HIGH PIT WILMA

I have a thin booklet called.."The pit village and the store",given to me by a very good old neighbour who is now deceased [R.I.P.] It might be available in the library..it's interesting!

Didn't realise I have repeated my stories from the previous page,it's a while since I have been on! I said previously that I saw Mr Marley at a funeral,in St Cuthbert's church,but remembered now that it was a concert we were at.

Norman,just to try and establish who you are,discreetly,was Dave Lees your mate in the upper remove,who they named the Lees trophy after?[and you wouldn't have a ginger-haired Son called David?....an old workmate of mine....] I was in the Upper Remove class,[a daft name i always thought!],and I remember Mr Marley very well indeed! Short and stocky,close curly hair,and didn't need to raise his voice to command attention. We put the Shakespeare "Julius Caesar" play on,and He directed it. It was a great success,to the parents and general public who attended the evening production. I last saw him in St Cuthbert's church,a few years ago,as we were coming up the aisle,at the end of a concert,he was in front of me,and I knew him straight away by his voice,before even seeing him face-on!![This is about 50 years after leaving school!!] I spoke to him,and he was very nice in his manner,and I thanked him belatedly,for making a man out me...as you do.... I would love to see the photo of the class of 1957. Malcolm Straker I knew very well,as an ex-nephew in-law,but haven't seen for years. Ian Cambell,should be on that class photo,if it is the same lad, who was cricket mad,and good at it,even in 1957!! If anyone knew of the bartender-doorkeeper at the cricket club,over the last twenty years at least,they would know how i came to have my present avatar!!! Wilma was given to me by Keith Cooney[deceased..R.I.P.],who was that same guy![we were only 15 years old young miners in 1959 at the time!!] The Manager's clerk at Choppington high pit was called Jimmy Marley. Noo,thinking back,a always thought my form teacher in the upper remove was called Bill,but you say it was George.... Please post the pic! Did Malcolm Humble originally live at Hollymount Square as a young child...?...if so,i know him very well,but not seen him for a year or two either...real nice family,the Humbles. If any of the commitee members are on this forum,then I extend my long lost greetings to those of you that I knew,but haven't seen for years,that you might not know me now...all except Malcolm Straker...who SHOULD remember me!! Cheers,!! Bill.

When I started down Choppington high pit,the lad who was in charge of me for my twenty days "close personal supervision",[which was the law],used ti drive for Dixon Jordan,part-time,and he picked me up at my door once or twice to go with him for a bit of company,usually when he was taking local schoolkids to Gateshead swimming baths,[the kids were under -14's so I was more of an adult.....at 16-17yrs old!! I remember the coaches being really well kept,cleaned before every outing,and living up to the name of being "luxury"coaches. We as kids,used to laugh when we saw the Bedlington & District Luxury coaches,picking the miners up to take them to the various pits in the area.. Because pithead baths hadn't arrived,the miners travelled both on private[laid on],and public[united buses],with their dirty clothes on,after the end of their shift,and this must have created havoc with the coach upholstery! We used to compare the Bed. and Distr. "luxury" coaches with Jordan's coaches,every time one passed us!! They were generally mucky,and,it seemed to us,badly looked after.[the B. and D.ones.. that is.....!]

Heh heh!!Ilove an honest guy!Nice one Adam!

