HIGH PIT WILMA

Watcheor Alan! Nice ti see yi joined the set!

A referred ti yi withoot saying ya name on page 3 of this topic,just ti confirm ti John,[at the time] where Storey's Buildings were,cos aa lived there when a was a kid,which ye aalriddy knaa,but ye might have forgotten aboot,seeing as it's a while since a seen ye.

Great video ye med, wi John and Davey from Bates Pit..aav watched it a few times!

Keep a hauld Marra!

Aye,Tony,when a was a long-haired lout in a leather jerkin,back in the bad old '60's,a was a lead guitarist in a pop group,and a played many a saturday night at the old top club which you refer to,down the street,in the middle of the terrace.

It used to get packed out,like all the other clubs mentioned here,in which I also played,the worst one for me personally to play in,was the "Gate club",cos I was playing in front of 90% of Choppington High Pit miners ,a lot of who were my own Marra's,and who,on a following Monday morning,back at the pit,would take the wee-wee out of me no end,all banter of course!!

Woudn't have a spoon in it .........?!

Heh heh ! Nice to see you joined the happy clan Paul.

The dvd was one of the Six townships set, which was originally done on 8mm film,and found dumped in a builder's skip,rescued,then transferred to dvd,so the quality has suffered,but still gave the buzzes  when I watched it!

The coal-haulers were 42-ton,[not 66-ton...for correctness!],and they are seen bouncing over the bridge for a few seconds.

If you google "Acorn bank Opencast coal site",there  are lots of info facts and figures,such as there were only four coal haulers operating,with eight

42-ton trailers,running at 15-minute intervals,the time it took to fill each trailer,using "Butters" skip-winders at the edge of the cut.

To us kids lying on the grass watching them go over the river bridge,it seemed as if there were dozens of them!!

You will probably still get it at Al's videos at Ashington,or directly from John Dawson,of the "Six-Townships" .

You are right about Big Loada,Paul!

Noo,just looking at the pic of the workers at Costain's,the black guy with the beaming grin,reminds me of the ONLY black guy I had ever seen in my life,up to the age of about 16 years,and that guy was a star turn comedian,doing the working men's club circuit in the north-east.

His name was "ASTOR",and anybody entering the "go-as-you-please" at the club,on a Saturday night,knew beforehand that they had backed a losser,cos Astor always took the biscuit hands down,he was that good.

You know why he was a great success?,cos he pulled himself,and his colour,to shreds,in front of predominently old coalminer's,who were also

prone to a bit of racist banter,purely banter,which,nowadays,would cause a lot of grief!

Can anybody remember this great guy,and I wouldn't mind betting that he is the guy in the pic,cos I am talking about 1960-ish when I saw Astor on stage at Netherton club..[i wasn't drinking,cos firstly i was only 16-ish,and secondly I can't stand the smell,never mind the taste of beer,..except in weak shandy on a hot day...!...hypocrite!]

No,a relative of my Brother's girl-friend borrowed my guitar and amplifier,to enter the go-as-you-please,expecting to win,cos he had he's own rock group in Leicester ,and he was good........but not as good a puller as Astor!![and I was there to set the guitar amp up on stage beforehand,so that's how I saw this really funny guy!]

Noo wa gettn sumwheor!,mind a had ti put anutha fowath class stamp on ti dae it!

Hi Maggie!

O n the first day Westridge school opened,there  were 500 pupils in the school hall,which was the full count for the school.Mr Hemming introduced all the staff members,and then announced that,because the stationers had renaged on their  contract,there was no books,pens or paper ,or any other kind of stationery supplied to the school,so we would all be sent home,with a view to starting the next day.

Now we did attend the next day,but as you can imagine,everything required to run a school,with 500 pupils,would take some organising! So Mr Hemming gave us all permission to just have a wander freely,everywhere around the school,to familiarise ourselves  with the layout,and to note where fire assembly points,extinguishers, escape routes etc, were,even though we would be drilled properly in due course.

