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HIGH PIT WILMA

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  1. HIGH PIT WILMA
    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'!
  2. HIGH PIT WILMA
    ........an there was me thinking aal alang....that aaaa was the Master and expert in digression......!!
  3. HIGH PIT WILMA
    My grandparents & great aunt & uncle in the1920's
    Just got confirmation from my Sister,that Mrs Heron's first name WAS Peg. Eh! it doesn't haaf bring back memories when we were kids,and young Frankie always had a camera,we have him to thank for a lot of old pics of us playing in the street...and especially the ONLY one of my little dog who was killed by an opencast coal lorry..[Tulip's wagons..we called them..],on Bedlington main street,with the most callous person as a driver...[another topic..] Anyway,Frankie,[and Billy W.- my next door neighbour...],would be reported nooadays by aal the poisioned -minded people in this so-caaled "Society"...that we live in..,for tekkin lovely innocent photo's of his neighbours kids playing. Young Frankie's nickname was "Spanky" Heron,cos he was aalwis dressed immaculately,was a gud-lukkin fella,and had a B.S.A. 350CC [i think] motorbike,and used ti ride it wi his suit on,jacket flappin' in thi wind!!
  4. HIGH PIT WILMA
    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!]
  5. HIGH PIT WILMA
    AAHH!! Tribsa....!!!Wot a bike!
  6. HIGH PIT WILMA
    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!!
  7. HIGH PIT WILMA
    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!!
  8. HIGH PIT WILMA
    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!!
  9. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Aroond 1971 my Wifes' Sister's neighbour had been to Newcastle for a meal after the cinema. The folks' little girl got a chicken bone stuck in her throat,and was choking.They rushed her to the RVI and the surgeons removed the bone. They knew immediately,that it wasn't a chicken bone,it was a rat's. When Police raided the restaurant,they found the fridges stocked out with cats and rats. The same procedure was gone through....fines...closure etc,checks on all the other's.. The girl was extremely lucky that she survived,as she was cynanosed by the time she reached hospital....no paramedics then,no oxygen,etc.... The Chinese got a lot of bad press,but we have moved on a bit since then!! How would a lot of folk survive if they didn' have their "Chinky's" to tek yem !! Looking back,it was probably ignorance of our culture,compared to their's,what caused the problem. If they eat rats,as some tribes still eat swallows and other small migratory birds,they probably thought it was o.k. to do it here!! Not forgetting that we used to eat sparrows,and blackbirds,and crows,at one time! ................................baked in a pie! To put things into perspective,a few years ago,I was in an English fish and chip shop,up Alexandra road,in Ashington,famished,waiting to be served. As I paid for my order,I dropped a coin,which rolled.as they do.....under the counter,right across,under the girl assistants' feet,and under the bench where the vertical spit-roast meat thing was cooking.....[donner-meat...that's it!!]. The young girl reached down with the long knife,used for cuttin the donner meat,and tried to bring the coin out,nearer to her,which she did. When I saw the muck and dust and filthy ball which came out with the coin,I was disgusted! It was worse when she reached a filthy wet rag from the chip counter,and threw the knife back onto the donner meat tray....,after giving the knife blade a quick rub up it's lengh,to "clean"it...![then putting the rag back onto the chip counter!] I never went back there again! One's each!!
  10. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Hi Tony,a knaa wa taakin aboot Bedltn here,but yi just gave me a blast from thi past!! Not Bedltn,mind,but can yi mind o' thi "Kam Tong" Chinese restaurant in Blyth,in thi mid-sixties? It was,as you would expect,immaculately presented,and thi ckicken n chips were gorgeous............till yi read in the Evening Chronicle,that they had been fined and closed doon because of....ahem....hygiene regulations breaches.........cats,rats,dogs,evrything but chicken....in thi fridges to cook!! Mind....it's aal thi syem,when yi put a bit saalt n vinegar,and tomaarti saaace aal owa it....!!!!..[except for thi smaal bones that get stuck in ya throat.......heh heh!] .........Sorry Tony,a got carried away....as yi dae...like!! A canna mind the first one in Bedltn,but a can mind one in Bedltnshire.....in the early 70's,at Guide Post,afore thi roondaboot was put there,it was caaled " King Barbecue Express"...[ gorgeous ckicken n chips,which was a rare luxury treat in them days!!]
  11. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Heh heh!,Whey lassie,ye'll not like me and my little pocket-rocket!! I've got a luvly red/black Honda cbr 125 rw-7,2008,wi just 3k -odd miles on it,and it's absolutely like as new as the day it was made! Gaans fast enyuff for me,and aa can oot strip aal ya big boys,on the twisty's nea bother! Me marra has a 'Busa,and he has even admitted the same thing,it's like big Jag vs mini hot-hatch on twisty's!....canna be done! Mind,aam 70 yrs aad noo,too aad for thinking aboot chicken strips etc,so 50 mph average,suits me fine for where a gaan,usually aal the narrow back-roads from here ti Kelso,and thi like.[and usually gettin on for midnight,in dark unlit roads,where the wildlife are more deadly than humans...!] A was nearly dead last year wi multiple blood clots on both lungs,and severe pleuritis,which left me weak as a kitten since,so if a DID hae a big bike,it wud hae ti gaan,cos me little fireblade replica,sumtimes feels heavy ti me noo,dinna laugh mind,cos the one certainty in this life is .......... Ye get NO YOUNGER!!! Biking should be aboot enjoying the freedom on the roads,and not comparing hoo has the jassiest claas,and bikes,or thi shoei hard hat.... ....aa wud wear me aad pit hard hat if it was llegal....it protected me from many a faal of roof-stone,owa thorty years undergrund in thi pits!! Noo,wheor's me putt-putt...!!! Once ye get on thi bike,ya senses get tuned ti thi limit,and ya like an 18 yr aad inside ya heed,a mean,for reaction,awareness,etc. After a 46 year lapse in riding,a did me cbt four years ago,and when thi instructor raised his hand for the emergency stop,a was stopped afore his hand got to his shoulder,and he wryly smiled and said.."Pretty gud stop, Bill !" Mind,it was queer having the levers the wrang way aroond,for a few minutes,in the car park cones!..[ trying ti change doon on thi brake lever isn't a gud idea,but a quickly got used ti it.[ shudda left things alenn,tha was nowt wrang wi thim in the sixties...]