I was just telling my next door neighbour yesterday,[a retired woodwork teacher..],about how we,as ten year old kids,used to go down Bedlington bank,next to the river Blyth bridge,and watch all the floodlit action,as the joiner's sawed through twenty or thirty foot long Greenheart beams,to make the wooden trestles,with a long four-handled saw...and i mean about seven or eight foot long!! There were two men at each side of the beam,each man holding his respective handle on the saw,and it took ages,probably more than an hour,or even two hours,to saw through one beam. The beams were about two-feet square,and so dense,that the off-cuts just sank in the river ,they didn't float!! There were no power saws capable of handling that capacity of timber,out by the riverside. I can vividly remember the laying of the concrete foundations,on each river bank side,which,if i remember rightly,are still there. Watching the beams being put together to form the huge trestles for the bridge,was fascinating,especially as all the activity we witnessed was under powerful floodlighting,with big generators running,through the night to carry out the work 24 hours a day.[after school was when we would go down]. The first time we saw euclids going over the bridge,making the centre section bounce up and down like a yo-yo,was amazing,until we watched the 42 -ton coal-haulers go over.......it was frightening to watch at first,cos we thought for sure that the bridge would collapse under the load....it bounced so much!! Now,with the benefit of the dvd which six townships has produced,there is evidence that,60 years on....there is proof that my old grey matter isn't letting me down!! There is a scene of a few seconds ,showing the coal-haulers going over the bridge,and yes.....the bridge DID bounce like a yo-yo.....a credit to the engineers who designed the Bailey bridge!! It was a blast from the past to see the construction of a Bailey bridge in Rothbury,last year,while repairs were carried out to the old stone bridge,and it all came back to me..........1954....meccano type sections,clevis-pins,washers,split-pins,cross-beams,wood decking.....simple but very effective!!

Can anyone remember Miss Maize? She was lovely,and Mr Dodds thought so too! They were courting,when i was only about ten years old,and when they did playground duty,they walked around the yard,holding hands. Us laddies used to gang up,a whole mass of us,and follow them around,singing......"Maizy dotes on quaker oats and semolina pudding....." I have vivid memories of Miss Maize turning around,with the lovely smile she had,and just laughing at us all,no reprimanding,she took it in good fun all the time.[Mind,a canna say the same for Doddsy....he was a bit on the serious side....but a canny teacher,even though he was strict...a canna mind him giving me the strap or owt...]

This tale reminds me of another antique find! We used to play in the graveyard behind St Cuthbert's church,at Bedlington Market place. The infant's school field was next to the graveyard,down Church Lane,where Towers estate is now. One day,we were all in the field,playing games,[only about ten years old],when my older Brother and me came across an old gun lying in the long grass beside the wooden fence. The gun had a massively long barrel,and had two "legs" underneath it,to support it. We played with that gun for what seems like donkey's ages,always replacing it where we found it. One day,we were down church lane,going on the road to Humford ,when the two "Broonies" twins walked past us,carrying this massive gun between them! They lived at Millfield,and we presumed they were taking the gun home,well to us it was as if they were stealing it....[but from who?] Later on,we were told by somebody that it was an old goose-gun,but mind,it was a rusty old thing,only worthy of a kid's plaything.....so we thought at that time!!! I often wonder what happened to it,and if the twinnies can remember it also! Maybe it was worth a small fortune as an antique!

My Wife was friendly with Bill and his Wife ,Veda,in the '60's,when she was just a bit lassie,and we were courting. Any relation?

Symptoms,I remember Mr Johnson,science teacher,[my electronics mentor in the evenings,like a friend,but strict teacher by day!], showing the class a jar of Phosphorous lumps,in liquid,[oil?],which stopped them from spontaneous combusting. He had a pair of long tongs,lifted a lump out of the jar,about three feet away from all of us crowding around to watch,and within ten seconds,the Phosphorous began sparking and fizzling,as it started to catch fire...to which he quickly plunged it back into the jar of liquid,which extinguished it. One school open day,he arranged us onto pairs,and each pair of pupils had to demonstrate an experiment,to the visitors. Me and Martin,my friend,had to demonstrate how water is composed of Hydrogen and Oxygen. The experiment showed how we mixed the correct proportion of Oxygen,and Hydrogen,in a gas jar,then putting a lighted taper into the inverted jar,causing a controlled explosion,which left deposits of moisture on the inside walls of the jar. The small explosion was enough to frighten the lives out of the unexpecting visitors!! 'Elf n safety would have had Mr Johnson jailed nooadays! We used to play with Mercury,when Mr Johnson wasn't looking!!....PLAY with it in the palm of our hands,then drop it onto the hard floor,watching loads of little Mercury marbles rolling around!![bloody poison!...and very expensive...but we didn't know!] Tame stuff compared to our good marra,Mr Symptoms though!

