HIGH PIT WILMA

Alan,can ye mind Jimmy Smout daeing his first-aid mock-ups? At Bedlington A pit,[for other people-Alan!],there was a mocked-up coal-face,on the surface,where Jimmy Smout used to re-create an accident scene,being a fall of stone from the roof on the "face",and an injured miner lying under the roof fall,with serious injuries,bones sticking out of his leg,etc. Jimmy was better than any professional film make-up person!! He would disappear from the first-aid class for a quarter of an hour,then realistically come running into the room,urgently calling for help,his Marra was trapped in a fall of stone...."howway lads,mek sharp,me marra's badly hurt,ye'll need a stretcher......"[he was a hell of an actor as well!!] We would take the part,as we were training for,and rush in to rescue the "trapped" miner. The first time we did this,aged 15 years,straight from a school desk,some of the young lads were almost sick,seeing leg bones sticking out from bleeding tissues,black and blue bruising all over,swollen flesh...... Jimmy was a smashing fella,very well-liked by everybody. Alan,did Jimmy also have a magic trick or two,or am I getting mixed up with another instructor at Seaton Burn training gallery?.... No!!!...it's come to me,it was Tommy Aldis [ginger haired bloke],at Seaton Burn pit. Happy days eh?...little did we knaa wat we were letting wasell's in for!!

Heh heh!....couldn't be two ear-wigglers in our schools...could there?!! Cheers! Bill.

Hi Orloff! Probably was related. I started Westridge the very first day it opened in 1956[!!!!!],and I didn't know anybody by that name,if they didn't come from the Whitley school. But in later life,I worked with the Thornton Bro's Dad,Geordie,and Uncle Jackie,down Bedlington A pit,in the mid-sixties. They came from Bedlington Doctor pit,when it closed.Canny fella's and really gud worker's,and that trait has followed on with Geordie and Keith,who run the business.[old Geordie's Sons] There was another Thornton,related, who had a car repair,and welding shop,next to the Coffin chapel,at Bedlington,in the 1960's,so young Walter was probably his Son.[mind,I'm not sure about that,just a suggestion!] Cheers Orloff! Bill.

How old would Mary be now?,I'm now willing to accept,there is some confusion in my mind,about Keith Cooney courting the lass from the V.G. shop,in the mid-60's,but she was definitely family,if Tommy didn't have a Daughter,then who was she? Keith introduced me to her,in the 60's,at the Market-Place Club,at a Labour party social evening,and often talked about her,down the pit,at bait-times,in general conversation. If it was Mary,that would explain things,but this lass was definitely associated with V.G. shop owner family,cos he used to talk about having dinner with the family,as we all did,when we young and courting....nowt oot thi ordinary....just conversation I'm really sorry to hear that Mildred,[Milly-but my family never used that nickname for her..],has passed away.and Tommy being in a home. I saw them in Rothbury a year or two ago,and had a gud crack,after Mildred had her last operation,and she seemed in a canny fettle. Trouble is,it's not how well people look,it's how they feel inside,and she was probably going through the mill then. They were the loviest couple you could ever wish to meet.R.I.P. Mildred. My thoughts go out to Tommy and his family.

Hi Hazel,pleased to hear from you on this site,I didn't know Heather, was married!! Her Dad played in my house with my [ten-years-younger -than- me!],Sister,from being born...well....almost! His Grandma and Granda Wright,lived directly next door to me. He,[her Dad],was very much influenced by hearing my Shadows records playing constantly,in the 60's,and also hearing.and seeing, me playing all their tracks,and every other guitarist's tracks also. So much so,that when Zoe came along,she also became influenced by the same music,due to her Dad playing the Shadows constantly! Now,when you see Zoe's website,and see just where in the world she has been,and who she has played along with,on stage,it's satisfying to know that good music has played such a huge part in her life. They are both lovely girls,as are their parents! Give everyone in the family my love,when you see them! I think Her Dad knows who I am!,from what I have said here! Just show him my comments!! Cheers, Bill.

