HIGH PIT WILMA

The trouble with our teaching at the Whitley School was,it was archaic. History was,for me,great,cos we were learning about the Dinasoars,and fossils etc,and i used to go over to the Acorn Bank opencast site,Bedlington,[where the golf course is now],and collect fossils from the overburden heaps,mostly bracken leaves,but a lot of pineapple bark trees preserved in stone, to take to school for the teacher. Noo,when we went Westridge,suddenly,we were learning about the Crimean War,1854,and the Treaty of Paris 1856,[courtesy of Mr Abrahart!]....a bit of a jump from the Cretaceaous [?]period,to the Crimean War!!! Consequently,i had no interest whatsoever,and considered History lessons to be an absolute waste of time...were it not for our brilliant teacher making it seem interesting by his dramatic displays! Now,of course,in later life,i wish i had taken the time to learn more,cos i find History fascinating! We all learn by our mistakes in life,don't we?

John,you got me puzzled noo!! First you quote my posting aboot Puddler's Raa,saying it was called Pisspot Raa,now you posted this pic of Phoenix Raa,and are saying THIS was Pisspot Raa....come on,which one?,cos this is the first time i have ever heard this nickname used..and i was at Bedlington A pit for six years,working with really old timers who were born in the early 1900's,and knew the area's history very well,and also married a lass that was born in Puddler's Raa...and SHE,and Her Family,including Her Mother [born 1909],hadn't heard of it either.

The guy with the thick-set glasses on,in the bottom pic of the first set,smiling,was a fella called Noel Howe,he was working down Choppington High Pit,when I started there in 1959,and was there when I left,in 1965,a few months before the High Pit closed. The pit closed in 1966,so if Noel went to Netherton pit,then it had to be at LEAST late 1965,when the Coal Board transferred a lot of men in different directions,i was sent to Bedlington A pit,my marra's went to Longhirst Drift,Netherton,Whittle,etc. I can mind when Noel bought a N.S.U. "Quickly" 50cc moped,to travel to High Pit,and home. Bet he wished he had kept it now....they are a rarity!!

Aye yi skittering young ched!! Symptoms,ye reminded me aboot me friend Norman,[Deceased R.I.P.],who was in trouble every other day,at the Whitley School,in the early 1950's. Banger time was his favourite time of the year! One morning,just before Guy Fawkes day,we were walking through the Dr Pit Park,on the way to school,adjacent to the Whitley,when Norman lit a Ha'apenny banger,and put into another lad's jacket pocket..it blew the pocket off the coat,and started burning the coat lining. For the younger ones,if you had a shilling,[five pence in today's money],you could get 12 penny bangers,or 24 ha'apenny[halfpenny] bangers....Norman always had bunches of either ones in his pockets,along with several "Jumpy-Jacks". Come on,you started the ball rolling,what else did you get wacked for?....i got Danny Douglas's sandshoe across the back of me legs quite often,for "forgetting" me P.T.kit,cos i hated sport. I always loved being in the gym,doing the circuit training,or especially all-in hand/football,cos Danny always went on one of the sides,alternating each time,for fairness,and when he was on the other team,our team would chase him down the gym,and pull him down,even if he didn't have the ball,and we/i wouldn't half give him a few digs in the ribs to get our own back on him!!...he would curl up in a big ball,and laugh his heart out! I talked about this to him just before he died,and we had a good laugh about it,he said he always liked to do that,wherever he taught,cos it gave the lads a legitimate chance to vent off....[we couldn't hurt him...we weren't big enough!!],but it helped us to grow to like and respect him. He said one night he went down to get fish and chips,for his Wife,and Himself,for supper,about 8-30pm,when he bumped into some of his old pupils ,who were heading for the Cherry tree pub,they asked him to join them for a pint....he never bought a drink,and went home legless,about 11-0pm!.....that's how much he was thought of. He said it nearly caused a divorce in his house!This is nothing confidential,Danny had me laughing,he was surely the greatest P.T. Teacher there ever was!!!

Much,much better than the big heap it was before they lowered and planted it! It was the biggest pit heap in the country,burning fiercely constantly,in one night of Hurricane force winds,the flames were whipped up so hot that they melted the bogie rails what took the stones up to thi top the heap! We kids climbed up to the top after the storm died down,and the heavy rails were melted and distorted like bent pins!! One day when the contractors were preparing the site to build Bower Grange housing Estate,the Safety Officer from Bates Colliery,was called out to the site. A huge JCB machine and its driver,plunged 20 feet into a hole which turned out to be old mineworkings from the days when the monks used to mine coal primitavely. The coal seam was very low,and roadways had been "natched"out from the solid coal,without any explosives,with walls and sides straight as a dye!! I am just waiting to hear of a house disappearing down a hole,like the one in Florida!

