HIGH PIT WILMA

Nobody notice the obvious? Ewart Hill old opencast site in the background!,....it's not a pit heap or natural landscape.......in a part of Bedlington where all the land slopes away down the hill......this one is quite high!

Maggie,spot-on,and in full sympathy with my view of how it was, and how it is now! Nobody even seems to want eye-contact nowadays,I speak to anybody that passes me,whether they have a dog,[which I usually have],or even just standing at a bus stop!....sometimes I get a queer look....as if I was about to attack them or summik.......[at 70 years old!!!] I think one dog-owner was right in his views about evolution.....thoosands of years time,people will be born with only two thumbs...and no fingers!

Correct Tony! Shaft-drive,and water-cooled engine,no cooling fins like air-cooled motors have,just a solid-looking lump of metal,long-stroke-high torque,but purred along like a sewing machine!

.......Mrs White,had a fright,in the middle of the night........ ........She saw a ghost,eating toast,halfway up a lamp-post.....![sang to the twirl of the skippy ropes!] ........Carling,Palm,....Paste-egg day........[??????????????]...please finish it someone!![memory-block on this one!] Courtesy of my Wife,who was adept at all these activities as a lassie!

Maggie,dae yi not think that sumbody in high places have created this culture where they've poisoned thi ordinary affectionate folks like us.... ....child issues...! ...one time yi cud stop and coo ti a bonny babby in a pram,even used ti put a peice of silver in it's little hand.....noo yi daren't even think of it or yi might be regarded as a .............. Aam pleased we lived and played,and grew up in the times when we did.....hard up,but sociable and friendly,and affectionate with one another.... .....mainly cos everywhere was mining communities with a close bond.[ a knaa not ivry body was,a said mainly...which was aboot reet...!]

Heh heh!! "Reserved for headmaster" bay! When aa started.....IN 1956...[!], tha was nae car parking,cos nae bugga had cars!..[or,if they DID,they were left at yem!!] Aal thi teachers waaked up thi road ti school,syem as us! Mr Cook..[?],who was the woodwork teacher,came inti thi yard on he's aad green "Sunbeam" in-line twin motorbike and sidecar combination. It was a gud aad workhorse,but cars?....definately not! A used ti speak ti Mr Freeman,our maths teacher,on he's way doon past thi Market Place,gaan doon Vulcan Place,after school hours,carrying he's briefcase,lang after aa left school,and was working doon Choppington High Pit by then! Everything was absoloutely pristine in the school grounds,in them days,having been newly built and landscaped,worthy of being photographed! It's sad ti see it noo,lukking dilapidated! The two class pics musta been aboot 1960-ish,cos a recognise a few faces among the lasses,who were in my class,in 1959,when aa left school. Aa was in the Upper Remove when a left...[the G.C.E. stream.].....stupid name for a class aa thowt,.....it suggests yi were removed from class for being a baddie....methinks!

Hey man,hope you had a great day/night,and many mair ti come..! Belated birthday wishes from HPW,Keef!

History books are like the Bible,and the Durham Mining Museum....!! Very misinformed,distorted in places with the wrong facts,and very contradiictory....you take things with a pinch of salt,and don't get excited cos one book says different to another....or one History Teacher tells you how it was...! Do you,for example,really believe that the angels were blokes with feathery wings....and lovely satiny skirts,or dresses....whichever way you want to view them?[and if they were,was there a factory unit set up to make them for the angels....and were the Angels all white in a black,or brown race of people...no obese ones...all slender built.....?...!!!]I am a believer!....with a different perspective of the whole scenario!! The Durham Mining Museum,has loads of false information in,where people who refer to it to get "the facts and figures" actually know nothing about the mining history,or they wouldn't need to refer to it!! There are dates of fatalities for instance,at Choppington B Pit,which,to have been true,would have meant that I started the pit when I was 13 or 14 years old![people I worked with who were killed in the pit 10 minutes after I last spoke to them.....just to give a really sad example of how history is written and then "misconstrued"....is that the right word?] Sorry it I went off a bit,but just trying to press a point that Maggie has also made! Now let's all have a singsong for christmas eh?!!