Noo,ti continue on about me traumatic event,which I started a few days ago..........regarding a letter which I had found,in the cloakroom.... Thi next morning aad nicky,thi headmaster,came to my class,which Matty Hall was taking,and told me to come to his office.....to which I started shaking with fear,not knowing what I had done wrong. When I followed him into his office,I nearly passed out with fear,there were two men in "Macs"..[caped raincoats],and trilby hats on,sitting behind his desk.[smoking as well..] Well I knew from the top-end pictures,on saturday matinees,that these two men looked like detectives..[straight from "the third man" movie] They systematically cross-examined me about the pound note,which was missing,and blatantly ,to my face,asked me what had I done with the money... Had i bought sweets?...had I shared it with my friends?...had I hidden it under my rabbit hutch?....it went on and on,asking me to recount my story over and over,from going to the toilet,and going home with this letter in my pants pocket.. They made me stand outside,in the cold corridor,[it was in the middle of winter]to think over carefully,and then took me back into the office,again to recount my story. They kept saying,"Come on William,you are lying,now tell us the truth..." I was nearly in tears,after about two hours,then they sent me back to my class. When I got home,I told my Mother i had been questioned by two detectives,and she hit the roof! She grabbed me by the neck,shoved my coat and boots on,[we used to wear tackety boots,like small pit boots..with metal studs along the heel and soles..],and she dragged me faster than I could walk,up to Bedlington Police station. Well,she knew Jimmy Mann,the constable,[everybody knew Jimmy,!],and she started tearing strips off him,wanting to know who had questioned her Son without her permission,and called him a liar... Jimmy tried to calm her down,then the two detectives,came out into the street,at the station doors,and asked my Mother to bring me in for further questioning. After about two hours,typical movie scene,low lamp over table,smoke-filled room,one of them said"the boy's definitely lying.." THAT was a red rag to a bull!! I vividly remember my Mother jumping up from her chair and grabbing the detective by the throat..shouting in a blind rage...and crying...."Aal throttle ye,ye bugga,if yi accuse my kid o' being a liar and a thief...!!" Make no mistake,here,this has lived with me all my life.... The detective musn't have expected it,cos he fell back,wi me Mother still gripping his throat,and me standing crying,and terrified with all the shouting... Jimmy Mann got hold of my Mother and sat her down,calming her,and said "Jean,tek ya laddie doon yem,and calm yasell doon...." We went doon home,and aa was just a lump of jelly,shaking like hell. The next afternoon,when I got in from school,it was a repeat,straight up to the station again! Another two hours examination,and sent home,this time in a quieter fashion,maybe Jimmy Mann told them My Mother acted out of passion,and totally out of character,in defence of her son. The lad who had lost the letter,bullied me in the playground,telling everybody that I was a thief,he was about four years older than me,nearly ready to leave school,same age as my oldest sister,and She got hold of him telling him to leave me alone. The situation just seemed to get more nightmarish,as each day passed. Then it went quiet,and I never heard another thing about it. A few weeks later,my Mother found out that the real thief had been found,and we never got an apology from aad nicky,or the Police, it was like it had never happened.... Nowadays,folks in that situation,would be suing them all for wrongful arrest etc....... I was just left completely traumatised by the whole affair,so much,that every time I saw a policeman,which was every day,in those days, i just started feeling sick,and would shake uncontrollably..... I was about 18 years old before I overcame that fear of the Police. In 1971,I related this story,word for word,to another pit Deputy,while getting our bait,underground,and he called me a liar,and said there was no way the Police would spend that amount of time on a case,for a measly pound.....[a pound was a lot of money in 1955,but he just wasn't going to listen.............then he showed me his "card I.D."......Special Constabulary....] I found out that he was one of the nastiest men in the pit...as time went by...it figured why he didn't want to listen to me.... He didn't half bring my hackles up,calling me a liar.....after what I had went through as an 11 year old child.. End of story....only real bad memory of the old Whitley,cos apart from that,and aad nicky I liked the school. Thanks to all who might spend the time reading my story!!