Symptoms,you reminded me,Mr Hemming had a proud? record of never EVER having to use a strap or cane in all of his teaching career. Until the Suth. twins,and a lad called Ken H. decided to smash milk bottles all over the brand new toilet blocks,damaging hand-basins and breaking tiles on the floor... Mr Hemming hauled them all up in front of the morning assembly,500 of us,in the school hall,wept openly,and wiped tears from his cheeks, as he announced how sad he was to have to break his record of never using corporal punishment,until today. All thi lads in the assembly quietly sniggered as Mr Hemming proceeded to give them [the bad lads!] three of the best on each hand with a leather strap! Whey ,for the damage they did to an expensive brand new school,he would hae been better ti send for AAD NICKY....HE would have had them shaking in their shoes!! Anybody who ever had the strap across the hands,knows it was a hell of a lot better than the cane! A think a have Ken's name right,i always got him and his brother's names mixed up..it might have been Brian... Funny thing was ,in adult life,Ken.[or Brian]...whichever one it was,grew up to be a real nice lad,running his own business!! Musta been one of those testosterone moments when they just went crazy for a few minutes....still no excuse..i wouldn't have dared to do owt like that...mutha wud kill me!!

Maggie,i've always wanted to go back,to have a look around,but in these days,where a man is a perv,if he says isnt that a bonny babby in the pram...[like we used ti!],a wudn't think aboot it noo...the society we live in has poisoned everybody's brains.Mr Johnson,[science teacher and an old R.A.F. WARTIME RADIO OFFICER],used to coach me in electronics,from age 12yrs,and by the time i was 14,i could build a 2-valve short-wave radio set from the theoretical circuit diagram.We used to stop in the science lab till 10-pm most nights,engrossed in our electronic building work,cos we had to physically make the steel plate chassis,and drill out for all the huge components,big radio valves,heavy mains transformers,wind our own aerial coils....it was a lot of work! Mr Johnson was a typical down-to -earth person,better to me than my own father,who had no interest in what i did,and it would have been inconceivable to even think about him,or any other of our teachers,to act "improperly"!! I wanted to be a radio/television engineer,but failed maths miserably,rock bottom!!,so just gave up and went down the pits! I just couldn't grasp numbers...like dyslexic people with words.....

Well!Where do i start?! First,Symptoms,on the first day that Westridge officially opened -August 1959-i was a 12 yr old kid with no knowledge of School politics. All i know is,Mr Hemming made his introductory speech,told us how much the school cost,that we should all be very proud to be here on the first day,on the opening of the first comprehensive school to be built in Northumberland,since before the war.[the war was only 11 years gone by!!!] Now,it's official name was "Westridge County Secondary School"["modern" didn't come into it!-although you are right in that it was referred to in the press etc as a "Modern" school. I still have my School reports,and also my embroidered uniform badge from my jacket pocket,which has the school name on it,and the school motto "De Profundis" [as discussed before on this site],along the bottom edge of the badge. I wonder how many of these badges survived from that day! At the time,they just moved loads of kids from all the neighbouring schools [500 in total],and turned the other schools into Junior schools. I can remember that day as if it was yesterday,a ginger lad standing next to me,from Netherton school, [a stranger],in the morning assembly,just before Mr Hemming started his speech,spoke to me,and said "Hallowww Killer!" That started a good friendship with the lad,who lived at Westlea...his name was John Moore,i wonder if Dougie Moore [deputy at Netherton colliery],was any relation...... Noo,Lone Ranger!I am puzzled as to what significance being a pupil at Westridge,is,to being a pitman at Choppington High Pit?!!! I will answer your question gladly,if you clarify your question for me please! Orloff,spot on wi West Terrace,also the R.E.in my Avatar...my Dream Machine since the 1960's. Unfortunately,i never got my test back then,spent my 5 shillings pocket money on a guitar,so that was my Dream Machine out of the question! Noo,nearly 69 in July coming,i been a born-again biker for the last two years...done 3000miles on my little pocket-rocket! Honda CBR125RW-7 [2008 MODEL]Pokey little thing!![bit different to the putt-putts of the sixties!] Canna place ya family at East terrace,we knew everybody when they were pit hooses,great little community wi a lot o' spirit!! all gone now....thanks to maggie thatcher-the-hatcheter.