Never watched the movies or telly for the last 30-odd years...would rather spend that sort of time playing guitar or biking or out walking!! Last Robin Hood I watched was the series when it first started in around 1958-ish......or whenever Tyne Tees TV was inaugerated,and we were inundated with American and British productions of all sorts of things....westerns,drama's..cartoons etc![and I was a very young laddie!!] I tell a lie!!...it just came to me!!....the last Robin Hood I watched,was at the Plessey Seam loader-end,where the loader lad was called EXACTLY that!! [doon Bates pit!...in aroond 1971-ish...!]...and he wasn't firing arrows....he was loading 3-ton mine cars from a conveyor belt with coal! One day the conveyor belts all stood for aboot half an hour...[a lot of coal production lost..]..and the Manager rang him to ask what was going on..... .....the Manager asked who was speaking,and the poor lad had to reply........."Robin Hood".....!! "come to my office tonight "...."but......but......."........"Office I said....."......"Aareet Mr ........" When the Manager checked with the Pay Clerks,HE had to apologise to poor Robin!!...[his Mother and Father must have loved Richard Green..the Original Robin Hood..!!] Who is this Kotsner bloke you are talking about?.....you must watch a lot of movies then?...to know about such unheard of people!!........[deliberate mis-spelling for dramatic effect...artistic licence!] Great to have a nice debate Tony!!

So you do agree with me Malcolm!! Your last line is VERY true indeed!!

Hi Sym.[and everybody else!].... No bugga worse than HPW for gaan ti Newcastle ti get ti Edinburgh!! .....so nae grumbles here marra! Noo,Dr Stone had 2 Sons,that Aa knew of,one of whom was sadly taken away in a car crash,many years ago. His other Son was called Richard,[or "Rocky" to those who he called his friends....certainly not me..!! ] Sym,I will PM you the reason why ,cos what I was going to share,might be considered a breach of privacy...or whatever!!!!! Suffice to say that Dr Stone was a very well-thought of Doctor. ..........and his Son wrote my car off which was parked outside of my door,while I was asleep in bed...where HE should have been at 5-0 am!!

Hi ajeanes! My uncle Harry Chapman,[deceased many years ago,R.I.P.Harry],lived in Ashington,although I don't know where he was born. Strangely enough,as time went by,and my Aunt Lily Chapman re-married,her second Husband died soon after. Their adopted Daughter Florence,emigrated a lot of years ago,to Australia,taking her "Mother" [Aunt Lil] with her. Aunt Lil died a few years ago,and Florence still lives over there. I wonder if she knew of any relations in the Chapman family,that might have lived over there,as being the reason to want to live there,or maybe just a co-incidence of names,it IS a lovely place to live after all !! I will have my older Sisters asked if they have any info on the Chapman family. The only other Chapman I can think of was a teacher at West Sleekburn middle school,for a lot of years till it closed down. He lives over the Wansbeck Estate. Not a lot of useful info,I'm afraid! Best of luck in your search!

Was Ellen any relation to Owen Monaghan,who was a good singer,[i think he did "go as you pleases " in the clubs,but could be getting mixed up with another person with a similar name!],in the late 1950's/early 60's?

Foxy,in the latter years,the only bouncer that I knew of was Big Bill E.,who is my old pit Marra,and like you say,everybody knew him,cos he was the same doon thi pit!!....every bugga knew him there as weel...just one of those person's with a very strong character. He threw my nephews and mates oot one night cos they were throwing beer at each other,over the newly-fitted carpets.!

Hi Symptoms,the big trailer 'van was owned by John and Amy Houghton who designed and built the "Astronaught" elevating fairground ride,which was based at the Spanish City,for years,until John sold it. They owned the Clayton ballroom,and ran the roller-skating on Wednesday nights,and the dances on Friday,and Saturday nights. Noo,whether they owned the Domino,I can't say,as I was out of touch with them by that time. The Astronaught ride had a big press review at the time,cos it was unique,the first in the world,and everybody wanted to copy it...[probably did,as time went by...this was in the 60's if i'm not going senile...!!] I met my Wife at the Clayton one Wednesday night,as we skated around.....in 1962! The Houghton's had a Son,[adopted?..not clear on that one,but he lived with them,and was brought up by them,in the big trailer,[showman's 'van]. My Wife used to be very friendly with them,and used to call in after the skating finshed each week. One night she went to say hello,and came out sobbing her heart out,her "old " friend Mick,had been killed on he's motorbike. It took months and months for her to come to terms with it,She was just over 16 yrs old,and I was 17 yrs old. As time went by,I played on that stage on dance nights,we had some great times in that hall. Me being a tee-totaller,I only went ti the Domino ti see "The Ivy League","Troggs","Los Zafiros",Toby Twirl,[Davy Holland ..[Holly]...from Blyth..],and other great groups..,so I cannot comment on the beer!! All these facts are probably googlable....!!![not me playing there...of course!]

Aa was thinking maybe a safety issue with the bridge,that naebody's tellin' us aboot,like ease thi load on it wi traffic control lights. Never heard of Les G. Thanks Adam!

Round of applause and three cheers for Mal's Son,poor little dog wud be terrified! Noo wat thi hell has thi Daddy vid got ti dae wi thi aad reservoir?! Tell u wat though,it's great,and as a guitarist,and home recording engineer,that is one gorgeous-soonding guitar,and very well played..wish a cud play that style mesel'!

