it's a much-played Christmas song nooadays!! Jesus the spaceman visiting his offspring,baby Jesus.[Joe being his stepdad] Mr Jesus would travel at such great speeds,and distances,that 2000 yrs of our time might just be next week ti him...who knows? Merc,many years ago,my Wife recorded a tv documentary [on old VHS tape!!],about a team trying to lift big stone blocks with levers and hand operated block and tackes,to try and simulate the work of the pyramid builders,and overcome the tasks involved. They got absoloutely nowhere,but I switched it off,cos it was a trash production...very amateur! I said earlier that I never watch telly,meaning everyday trash,but if my Wife records a sensible programme,such as space,science,or anything educational,and She knows my interests,then I will find time somehow,to watch it,usually this time of the morning,after all my commitments have been completed..[i don't call them "chores"-looking after my wife....cos it ain't a chore...it's a commitment!]. Pil,you and merc are starting to leave me behind,with your knowledge heor noo,I don't know about the Chartes cathedral,but will google it tomorrow night and learn about it..!! Wonderful tool is google!! Before I leave for bed,can I just say,opinions differ in people,and it makes no difference what any of us think,or who wrote what,cos at the end of the day,we have no absoloute proof,cos we weren't there!! Time will tell!! Like Neil Armstrong said in an interview on the radio a year or two back,on accusations that he never stepped onto the moon's surface............ "Say what you like,but one thing you can't change,my footprint is there,and time won't shift it.....only another human being who goes back.....!" Now what happens if the Chinese,or the Russians [especially!],get to the moon,before the Americans,in due course?.......poor Sam is in a no-win situation!! Oh!,and when he reported to Houston,that.."we are not alone",[having seen lights on the horizon],Houston replied..."You never sent that report...clear?"

That makes the stone even heavier! Yeah,it's logical,and do-able,on a reasonable scale,Pil,but we aren't talking about a coalcutter here! Remind me please,how high the Pyramid is? I googled Daniken,sure he was a thief,did time,nowt to do with his theories,not defending his criminal record,I just see that as distinct. It's in me to think as an individual,and not a follower,never was a follower,not even when I was a kid....did my own thing,and at my age,I am exactly the same,I believe in what I think is right,and don't try to make others follow my thinking!!...like some religious fanatical organisations do....! Discussion is a different thing,we put forward our ideas ,compare notes,and generally have a gud time! Noo,has anybody got any ideas why technology and education only appeared overnight,from being cavemen,so to speak ,and only in the far eastern parts of the world. I don't see any massive temples or other architectural achievements on a mighty huge scale in our little island,apart from the Penshaw monument of course...........!! Nothing here to suggest high levels of intelligence from 4000 years ago........or am I missing something? [please don't correct me on Penshaw!!!!!] Stonehenge? Various standing stones of unknown origin? Not exactly what I am thinking of! I am very willing to be educated on such matters.

Sym,that seems spot-on to me!! The more you think about it,the more logical it becomes. The Vatican is the richest place on earth...why? My youngest Son married an Italian lass a few years ago,[now divorced...that's irrelevant!] I said to her one day,that I would love to have a poke around the vaults underneath the Vatican... She replied in a quiet ,very serious tone of voice,"Beely,you wouldn't get within a mile of them.." "Why not" "The Mafia woood keeel yooo...they control everything to do weeth eet" "eet eez weell-known..and no-one dares ask any qestions or say aneetheeng about eet" "The Mafie are everywhere..peeeple are afraid" Jesus was humble,and walked barefooted,his followers are ruled by fear![fear of God.....that they may not be saved?.......] When I was very young,I was told that most of Bedlington was owned by either the C.OF.E Vicarage,or the Catholic Church. How much was that true!