Norman,sorry to hear that you were scarred by aad nicky,I wasn't physically scarred,but I was mentally,even if folks think it is trivial. I cannot walk onto grass,any grass,even my own lawns,without getting flashbacks of aad nicky swishing his cane in front of my face,to terrorise me,even before actually hitting me across the palm of my hands,mainly across the middle joints of all my fingers,both hands,three times on each hand.[This man was a pervert,not content to just thrash you,but watching you quaking in your shoes,and some poor kids wet themselves,and got extra caned for that..........if I told my Mother I had been caned she would say... ...."Whey,if ye got wrang,ye musta done summick wrang,or else ye wudn't got wrang....."[and i quote!!Mother...R.I.P.] This was just because I stepped onto the play area which was out of bounds for the winter,to get the ball....about five seconds of crime!] Pleased you confirmed my stories about this evil man,Norman,thanks a lot!!

Heh heh!Mrs Pallister....!!! I had two older Sisters,and an older Brother,ahead of me,at the Whitley,so at aboot 8 years old,I was forewarned with terror stories of Mrs Pallister! The very first day in her class,before she came into the room,in the morning,45 kids were making a hell of a racket,just talking loudly across the room to each other,as kids do.[yes...45 kids in one class!!] The door opened and a loud,and I mean LOUD..voice,shouted out...."SHUT UP...AND SIT UP.....".. Then when a deathly silence fell across the room,she shouted,"I'm Mrs Pallister......Paddywhack the drumstick to you lot...!!" Well,we kids just fell about laughing,and I remember this occasion as if it was yesterday! She waited till we stopped laughing so much,and brought us all into order by just talking nicely to us all....asking our names,etc,talking about how well our older families been and expected us to be just as good ,or there would be war on!! We fell in love with her as a teacher,nowt like our older Sisters had said!!She was really lovely,as long as you didn't talk in class![and even then,it was just her face and voice that made you sit to attention...no straps or canes][come back Peggy Mount!!] Am i right,Norman?

Hi Lone Ranger,again,hope you are keeping well,it's Dec. 1st today,and i'm wondering if you can mind o' thi time when we were driving thi 1-in-2 drift up ti thi Beaumont back road,from the 1-in-4 3/4seam back drift. Three quarters of thi way up,we were getting bad shots,and thi next time it was drilled oot and stannin' ti fire,you said,Bill,load the ******s up,and let's get sum gud shots this time......! [i was your deputy at thi time...remember?] So i loaded the shot up wi Polar Ajax,and fired.... We got gud shots that day....and I blew three girders oot,and had ti gaan ti see Auld Blue,thi Undermanager.!![it took three days ti put the roadway reet,but it was Waitie's fault,a had asked for days,for a carload o' sleepers,and got none....so that was the result of a shortage of timber....not me loading the sods up!] A can still picture ye putting a line on for the girder leg,.....ya tape measure,ya chaak,and ya string wi thi wee 2-0inch lang spirit level....ti get the 1-in-2 lift,ti keep on gradient....... Tha wus a lot of ingenuity had ti be done and learn't,ti be a miner,more than the average layman would understand!![ye canna see through a thousand foot deep solid strata,like engineer's can on the surface, so ye have ti depend on white painted surveyor's lines on the girders,then put your own lines on,to make sure you are driving a roadway in the right direction and at the right gradient...!] Come on Brian,hae ye still got ya auld pit waistcoat yit? A hope ye have checked oot me Bates Pit photostream on Flickr. Cheers Brian. Bill

Symptoms...you got me creasing up here!,brilliant tales! I started Westridge,the first day it opened,in 1956,and I left in 1959,aged 15 years,to go straight down the mines. In those early days,the school was just getting itself established on the map,and the only exciting thing that we were offered,in 1958,was a trip to Holy Island. Well,seeing as the farthest i had been away from home,was Alnwick,on my old home-made-from-parts from - the tip [at Barrington] pushbike......then this was a trip to look forward to. It was a nice sunny day,when we got there,and the thing that sticks forever in my mind was,the big bully lad,who bullied me every day,decided to climb up the cliff to reach a seagull's nest....trying to show off to the girls,who were saying it too dangerous to climb! Whey,wat happened?.....he got aboot ten feet up....looked doon.....went white,and started to shake with fear..!![i can vividly recall the expression of utter terror on his face,and the laugh on me and my friends' faces,when a teacher had ti climb up and "rescue" him,and bring him doon!] He might come on this site,and if he does,i would redeem him for bullying me,if he owned up to the occasion,for a gud laugh!!

