HIGH PIT WILMA

Aahh! lilbill, a really appreciate ya kindness, but aam as stubborn as they come, My Family GP, the Consultants in Cramlington Hospital a fortnight ago, Nurses, even my Gud Nybors have aal said the same, I really shud have help, but as lang as aam on me two legs.. aal manage! A canna express me gratitude enough, towards aal the caring kind folk like yasell, mind, right from the first lockdoon, last March, in 2020,me two sets of Nybors, have tekkin torns daeing shopping for Cath and Me, owa a yeor and a haaf!! Cos we were classed as vulnerable, but we have both been double stabbed, and feel a lot more confident noo. Thas only ten hooses in wor street, and every nybor has said Bill, just ring or put a shopping list through the door, if ye need owt! Wa really spoilt! Cheers!

Aav got a, short Dvd video, of The Opencast site, which was apparently an old 8mm Cine film reel, which somebody rescued from a skip, and had transferred it ti Dvd. A think the Six Townships were selling it, and my Wife got it for me for Xmas, a few years ago. It shows the 42 ton Coal Haulers crossing the river bridge, and proved what a told me two Sons, and me Wife, for years, aboot the centre span of the bridge bouncing up and doon like a Yo-Yo!. as the Coal Haulers went across the bridge! Amazing Engineering, those Bailey bridges, and a never saw another one for another 50-odd yrs, till they renovated the old bridge at Rothbury, a few years ago, and they built a temporary Bailey bridge next ti thi aad yin, so they could close the aad yin ti start work on it. A took hundreds of photos and videos of the different stages of work in progress, every time we went from the Caravan owa ti Rothbury! The design of the Bailey Bridge sections hasnt changed one bit since a first saw them in the mid.. 1950's.. right up ti thi present day!.. Well, if it ain't broke... dinna fix it!!!

Great ti see this aal again, wat a blast from thi past! Tha used ti 100,000People gathering in Bedlington, in them days, aal the pubs and clubs packed oot, and just the odd one or two arrests for drunk and disorderly! lilbill, me wee dog was a Lakeland Terrier Spaniel/cross, mostly Spaniel to look at, temper of a terrier, if another dog crossed him, but otherwise gentle as a lamb! Micky was his name, and me and him roamed them Woods, and aal the fields, wa two selves.. like Elvis and Old Shep!! He used ti sleep aside the coal fire, cuddled up wi me Cat, Tiddles, snuggled tigitha, and when Tiddles had a litter, Micky used ti lie with his front paws around the kittens, guarding them like hell! When they were just born, he used to preen them, by licking them aal thi time, and not even me dare gaan near them for the first few days.. he wud growl at me or anybody else who went near! But as soon as the kittens started wandering, after a few days, he used ti pick them up and carry them back to their Mother, and wag he's tail, like Spaniels dae! Old Dr Hickey used ti call in just ti say hello, is everybody all right, Jean, (my Mother), and he used ti marvel seeing Mickey nursing the kittens, and he wud say, Well, I've never seen anything like that in my life!.. and he bred Greyhounds aal his life! I had Mickey and Tiddles from aboot Four years old, till a was aboot Twelve years old, when that swine raced up Bedlington main street like a maniac, same as aal his marra' s, on bonus work, and couldn't stop his worn oot banger of a lorry. Everybody used ti complain aboot Tulips aad smoky noisy battered aad lorries. the driver got oot, callously pulled my Micky ti the roadside, and got in his wagon and buggaad off, leaving me sobbing wi me dying dog. A carried him aroond home and he was lifting his head, bleeding heavily, and he was gone as a reached me hoose gate. Aav never forgotten him, and a well up every time a think of that day, around 1956.Noo aam 77yrs old, and a well up instantly when a think of me last litte darlin'... LBJ.. everybody on here knew LBJ, though they never met her.. Little Black Jess. Alan, seems like aam back!.... off topic, am an Allison, we are aal thi syem, we canna help it... gaan ti Newcastle ti get ti Edinburgh!

Wahey! Exactly as a remembered it! Costain Mining laid this temporary road and built the two bailey bridges, this one and the river crossing one, to take coal from the opencast mine at Acorn Bank, overland to Bebside Colliery, after public complaints about coal laden lorries speeding down Bedlington, otherwise quiet, main street, one of which knocked my faithful little dog down and killed him, having nearly hit me as we crossed the road. Tulip owned the fleet of old banger lorries, and they used ti belch out black smoke screens all the way up the road, after having climbed Bedlington Bank, empty, on the way back to the Opencast site, where the Golf Course is now, but this was around 1956. The 30-ton Euclids trucks, and also 42-ton Coal Haulers, used to make the bridges bounce e up and down as if they were made of elastic! Thanks for posting Alan! Made me happy ti see it again! Cheers Bill.