Hmm...i thought the car was a Vauxhall Victor 101,i'd say mid-sixties. Now,after we sort that one and put it to bed,can i pose another question afore i forget?! Why only one set of headgear?

Maggie,i think your life starts to become history,when the time comes and you find yourself reminiscing about "the olden days"....! Not long ago,my younger Son used to to say i wasn't old....i was a dinosaur!![he was about 11 yrs old then]. Now he is 40 yrs old in May coming,HE is at the point where he talks about things he used to do when he was a kid! Noo,when he was 11 yrs old , I was 40...a dinosaur.....what am i now,? HE will be a dinosaur in the kids in the street's eyes,and ME.......? Well.....I AM HISTORY!!!!!

Heh heh!Sorry Keith....please excuse my being glaaky.!! On the subject of "Aad Nicky",the Headmaster of the old Whitley Memorial School,many moons ago,i thought my story about him caning a seven-year - old little lassie for being late one morning,was bad,but just to confirm that my memory isn't starting to go,i was talking to Councillor Alan Stewart, a couple of days ago,and got onto reminiscing about Nicky. Now,up till last year,when i saw him ,once,in the street,i hadn't seen him since the 1960's,to actually speak to. He told me that on the first day we started the Whitley School,from the village infants school,in the morning,in the playground,he fell and his backside went onto the grass..............the dreaded grass! We hadn't even got into the class cos the bell hadn't even rung at 9-0am to start class........and Aad Nicky saw him on the grass...as he fell... [accidentally...mind...].....and...yes,you've guessed! "Boy", "come to my office"....caned each hand....just like me and all the rest who crossed his path. They say Mr Hostler was a very nice man,well-liked by pupils and Parents alike.

Hi Micky,i heed your advice with great caution,and like Maggie says,it's a tragic story,it's only when you come to write your own story,like i have been doing,on and off,when i get time to sit and write,that you realise how much work goes into it. I cannot write for long,due to arthritic cramps due to old mining injuries to my hands,so i only do about three or four sides of the A4 [200 page] notebooks,of which i am onto my fourth book in the story. The only trouble with me is,i write like i talk!!!! So i go into every detail,to ensure the reader fully understands what i am talking about,so,considering the pits are all closed now,and the Pitmatic is just about gone out of fashion,except the few of us old 'uns that's left, maybe i am doing the right thing,by giving explanations and little hand drawn sketches of things here and there. My two sons,and my Wife,urged me to do this story,cos they've heard my pit tales so much....they could go down tomorrow and start cutting coal!! Micky,the more i think about your Dad's work being skipped,the more i feel I want to throttle her...and i don't even know her,but surely,surely,anyone with a bit upaheight....would double-check with family,as to what was to binned,and what was to be kept. I was very close to my Mother-in-law,like her own Son,SO close that when we broke her home up,her little tins of old photo's and documents were entrusted to me and my Wife,for safe-keeping,by the rest of the family,which makes me feel very priviledged. Many thanks for your concerns,and advice Micky.

Aam wound up Maggie!...."Upper-remove"....! Who the hell thought up a stupid name for a class of pupils who were selected to sit for the G.C.E.? Also,"Middle Remove",and "Lower Remove"....I am sure that "G.C.E. Stream" or summick else simple like that would have sounded better!! I still have some of my work from the Upper Remove,i did pretty well in English,Science,Technical Drawing,but was rock-bottom in Maths,so i left at 15 yrs old and went down the pits. My memory,Maggie!....I have a class photo taken at the Bedlington Village Infants School,opposite St Cuthberts Church,in about 1949,when i was 5 yrs old,and there was 43 pupils in that class. I have named about 90% of them,basically cos we went all the way through our school life sitting beside the same friends in every class,and also a lot of us were friends and neighbours at home,playmates out of school. I am trying to find it,to post up here ,for the benefit of all,but especially Vic's good lady!

Heh heh!Thanks Maggie! Another thing we set of 12 yr old lads from the old Whitley School could never figure out , was the House system,where you gained [or tried to gain!] "House-Points" ,as rewards for doing homework on time,picking litter up in the yard etc. All 500 kids were split into groups,and allocated a place in a particular house...I was in Bamburgh House,my friend Martin Nicholson [deceased..R.I.P. Martin...]was in Dunstanburgh...and so on. My group of Pitmen's sons - friends all thought they were trying to make the school like a college,what with having a head boy and girl...never been heard of in old Bedlington community before... Mind,the first ever Head Boy,David Lees,was so well liked by everybody in the school-including Staff,that Mr Epsley,the Metalwork Teacher Planished out a small trophy cup,out of brass sheet,[personally],Silver-plated it to a proffesional standard,and engraved it to read..."The Lees Trophy". The Trophy was fought for by the different "Houses",and whichever House gained the most House-points each month, then the trophy was displayed on a shelf in front of that House's Heraldic coat of arms shield.There was a diagonal row of hooks upon which each shield hung,in the order of how many points had been gained overall,and the top-gainer's shield always hung on the top hook, where the little shelf was mounted to stand the Lees Trophy. This display was directly in front of the main doors in the vestibule. See? All this heritage was lost,when the clever for-seeing council of the day,[who also demolished the old hall and keep...a priceless piece of history!!],decided in their wisdom,to hand over OUR school,to the richest establishment in the world!! Eeee...let's keep the entertainment light ,Maggie...eh?