  12. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Brillo,lights at the Welwyn Bridge only came off,recently,to allow a diversion route while a section of the A1147 was being resurfaced,under the railway bridge. The minute the works were completed,on the A1147,the lights were re-sited,again,for weeks,and weeks....still no work being done....no...not at night-time either,cos I walk my dog over at sometimes two,and three o clock in the morning! I shone my high -intensity cree-led torch all around,and underneath,and no sign even of any prep. work,no materials lying around...nothing![waiting till April Budget money maybe eh..?!!] Malcolm,any ideas wat's gaan on?
  13. HIGH PIT WILMA
    A can mind the name of Pig,but not their actual music. A can mind when the Lampglass was first conceived and opened up,it was aimed at "educated students....",or people with a leaning to the arty side of life,a revolution for Ashington,at the time,and a great asset to have in the town. A bet there was a few sugar cubes went doon wi tha pints,in them days,ti "speed " up thi vibes....so ti speak!!!!! Aa nivvor went doon,cos [A] Aa didn't drink,and wasn't "Arty"!...and A couldn't afford ti gaan doon if a wanted ti..! Lastly,a was too smart,and very self-aware,ti even think aboot sugar,blotters,or cartoons!! Plain aad-fashioned rock-n-roller,playing aal the charts of me time....in thi early 'sixties"...a great time ti be an axe lead-player!
  14. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Willy j.,here's another blast from the past!..."Hall and Cardwell's" in Ashington..owa thi bridge.... Me Son and me fell in love wi an axe in the shop window,which was there, for ages,a dinna even think it sold,probably went oot with the bailiffs or sumbody like that!...[this was in aroond 1978-ish,mebbe a bit earlier or later,but aboot that period of time..] Me Son was aboot ten years aad,and had been playing drums for owa a year,was in the Middle school Orchestra at West Sleekburn,and later in the Wansbeck Youth Orchestra,as well as learning Jazz,and rock percussion. Years later,as an assistant Engineer in Dave Stewart's [Eurythmics] Church Studio,in London,[not far from where he now lives,in North Finchley..],he came across the first axe he had seen since the one in Cardwell's window hooked him. ....It was a "Shergold Masquerader",very rare,and a gorgeous axe,though not a lot of muso's seem to have rated them.[don't know why!!] Nae accounting for taste,but maybe it was cos they have such a sweet sound,which was what Amp,and guitar maker's used to strive for in thi old days....distortion was the devil in an amplifier design!!! Selmer Truvoice was so named cos that's what it gave! Linear sound with just the right Harmonics! Anyway,he still has that axe,and it's on many a record that he's engineered,or produced,so it canna be that bad! Noo,Willy j.,or anybody else...,can ye tell me wat the name of the record shop was,in Laburnum Terrace,where Al's video shop is noo? The lad who worked in there was a blond haired lad who we nicknamed "Heinz",and he was a canny gud axe player,and he sold me my first Watkins Copicat,a bit tatty and half nackered,but it was one of the the very first ones ever made,the twin-lid beige model....worth a fortune noo! Did anyone know his name?
  15. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Hi Willyj. A notice nea response from "sunny afternoon"!!heh heh!....lazy buggaa's..... John White said/sang...."and I was too young to know..."[musta been aan aal!...Graig was aroond in 1959...!]
  16. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Hi Fizz,did Geordie Arkle live around Hollymount square in, Bedlington,in the 1960's? I worked with him at the Bedlington A pit,as well as his Brothers John and ? .[not the Arkle Brothers from Choppingon High pit,mind,who I also worked with,one of whom was also John....].
  17. HIGH PIT WILMA
    image matty halls class 1967
    Young Jim Prime,has a very unusual name. I wonder if he is the Son..[i'm trying ti work oot ages and years ,here,Tony,in me heed!]....or other relative,of Jimmy Prime.,senior,who was really badly injured at the Choppington High Pit,[being crushed up against a newly installed Desford/Gullick ?.... hydraulic face chock,roof support,by his coalcutter machine]. It was a bizzarre accident,cos we were installing a newly-won-out coalface, with these new-fangled hydraulic chocks,shaped like a giant mushroom,that pressurised the roof with about 20 tons of pressure,and they were a few yards apart at first,so there was a big gap between them,with wood timbers covering the rest of the roof on the face. Jimmy was running the cutter picks,I think to jib-in to turn the cutter,which was a very skilled manouvre,with the most vicious and dangerous machine ever invented by man...full stop,and no argument about that! The picks on the cutter jib struck something hard,and it danced the three-and-a-half-ton machine around like a toy,on the very low coalface,[just over two-feet high],swung the cutter around and crushed Jimmy up agalnst the face chock,nearly killing him..... He was apparently dying as we reached him on the face,with his lungs and all his internal organs being squashed. He was very lucky that the picks didn't take him into the machine,or he wouldn't have survived at all. We stretchered him with great difficulty,off the face,[just over two feet high-remember,]and all the way out of the pit,slipping and stumbling on the rough stony wet downward sloping roadways. Poor Jimmy got tossed about so much,it was a miracle how he survived the trauma of it all,and after we got him into the Ambulance,we thought he was already gone,his eyes and general appearance said it. Word came from the Hospital,after about two weeks,and being severely crushed....that he was playing hell with the doctor's cos he wanted to be out to go to the club for a pint with he's Marra's!!!! Were we pleased to hear that! After the Pit closed,I only used to see Jimmy up Bedlington main street,on he's way down ti the Market club!!...and you wouldn't have known how near he was,unless he told you,which,of course,he wouldn't! Sorry for the long story,Tony,I got carried away,re-living it,cos this happened aroond 1963-4..ish...maybe even 1965..not exactly clear,but no later,and no earlier,and it was a very traumatic event for us all who were there.[in really bad mine conditions] Tony,if you know Jimmy jr,on this pic,could you ask him if Jimmy sr is his Relation,please. Cheers. Bill
  18. HIGH PIT WILMA
    image westridge 1971
    My Parents were very gud friends with a Bob Lumsdon and his Wife,who lived at Scotland Gate ,long before I was born,and long after,just opposite Tait's shop,in the cottages.
  19. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Auntie Dora's wedding
    Thanks for sharing ,Tony!
  20. HIGH PIT WILMA