Hi Richard,gud luk wi ya projects,and dinna wurry aboot owt that might be oot o' place , so ti speak,cos we aal hae lapses,where we're sure we are reet,but we find oot wa wrang! Nae harm done,and John and the others will not criticise derogatorily,[spelt reet?...big word!],only for the purpose of correctness....and there's nae bugga worse than me,when it comes ti pitwark,for liking things exactly reet.!!We help each other oot,aakay?! Wagon wheels still on sale,but only a fraction of the original size!....but dearer! Can anybody mind the first chewing gum machines? A remember the first one in Bedlington,ootside Hunter's shop,at the top of Bedlington bank,next door ti the old Wheatsheaf pub....there's a blast from the past!....it was put on the ootside wall,and every fourth penny you put in,you got two packets.....so naturally,people like my scheming older Brother, would encourage the more gullible kids ti put pennies in,[ old pennies mind!]....and then he would jump in on the fourth turn,to get the two packets,with one penny......well...he was only aboot 11 years old...mebbe a bit more,but it was aroond 1952-ish...them post-war austerity years,when the only money we got was at blackberry-picking -and selling -time!![no such thing as pocket-money in wor hoose in them days...hard-up times!]

Even when my Brother and me were 10,and 13 yr old kids,we loved lying in bed,listening to the draglines chains clanking,the wailing eerie noises the dragline made when it was walking,the three blasts on the hooter as a pre-warning when blasting was about to take place,then the long single blast after you heard the loud explosion,followed by the house windows rattling!! What with all that,and also the strong thud from the ground,usually about 9-0pm,every night almost!, when the stonemen down the drift at the Doctor pit,fired their shots on the "caunch",on the coalface....now THAT was eerie! Can anybody else remember all this?...surely the Millfielders wouldn't forget!!...they were closer than us at Hollymount.

Hi Lockey,just saw my older Sister yesterday,asked about Alf and Peggy,and she told me that they swapped Mrs Lowen houses. Mrs Lowen,came from Netherton colliery village,when the second half of the square was completed,somewhere around 1950-ish.[They didn't "throw" houses up in a week,in those days,like they do now.] The whole of that side of the square was occupied by all the Netherton colliery families. She,[Mrs Lowen],lived there for a lot of years,but the swap must have happened after I got married,and moved to Grange Park.

Just been to Bedlington top-end,yesterday,[Thursday 21 Nov.],to get thi wool shaved off the sides of my skull,[cos there's none on thi top ti shave off!] The Gent's Hairdresser's,down Glebe Road,before you get to Forrester's,is run by Alan ,and John,[brother's],and as soon as you walk in you are greeted with a gud friendly "waatcheorr"!! Of course,being a mean sod,I only go in on Thursday's cos it's Pensioner's day,and it's a bit cheaper! Both the lad's,and not forgetting Harry,their assistant,[it is Harry ..isn't it?....aam a bugga for forgetting names!],give you a gud haircut,friendly crack,and excellent overall service! Plus,when you see thi old pics on thi wall,of bygone Bedlington,you don't really want to come out of the shop! How come no-body's mentioned them before? Hope they never retire!! Bill.

Hi ShynewbieDiane!! Fuggles,up Barrington Road,between Bedlington Station and Choppington station,have a good reputation,and they have a banner outside advertising their function room for free. As a complete an utter teetotaller from birth,I have no idea about the place other than it used to be the old glove factory,but a few friends of mine regularly have a drink of Northumberland ale,or a meal,both of which they highly recommend,so I would say,"A shy bairn get's nae bread",so give them a call and see what happens!!Good luck with your project. Bill.

