HIGH PIT WILMA

Apologies for drifting off-topic,like I always do,that's hoo a taak...! A can mind being in the Gaff when a was aboot three years aad!Me aadaa Sister used ti tek me and me other Sister and Aada Brother,on the Sediti eftanoon Matinee.."Fatty and Skinny" flics,Charlie Chaplin,and cartoons.....a used ti faal asleep and get carried yem,whey,it wasn't far back ti Storey's Buildings,doon the Willow Bridge Bank. Bliddy hard planks an aal! A was aalwis fascinated by the projection light beams flickering,and wondered what it was...inquisitive little mind a had even at that age.... ...that's hoo aam a genius.....and that's hoo a ended up doon a black hole!

Aaah..sorry to hear that,Keith.No doubt the inquest laid blame on him saying lack of timber in,or something like that. When you go to the Durham mining museum's archives and records of fatalities,whatever the job the poor fella,or in some cases,very young boys,did,it was always some "infringement of the Manager's rules",that was the blame for the accident. I was a coalcutterman,Keith,and cutters hadn't changed from them being invented,to the ones we used right until the pits all closed under thatcher-the-hatcheter...they only got more powerful,and more vicious. I have told everybody I ever spoke to,about coalcutters,especially young trainees who came under my wing to learn how to cut coal,that the coalcutter was the most VICIOUS machine,ever invented,grossly over-powered,and under-weighted,with the ability to throw itself around like a "Jumpy-jack" firecracker. Three and a half tons,with a long jib full of picks similar to a giant chainsaw. When the picks were in gear and you were cutting the face,it only took a really hard piece of stone [maybe from the roof breaking up,to be carried into the cut,and the back of the jib,to throw the cutter out of the cut,and start it dancing around like a toy,drawing timbers out,closing the face,etc. Frightening to see for the first time,but you got used to the dangers,and expected the unexpected,when you were cutting. My heart goes out to your family Keith,and every other miner,whatever part of the world they live and work in,we all faced the same dangers....with very little,if any,thanks,for doing a dangerous job.[we faced mostly unjustified critisicm from most people,due to ignorance...]

It's on thi "Sierra-hire Nissen Hut",thread,but a divvent knaa hoo ti move it ti here!!

Eh!...just thi otha neet,a posted a greet lang story aboot me next door retired-miner neighbour,who,in the mid-sixties, took a part-time job,doon at the Nissen huts at Cambois.[He had ti sign thi official secrets act!as a store-keeper!!] They used ti hev the words"British Sugar Corporation"written in huge letters,on the sides of the huts,easily seen from the air,and which,I suspect,was a code-word during the war. Aal find where a posted the story aboot the huts,and re-post it here.[a think it was in the thread aboot the Nuclear bunkers...]

I worked with a lad at Bates,who was a really powerful,strong,and also strong-willed person.Great to work with,and the most hilarious sense of humour you could imagine,with a character that was well-known wherever he went. After the strike was declared over,and on the first day of our return back to work,all our Marra's were unanimously voicing our opinions on what we would do with thatcher-the hatcheter.......!!! Keith,[aye..another Keith!..]spoke out in his very powerful voice,above all the chatter of the lads..... ...."Whey aa think she's a wonderful woman....."..!!!!..."a wadn't mind xxxxxxx her"!!!!!!!!! There was an uproar,and if it wasn't for Keith's character,and his build,I think somebody might have been incensed enough to have a go at him,bearing in mind all the tensions that were still present,what with those that had returned earlier,having to work with the "loyal" ones. He kept this winding -up going for a day or two,till everybody finally realised.... He would say.."Luk wat she's done for ye...better pay...better conditions".....[we were working in the wettest part of the whole pit,in the Three-Quarter seam]...etc! Badger,was certainly a queer bugga,but a smashing marra![er....queer as in "funny"...just for correctness!!].

WINDEY-WINDEY....!!!!!!!!!!!HEH HEH!!!!!!!!!!