So we went in our little groups of friends from our previous schools,and tottered around all the classrooms,which were locked,of course,along the corridors,upstairs and downstairs,marvelling at

What we were seeing,such as the metalwork room,and the gymnasium.....the what?!!!!....we hadn't even heard of the word "gymnasiumâ€,let alone be able to say it![we were from the Whitley School you know!]

The books and stuff started arriving by the van load,in the next few days,and it took best part of  a week,or more,to get organised for proper lessons.

This makes me wonder if  the reason we started when we did was because the school  cost a third of a million  pounds to build,and was the first modern school to be built in Northumberland,after the end of the war,not forgetting that rationing would have just ended not long before the start of building work,in the post-war years of austerity.

The County Council,would have been harassing the Government for the funding,and would have had to justify their case by occupying the building before it was totally completed,which it DID do,as the landscapers  were still doing their job when we started.

Happy days eh?...i have vivid memories of those days,and can picture Mr Freeman,Mr Johnson,Danny Douglas,Miss Thew......Miss Thew!![i blame part of my hearing loss on Miss Thew clapping my ear so hard with her flat hand,that it made my ears ring for days...for speaking in art class!]Miss Short,Mrs Nicholson,Mr Abrahart,Mr Epsley,Mr Cook on he's Sunbeam inline-twin green motorbike coming up the drive.....aahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

What's gaan on heor?,a been clartin on owa an hoor,and ownly haaf me taak has gettn posted,did a not put plenty stamps on or wat?!

Hi Maggie!

O n the first day Westridge school opened,there  were 500 pupils in the school hall,which was the full count for the school.Mr Hemming introduced all the staff members,and then announced that,because the stationers had renaged on their  contract,there was no books,pens or paper ,or any other kind of stationery supplied to the school,so we would all be sent home,with a view to starting the next day.

Now we did attend the

James,I really am chuffed to hell that you posted this pic,cos the Captain holding the ball,left school in 1956,Mick Rutherford,he lived a few doors away from me in Hollymount Square,and was My older Brother's best mate,and I used to follow them around...they were three years older than me.[15 years old in 1956!]

Dicky Mitcheson back left,it looks like Yice Hale next to Dicky,[maybe wrong!],Brian [councillor] Richmond-goalie[sat behind me all the years through school from starting infant school],looks like one of the Wood twins next to him,then I cannot  mind the lad's name on the right,even though I knew him well.

Front row was...[pass!],then, My long standing school-mates through every class Alan Wikinson,[sat next to me in the same desk],Ronnie Leyland,[sat behind me and Alan],Mick Rutherford,Mick Bradley,[in the form 4 who finished school that year this pic was taken!]

So it puzzles me how Mick Rutherford played his last game in 1957,as a school-kid,when he would have been working in the pit for almost a year,as did my older Brother who also left in 1956,and missed starting Westridge in the school term following the summer holidays........obviously the pic had to be taken while there was still a team,for posterity,and other political purposes,but in reality is meaningless!!

Seeing this pic has had the memories flooding back in my mind,how A lan,and Ronnie,and me [with other friends]used to go down the Ha'apenny woods after school,and have lots of great times!

Thanks for posting the pic,James.

Sorry if I sound arrogant,James,but the excellent,and rare,and very much appreciated pic of the team,doesn't really mean a thing to us who started on the first day Westridge opened,and have very vivid memories of that day,in 1956.

It makes no difference when the last game of football was played,and,if you seriously think about it,rather than trying to "clear up confusion",try and see that what you are doing,is,in fact,doubting the intelligence,and integrity,of both Myself,AND Norman,who both started that day.

It really is insulting,even if unintentionally!!,to try and convince someone, on what day they started a brand new school,after the post-war years of austerity,and suddenly find you have to attend wearing a ...uniform....!!...at 12 years of age!

