HIGH PIT WILMA

Heh heh! The "Abbatoir".....!!.....us kids caaled it thi slaaatahoose! A lad called "Hi-ti" [Nickname],used ti ti work there also,and we used ti get thi pigs' bladders off him,tie one end and blow it up ,then tie the other end.......... .....a perfect football for laddies whose Mother's couldn't affford a proper one! We lay in bed on a peaceful Sunday morning,me Brother and me,then we would hear squealing...[loudl]...bang.....then silence.......for a few minutes....... more squeals...more bangs....more silence....... Iv'e never twigged till noo,why The Savation Army used to stand outside wor hoose,sort of in thi middle of the street,in a circle,playing their hearts oot...... Sumtimes they must have been a bit late,for us to hear the squeals and bangs,from the humane killer. We just used ti wander aal aroond the place,cos it was open,and thi public right of way was through thi cut ti gaan ti Millfield from Bedlington main street,past thi Locke Hall. We used ti watch Hi-Ti scrubbing what we thought was the "Tripe" bags.....[!!!!!!!!].....to keep it decent on here..! He had a big wood bench oot in the yard,and a pail of water,and a scrubbing brush....and Joe Steel,the Bedlington pie-eater,used to eat three and a half yards of raw tripe withoot a pint of beer ti swill it doon wi'...! Howw!! Aam robbing me life-story book that aam busy writing,which a hev been deaing for thi last few years,just a bit at a time.!

Welcome maubel,can you mind of Mrs Oliver,the Headmistress at the infants school?,also Mrs Smith,the first year teacher? Both lovely ladies!!

Welcome maubel! You need plenty time to browse around here!

Welcome aboard the gud ship Bedlington,Fizz! Join the motley crew!

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!]

Heh heh! Ovalteenie!!,I can vividly picture the blue external staircase on thi right side,as yi went into the courtyard! Wasn't it spooky,in them days,wi gas leets aal doon thi cobbled streets of Hollymoont Avenue.?! Noo!,can ye mind thi big Co-op dairy sliding doors up thi Avenue? Can ye also mind the big milk lorries coming every night from Stocksfield,delivering the crates ti thi dairy,and aad Bob Reed,loading he's little 5cwt van up,ready for the next day's deliveries aroond Bedlington,wi only one arm,[the other one was completely off ti his shoulder]. Bob drove that van,with he's one hand,for donkey's years,and used ti put he's arm through the spokes of the steering wheel ti change gear! Nae synchromesh,in them days,it was double-de-clutching ti change doon![a used ti help Bob in the dairy,as a bairn,wouldn't be allowed noo...lifting crates that were a ton weight!,and also the other aspect of adult/kids poison in folks's brains nooadays!] This was in the mid - fifties that aam taakin aboot here. Coooncil hoose!...we played wi thi flush toilet and the two-way leet switches on thi stairs,for ages before thi novelty wore off!! [aa was aboot three-and-a-haaf,and me aader Brother aboot six-and-a-haaf,in 1947/8 ish,when we moved inti 13,Hollymoont Square,and like yi say,it was heaven....a bedroom for me Brother and Me,one for me two Sisters,and one for me Parents!..[having lived in two rooms wi nowt also!!] Nae wallpaper in them days,just distemper "stippled" in patterns randomly,wi a scrunched-up rag....nae carpets...just clippy mats...or bare floors! Wat a blast from thi past! Pleased yi came on 'Teeny!!

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......!!

Welcome to thi forum Ovalteenie!!! .....I used ti luv listening to your show on steam radio when I was a young pup!!!![a knaa!...yiv hord it aal before!] Me older Brother's Schoolmate used ti live in Hartford Hall,[three years older than me,],and HE went ti London as weel....in 1969-ish........ ....Initials M.J.and partner H.Y...I wonder if you knew them. You are about 6 years older,cos they..[ My Brother,and MJ..] left school,in 1956. A spooky place thon,when we were kids,we used ti gaan inside thi Hall,it seemed like millions of corridors and rooms!...skylights leading onto thi roof....tramps living in there,gaslit courtyard,rickety wooden ootside staircase ti thi upper floors.....shutters on the windows banged all night in thi wind,keeping us awake in our cosy little bedroom in Hollymoont Square!![aal this was after it was totally vacated,by thi way!!] Just ti put me right in me thinking,Ovalteeny,when exactly was it vacated?....I reckoned it was aroond 1955-ish...give or take a year each way. Am I near?,cos aa was aboot 11 years aad when a used ti mooch aroond in the hall![mebbe even ten yrs in 1954..]

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!!

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!!

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!!]

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...]

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?

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!