Might have been,canny lass,was he aboot six foot four tall and stocky alang wi' it? Smiley,cheery,face,and really canny-natured. Wiggled his ears great!

A builder-friend of mine told me that when he was on the team that renovated the rectory[?] at the Ashington side of Sheepwash bridge,beside the traffic lights,they found loads of boxes of ancient records and financial documents,plans,etc in the loft of the house. How old is that property,Alan,thought you would know..! Don't know what happened to the documents,I presume they would surely have given them to Woodhorn colliery museum.

Was the V.G. shop there before the Spar? Aam sure it was there,when aa was transferred to Bedlington A pit,[opposite],in 1965,from Choppington High Pit. There was a street of hooses where the garage and post-office is noo. When the hooses were pulled doon,Lawson's meat lorry used ti come from Scotland,and dae a full change-over of his load,onto another lorry,based here, [a relay in other words],and they used ti be parked exactly where the garage is noo. Aa was courting me Wife,at Grange Park,and used ti waak up every night,ti Hollymoont,and would pass the two lorries parked up,back-to back,and see them trundling trolleys of meat from one to thi other.[maybe three times a week] It was always aboot 1-0 am,so the general public wouldn't knaa aboot it. Can anybody mind this? Lawson's of Dyce was the firm,are they still going?

Can anybody remember Mr Epsly buying an old 1948-ish car,for the metalwork students ti pull apart and learn how re-build it.[aam saying old...it would only have been aboot eight years old,but in them days cars were ready for massive welding jobs,or scrapping!!] This was in aboot 1957-8,and the Evening Chronicle,or Ashington Post,[not sure which..]ran an article aboot thi project, making it oot ti be an exciting new way of educating students with hands-on capability......with a picture of Mr Epsly,and some of the pupils,standing with the bonnet open,looking interested....[they were the bully-boys I keep referring to.....] Wat a load of tosh,and expensive P.R. for the new £240,000 school, that project was.....it never happened!! That car stood till the grass was growing up the windaes! A dae remember the carburettor was taken off,and lay in bits on the bench till aa left school,in 1959. Another thing that sticks in my throat was the Electric motor project that aa had painstakingly built,cutting out,and hand-filing every single lamination,from sheet-iron plate, of the rotor,and stator,hand-riveting and smoothing them off ready to do the windings,months of hard labour,then when I went to my cupboard to get it,to take home on the day I left,finding that some spiteful thief,had taken it away,not even knowing what it was,cos I was the only one at the school that had the gift of knowledge in electronics..every body knew that. I wasn't much good at history and geography and the dreaded sports,but near top in technical drawing,science,and English. Bottom,and I mean rock-bottom in Maths! I think one of the lads who used to gang-bully..verbally,not physically,Me,may have taken it for spite and just chucked it away. Vic,it was only a D.C. three-pole rotor,but to wind it was gonna be an education for me,doing it,and the field coils by hand. Anybody who knaas owt aboot this please tell Northumbria police,so a can get a ....crime number........! Mind,a wud love a copy of that photo for posterity,it wud be gud ti post up on here also.