I was already studying electricity,and electronics,valve wireless theoretical circuit diagrams....magnetism,Faraday's Principles,Ohm's laws......etc.......

building small two-valve radio sets etc,as the years went by,....from 12 years old...but I knew bugger all about football,and was always bullied by the "sporty" lads....cos I was different..and hated sport lessons!

So I think I have the intelligence to know what day I started my new school!

Right?!! [Rant over,and hope I haven't come over as being stroppy...!!!]

The concrete bases are hardly 50 yards from the stone river bridge,if that! When we were kids,about 13 years old,we used to ride the Costains road all the way to Bebside pit,from the Bedlington side,there was never any security on in those days....why would they need any?..we weren't going to destroy the road or the bridges..........!!

It was truly an amazing thing to watch the 42-ton coal haulers bouncing their way across the river bridge,we used to watch,and say one day,it will collapse...

shows how much us kids knew about Bailey engineering!!

Check out Six-townships DVD about Acorn Bank Opencast site,and there is a short clip..[only about five seconds],of a coal hauler going over.

Because I just lived up at Hollymount Square,My friends and me watched the laying of the foundations of both the road and river bridges,the cutting through the Blackberry hill and the construction of all the roads connecting the project,the building,and ,years later,demolition,and re-instating of the land to it's former self......minus all the masses of blackberry bushes,on the Blyth side,which provided us with a bit of hard-earned pocket money,when the blackies were in season![picking them and selling them to our neighbours for thruppence a pund!]

It was fascinating to watch a Bailey bridge going up over the river at Rothbury,last year,as I knew every part,every pin ,washer and split-pin that held the frame sections together......never changed in sixty years since the Costain bridges!!

I took pics of every stage of that project,building it,then inconveniently took seriously ill,near-death,so I missed the demolition stages when it was completed!!![talk about bad luck spoiling things!]

Wish I could have had pics of the Costain ones....but I was only about ten years old at the start of the project!

Brilliant and thanks for the help everyone. My Dad recognised Albert Hayley and a couple of others who possibly moved to Westridge when they left the Whitley.

 

Here's another one for you to have a look at.

 

We think it's possibly a Bedlington Station YMCA team. The player at the front left is called Watson. I went to school with his daughter Ann.

Is that not Joe Raisbeck[bus driver-Raisbecks buses]? sure looks like him,hair an' all!,who is captain?

Derek Wilkinson,is the spitting image of Alan,and in 1953 we were eight/nine years old,depending which part of the year you look at.

So,while Derek was captain here,Alan was following close on his older Brother's heels.

The likeness is really freaky..it's like I'm looking at a pic of Alan!!

It's also freaky how they both suffered death-defying terrible accidents,at about this time of life,and survived to tell the tale!

Derek,fell from the old Humford mill building,which stood at the top of Bedlington Bank,while trying to reach a pidgeon's nest,injuring his head very badly.

Alan fell of the spiky low railings which went around the gardens at the market-place,next to the market cross,as he was trying to walk along the top of the spikes.

One of the spikes went through him,and impaled him,near to his heart.

Doctors said he was very lucky to be alive.

Alan,if you are in there,can you confirm the stories for me please?!

Right!

Just to clear up the ambiguity of the houses....the set up on the right of the pic,over from the Whitley School IS Hollymount Square,where i lived from it first being built after the war,left a bit,and you can see Haig Road,and Cornwall Crescent,facing onto the Dr pit football field.

Central,and leading over to Haig Road,is Rosalind Avenue ,aa knew every body in them houses when i lived there,but a lot of names are gone noo!

I sat next to Derek Wilkinson's younger Brother Alan,all my school life,from the Villlage infants,the Whitley,and Westridge,for a while,until I went into the Upper Remove..[which was the worst thing I ever did in my School life!!]

Alan was considered for East Northumberland juniors football team,but a canna mind noo,if he got there,but he was a great footballer,even though I knew nowt aboot fitba',I could see how good he was back then!