I think,in those days,the nickname of "Pop" was given to any lad with the Robson surname,because of association with that of the soft drinks manufacturers in Morpeth,bearing the same name.

Spot on Keith! The Clouson family lived around the corner from my Family ,in Hollymount Square,from Hollymount being built,in approx 1948-ish... Pop Clouson had the travelling shop,canna remember if he started with horse and cart,like everybody else,mind. Then later on,he had the shop at Allgood Terrace.[from the mid-1950's-on]. If "young" Pop is still with us,and he comes on here,he might confirm the age-old story that was passed on to successive generations attending the Whitley Memorial School. That story related how old Mrs Molden was reprimanding Pop,[who was a very big lad,aged nearly fifteen years..],and he got out of his school desk,lifted Mrs Molden up in the air,[shouting and bawling going on between them],and dumped her into the large waste-paper basket in the corner of the classroom.! The baskets used,in those days, stood about three or four feet tall and were narrow at the base,and wider at the top,like a giant flower vase. Pop had to go to see aad Nicky,the Headmaster tyrant,to have both hands thrashed with the cane ..."which is really going to hurt..."

Luks like Joe Caine to me Malcolm...he' double if not him! K.L, ye should be on stage!!

I was at Choppington High Pit for six years,1959-1965...and was transferred ti Bedlington A pit,a few months afore thi high pit closed. Just ti re-cap,John Arkle was always in night-shift..[5-0pm]..["Mastershifter"],Chris Arkle,[John's Brother],kept the 12-0 midnight shift..[" Fore-Overman"...or.........."Fore-Owaman"],and Joe Barratt kept the "Back-shift"..[which was 8-30am start.]...and he was thi "Back-Overman"...[or ... .."Back-Owaman"] Noo,when yi luk at these three Senior officials,ya lukking at the best of british miners,that could ivvor have come oot o' mining. An awkward sod of an elder miner,at Bates Pit,once said ti me,[when aa was a young Deputy],"Ye fella's ownly gaan onti Deputy-wark,cos ye canna manage piecewark..".......!! Whey,as it happened,after seven years, a chucked Deputy-work in,and was accepted back inti the N.U.M.,at Bates,summik which had nivvor been done before,cos ya regarded as "Poacher-turned-Gamekeeper". And as it also happened,the awkward sods who made these remarks ti me,pulling me doon,had ti come up the coalface,and work with me,and it turned oot,they couldn't tie tha own shoe-laces next ti me!! See,they were taken from their push handles -on-the-mechanised-coalface,back to old-fashioned coalcutting,drilling and firing the coal,and hand-filling 24 tons of coal,a shift,onto a rubber conveyor belt,which was a few yards away from ye,so ye had ti really hoy ivry shuul-full hard,ti reach the conveyor belt. After one hour,some of these so-called.."miners",were literally buggaad!! Nae mair sarcastic remarks made ti Wilma after these episodes!! Ivry dog has he's day,they say,and mind,it's a grand feeling!! Right!,...hoo a got on aboot aal that,was,these blokes would have said the same thing ti these three Officials,and wat a big mistake they would hae made!! Oh,a forgot,another Deputy,who a knew,at Bedlington A pit,came under thi syem category as these three.....a fella caaled Joe Craddock. Noo,John,research this one,if ye can,please! During,or just after the War,[ww2],there was a big drive on for coal,so inter-pit contests were held,ti find the best and fastest coal-fillers. In Northumberland,as I understand it,the final two were Joe Barratt,from Choppington High Pit,against Joe Craddock,from Bedlington A Pit. Both big fellas,and both strong as an Ox. It was widely known that Joe Craddock won the contest,after filling 72 pit-tubs of coal,in a single shift,with Joe Barratt very,very,close behind. ....beaten by half a tub,or summick daft like that. In fairness ti Joe Barratt,he was in stinking bad conditions,as was usual,at thi High Pit,and Joe Craddock had gud conditions,as was usual at Bedlington A pit. So they were probably equal in their amazing ability,and,in later life,as officials of the mine,MORE than qualified,ti tell a man hoo ti dae any job in thi pit! If Lone Ranger is knocking around,he will maybe confirm these facts,or maybe John will help out.