That reminds me,[off-topic again....but aal forget if a divvent say it noo!],Vic,ask your lovely lass if she can mind thi time a nearly killed mesel,and her Brother-in-law carried me,fireman's lift,owa his shoulder, aroond from Brian Redp.'s hoose,[next door to her..],back to my hoose. Brian,[me friend],and me,were aboot ten years aad,and poaching aroond in he's mother's kitchen draa's,looking for summick ti eat,cos we were both hungry.[rations were still on,and we were hard-up in them days!] Aa found a smaal roond silvery tin wi a little hole in the side. Brian told me it was Snuff,and I didn't knaa wat it was for.He told me the aad men sniffed it,and for me ti try it. So,a sniffed,and couldn't smell owt. Last thing a remember was,cocking me head up in the air,tekking one gud lang,hard,sniff,at this tin,and feeling a terrible burning pain down my throat,and in my lungs. A collapsed on the floor choking for breath,and started vomiting aal owa the floor. A crawled ti thi doorstep gasping for air,and Brian ran to your Lass's Mother's hoose screaming for help.A can mind seeing the road moving,as Aa was hanging upside doon owa thi fella's shoulder,and after that,it went blank. Aav got no memory of whatever happened till a came aroond,so a divvent knaa if a went ti hospital or wat,but a dae naa a was off school for aboot a week or more. A canna remember having any after care at home...just a complete blank. Mind,a learn't not ti gaan poachin in folk's drawers,even if me mates did!! Aav even forgotten Joyce's man's name,shamedly!,but a have him ti thank forever more for saving me that day. Later in life,down the pits,thi men used ti use snuff,cos they couldn't smoke doon the mine. First time a ever dared ti try a pinch,just ti break my phobia aboot it,a kept it away from me nostrils,and gently sniffed,mind thi bugga was still red hot,nae wonder it nearly choked me.! Happy days eh?!!

Aye Vic,aa droonded in the river blyth,up where thi "big bather" pool was,before yi get ti Humford. Thi big lads aal went up there ti swim,used ti leet a fire on thi flat styen bankside,ti dry thasel oot. Whey aa was aboot ten yeors aad,and helping thi big lads,[wi me aada Brother],ti build a dam owa thi waata,cos thi floods had weshed part of it away. Next thing aa knaas is....aam bobbing aboot like a cork,gaan unda and swaalyin loads o' waata,and chowking. Me last memory was seeing above the level of the waata,nose under thi waata,one of thi big lads,[aboot 14 years aad!],standing aside thi fire,and hearing me scream and gurgle on,diving inti thi waata and pulling me oot,and onto thi bankside. After a got thi waata squashed oot o ' me lungs,and stopped coughing waata up,a went stryght back doon ti help thi lads wi thi dam!! This wudda tekkin a haaf -oor probably,but mind,a can vividly remember every second,as if it was yistidi! A had a few faal-ins,but nivvor as bad as that one,a wudda been fish-food if that lad hadn't saved me life,and aam forever grateful ti him. Funny thing was,it waasn't owt startling ti anybody else,cos ivry bugga fell in the waata sometime in tha life,cos we were doon thi waata ivry otha day!!

Hi Alan,Walker terrace would be right,the guy must have had money,he had a big house on the bottom end front street,with a canny sized apple orchard roond thi back,which,for us kids,was conveniently high-walled,and running alang thi bottom of the gardens at Hollymoont Square! We had a field day quite often when the trees were laden wi apples. The apples were cookers and soor as hell,but we would raid the orchard,more for excitement than owt else,fill wa jarsey's up ti thi hilt,run owa ti wa camp in Knoxy's field,climb a tree,[which was wor camp tree],and sit up theor,chowing apple gowks till wa eyes waata'd,but not spitting thi bugga oot! Pains in the guts aalwis came later,but wi still did it! Jimmy Smout bought the property and turned it into a betting shop when it became legal to run one. Alan, Jimmy trained ye and me at thi aad pit,in 1959,and he wasn't half a funny likeable guy,remember?....Ned wasn't quite the same character as Jimmy.