Maggie,i had a heart attack seven years ago,and the life-savers i take each have affected my short-term recall..like i canna mind what i did yesterday,but i hav vivid memories of all my childhood as far back as i can remember the riens my mother put on me when iwas learning to walk....brown leather with three leather and white felted star-shaped decorative "buttons" across the front of the harness. Symptoms,Mr Abrahart left about 1958,not long before i left in 1959,the girls cried when he came to say goodbye,and mind,one or two of the lads,if not all of them,were at least...full,but wouldn't visibly show it of course. Maybe he came back after a while,cos my barber told me the reason he left. Maybe it's not a co-incidence that he was there in '62,precisely when the head had also changed,i'm saying no more!!!! He had taken up a post at Westmoor school at the time. When us kids started the first day,exam gradings had nothing to do with it,i didn't pass 11-plus,,there was no Northern Counties exam. The idea was to stream out potential G.C.E. candidates,of which none of us from the Whitley Memorial School had ever heard of!

J.D.J.1955,did u ever manage to find any pics of Puddler's Raa please? My wife was born there and would love to see any pics at all..whatever condition they are..as long you can make out the place. The Puddler's raked the slag off the molten iron with long-handled colrakes,to enhance the purity of the iron. Wrought iron was made by rolling out sheets and and overlaying them with the grain running at 90 degrees,several layers at a time,like plywood, then re-rolling them,or sqeezing them with a steam hammer or press,to force the crossed grains of the metal to lock together. As you say Wrought iron was very malleable used to make rails etc,while Cast iron was very resilient,could stand tons of steady pressure,as in bearing housings,but would crack if subjected to a sudden shock..like a blow from a mel..["sledge-hammer"] Mr Epsley was a great metalwork teacher at Westridge School in 1956-59..[my years there...]!!!!!! Hey,aam 69 this year,and aav got vivid memories of me schooldays!

Hi Maggie,and everyone else on here! I'm an old Westridge git,one of the pioneers,seeing as Mr Davidson,our social studies teacher at the old Whitley School,took us up during the building of Westridge,to walk around the site,asking questions to the workmen,even up on the scaffolding gangways....health and safety?!!!!!....not even thought of them days. We had to write essays on what we had seen and learnt on the site,the following week. I remember vividly being up on the first lift of scaffolding,asking one fella with a funny-looking machine strapped to his chest,with a cranking handle on the side,like a hurdy-gurdy,and he was spraying the mineral ash chippings onto adhesive which was already applied to the walls,this was around the back of the building. The front had wood cladding on the upper half,is it still like that yet? Noo!!as for being a pioneer,i started the first day it opened and was sent home along with 499 other pupils,cos the stationery hadn't arrived,so we started officially the next day. That was in August 1956,after the school holidays were over...we got four weeks then,but the Grammar School got six weeks,then when Westridge started,we got six weeks also,cos the idea was to upgrade the standards of education in a Comprehensive School,to be on a par with that of the Grammar Schools,G.C.E.Exams etc...so the holidays fell in line also. Westridge was the first new Comprehensive School to be built in Northumberland since the War ended in 1945. It cost £250,000 to build!.....wor aad coalhoose at West Terrace varny cost that much later on!! Mr Hemming introduced all the Staff who were sitting in a line on the stage behind him,and he had us Whitley kids baffled with talk of the "Vestibule",and the "Gymnasium",also the "Biology laboratory",we were simple-minded Whitley School 12-year-olds who hadn't heard of these things before!

Adam,try typing this into u-tube: U-Tube over the Rotang Pass to Keylong Aug 2010 Please let me know what you think of it as far as dangerous roads go!

Hi all! Adam,check oot the biker's journey over the Rhotang Pass in India,on a Royal Enfield 500cc bike,[regarded by "bikers" as rubbish bikes!!!!] It's on U-Tube,i'll try to post it here if i can,or i'll post the exact title for you to check it oot.It's hair-raising! The bike in the video is the off-road version of the one in my avatar.

