Maggie/915

What has happened to the Leek Club Tradition. Does anyone still grow and show leeks. I am not a club member!

Sorry Malcolm I misquoted:- Direct Rot .Com Sports Rot . Com Maybe not much difference. Hope your hangover is not too bad ! Probably worth it!

I like the posters for Keep Calm don't Punch a Horse. Then there is the Sports Rot.Com. Photo imaging rules OK Symptoms you have been busy. Maybe it was one of your followers

All your pictures are valuable archives Reedy. Thank your Dad.

For the females it was a glass of white wine or a fruit based drink. Those were the rules and without rules where would we be:- Answer France! To many rules and where would we be:- Answer Germany! Oh sorry that's Al Murray's logic. In the sixties it was Babysham or Cherrybee. No drink and drive rules that I remember just dodgy driving. A 21st birthday in 1967 had me going in the car for more booze at the Terrier. Danger on the road! It was only going through the recently passed test rules that saved the day. That did not prepare me for driving in the seventies in Cyprus. Again no rules, lots of hazards but self preservation did step in.

Whoever said 'it is the taking part that matters' did not understand.

Thanks Eggy but I think I am a lost cause. The old toys are recycled for the Grandkids, the old Monopoly board is still used and clothes worn by the parents are now worn by their kids. The trouble is that the most unlikely items become treasured. My Dad knocked the bottom out of old stone jars to cradle delicate plants and I still keep them. His old nails are still around just in case of need. Now I guess the weight of metal is valuable. It seems five house moves equate to a fire for getting rid of possessions. Keith, we also hoard books and records. Nostalgia, treasures or a more traditional way of life! This last term of life has its challenges.

I hoard lots of things. One of my kids says a skip will be required when I die.!! . So who do we leave things too and what should we leave. Today I have finally thrown out some old slippers. They should have gone a long time ago. It seems there was a tradition whereby an old pair of shoes was put somewhere in a new house as a connection with a past life. I wonder if I am alone in not wanting to part with items. 'We do not own our possessions our possessions own us' Tradition or just plain crackers.

A book compiled by former Guinness brewer David Hughes includes a biography of John Gilroy the artist. This artist from our region was responsible for lots of Iconic Guinness images and posters. I remember a seventies advert which implied that Guinness was good for you if you were pregnant.

Today the Journal has an article that may interest some folk. Page 46 by Tony Henderson. The fact is the North East played a leading role in forging the modern World. This led to exporting not just locomotives but expertise. North East workers took with them our culture. Now a project backed by £85,000 Heritage Lottery Funding is investigating the exodus from the NE. The project is led by Bill Lancaster former director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Northumbria University. The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering is at the centre of the project to discover how people from here spread across the World.

There were Beatle Drives each week at Bedlington Station YM CA if my memory serves me well. Somewhere near the library. We still have some solid furniture but the cost recovering is quite off putting.

Have a great day. My education is lacking because I am not sure what the celebration is all about.

Clippie and proggie mats are making an appearance again. Our daughter has just bought one from John Lewis' that's Bainbridges to anyone living in exile. There is a lady called Eileen Brown in Ashington who does amazingly colourful proggie mats . I have memories of sitting in Algood Terrace listening to the gossip while everyone helped with the mat . No tele but people lived in harmony. Ok they fell out occasionally but they enjoyed life with very little money.

The bottles you put into a large container and quite often hear the glass break Other items are recycled but there have been a few large fires at recycling centres You begin wondering who is saving the planet and by what means. The other year we were encouraged to scrap our cars for a monetary enticement and buy new Whilst stimulating the economy , I am not sure it was a save the planet option. Similarly our throw away society, items in the past were bought to last. I remember buying an Armstrong Amp in the 70 s and we expected it to last together with the PL12d. I hate the new inferior quality items we buy. No one can easily go for quality, Phones computers are just examples of items often out of date before we can enjoy them. Buying new seems an obsession and a necessity. Our Metro Centre is testament to that obsession ! Car Parks full

The 'Duplicate' bus , I had forgotten about them. I have memories of catching a bus at 6;15 to Newcastle. The stop at the Top End was great because you could catch more than one number of bus to Newcastle. Coming home late was the problem , walking past the cemetery . Always said it was not the dead that I feared.

When recycling glass bottles, I cannot help thinking it was better in the old days. Breaking the glass seems wrong! Taking the bottles back to the shop and even getting money back seems a better way. I wonder what the cost of melting and reforming amounts too! Leek show members knew all about fertiliser, some came from very close to home. Then there was the 'Midnight Mechanic' who took away the ash and 'netty' waste, the farmer used this as fertiliser on the fields. My Father remembered getting pocket money digging this into the fields. 3d a furrow, I believe. Nobody would do that anymore , no matter how 'hard up' they were!

Did you ever go to the Mart in Morpeth HPW? I have great memories of going along and being told any gesture or movement could result in me buying an animal or two! Far from putting me off , I love auctions. They still have a cattle mart in Bakewell Derbyshire or they did last time I was there , the smells the atmosphere, just great. Strange what brings the memories flooding back.

No Wilma it was the Colliery and Nedderton for me. Happy Days.

Loved the film Symptoms.

Then there is the bible from Ulgham Church. Sold at Louis Johnson's and in need of a home.

Amazing what we collect over a life time. Photos we document on this site but I guess we have collected so much more. Underground, overground bits of our own history. In our wash house we have the first gravestone for my father circa 1985 The council grass cutter smashed it and within minutes neighbours of the church had told my mother.

Fenders, we still have some. We have not got any rock crystals but did have some coral and the odd large sea shell. This summer one granddaughter was collecting flints and shells at Birling Gap. Collecting should be another topic.

A bacon sandwich sometime too early, basically so I would be ready to go to church. A roast dinner when I was not hungry, possibly after the bread and dripping. Sunday School at the Tin Mission. Card Games of 'Stop the Bus' etc for match sticks. The game involved collecting the same suit of cards up to and above 23. I wonder if any one else knows the game! Drafts, monopoly, I still have the original with tank motorbike, car, and ship. The grandchildren still play with the original. Odd rules have changed but as it is 'My gaf it is my rules'

Morning smells of rice pudding and steak and kidney pie. A deep pie that needed something in the middle to keep the crust out of the gravy.

Point taken, we need more visitors.