Heh heh!....Vic,"snotty noses"....wat a blast from the past! Ivry bugga had stiff white-ish mucky jarsy sleeves .....! Can ye imagine aal thi kids from 10 years up owa,waaking aroond wi Bowie knives in leather sheath's hanging in full view from tha belts,and gaan ti skyuul wi thim on an aal?!![ it was the equivalent of x-boxes at christmas time,ivry bugga wanted a Bowie knife,cos wa hero was Jim Bowie on a Saturday afternoon,in the sivvin'pinnies,at thi the top-end flea pit...!] Vic,did ye ivvor gaan up the river ti thi dam,past Humford Baths,and climb up onto the two big waata pipes wat crossed the river from bankside ti bankside? Wi used ti say,if wa Mutha's cud see wi running owa thi pipes,and hanging owa thi side ti scratch wa nyems on thi pipes,wi a raging river in full spate,below us,wa Mutha's wud kill wi! Ye had ti climb up the brick pillars at the bankside,speel aroond the 3-inch sloping concrete haunch on tip-toe,ti get onti thi pipes,mighty dangerous,but a nivvor saw anybody faal yit! Catapults,nivvor knew of anybody being fired at or hit by a 'pult! Aa used ti climb the big Beech trees,[thi "King trees"],and gaan reet up ti thi flimsiest branches,aboot 70 feet up,and just wedge mesel in between the branches,and sit there,swaying in thi wind,firing smaal whin chippings from the roadside,oot me catapult,at nowt in particular! Boredom,has NEVER,EVER, been in my vocabulary,and at 70 years aad in July,nivvor will! Thi ownly "bored" aa knaa is thi bords doon thi garden! Thanks for your P.M Vic,hope my reply was successfully sent,cos aav had bother trying ti send other mail ti folks. One last one,did anybody ever chew lumps of black pitch,when the cooncil decided they shud put some tarmac doon on the clarty roads...in the early 'fifties? We used ti smash bits off the big lumps, the size of a bit of bubble-gum,and chew the bugga till wa eyes waata'd! Those were thi days my friends! Gie me love ti ya boss!

Funny how some things stick in your mind,lads,did you know Tommy married my next door Neighbour,called Mildred. I haven't seen Tommy and Mildred for two years,and I heard she had sadly passed away,mind,I said I HEARD! [cos years ago my marra down Bates pit,who was also my neighbour and good friend Bob,took a bad turn and was hospitalised...days later,another marra told me that Bob had died..when I got home he was in his bed at home,laughing and carrying on with another neighbour!!!...chinese whispers!] So!....if you Google "Zoe McCullough",you will see Tommy's Step GrandDaughter,Zoe,playing guitar with the worlds great guitarists on u-tube!!,at the N.a.a.m,music festival,in Nashville...!![among other places...] Digressing a bit,but couldn't let the chance of a plug for my young musician friend,go by,when were talking about her Step-Granda!!! Aam just thinking,Denise comes into me mind;when a met Keith Cooney,[my pit Marra at high pit..]and Her,at a Labour Party social evening,in Bedlington Market place club, around 1963-ish.[a cud be wholly wrong on the name,but aav got the feeling aam reet!.....unless she was another grocer's Daughter......] I never comment on anything unless I know it to be fact,or without adding a note that I stand to be corrected,if I'm not 100 per cent sure. So,on this one,I am sure,but now wondering if a different owner took over,or had the shop before Tommy,cos My Marra definately sat at the Spar-owner's dinner table and had dinner with the family,among other regular visits to the family home. Tony,if you know the facts,please keep me right where the lass came from,and remember...it was around 1963-ish[give or take a year..!] Cheers!

Hi Vic,aye a fully agree wi ye aboot the kids nooadays,but remember when we were kids,we made wor aan entertainment! Tiggy-in-thi-bay,hot rice,races aroond the block,climbing trees doon thi woods,wandering owa aal thi millions of fields we had then..... .....and the lassies played bays,[posh people caaled it hopscotch....a think!],two-baaley,or for the clivvor lasses,three,or even four-baaley...... aye,a think we were a pretty fit lot in them days. Me posting at the start of this thread,aboot Danny Douglas waaking inti thi new gym,and seeing me climbing a brand-new-untouched -by-man...lovely shiny white rope,hand owa hand,wi nae feet,like a monkey,up ti thi roof in seconds,was true in every detail! We didn't sit aal neet pressing buttons,cos the ownly buttons we had was on wa sharts! Nice ti hear from ye Vic.