At the risk of being criticised for "hogging the channel"..[C.B. speak!],may i recount the worst trauma I ever had in my young life,full stop. One day,when I was about 11 years old,in Matty Hall's class,at the old Whitley school,in 1955,I asked to go to the toilet. As I went through the cloakroom,to get to the toilet,[this was in the prefabricated building-opposite the main building],I saw what looked like an important-looking letter lying on the floor,and picked it up and put it my back pocket,intending to tell the Teacher what I had found. Well,by the time i got back into class,i forgot about it. When I got home,I gave it to my Mother,and she put it under the old clock on the sideboard,with the intention of it back to school next morning. Mr Nicholson,[the tyrannical headmaster],announced at morning assembly,that a letter had been stolen,from a coat pocket hanging in the cloakroom. The letter had contained a £1 note,which was a lot of money in 1955! After assembly was over,i told Matty Hall,[my class teacher]about the letter,and he sent me around to report it to Mr Nicholson.[aad nicky!] It's now 1-30 am and i am falling asleep,I will continue this long story,if i may,as i think it shows how victorian it was even in 1955!!

Hi K.L.,what year did Alf and Peggy Brown move into Hollymount Square? From My family moving there in 1948,the only Brown's i knew,didn't have Daughter's with those names.Now i started courting my Wife in 1962,when I was nearly 18 yrs old,and as our five year courtship progressed,I saw less and less of my neighbours. People moved out and new people moved in,but there was a Mrs Brown moved next door bar one,to My Mother,and I'm pretty sure that her name was Joyce. That would have been number 11. She was a real nice canny Woman. As kids,My Brother and Me used to lie in bed,[in the days when you were in bed at 7-0pm,not a minute later!],and we used to rhyme off every tenant's name of every house,starting with number 1. There are 66 houses in the square,many of them privately owned now,and the place,as I knew it,is barely recognisable. I remember the Chiver's family,they lived down near the cut which takes you to Haig/Beattie roads. When I was about Four,or Five years old,Jimmy,[i think that was his name],had hit me,and sent me home crying. My tyrant of a father sent me back around with orders to hit him back,cos if i didn't,he would "bray my bliddy arse..." Can you imagine the trauma I was in? I was a shy quiet kid,being forced by fear,to hit another kid to save my skin,with the idea of learning me to stand on my own two feet! Good old fashioned victorian values eh?!! The Chiver's didn't stay long at Hollymount.

Welcom to the site,Tullybrone,good luck with your search. I worked at Bedlington A pit from 1965-1971,and knew all the men,except some of the surface workers, but i cannot remember anyone of that neme during that period of time. However,i will,like the others on this forum,try and put word out through old pit "marra's" [mates],to see if we can find anything of help to you. Cheers, Bill.

Hi Micky,you mentioned Allen's field,well,i wonder when it changed hands,cos from 1948,as far back as i remember it was alway's Knox'y's field. We kids used to try and get into the air raid shelter,but in those days,it had been blocked off so you couldn't get in. Once some of the big lads...[....big lads!...aboot 12 year old..!] [when i was aboot 8 or 9 years old..!]..dug out a wasp's nest,at the entrance to the shelter, and when the swarm came out,they ran away,leaving a little tot about 3or 4 years old,if that,in the field on his own. The swarm of wasps came down on the wee tot,and almost stung him to death,there were stings all over his little body,in his eyes ,up his nose,in his ears ,just everywhere......and guess who got his older sister's tongue lashing at him,and gettin all the blame....? Yep!...poor HPW seemed to get blamed for lots of things in those days! Fortunately,after a lot of suffering ,the little tot recovered,but i never forgot the feeling of being accused by folk for something i knew nowt about cos i wasn't even in the field when that happened.

Thanks Vic,pleased to hear that! Wish i could have caught up with Dot,[or Doreen..as I was brought up to call her from younger than four years old!],last time you were over here,for a natter...and a few hugs while you were'n't looking!![give her one from me for Christmas Vic....and aal thi best ti ye as weel marra!...sorry for going off-topic there...carried away with reminiscing!]