Maggie/915

Interesting how far our ancestors strayed from the NE. I have found some on a website in America but you have to join the clan to catch up with them. Then there is information I could give to some on a Sand Dancers website but again it is give us all your details before we can include you. Sometimes things are harder with the internet.

Eggy sometimes the so called experts get it wrong. They form opinions based on limited knowledge. Remember not a lot was written down and they can make guesses that become fact!

The cd is now a firm favourite with our Grandkids. The Jimmy Nail track is the first to catch on , with everyone shouting 'what have we got' The next to catch on is Dead Mans Boots. The Ballard of the Great Western is great story telling. Basically you need to have bought this one yesterday. Even you Symptoms!

Thanks Eggy. Seems a shame we all have grass and paving stones instead of those wonderful veg plots. Soon we will all be going back to growing our food with pigs and chickens in the wash house. My mother used to feed the birds and my Dad reckoned the birds had lettuce sandwiches. Eating peas in the garden, far better than any sweets. Scallions, beetroot, carrots , new potatoes dug up before hey got too big. Nostalgia pure and simple!

Who is the 'Workie Ticket'? This is the question. Has anyone read Sting's Autobiograpy. That would give you lots of anecdotes!

Please consider that some of us are law abiding Symptoms. Anonymity is important in any story telling.

Yep but which pubs! What are the prizes, are females allowed to enter. Mind I am not going to grow Leeks! Retirement needs working at but not too hard.

It could be the back of Westlea near the Old Red Ash path. The football grounds near the cemetery .

Was the Trotter Monument also a fountain.;

The Cd is now out for Sting 's 'When the last Ship Sails' Tracks with Jimmy Nail and the Unthanks. I think it is great, sorry Symptoms. Sting does affect a Geordie accent!

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.