I used to go to the Sunday School up there,at the top-end,and got a little blue star stamped on my attendance card each week.

I can remember playing games and the guys running it were very good with all the kids,I was only aboot eight,and my older Brother took me each week for a while,then we just stopped going...canna mind why!

About twenty years ago,an old friend of mine died.

His Son,Bob,also a very good friend,went with another close friend of his,to clear out his Dad's house and garage.

Bob came across a very old and a bit battered brass instrument,in the old garage.

He was in the process of carrying it outside to throw it into the skip,when Alan,his mate stopped him and said he knew who would give it a good home.

Next day Alan knocked on my door,holding a black bin liner,with something bulky,and heavy-looking in it.

"Bill",Alan said,"can ye find room in your studio for this aad thing...?"

I looked to see what it was,and saw it was what I thought was a Euphonium..very old,with most of the silver-plating worn off.

Upon closer examination,and advice from Dennis Todd,at Bedlington's only musical instrument shop,[lovely fella,so is his Wife,],we saw a

plate with the words "Salvation Army"...plus other text details.

Dennis said it was a "b-flat bass",and the valves were worn out.

He said it could be restored and re-plated Silver once more,for about two-hundred pounds,[then!],but it would be worth about 2,500 pounds.

It is still in it's original worn-out and blackened condition,in my studio....I hadn't the heart to interfere with it!...it's a memento of my good old friend

who passed away all those years ago.

Mind,if I knew of a Salvation Army Museum,I would willingly donate it,if only to preserve it after i'm gone!

It's definitely pre-war,and looks like it has been blackened purposefully,as if to avoid it reflecting light during total blackout situations.

Slightly off-topic,Threegee,but looking around everywhere noo,a think AAL thi lamp-posts are dangerous!!

Half the stock of the metal ones are sawn off three feet above the ground and safety -taped,and the remaining ones are showing signs of rusting

near the ground,I think some lamp-post makers just took Wansbeck Council for a ride,when they were contracted to make and supply the council with a few thousand for the whole shire!

Back to Trotter's Memorial,he was a good doctor,who more or less pushed through laws to have better sanitation,and living conditions for the residents of Bedlingtonshire.

I can picture the 3, and the 3A,buses swinging roond the memorial,ti turn into the "Bus-stand,at the top-end......on thi way ti thi toon!![in the '50s!],oh!...

...AND the 10,and thi 10A,also.....cos buses were so packed in them days that the United bus company had to put extra buses on,so they had the "A"

suffix,and also the "Duplicate"...which was an extra bus to cope with demand,especially on days like "Cock-n-Hen day",from Morpeth to Blyth,on Wednesdays,which was a thriving market day in Morpeth....which was the 47 bus,and also the 48.

When we came out of the pit,at Choppington High Pit,on Wednesdays,we had to stand for over an hour,as one bus after the other went past full-up,and the old-timer's would say,in a grumbly tone of voice,"Whey yi might knaa,it's bliddy cock-n-hen day..."!!

Them were the days,when a was lad of 12 years old,when a used ti gaan up ti thi Netherton colliery village,and help Ray Bell to mek thi pigswill in a huge witches setpot,ootside,doon at the ranch.[in 1956-ish].When a was riding me bike up the Netherton Lonnen,[now dilapitated and disused due to another council sacrilegous blunder...],a cud smell the swill cooking a half-mile away...it was lovely on a winter's day,cos effectively,it was real vegetable soup,better than we humans eat,cos it was made from the skins of all the vegetables,which is known to be the best part OF the vegetable!!....and we are supposed to be intelligent!

The swill cooked for three days ,cos there was a bit more than your average Asda tin in that setpot!....enough to feed fifty pigs!

A used ti enjoy feeding times,and also when a sow had her litter,you had sometimes 17 piglets to juggle around the udders,cos the weakest ones couldn't push their way in,so you had to help them oot!

My oldest Sister married Ray,that's why I used ti go up there a lot.