I lived just where the front biker is passing,on the left side of the road,in number three Storey's Buildings,from about 1944 to 1948-ish,after which my Parents moved to the newly-built Hollymount Square in Bedlington. There was a biggish crater in the field just across the road,close to the houses, on the right side,where we played as three-year-old kids,and which was a bomb crater we were told. Alan,I mentioned somewhere else on the site,that I was mooching around the place with my dog,a week or two back,and I see that the remains of the chapel wall to the rear,is still there,a few feet high from field level,and overgrown with trees.[took me back to fleeing down the clarty back lane on my little Tri-ang crane,at forty miles an hour........what imaginations we had when we were three years old!]

Smudgy,the original Bell's ranch was on the left side of the lonnen,as you walked up towards the houses,and later on,Mrs Bell bought the land,including the little old chapel,which was on the right side,which you rightly mention. I think I have mentioned in other threads,that My oldest Sister married Mrs Bell's Son Raymond,[now deceased..R.I.P. Ray..],and I used to enjoy helping Ray to collect the vegetable peelings from all the neighbours,and putting them in a massive witch's set-pot,built up on bricks,lighting the fire underneath,filling the pot with half a milllion bucket-full's of water.[...a knaa,it shud read "buckets-full"....but aam an aad pitman....!],and cooking the swill for three days day and night. As you came up the lonnen,you were greeted with the smell of the loveliest vegetable soup which money couldn't buy!!...and we say animals are dumb....it's us that's dumb,chucking oot the best part of wa dinna! We used ti have ti help the sow to feed her litter,sometimes seventeen,when she didn't have enough udders ti tek aal the little we-ens,by lifting the greedy little buggers off the teat,and putting the weaker ones on. It was interesting fun,being a twelve year old laddie,helping ti rear young turkeys,ducks ,hens ,geese,pigs,and wat-not. We knocked out the floor of the chapel,and patiently broke hundreds of bricks into small pieces with a pit axe [as you did....!],to make hardcore for the floor,prior to concreting it,to make indoor pig-sty's,which was better than cramming dozens of pigs into sheds which were too small to house them properly.[as they had been] Mrs Bell had a lovely green Morris Oxford car,which was a rare sight in those days! My Sister worked for old Doctor Hickey,[who brought Me,and most of old Choppington and guidepost folks,into the world!],at his surgery,in Scotland Gate,in 1955-ish,where she met Raymond,who was "on the bins" at the time. When they married,they lived in a caravan next to the old chapel,on the right hand side,can you mind of that ,any of you canny folks on here? Us kids used to slide across the rails over the Francis pit shaft,and throw stones down,listening to the booming sounds which came up the shaft as the stones bounced from side to side on the way down.....what entertainment for a laddie.!!! There we sat on the rails,straddling the rail like sitting on a tree branch!!...no fear! Imagine kids playing like that nowadays!

Keith,I remember Tommy,and his brown coat,and also the fact that the lad who gave me my nickname of Wilma,in 1959-ish,[one Keith Cooney,now deceased..R.I.P.Keith..],used to court Tommy's Daughter,for a while,as a very young lad,way back in the mid-sixties. I wonder if she is still with us,and if she could remember Keith......actually,I don't think anybody could forget him,he was such a character....was Keith![bloody good worker down the pit,in really bad conditions...] Tommy started the first Spar shop that I ever knew of,in our area,anyway.