Heh heh! Thanks Malcolm,aam a bit late o' catching up!...better late than never,as aad Nicky,[Headmaster at Whitley School in my childhood]..used ti say.... before he terrorised you,then thrashed you over both hands!!

Aam a bit late o' catching up on this one,[it's noo 2014!] Just ti put yi kind folks reet,the smaal cave yi were on aboot had a Stone -Age burial cist inside it,and it was found in the early 1950's by one of my school-friends.[from the Whitley Memorial school]. The experts came from aal owa,and they took thi bones ti thi Hancock museum. There was also a similar burial cist owa the twenty acres field at Millfield,and them bones were displayed in the wall ootside the Hancock museum for donkeys years....dinna knaa if tha still there noo.

Heh heh! Took me some time ti catch up on this page,but aam sittin' here at 1-15am as usual,wi tears running doon me fyess wi laffin'!! [Especially the sugar bit!]

The question marks above North Row were what we called "the fitting shops",which comprised Electrical,Mechanical,Blacksmiths,Joiner's,Saddler's,in the days when all the pit ponies "gears"..[harness's,collars,bridles,etc]..were made on site-no contractors in them days! You can see the Blacksmith's forge flues in a row,just to the right of the higher buildings which are arrowed. Please correct me if I am wrong,but I worked there for six years,and had to go over to the "shops",regularly, to take my bags of blunt drilling bits,and coalcutter picks to the Blacksmiths shop,to be sharpened.

By the way,Maggie,a didn't mean ti tek ya point of Mary's book being a valuable contribution ti wor heritage,by rabbiting on aboot my book! A hope by noo,that ye knaa me.....it duzn't tek much ti mek me digress...!![age probably!] Cheers Maggie!

Hi Vic,nice ti hear ye again! Aam gaana check it oot Vic,and aal let ye knaa if a can work it oot. A canna read music,but a knaa wat aal the symbols are for ...whey ...roughly. A can find the notes on the guitar and sorta get it that that way. Trouble is,a divvent knaa hoo ti load stuff like that on here! It's gud that wor heritage is being kept alive,cos folk have short memories! Gie me love ti the boss Vic!!

Thanks Maggie,for that one. Will try and check it out. I am writing my whole life story,and have finished book one,[still in transcript],which is my life from birth,as far back as about two and a half years old,[i can remember walking along with leather harness and reins!!...being held by my Mother.]. I am in the process of writing book two,which starts my life in the mines,aged 15 years..straight from my school desk..and am still at the period of my life aged 19 years,in Choppington High Pit,[the B pit],so I've got a long way to go,to catch up to my present age...[just turned 70 in July!!!] The difference between my book,and others you may read are, [A] It is utterly,totally boring...uninteresting...bland....[as critics would say!],but even though I am writing it,I re-cap on what I have already written,and get carried away with it!........as if someone else had written it!! [how dopey is that?!]. THIS book isn't about the history of mining..and the hardships that were had....it's about the pits I worked in,the actual jobs that I did,and the bad conditions I worked in,and the risks to life and limb I endured,and the sad episodes where I lost Marra's in the pits,in accidents that didn't need to happen. It's about the funny times,and the actual GUD times that I had,making thi best of a bad job!! Comradeship...second-to -none in the pits....how pit ponies were REALLY treated,at different pits,[cruelty at Choppington High Pit....both by men AND Management. If it ever gets finished ...that is!