    My mother

    HIGH PIT WILMA commented on Tonyp's gallery image in People and Events Gallery

    My mother
    Lovely photo,Tony,hope you have this one framed and on your dresser.! Sad to read that she passed away at such a young age,Tony.
  21. HIGH PIT WILMA

    image

    HIGH PIT WILMA commented on Tonyp's gallery image in People and Events Gallery

    image
    Possibly the Market club,the land banks up behind the fellas,where they are now building a new block of flats.
  22. HIGH PIT WILMA
    Mums & dad's wedding
    Did Dad work at the High Pit or the Low Pit by any chance? I lived at Storey's Buildings,on the Willow Bridge bank,in 1947,Guide post where I was born,before that. I knew loads of people from Eastgate,in the early Sixties,used to go down to lad's hooses who worked at the High Pit,and we were all into motorbikes... The fella on the left,is the spitting image of my deceased Brother-in-law.. Raymond Bell,from Bell's Ranch,in Netherton Colliery village.!
  23. HIGH PIT WILMA
    My grandparents & great aunt & uncle in the1920's
    Hi Tony,there was a Frankie and ? Heron,lived opposite my Family,at Hollymount Square,from the house being built arouns 1948--ish. Frankie was short and stocky,pleasant,[both of them...my Mother's gud neighbours..],they had two Sons,Frankie jr and Jacky. They all worked at the Doctor Pit,in those days. I was just a bairn of three[nearly four..when we moved there] Any Relation to you?
  24. HIGH PIT WILMA
    TCC Burnhope 1
    Heh heh! A blast from the past! ...."Normal sevice will be resumed as soon as possible......"..!!!!! [Every few hours in the early days!] ....."This is.....Tyne Tees Television...Channel 8......" ! "Diddly dee dee Diddly dum.......Da DA da Da da Da da Da da .......Ping!" Can anybody put the jingle tune ti me Diddly's?!
  25. HIGH PIT WILMA
    That Vicar was right in one way,but it seems he must have just been posted there not long before the find,and didn't sound as if he knew the history of the Church! It was taught to us kids over and over by successive teacher's ,starting as a five year old,at the Infant school opposite the church,now a wreck,and then at the Whitley Memorial School.
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