Everybody in the village kept their peelings for Ray,and I think they might have got a reward of a few rashers,or a joint,in return....I don't know for sure.

His Mother,ran a lovely green Morris Oxford,in 1956,that was the big car of the day,very luxurious...made me wonder how,when everybody was so hard-up,in the post-war years of austerity!

Aye....those were the days my friend!

Brilliant pics,and a reminder to see my Sister about howking my mug oot...[the drinking one ...for all you clever-clogs!...],a think she boxed all me Mother's china away,when Ma died.

Do you know of anybody who got the blue history book?

Did you go to the Whitley as weel Maggie?

Hi Canny Lass!

Aye,Dougie was a real gud crack,and a canny fella.Sorry to hear of him passing away.

You know,half of Netherton village moved into Hollymount Square,when it was completed , in the early 1950's.

As a bairn,I played with all the "new" kids who moved in...[cos my family were among the very first ones to move there...I was about three years old..nearly four....and one of the "experienced" kids!]

Can you remember the Bell family who had the "ranch" at Netherton?

or Robbie's garage?

Bobby Cowell was the Safety Officer at the pit,he was a canny lad.

Hi Brian,aye,a got me Deputies tickets,I was on Deputy-work for seven years at Bates pit,[they sent me there cos Bedlington A pit was closing-so it was nae gud me gaan back there after the course was finished].

A chucked it in,and the NUM accepted me back into the union,and I spent the rest of my time there,on composite work,in the Three-quarter seam,amang aal the waata and clarts,and bad roof conditions![ a man-made hell!]

A musta gotten on weel wi aal thi lads,cos it had nivvor been knaan before,cos once you are a Deputy,there was never any way you could go back into the NUM!

But there were loads of lads in all the face teams said they would have ne working with them.

I ended up back with my old Marra from 1962 [at Choppington high pit],who I got split from  way back then,when all the little pits closed in the 1960's.

Bill,[my old long-time Marra],can be seen on my photostream,on Flickr,taken doon the three-quarter at Bates pit ,in 1986.

Where did you work Brian,and also,you wouldn't happen to be actor Bobby's Brother....would you?

Old Bobby Cross,[actor Bobby's Dad],worked at Choppington high pit,in the 1950-60's a canny aad soul.

Hi Canny Lass!

You reminded me that I did three weeks training down Netherton pit,in 1971,as part of my Deputy training course.I was only 27 years old,then!!

I was under the charge of Norman Smeaton,and Dougie Moore,in alternating shifts.

Dougie told me the local story of the district we were working in.

One night,in night-shift,a few years before my time there,the deputy was sitting at his "Kist",writing out his official reports for that shift,

.He happened to look up from his report book,and a dim light caught his eye,a long way inbye.

Naturally,he thought it was just one of his men coming outbye,at the end of the shift.

As the light came nearer,he glanced up again,and was frozen with fear,when the figure of an old miner from a byegone year,dressed with his soft cloth

"stottie-cake" cap and "Midge" oil-lamp in his hand,[from generations before the Deputy..] slowly,and silently,walked past the Kist,without showing any

sign of being aware that the Deputy was even watching him....he had an old clay pipe in his mouth,which wasn't lit.

Then the figure just faded into the darkness.

After that,several men saw the same old figure,and each one described him exactly the same,passing the kist at the same time each night ,until the men no longer were afraid,and used to remark about seeing .."old Freddie"...[or whatever name they had given the figure.] Noo,can anybody from Netherton confirm the origin of this story please?

Once you heard a story like this,underground,it forever left you being wary,and wondering if you would encounter the same figure,and how you would react!

Ask around for me will you ..please?

Cheers!

Another famous-to -be-in -Bedlington name on there John,that of James Bower of Market Place.

The Bower family ran the coal  wagons,and Rafffi Bower ran the Marqee hire business also with his Daughter,who spent her days with one-hundredwieght sacks of coal on her shoulders running up flights of stairs with them sometimes! 