Hi Merc!! You just[by a slip of the eye,!!],gave an excellent example of how the bible stories would have been created....chinese whispers!! It wasn't MY Daughter who witnessed the craft....!![re-read my post!] But I acknowledge the points you make! Daniken,in my view,isn't a Deity,he didn't write anything for us to "Believe",he put forward HIS theories and left it for us to think what we will,either agree or disagree! I, personally,have the tendency to agree that we have had Extra-terrestrial visitors in ancient times,nothing wrong with that,we are now investigating other planets,so why the big deal about the visitors from space? Having worked underground for so many years,and having to build heavy machinery,with no hi-abs,and no other forms of lifting other than a pull-lift [block and tackle type of device!,in very confined spaces,and also blasting out solid strata,and having to deal with BIG heavy stones,I feel I am just a wee bit qualified to have an opinion on things like the Pyramid builders. There were occasions when every man in a district would be called out to help with the moving of a machine,or heavy jumbo cable,where the only means of moving the item was muscle-power. 30 Men,in an underground roadway , all working side by side,and moving inbye,eventually bring the work to a halt..only because they were on top of each other!....nowhere to go. Often my marra and myself had to load three-and-a-half-ton coal-cutters onto a flat tram,to go outbye ,with nothing but six-foot-long wood planks,brains,and a bit of brawn....I know all about levers and mechanical advantages,when it is in a manageable situation.but imagine thousands of men struggling in desert heat,with ropes made of what?....camel-hair?,hemp?,papyrus ! These people would,at some point,needed a heavy-duty mechanical means of positioning the blocks, and I refuse to accept that they did the job ,at such a great height,using wood planks and props,even though they were the finest Engineers. By the way,where did they glean thier knowledge of so precise an enginering project? Did they start with a wood model,then up-scale it? ...and where do they all go when they have almost reached the place where the huge stone has to be placed?....put a wheel on the top, on scaffolding,and start to pull down the other side?....I don't think so! My Son has been in all the chambers in the great Pyramid,seen the huge stone blocks that support the roof,pretty much the same principle we used underground,runners and stringers. The precision of the placing of every stone throughout the interior of the pyramid left him stunned and in awe,as was everyone else,in the party. Has to be seen to be believed. He came home with all the large full-colour literature,from the museum,and the opinion that no way did men pull them stones and place them the way they are,without superior lifting power. Now I haven't been,so I am not really qualified to dispute anything ever written,or shown on documentaries,but I have had my own opinions on this subject since I first learnt of the Pyramids existence,as a young child at school! Eh! what a great discussion!!...loving it!

Welcome to the forum,Carolyn,sorry I am no help. Utmost admiration and respect for the lads who fell to save us..,and for those still fighting in conflicts at the present time.

Heh heh Maggie! A dinna envy ye!![aboot the bairns...!].....whey,seriously,we haven't got any Grandbairns,but we wud have tried to be the best grandma n granda on this planet if we had had any![Little Black Jess is wor little bairn,and she is cosseted as much as any bairn could possibly be,and knaas ivry word we say to her!] Thanks for your nice comments,Maggie,and it hasn't gone unnoticed how very diplomatic you always are,with a very sensible view of all the topics and disagreements!!! Cheers,Mate! p.s. Thanks for the advice about the book,I will look for it,and check it out,if I can fit in between my other commitments! Pilgrim,thanks to you also,I will look out for Birdsong. Cheers Mate!!

Doggy waiting patienly,but had ti put this down or I will forget....!! All the Bible teachings which I had from school,as a child,and from an ex-catholic Mother,never did me any wrong,and did,in fact provide me with a set of morals and principals to set my standards by. The ten commandments need not have been Bible-orientated,they are good,sound,principles...... Do any kids these days even know what the commandments are?....have they heard of them? If we,as kids,said..."I swear on my Mother's death.....",the others could take it as sacrosanct,that we were telling the truth about whatever it was we were being questioned about. Now I know that's nowt ti dae wi religion,but it is a belief in the truth,which WAS instilled into us through religious means.[...."tell a lie and ye'll gaan doon ti the divil mind...."]! Sorry little black Jess.......aam comin'......[poor little pooch is crossin' her legs!]