Heh heh ! I met my Wife at the Clayton ballroom,on a Wednesday night roller-skating,in July1962 !! [aged 17 years...whey,nine days off my 18 th birthday] They were great times,falling down the first few times you tried,cos it was a few years since you last skated,and also these weren't skates you were used to,like your own! Another thing was,we were used to skating on the concrete roads and pavements,which wore our skate wheels out in a matter of weeks,and the first time we tried skating,[as an "Adult"...!],on a polished wood dance floor,it was like skating on ice,until we got the hang of it again!! I used to pick blackberries,this time of the year,and sell them around the doors to my delighted neighbours,for thruppence a pund[two and a half pence], and save the money to buy a pair of new skate wheels from Jimmy Milne,at half a crown,[twelve and a half pence]each! [i was 10 years old..!] By 1963,aged 19 years,I was playing lead guitar in my group,on the same stage where Shane Fenton and the Fentones,alias Alvin Stardust,[in later years!],played. Rue and He's Rockets were a great group who used to come to the Clayton,on Saturday nights,for the Dance night. The Avengers also,were a local group,whose lead vocalist,Graham Bell,from Blyth,went to London and made a name for himself,touring with "The Who" in "Tommy,the Rock Opera",in the late 1960's/70's. Aye,the kids noo,divvent knaa who ti enjoy thasell's like we did in them days!

There were a lot of huge underground bunkers,all over the country,during the cold war,mainly to control nuclear warfare from a safe vantage point,and only for the government officials,scientists,engineers,and ivry bugga brainy who would be needed ti start a new civilisation,after we had been nuked! Us poor bugga's weren't in the running for a seat down there! I tell you,check oot Scotland's best kept secret.....!!

Keith L.,did you work at the aad pit in thi 1960's?,or aam a being insulting??...like,maybe you were too young!! Aam sure your name rings bells wi me.........

"Toby Twirl on Manchesterbeat" [the group music scene in Manchester] is the site I mentioned in my last post. Check it out!

I saw lots of GROUPS!....not BANDS!...GROUPS...at the Domino. In those days we were groups![iplayed lead guitar in a group,round the Northumberland/Durham club/dance hall circuit,in the mid 1960's,for three and a half years.] The Ivy League,Troggs,Los Zafiros,[Mexican flamenco style singing and playing..walking around the tables with their guitars and Sombrero's on] Anybody remember Johnny Citrone..?....He made his name on Hughie Green's Opportunity knocks show,by blowing up hot water bottles,like balloons,till they exploded!...lifting an anvil with his teeth...etc? Whey,a previous owner of the Buccaneer..[?],and the Howard Arms..[?],in Bedlington market place,was just a very young ,daft, drunk, lad,in aboot1968-ish,and when Johnny,as part of his act,invited members of the audience up on stage,to verify that there was no fakery,and this WAS a real 1 cwt anvil, [approx. 25 kilos],solid steel blacksmiths full-size anvil....This lad got up to try and lift the anvil with he's hands,not he's teeth!!!,and couldn't get it up to he's knee-caps!...[but a bet HE canna remember daeing that noo!!....but aa can...cos aam tee-total and was sober as hell that neet!] Other folks got up,ti try and blow the hot waata bottles up,thinking they were fake as weel,but they aal backed a losser an aal,cos they couldn't even start ti fill the bottles wi air!! These were folks that aa knew,local folks,not staged as part of his act,so it was proof of his enormous strength,that he did what he did! A friend of mine,from Blyth,who played in a group caaled "Shades of Blue",locally,like us,in 1963-on........went ti London and changed his group's name ti "Toby Twirl",made a record,and went into the charts. Noo they came ti the Domino,at the height of their fame,and it was gud ti see me friend again,after not seeing him for a few years. The lads name was Dave "Holly" Holland..,and he noo runs a pub in Blyth,with his Wife. A came across an excellent site last neet,which is chasing up aal thi aad groups,memorabilia,chat forums,etc,and Davy has some nice comments on,reminiscing aboot them days. Aal get the site name and post it on here if a can. Aye,many happy memories aboot thi aad Wallaw,and Jack Tait,a real canny fella,was Jack.