........an there was me thinking aal alang....that aaaa was the Master and expert in digression......!!

Heh heh! Vic,I can picture the little black one wi thi Union flag on thi roof,ootside Yor Lass's Hoose in Hollymoont![in the early sixties!] Can ye mind seeing my little yellow Ford Anglia 105e, 997cc,wi the reverse angle rear screen?...in 1968 a got that,first car,passed test wi it,in1969. [it was a 1961 model] Next came a 1963 red M.G.Magnette 1622cc,twin S.U.carbs,sporty,walnut dash,full lux leather seats,..........AND!.....A RADIO!![TOP NOTCH ONE AS WELL!...."RadioMobile"..as used in the royalty cars......!] 87 mph road tested, but read 90 on the dash,flat oot 4-up! Then came the car I dreamt of owning when it was parked behind my little Anglia,years before,....a 1968 "F" reg. Vauxhall Ventora 3.3ltrs, straight six, 140 bhp. Massive for the day,used ti put front passengers into thi rear seats...almost,on acceleration,but only road tested at 105 mph. It was the executive model of the fleet. I had three of those over thirteen years,and nobody could tell me nowt aboot them,I had every fault that was possible to have,over them years! The most luxurious car I had was a 1984 Vauxhall Senator 2.5 injection petrol,straight six ,148bhp.,automatic....sheer bliss! When an idiot wrote that one off,I had to have a motor for work,and got a 1300 Austin Metro...automatic!!...flat as hell! ...Then two Astra estates,[1600],a Rover 75 Connosiuerr [2-0 ltr?],for four weeks,my Wife couldn't travel in it,it was causing a lot of pain to her back, seats too soft,put it back in,lost a lot over the four weeks...!... Got the car i drive noo,[for nearly seven years..],a Vauxhall Signum 2.2 ltr 4 cylinder petrol..estate?/big hatch...!! 0-60 in 8 seconds,140 mph flat oot...[havent tried it oot like!!. At 110 mph,it's as quiet as it is at 30 mph![at aboot 3500 revs...it goes to 6500 safe revs ] Oh,I forgot,I also had a Volvo 244 saloon,2.1 ltr 4-cyl.....gorgeous car,but flat as hell.....and other owners used ti say they take a long time to wind up...... what they meant was....they were flat as hell!!...[mind,thinking back,I had been used to 3.3ltrs 6-cyl. for years,and it was a shock to be driving this car,with a 16-foot caravan on thi back!]

AAHH!! Tribsa....!!!Wot a bike!

This pic was tekkin the same day a got thi bike,so a hadn't aal me riding gear wat a hev noo. Again,nae fancy thoosand -quid leather jazzy suits for HPW,a got a lovely textile armoured black jacket,wi the reflective bits on for safety,at Aldi,Cowpen, a few months ago,and it's warm as hell,and bone dry, after a two-hour ride in atrocious conditions,for £50..[ a think they were reduced from £100 or summick like that..] For the times a can get oot,it'll last me a lang time!! Riding is the best thing since sliced bread!! Gimme a nod if ye see me oot,ye'll recognise me space helmet,cos aav nivvor seen one on thi road yit....bar mine!!

Nice one Maggie!! Foxy,ye hit the nail on thi heed theor noo!! If ye visited me pit pics on Flickr,[bates Pit],ye wudda seen a big lad caaled Bill,who was me marra,in thi pit,and OOT thi pit,since aboot 196i-ish...to thi present time. In the early 60's he had a Norton Jubilee,250 twin,then a Norton Dominator 600cc "S.S."..[sports-Special]. IT lifted so fast,it tuk ya breath away for a second,as a pillion passenger.[95 in third gear on a four-speed box!] NOO,he has a Hayabusa,which makes the Dommie look like a toy!![except for pure character and styling!!] 0-60 mph in..literally two seconds!...100mph in aboot 5 seconds...and on ti nearly 200 mph,in the reet places...that is!wheelie-in like hell withoot trying...pure reverse torque![gotta keep rear braking while throttling to keep the front wheel doon!!] Nae gud for me noo,the bugga wud be away doon thi road on it's aan wi me sitting on me hint-end on the road,lukkin pretty....! Bedlington lass,aa wud have loved a green Ninja,AFTER getting me Royal Enfield 500 Cafe Racer,re-issue...but it wasn't ti be,ill-health means a gotta be content,[which I definately am!],wi me little pocket-rocket!!

Symptoms.....it was the "Blyth News"....[in broadsheet in them days.."Ashington Post"....was it's Sister newspaper..] Gud aad-fashinned clean and respectable reporting on local affairs.....who pinched Joe's gaarden fork oot thi allotments.....that sort o' thing! Sorely missed!!