Luvly photo,Cambois Beach?...aah!!..just spotted the windmills on the horizon,and the perspective suggests ti me that this could be Newbiggin,maybe!

Tony,if ye are still in there,aav had another gud luk and a still canna place anybody else. A sat next to Ronnie Helmsley,at the Whitley School,in the 1950's and my Aader Brother was in Ronnie's Aader Brother's class,Dennis Helmsley,and they knocked aroond tigitha efta Schyuul at neets!

Bit late in catching up,Tony,a canna place any of these lads at aal!

The Heron Family were a lovely set of neighbours to have,young Frankie,and Jackie,pictured her,were two fine lads,Frankie always had his camera oot in the street recording family and Community life as it was in the late 940's and through the 1950's.We have him to thank,as well as recently deceased Billy Wright,our next door neighbour,for our family photographs as well as all our young friends playing together on warm summer nights in Hollymount Square! A wudn't mind betting either Billy Wright took this pic,or Frankie gave his camera to somebody else to take it with him on it!

Aaah!,I'm afraid I am a bit too young[!!],for this yin!! It looks like a Charabanc tip oot,aal the cheps hae tha queer coats wi one button fastened at the top,and it looks like a tent at the left hand side..wudn't mind betting it was a beer tent!! A boozy trip,they used ti caal i in the aad days,even when aa was a bairn! The neighbourhood would aal pay a few coppers a week,ti the one who organised trips ,usually ti Blackpool,once a year..! My guess wud be aroond the 1940's for this one,maybe a bit earlier.

Picnic Day,in the mid-late 1950's,possibly very early 1960's,the Bailey Bridge over the road down Bedlington Bank was supported by two sets of pillars constructed from concrete drainage pipe sections filled with re-enforcing rods and solid concrete infills. The pillars were about three or four feet in diameter,and us kids watched the crews building these bridges [the river one also..on Greenheart wood Trestles..]. You can see Hunter's Farm house ,it's actually on the left side of the road,but perspective makes it look like it is on the right!..the field in the foreground,is Hunter's field,taken from the near top of Bedlington Bank. The Rostrum in the picnic field can just be seen over the built-up opencast road,and the white pillar under the bridge is what I have just described. The main road is out of sight ,and is to the right of the pic,and winds down to go under the Bailey bridge and over the river Blyth.

C'mon, li'l bill15,get ya wings gannin! Eager to see mair pics like this yin!! Thanks a lot for posting this'un..!!

Hi Folks! Just caught up,been off due to health issues with both myself and my Wife! I reckon this pic dates back to the early-mid 1950's. The foreground field is where we used to walk through to get to a break in the hedge along the side of the picnic field,in the days long before it became Attlee Park,and before the concrete rostrum was built. The Council used to clear the cows out of the field,mow it,and build a temporary rostrum with scaffolding poles,and I think it was before steel poles came into use..they used wood poles lashed with ropes for the new Council House building programmes after the War,and I am sure they used the same method to put the speech platform up on picnic days. The Canopies are just visible in the left side in the mid-ground of the pic. The foreground field is now the tarmac'd car park at the bottom right of Bedlington Bank. Hunter's Farm and field was on the left side of the road,where the lovely house now stands ,opposite the field shown here. We kids were terrified of old Hunter,the Farmer,cos the older lads told us he had a Jelly gun,and would shoot you with it if he caught you in his field,and you couldn't get the jelly off your body!! Notice how lovely and thick the old free woods were before the thinning out programme started,in order to create the park and woodwalks. I spent me Childhood down this Field,and the woods,from Five years old!! We used to walk down the Bedlington Bank from Hollymount Square,no traffic,or very sparing traffic,at the least,mostly horse and cart traffic in those days...1949-- on!! Happy Days!!

This was after I left Westridge School,Mr Abrahart left the school around 1958[?]..ish,and went to West Moor at Gosforth. A few years ago,not that many!,My Barber was cutting my hair,and as usual,the chat always went around to our days at Westridge,and he told me that Mr Abrahart left the school after a lot of harrassment from the Headmaster,Mr Hemming,who all the pupils I knew,including myself,thought the world of!! When Mr Hemming left,Mr Abrahart came back,so I am wondering if this Photo was taken during his return..which would have been after 1959 at the very least,cos that is when I left,to work down the Coalmines. Mr Abrahart was the best,zaniest crackerjack of a teacher,on History,but he made you remember your work though his animations during Dictation lessons!!He used to take on the parts of Disraeli,Napoleon,and others during the lesson,and stomp back and forward across the floor,like Basil Fawlty!!..Can you remember ,Canny Lass,being unable to write,cos you had to hold your ribs and stomach,cos they were sore with laughing!! The lasses cried when he left,and a can tell ye noo...the lads were haading it back...as ye did when ye were a tough kid!! Ha ha! Sorry,Alan,I digress again...! Cheers Folks! Bill.