Nice one Sym! Well , Merc,it seems that disregarding our sources of info,we are on the same plane,which I am pleased aboot,cos there was me thinking we were ganna be at gods.... a mean odds...wi each otha heor!! I agree wi ya sentiment aboot military projects fully,and can cite a case for either that,or a genuine visitor. My Neice,[whose Dad just gave Malcolm and Foxy a disc of old photo's a few days ago,and who shall remain nameless!],was outside star-spotting,one night, a couple of years ago.[maybe a bit more than that,but fairly recently anyway...]. She was sensibly shining a laser pointer at particular places in the dark sky,after making sure there were no aircraft in the vicinity. [i know.....!....AWACS and all that,you are never gonna see them!] Anyway,she heard a faint whirring sound,which got progressively louder,and seemed to be directly behind her,but above her. As she turned to see where the sound was coming from,she was met with the sight of the strangest-looking craft that was hovering quite still ,just above the roof-tops,it seemed. It was V-shaped,without fuselage or tail-plane,had a row of lights around the front edge,and underneath,and as she looked,it quietly turned on it's axis and slid away out of sight in a few seconds. I forgot to add that the laser pointer was of the 20 mile range type!! She ran inside screaming for her Husband,who was in bed,as this took place in the early hours of the morning. He came down and tried to calm her down,as she was hysterical. She persuaded him to go back outside with her to see if the object would return...it didn't. She has been on a personal mission every clear night we have had since that night,as she wants to prove to others that she wasn't dreaming,or on glue....etc. There is an official report on the website which deals with UFO sightings,along with a sketch which she did,to try and give an impression of what she saw. Now she saw something,no doubt about that,cos her friend also saw the lights at the same time,but not the craft,at the other side of the estate. Was it a secret military prototype stealth craft?....maybe so,but no positive proof.[the mod aren't gonna come oot and tell us ,are they?! Now,Merc,what proof do we have about Daniken?...you only read articles about him,presumably.......who wrote them? How do we know what is truth,and what is not truth? Many years ago,when I was very young,so young that my name couldn't be printed,a report went into the Ashington Post,about me being fined for an airgun offence,along with my brother,[a petty and false prosecution by a young police recruit in Bedlington]. There were lines of "evidence",and statements I was supposed to have said to the cop,when he booked us in the Bedlington woods,far away from the public highway,i.e.the main road.[we were doing no wrong,but he trumped up charges,and they stuck] When my Parents saw the paper,they went daft,and at 12 years old I formed the opinion that you can't believe what you read,cos this was all lies about my Brother and me. Later in life,aged 19 years,same thing happened,a motorbike "offence"[again trumped by a young cop],and fined. Lies printed in the paper again,disgracing me,but me now at an age,where I didn't care a chut,cos I knew I was telling the truth,and the cop was bent. SO!....the philosophy is ....BELIEVE NOWT WAT YE READ,AND OWNLY HAAF WAT YE HEOR!! I think,[returning to the subject!!],that it is arrogance of the human race to suppose that we are the only beings in the universe,and time will tell!! My favourite topic,........The Pyramids,and all the statues on Easter Island,as well all the other giant temples,and ruins around the planet!! Do you really believe they used thirty thousand slaves to pull 200-ton stone blocks up the stone hill on pit props,for rollers? Have you ever watched thirty thousand fans pouring out of a football ground,after the match? Where the hell would the engineers put the men when they got to the top? ...and how come we were on the planet for thousands of years,as cavemen,etc,then overnight,[in the earth's timeline],we suddenly had Engineers, Astronomers,Builders,Craftsmen of all descriptions,technology 4000 years ago.....! One day,Jehovah's knocked at my door,as I was about to go out. I apologised for being unable to give them a little of my time,and told them I believed the same as them,that Jesus was a top bloke. They were pleased,until I said yeah,I also think that he was a visitor from another planet! They gasped in surprise and said they hadn't heard that opinion before! I got on about the wonder's of the world,and mentioned the lines in Peru. The young girl,about 18 years old,said she had been there,and seen them. I said you need to go up the mountains to see them in their entirety,and she said that the guide had taken them up,and it was truly amazing. I said how long ago was it when they were laid down......she replied..."2000 years ago" I said how long is it since Jesus walked the earth..."2000 years"...... I said,it makes you think,doesn't it? She replied..."Yes,it DOES make you think.." I thought,it's a pity I have to go out,cos I have nearly got this young lass straying from her belief,here noo!! Doggy-waakin-time....AGAIN!!....JUST WHEN AA WAS GETTIN WARMED UP!!HEH HEH! Keep a haad lads!!