Heh heh!...Smudgy,you did right i would say,cos I did the same in 1959,and went down the pits,me having such a knowledge of electronics,but being bottom of the class for maths.[i always wanted to be a radio television engineer]. Stupid thing about exams etc is that you need them to get a good job,but never use the knowledge gained ever again,even bank staff have told me that! My Son went to London 25 years or more,ago,with nine top O-levels and two O-A levels. He had a job within a week,and nowhere to stay,as he was temporarily staying with my relatives down there. His new boss said very impressive about his qualifications,but in this job,you only need TWO things.......a good sense of hearing,and dedication. He said to my Son that he he could put his C.V. and all his qualifications in his bottom drawer and never look at them again! The job?.....Sound recording engineer in a Recording studio,making records! Now?.....He has his own small recording studio,with some very rare and sought - after equipment,gold discs on the walls ,and an impressive [for us!]previous client list! Unfortunately the music business has dropped like a stone,and it is becoming more difficult for record producers like my Son,to survive the downfall. I digress,but the point I was trying to put over was that in most employments,you won't need a degree in religious studies,or history,geography,physical training,football etc..........!! I think you should be encouraged to learn the subjects which will help you achieve your ambitions in life. I actually went and knocked on Mr Hemming's office door,one day,[aged 14 years!],and asked if I could be excused from P.E. lessons,and to spend that hour,twice a week,in the science laboratory,studying radio electronics,and furthering my knowledge and gaining more experience actually constructing radio projects with Mr Johnson,the science teacher,who was my mentor,long after school hours,every night,sometimes till 10-pm!! We were like two old friends,after school,but strictly pupil/master during class. Mr Hemming agreed with my request,and said to tell Danny Douglas,[ahem....MR Douglas.....!],that he authorised me to do that. Guess what Danny said....and DID! ".....Did he now?.....[referring to Mr Hemming..],well I'll tell you what we'll do ,Boy,[while lifting me off the ground by my ear,paining it like hell!....]... ...come with me and I'll SHOW you what we'll do with you!" He pulled me by the ear along the long corridor from the gymnasium,to Mr Freeman's class,[who was in the middle of a math's lesson],and said to Mr Freeman,to give this boy an hour of Math's for not bringing his P.E kit in.!!!!! Mr Freeman knew of my gift with electronics,and quietly whispered to me how he sympathised with my plight but had to comply,so there I sat for the next hour trying desperately to grasp Logarithims..[can't even spell it,never mind DO it!]. NOO!,.......HOO do ye knaa hoo actually USES Logarithims in their daily job!! Danny effectively held me back from studying my chosen field,cos I didn't want to jump a vaulting horse or kick a bit of leather around a grass field! BUT,I still thought the world of Danny Douglas,as did anybody else who he clipped,cos he was such a great character! R.I.P. Danny. Eh,there a gaan again....!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for correctness,not to be awkward,but there was no "free" coals,the concessionary coal was part of a miner's wages,from long-standing agreements. It has always been a sore point with me,using the term "free",probably because the miners got slagged off by tory press during the 1984 strike,and this was always one of the bullets they always fired! Sorry for digressing folks! An old pitmatic saying was.."Yi tell mair lees thin a collry polis"....the colliery policeman had to justify his wage,and would take in young kids accusing them off tresspassing on the railway lines,or accuse men of stealing from the pit stockyard,and take them to court if need be. I've had it done to me by a young police officer [H.M.]twice when I was young,told bare-faced lies to the bench,[old Mrs Ainsley and co..],and got me fined for something I hadn't done.Colliery cops were the same!

Great poem Alan! Who were the Allison's ye mentioned?

Rhonda Richardson went ti the Bomar pit,then when it closed ,he went ti Bedlington A pit [thi AAD PIT!]. He was feared by a lot of the old-timers doon thi pit,and aav seen them put their bait back in their bait-bags,and get up and gaan back on thi face,cos ...."howway,thi Black Prince's coming in...."[Rhonda 's nickname...most gaffa's had nicknames in them days!],aa had many a standy-up battle wi Rhonda.[he was a strict,feared,overman,but was dedicated ti trying ti mek thi pit survive a threatened closure,in the mid-60's!!] My gud aad marra used ti live in Barnt'n village,in the 1940's-till the hooses were pulled doon..aal see wat a can find oot aboot thi Thomson family,and report back,cos he canna use the computer.

Er,Alan,aam presuming yi DAE knaa hoo aam is.......tha was ownly ONE Wilma ye ivvor knew at thi pit![ who played a mean twangy geugaa!]