Anybody from coalmining stock,will remember the bait-bags we pitmen carried,wi wa flasks,or waata-bottles,and wa bait,[lunch....samwidges...ti thi uninitiated!!],and they were originally gas-mask satchels during the war. They were ideal,cos they had a big compartment ,for putting ya bait in,wrapped in newspaper,[nae fancy foodbags or lunchboxes!],and a narrow one,just thi reet size for ya bottle,or flasks when they came in. We got wa pit belts from thi army and navy stores at Blyth,that is,unless yi got the horse-keeper doon thi pit,ti get yi a leather belt from thi saddler at thi pit. We also got the black-handled jack-knives,for cutting wa rubber conveyor belts on the coal-face,wa blue pit-sharts,and vests,etc,wa Fustons,[thick moleskin type material troosa's,tuff as hell....ye cudn't wear thi sods oot....!].....oh.....,and a forgot.......wa blue pit-socks! The stores are a big miss!!

My next door neighbour had one for a garden hut,[the size of a garage!,],in the 1950-60's,at Grange Park. If you go down to Marshe's Crossings,at Sleekburn,turn into Church Avenue,and,without being nosey,just glance at the first hooses,on the way roond,ye'll see wee ones,musta been air raid shelters,aa think,but turned into little coal bunkers,bike sheds ,whatever!![only aboot four feet high!] Me neighbour,[above],took a part-time job in the M.O.D. big nissen huts,doon sleekburn,[wat used ti be the sugar stores,during and after the war], after he retired from a lifetime of coalmining.[this was in the mid-1960's]. He had ti sign thi official secrets act,and couldn't tell me wat went on there. Years later,at Bates Pit,a was gud friends wi a lad,[not working marra's...just gud friends..],and HE had been in the army,and he telt me that there was huge bunkers underground,beneath the huts,with hundreds of military vehicles,and despatch motorbikes,aalwis ready for thi road ti be caaled on at a minutes notice,in case of emergency...war,disaster,...etc. Noo,on that subject,he also told me that there was even bigger bunkers,beneath Tranwell airfield,with approx 500 vehicles,"Green Goddesses",[wat was brought oot during the firemen's strike in 1972,and other times.],trucks,jeeps,motorbikes,etc...aal fully serviced and ready ti gaan. Did anybody ever wonder where the Goddesses came from so quick,during that strike,and then disappear from sight the minute the lads went back to work?..... Maybe sounds incredible? Take a trip to "Scotland's Best-Kept Secret", near East Fortune air museum,not far away from Edinburgh!! A lone farmhoose stands on a lonely moor.........gaan in,pay ya dosh,then gaan doon 200 feet underground,through a massive thick blast-door,to an incredible sight! Aam saying nowt mair....Google it folks,but better still,gaan and experience it for a day oot.......!!!!! Noo wat's aal this slaava got ti dae wi Sierra Nissen hut? Think aboot it!!

Hi Maubel,welcome to the site! Aye,Mrs Molden ["aad moldy cheese",was the kids nickname for her!...nae disrespect noo,seeing as we are adults....!],dragged me oot ti the front of thi class when a was aboot 8 years aad,for "taakin in class"..! When a said a wasn't taakin in class,she mocked me,and raised her croaky voice ti the whole class,sayin...."Oh,so we weren't talking were we?.....then what,may I ask,were we doing?,if we weren't talking?" Aa said "Please Miss,a was singing to myself". She again mocked me,and said"Singing,boy,then come on,sing us a solo...." [A] I didn't knaa wat a "Solo" was...! If a had knaan,a wudda been too terrified ti try! So a just stood in silence. She wasn't content ti drop it,seeing as hoo a was shakin wi fear,at her booming voice,and continued on,"So what were you singing then?" "Will the angels play their harps for me?"...[it was a shellac record from my granda's collection,in the aad windy-up gramaphone,from aboot 1920] She mocked me again,saying,"And do you think the Angels WILL play their harps for you?" "No Miss"...I replied. At that she finally sent me back to my chair. My lasting impression of her wasn't a "Canny Lass"..!! Nor was aad Nicky ,the headmaster!!