Wonder if Councillor Alan Stewart,and he's friend Alan Spowart,can remember Mrs Nicholson,asking them to bring their guitars into the next music lesson,and little Alan[?]Dixon[?]"Dicka" as he was known,they all played and Dicka sang his heart out for an hour...no mikes..just straight from his heart! "the story of my life" was in the charts,by Michael Holliday,"he's got the whole world in his hands",was another one Dicka belted oot,with the whole class singing along with him...!! That was the best music class i ever had throughout my school life!! It helped inspire me to take up guitar when i left school and could afford a cheap one,bought at Gallons shop in Morpeth, in 1959,for £7 10shillings.[paid for at 5shillings a week for six months!] Now,in 2013,at 69 yrs old,in July coming,i still plonk on with my beloved instruments..all 15 of them!!!

Anybody remember Mr Epsley,the metalwork teacher,he was very stern and strict,which in a class with a forge burning,and a £600 lathe...[in 1956!]...he would HAVE to be strict......!Taught me a lot, he did! Mr Abrahart,the History Teacher,used to crack the whole class up,we couldn't write owt for laughing,when he was giving us "dictation". He used to take on the characters of Disraeli,and Gladstone,in the wars,and stride back and forth across the classroom floor waving his arms about and shouting the characters words from the book...very dramatic,but very much like Harry Worth,the '60s sitcom comedian. Everybody,including the lads,were really sorry to see him go,when he left to take up a post at Westmoor,Newcastle. Mrs Nicholson,music teacher,was really lovely,so was Miss Thew,art teacher,but she had a temper like you've never seen!She nearly bust my eardrum with an almighty crack across the side of my face from behind,[i didn't see her coming]because i spoke to my friend for a second!...you soon learned not to talk in her class!! Mis Short and Nancy McLean were the P.T. teachers for the girls,also both lovely,i worked with Nancy's Dad at Bedlington A pit,as the years went by,he was a Deputy underground,a real nice bloke,he was. Eeeee,a could gaan on and on aboot the teachers at Westridge....

Hi Maggie! I still have my old school badge with St Cuthbert's cross,and the School Motto embroidered on it...."De Profundis"... which was latin for "From the depths",to indicate Bedlington Community's links and heritage due to CoalMining. I wouldn't part with it,it dates back to the day Westridge School opened in 1956 after the summer holidays ended,we all got sent home the first day cos the stationer's failed to keep contract on time,and we had no books,pens or pencils etc! We started the next day,but all that week we wandered around the school freely,on Mr Hemming's permission,to familiarise ourselves with the layout of the school. "Gymnasium....."???...we from the old Whitley Memorial School hadn't heard of the word,so didn't know what we looking for! It was forbidden to walk in there with shoes on,cos the floor cost over one thousand pounds,a lot of cash in 1956! So what did Wilma do?..i was with a few of my friends,Martin Nicholson,Dennis Green,[his Dad was Engineer at the A pit]... and a few others,and when we saw the gym....i couldn't resist running straight over the virgin floor..[i was probably the first ever pupil to walk on it/!]..caught one of the virgin beautiful thick white climbing ropes,and shimmied straight up to the roof in seconds,using only my hands,my feet dangling loosely.A rough sargent-major's voice boomed up to me.."get down from there...now!!!.......i had just met Danny Douglas,our new P.T. Teacher! Well, i shimmied down quickly,hand over hand,and stood to attention....expecting a few canings,like aad Nicky at the Whitley would have done....but Mr Douglas said " Very impressive boy,where did you learn to climb like that?" I replied that i learned it by climbing trees down the woods from a young age.He said "Well,unfortunately,it's the wrong way,so i'll show you the right way,and if i catch you doing it your way again,you will be in trouble,right?! He never mentioned the fact that i broke rules by being in the gym unsupervised!Danny was A great character,he clipped you,and made friends within minutes....R.I.P.Danny Douglas..the best P.t teacher ever lived.

Aye..!..Wat happens ti the sites?! A came back ti catch up on new postings and thi pics....nowt there!!!

A lad called Ernie Middleton,[i worked with him at the Aad Pit at Bedltn,in the mid-'60's],had a Bond Bug,and if a can mind reet,he smashed it up....in his words......"daeing ninety"......!!!!!!!! Canny lad Ernie,a wonder if he is still knocking aroond..... ....if ya theor Ernie,wi a nom-de plume,correct me if aam wrang wi me musings!!