James grew up and moved to number 6 Hollymount Square,when the houses were first built,at the same time my family moved into number 13.

ME and his Son,young Jimmy Bower,became inseparable mates so much,people took us for brothers!

Russel is in there ,A lass  who later bore family who lived in Milllfield,and I am assuming it would be her son,Jimmy, who sat behind me all the way through our entire school life[cos in those day,you could sit next to your friend as you went through the school years till you left!]

Interesting document! would love to see more!

They used cobs at Bedlington A pit in the High Main seam,cos it was nearly ten feet high coal.

Shetlands,in the Harvey seam when I worked there in 1965-71,wwhen the pit closed.

At Choppington High Pit,conditions were very bad,with extreme roof pressure,twisting and lowering a 12foot wide,by eight foot high roadway,down to less than four foot high in places....scary when you see it for the first time. 

Consequently all the pony's were small Shetlands,not all of which were broken in and trained!!....we often had to take fresh unbroken ponies inbye and train them with a long rein to the bit.[not forgetting,it WAS a "tetty-pit"....!]

When they drifted down to the Top Busty seam,conditions were wet,and really bad on the coalfaces,but the roadways stood for longer than they did up in the Beaumont seam....so  it made it a bit better for the ponies,even though it  was still cruelty them being there.

Foxy love your  then and now photos. Just wondering what used to be on the Johnny Johnson home site next door to the light shop, I just cant remember.

The "Wheatsheaf" pub adjacent to Smails shop,with "Hunter's" shop built on,as you were heading down the bank,in that order.

Between Smails and the pub,ran the back lane for Hollymount Avenue,and about 50 yards down the lane,was the Co-op dairy warehouse,where all

the milk  supplies were stored,plus the dairy vans were kept there also.

The lite shop used to be Smails,or,"Smaily's" as we called it when we were kids.

I lived in Hollymount Square,from 3 years old,till I got married.

When I was about 11 years old,I used to go over to the dairy,and wait sometimes 2 hours ,for the delivery truck,coming from Stocksfield,Ryton,Crawcrook,Greenside,and over to our dairy.

At first,I couldn't lift a full wooden heavy 20-pint crate,["helping the milkman!"],so old Bob Reed,the Bedlington dairyman,with only one arm used to stack the crates off the lorry,three-high,and I used to pull the stack across the bare concrete floor,which Bob had dampened to help with slideability........!

I had to pull each stack about 15 yards,clear of the doors,and put the stacks in neat lines,so Bob could get at them to load his little Morris Minor van up in the morning,to start HIS deliveries around Bedlington.

At that age,my arms and legs ached,by the time I had pulled 30-odd full crates over the floor,and the same number of crates of empty bottles.

Those were the days of big heavy glass bottles with the wide necks,with cardboard tops,where you pressed out the centre to pull the top of the bottle off.

We kids collected the tops,dried them out,and played "Skimmers"with them!

As time went by,and I got stronger,I was literally throwing the crates up and onto the lorry deck,as I took turns with the lorry driver,and old Bob,to load up the lorry with all the empties.

Best part was having a ride over to Seaton Delaval dairy,to unload all their crates,and take on the empties,then from there,back over to Choppington,Scotland Gate dairy,...same again,then back home.

It was bloody hard work,a lot of fun and gud crack,cos the old'uns treated me like a young man,not a kid!

My reward was a couple of "buckshee"pints of milk,for my Mother,and sometimes a bottle of orange juice,you know....the third-pint ones...they were a luxury item,cos rations were just about ending,so my "pay",in milk,saved my Mother a bit of money each day,it all mounted up,in those hard times!

Bob drove his van all over Bedlington,with only the one arm,his right one,and he changed gear by pushing his arm through the steering wheel,changing gear,then resuming his hold on the wheel as normal.

I never ever heard of old Bob having an accident of any kind!

A bit off-topic,but you set me on a bender,Eileen,with your query!!