Disnae really matter Mercuryg,The star theory is my own,no-else's,yes,may have been a comet also,but no way was "a star is born"..the truth!! People like Daniken,H.G.Wells,etc,were scientists,and scientists don't believe in supernatural events,or things like Men in white dresses,with feathery wings....! Now I am not,and I repeat NOT,Atheist,but I have a reasonably balanced view of what might really have happened 2000years ago,and I certainly do not believe there was a virgin birth! You have to remember the culture in those days,probably even now,that if a couple had a child out of wedlock,they would be stoned to death. So something had to be done to protect the innocent child and one parent..thus the fable....now where's the Actual evidence of the virgin birth?....It lies in our faith in the Bible!...is that any more convincing proof than scores of scientists,like Daniken,who have put theories which,at least,are a bit more credible than feathery clad men floating down from the sky!! More like small landing craft,from a mother ship,come to investigate this beautiful planet,and fornicating with our inhabitants....as you would expect...after a long journey. "Wheels within wheels...and the dragon had four faces,and wherever the wheels went,the faces went also..." Not Daniken!!!.....Revelations!!....Ezekiel!!..."and the faces were like that of burnished brass".....Space helmets! More credible than a four-faced dragon snorting and breathing fire up the mountain!! But I still believe in a creator of all this,cos it couldn't just have happened by itself....from nothing? Like I said,we can ask the questions,but we are too small and miniscule,to understand the answers! The Universe never ends....it's too mind-boggling to even try and contemplate the fact there is no end.... ..like believing the earth was flat in olden times!! We can only put forward our ideas,even we disagree,it doesn't really matter,cos we are never gonna get anywhere,we are still going to carry on destroying our beautiful planet,and it's people.....and God is always going to cause the world's strife,and sit on the fence while it all happens!! One thing always puzzled me,WHY was Jesus always shown as a white man in Bethlehem? Wouldn't surprise me at all,if the visitors return,in my short lifetime,[which I have left],if they are perfectly ordinary human beings,and not little green men ,as we have been indoctrinated from childhood,to believe!! Bet You and Me could while away a happy evening mercury,if we were sat around a comfy table with a pot of tea...[me being a complete tee-totaller!!

For those who aren't familiar with the coalmining industry,and purely for reference,to give some idea of how powerful 250lbs of explosives are,a normal ripping lip..["the caunch.."],on a longwall coalface,would have been shot down using about five,maybe ten pounds of a much less powerful explosive,which would have been "Unigel",or similar.

Well,being an old ex-miner mesel',and having fired up to 250lbs of "Polar Ajax" in one single shot,at a time,[Ajax being a "P1" Permitted explosive-the highest explosive you can use underground...],I know what it feels like to have the ground,indeed ,the whole roadway,shake like hell,as if an earthquake WAS taking place!! You get used to it after a while,but when visitors used to come down,in organised parties,led by the Manager and Safety Officer,some of them wanted to get back out of the pit,especially when they couldn't see their hand in front of their faces,because of the dense shotfiring fumes which we referred to as "the reek"..!!...and also the red hot,burning Sulphrous fumes which the reek contained. Ajax was 33% Nitro-Glycerine,and was pretty potent stuff to handle!!.....especially when the shots didn't fire,and you had to go back into the roadway to check every detonator connection.....it had been known for delayed detonation to take place,even long after the regulatory waiting time after a failed shot before going in to examine and check for faulty detonators. In effect,and practice,we were our own "bomb disposal squad",but never ever saw it like that!!...it was a job,and we just got on with it. So I understood,and appreciated every word of Tommy's story,as he was telling me.

"Greedy miners....." ........"Get the rats down their holes where they belong"..."The Enemy within.."........."..like sheep......" Aye,a bet the aad King and Queen didn't agree wi Churchill and thatcher-the hatcheter ....and their opinions of the miners!! Great article Eggy,and thanks for posting it! What the world also didn't know was that the Germans,AND the Japanese, had loads of miners [including my now-deceased old friend and neighbour..]driving the the Burma road through the jungle...[as well as all the other campaigns] My friend,Tommy, joined the territorial army,when he was 17 years old,with his pit marra's,"ti get a free holiday doon at Catterick in the summer,for a fortneet.." Within days of him joining,war broke out and he was sent for training in the regular army,and posted out to the war front. He was taken prisoner by the Germans,and worked in the German mines,then after escaping,was captured again by the Japanese,and put to work on the railroad. One funny story he told me,[cos he never told me about atrocities..],went like this..... The rail gangs came to a massive ,[and he emphasised MASSIVE!] ,tree,bang in the middle of the track-line,and halted progress. The Engineer in charge,had Tommy,and the other miners,dig holes around the roots..[in jungle heat and humidity!],and filled the holes with explosives. After firing the shots,the tree trunk was virtually unmarked. The tree was probably a Mahogany or similar tree,with a diameter of about 10 feet,and about 300 feet high....a BIG tree! After several attempts at firing it,and getting nowhere,the Army Officer-in -charge,started threatening the Engineer with his life if he didn't get things moving quickly. So the Engineer called the miners together,with spatterings of broken English,and asked Tommy how they would blow it up. Well,it was obvious to anybody who had experience with explosives,except this Engineer,who was brilliant at laying rails,and building bridges,but no good at blowing trees out of the ground.! Tommy,in his wisdom,saw a way to delay the effort,without failing the task,cos he knew if he failed he would be disposed of. One thing he did tell me was that the Japs wouldn't waste a bullet if they could kick you into a river to drown,or even leave you in the heat without water. So he told the engineer that they would undermine the tree roots,which would take a day or two,or three if Tommy had his way! When they had a decent sized hole made,the Officer wanted to blow the tree. Tommy insisted it was not deep enough,and got the go-ahead to carry on digging. After a few days,the Officer was becoming agitated,and ordered the tree to be blown. Tommy told the Engineer to fill the hole with explosive,and when the engineer had placed a small amount of Dynamite under the tree,and was going to fire it,Tommy stopped him,and insisted he would need to completely fill the whole cavern with Dynamite. The Engineer did so,piling box after box of powder into the cavern. When he eventually fired it,Tommy said that the ground shook for several seconds,like an earthquake!! When the reek cleared,and they all went back to see the results,Tommy said there was no sign of the tree,no branches,leaves ....nothing!! But there was an almighty crater where the tree had been!!! The Officer was pleased the tree had gone,but wasn't too happy about it taking a fortnight to fill it in with ballast...!! Tommy and his marra's probably helped our lads out a lot more than they realised,by creating the delay! When the rails came to a huge ravine,where the bridge was being built,near to completion,by other gangs of prisoners,the Officer was horrified to find that his rail track was forty yards down stream,from the bridge,out of line by miscalculation. The Officer went downstream and shot himself,out of humiliation. Well,he would have been shot anyway,by his superiors. "The Bridge Over The River Kwai",didn't include this episode.... Aye,there was some mighty clever and tough old miners in those days!! Tommy was liberated by the Americans,in a totally emaciated and mentally unstable state,as were all the other prisoners,basically worked to death. He carried on the rest of his working life,back down the pits,and was a really canny old neighbour to have. The kids nowadays need to learn and have some respect for these guys....but they never will....sadly....

Checking my post above,I meant to edit the part which says i have never read anything....blaa blaa... Of course I read,I just don't read newspaper tabloids,it is enough seeing the front pages of lies and trash,being thrust in my face,even in places like Aldi nowadays. It is like religion,you believe what you want to,but don't,[apart from sensible discussion,such as this....],thrust it in my face,or knock on my door,like Jehovah's do...which I consider to be a tresspass upon my property,as much as I would a thief. I have to laugh when I hear folk say...it was in the paper....[meaning it must be right enough...!!] Eh.....aam a simple-minded bugga,except when it comes to Scientific theory and discovery,Geology,Space investigation and travel,anything to do with the marvels of engineering on a grand scale,anything supernatural,spiritualism,occultism,oh......and Revelations,in the Bible..!!.....[666....!] ...not forgetting Coalmining....of course!!

Er......have we not strayed slightly off-topic here........[everyone turning a bit like me....heh heh!!!!] Well,seeing as I have never watched television or read anything other than the News Post Leader,[only cos it is shoved through my door!],for many years, I don't even know who this Fry chap is,or what he does,and have never heard of him. Does that make me a fool also,or uneducated?? Does anyone remember a big Tsunami a few years ago?....not man-made.....where the Arch-Bishop,as well as other leading church dignitaries,admitted that the disaster had made them.."question their own faith"..

I will have old E... asked when we [My Wife and me],next see her. She always mentions the sawmill,down Sheepwash bank,and the shop,but has never mentioned having the shop in Storey's Buildings,where I lived as a child,or I would have been all ears,and asking questions about it. I vividly remember,as a three year old,looking in the shop window,only a few doors away up the street,with my then six year old Brother,at all the sweety jars ....MASSIVE jars,they were....[or so it seemed!],and there was a small piece of glass missing from the bottom left hand corner,just big enough to wiggle your finger through,but sadly,to two hungry little kids,in 1947,not big enough to wangle even one sweety through!! We tried poking bits of sticks into the small hole,well,I should say , my Brother did,and I watched,desperately hoping he could get some sweeties,cos we didn't know what they were like......cos we didn't get any,cos Mother used to swap her sweet ration coupons,for food coupons,and now,thinking back,for cigarette coupons as well probably,cos both her and me Father both smoked all thier life.[priorities!] What a sad story!![.....cue violins....!] Every word true.

John Million [of that family],worked down Choppington High Pit,when I was a laddie,he was a nice natured fella,and his photo ,along with John Dawson's family,taken underground at the pit,stands at the entrance of Choppington woods,up Guide Post road,on the left side of the road. The lady who ran the shop,and whose husband had the sawmill down sheepwash bank,[a lot of years ago!!],is a very good friend of my Wife and myself. She is now 84 years old,and quick as a button,very sprightly,and dedicates her life to helping those in need,such as the shoebox appeal,and loads of other christian work. If I can think on,I will ask her about the place,who lived where etc.....mind,she canna mind of my Mother living at the top of the bank,where the Seahorse is. I was born there,but moved to Willow Bridge,Storey's Buildings,by the time I was about a year old. Fascinating reading you guys,about the history and origins of our land here,ye got me lost off in places......!!

Jack Tait was a real aad-fashioned gentleman...wi his dicky-bow tie,he was smart as a carrot always! When me Wife and me were courting in the years 1962-7,[got married in '67],we would be in the back seats,on a Friday,or Saturday neets....as ye did,in them days! Soon as ye start ti hae a innocent bit snog..[cuddlin' and a kissin' !],Jack wud tap us on the top o' wor heeds,very gently-like,and stand there, smiling at us!! We got ti knaa him real well,and he wudn't let ye waak past him in the street,if yi didn't see him!! Tab-smoke rolling around the upper decks,lit up in thi flickering projector beams.....was sickening ti folk like me who nivvor smoked! ...."a quarta o' Merry-Maids,please,and a box o' Terry's burnt almonds.. " [if a had a weekend shift in,cos them bugga's cost a full shift's pay.....!!] "Dracula...Prince of Darkness..." ....starring Christopher Lee....my Favourite type of films,oh,and H.G.WELLS'S movies also......nowt stupid like they are noo wi aal these idiotic computer graphics!!...gie me black and white Ealing,or Pinewood Studios,any day.....complete wi Pearl and Dean.....and "oowwlld King Coouwll was a merry ooulld soull....."...wi a little cube of coal wi a croon on he's heed,waaking alang..prood as a peacock.....!! But a canna mind hoo the coalman was,who had that advert on. Can anybody else mind o' it? Life was really simple and quiet and peaceful in them days....unless me specs are aal red.......!

My older Brother's Wife,was born at Netherton colliery village...and her Granda was in the Home guard,as was her Father. One day,in the early 1960's,when the couple were still courting,My Brother took me up to Netherton,to meet her Granda,as he was Bandleader of the Netherton Colliery Brass Band,and I was learning the guitar,[self-teaching],with a view to getting some tips on music. While we were there,my Brother asked Granda if he would show me something he had upstairs. Granda said "Take him up and show him....". So my Brother took me to Granda's bedroom,and, leaning down to the floor,pulled out from under the bed....................THREE big wooden ammunition boxes,in army green livery. One was full to the brim with clips of .303 cartridges,and machine gun belts full of cartridges. The other two were full of small cardboard boxes of .38 and ..45 [snub-nosed] cartridges....hundreds of them!! Enough to blow Netherton village up! I was about 15 years old,and started shaking with fear,at the sight of them,and just wanted to get out of the house! They were "left-overs" from the war,ammunition which was supplied,and never had the opportunity of being used. They were later handed in during amnesty,but I bet it raised a few eyebrows at the police station,who were probably used to getting the odd .410 or Army service revolvers,or small-time weapons,being handed in! There must have been thousands of bullets in these boxes,and to me,the most fearsome looking of all them were the .45's . Granda had been a weapons instructor in the Home Guard,and authorised to hold the ammunition. It was the same when they pulled the old houses down ,in Bell's Place,to build the rest of Hollymount Square,in the very early 1950's/late 1940's I lived in the first half of the square,when they were built after the war,around 1947-ish. We played in the deserted old terrace,which was being pulled down,and one of my older friends,found some shotfiring black powder fuse. I think I related the long story elsewhere in the forums,but the point is, the elder generation seemed to hoard stuff like that,then die! Mind,in those days,the old miners had to buy all their own pit gear,and explosives,and they used to keep the powder and fuse "wire",in the coal oven heater cupboard,near the mantelshelf,to keep it dry!

In the mid-1960's,my mate's Brother,Bob[?] Walker ran the pub on the right side of the picture...was it the Traveller's Rest or the Railway Tavern?

This is the posh end of Westlea,opposite the Cussins estate turn -in to the right..Threegee. Top of the picture is opposite Red House Farm estate,you can see the wide path running at an angle to the road.The old bungalows are to the right,out of sight. Foxy's pic is further south-easterly,t'other side of Red House Farm estate.......no?[at least over in that direction...sort of....!]

By the way,HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR MEMBERS!!

It's opposite where my Brother and Sister -in-law live,Westlea.