Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

I've been watching loads of Jocko stuff on the telly recently and I'm truly shocked that everybody shown, whether voxpop street interviews with punters or  formal interviews with McPoliticians, just how tubby they all are.  Everywhere you look there's treble chins, bingo wings and fat arses waddling down the Jocko roads ... disgusting!  No wonder their bit of the NHS is creaking under the strain and is trousering extra dosh from Blighty.

I know I should take this more seriously but, just like everyone interviewed on the streets of Scotland & Berwick, it's too complex for my small brain to work out if it's a good move for either party what ever the public votes. When I found the video I was looking for on the main reason for the 'tubbiness' in Scotland couldn't help breaking down the web address dispaled on the video - www.mullo fkin tyre.co:-

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb_P46gNf_k

Are you a fellow[?] Musician also?....we can start a thread aboot C# 's and B-flat-minor-seventh's...with a sustained fourth......and a diminished ninth.....!!!

 

That's what my ex-girlfirend said I had, HPW, - a diminished ninth and a flat minor!!!!   

 

On the subject of the woods and air rifles, etc. Me, Jim Hunter & Bob Barron got chased from one end of the woods to the other by a gang of lads with air-rifles!!! We were just coming up the Giant Steps when we bumped into them. They said we'll count to twenty... What they didn't know was the three of us knew them woods like the backs of our hands. They're still looking for us yet. 

But now I've found you - Webly 0.22 reloaded - keep looking behind you!

Part of the joy of playing the pinball machines was to 'nudge' them.  For our younger viewers 'nudging' meant vigorously pushing against the machine with your hips to gain extra ball bounce (no, no, no, that doesn't sound right!) off the flippers, posts and cushions.  This action left the machines with loose legs.  Apparently, there's only one manufacturer left making these things worldwide.

Just for the younger viewers Symptoms I think we should mention we were dicing with death whilst nudging those machines. If one nudged too vigorously then one reached a sticky end sooner than expected, one had tilted the machine and no more balls would be ejected into the firing zone until additional payment made.

Were the first machines 3d a go or were they always 6d from Moscadiins first introduced them?

Was it just the snooker hall that ran a weekly competition for the highest score or did the coffee shop also have one?

Happy Birthday Malcolm - enjoy from now until December 20th.  

I wonder how many of the crowd chucked themselves into the Tyne screaming, once the Cramlington Budgie Strangler got on Stage?

Surely with 'King Crabs' on stage nobody would chuck themselves in. 

Will never forget the first time I saw King Crabs, Sunday lunch time - Benton Social Club - just before the strippers. It was no Big River.

Probably many words wrong but the gist of the 'lyrics' was exactly as he introduced it:-

'Am ganna sing an fxxxxxx song aboot a fxxxxxx man that ganns doon the fxxxxxx toon ta buy a fxxxxxx newspaper...........'

And he started shooting - 'There was a fxxxxxx man that ganns doon the fxxxxxx toon ta buy a fxxxxxx newspaper...........' - never went to see a stripper again!

Kieth,I don't know we're eggy is pulling these break times from your actual time allowed is 20mins if you work more

Than 6hrs goverment directive not unions,if a firm doesn't recognise unions that's what you get like it or lump it...

Firms who work with unions tend to get a better deal that's a fact,when the union will discuss a deal which in the

First instance will be with the lads & lasses on the shop floor & what they would like,we as union officials

Will put this to management...But if management wanted to be mean they can quote goverment rules

Which means you have to go with what they say,sometimes you might get something out of them as they like to

Be seen to been good,theres some different rules for shift workers but not a lot of difference...

What's annoying is working class people slagging unions off,maybe they should ask what they can do for them instead

Of been treated like Victorian slaves because that's what's happening thatcher started it.....

Only from my own little world Tony. Fortunately  wherever I worked the break times were good.

Shipyard & Civil Service 1960's & 70s - pre Thatcher - 1979.

Normal day shift in the Civil Service was 45mins.

Before Thatcher got in and shift work started in the Civil Service the management staff going onto the shifts (October 1961) were allowed to define the shift patterns. They had a choice when two shifts first started - 08:00 - 16:00 & 16:00 to 24:00 for 12 1/2% shift allowance or 09:00 - 17:00 & 17:00 -01:00 for 20% shift allowance. They chose the latter and no complaints + 1 hour lunch break! Even when we went to 3 shifts in 1980 we were allowed to keep the same times for the existing shift and the first shift started at midnight, one hour overlap with the other shift, and at the end we worked an hours overtime 08:00 to 09:00.  

Once that precedent had been set, in our little world, it was never changed. Always told the staff if they ever went into 'the real world' they would realize how well off they had been.  

1) The voters' choice will always come down to a perception - who can damage them the least.

 

2) Bastards the lot of them!

 

3) Owen Jones new book on the Establishment should be a good read as it shows what a "stranglehold" these elites have over the rest of us.  Yep, he is a left-wing author and commentator but fairly points an accusatory finger left and right.

1) So everybody, politicians and Joe Public, are looking after themselves. 

Is it not the only way? No matter what the subject there are many points of view, if there were not David Cameron and Alex Salmon would never say anything but the truth and we would back them all the way!

2) Agreed

3) Owen Jones - picks out the bits he agrees with winds you up with the bits he doesn't.

Take your pick - make your choice - enjoy the rest of your life.

Some things in life are bad

They can really make you mad

Other things just make you swear and curse

When you're chewing on life's gristle

Don't grumble, give a whistle

And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...

...always look on the bright side

of life...

(Whistle)

Always look on the light side

of life...

(Whistle)

How about a weight watchers ...

How about a pub and we can watch the weight, go on!

More house, more people.

Unless you can get a business that can compete with Sky, Virgin etc. etc. then the people will stay in their own homes, with their cheap supermarket booze watching the TV on a surround sound 3D massive TV.

A YMCA, that should attract some interesting groups.

Fortunately the land is not big enough for a Nursing Home.

Mcdonalds drive through. 

1965 - 2011 

Shipyard = 1 hour = Union rules, Ok.

Civil Service 1966 to the start of FLEXI time (introduced in the UK 1971!) was always 45mins - DHSS Longbenton - start of day 08:15, Lunch 12:00 to 12:45 (not sure on exact start and finish times), end of day 16:24 - and that was all contrived to fit in with 37hr week.

8 hr shifts - 1 hr lunch

Contracting - as long as you like and stay late to make up the time (money).

12 hr continental shifts - 1hr 30mins - to balance out to 37hr week over a 4 week period working 14 x 12 hr shifts

Day shift FLEXI = max 2 hrs - min 30mins.

So only had the 1 hour lunch for the 13 years I worked 8 hr shifts (First shift, Back shift and Night Shift).

So my answer to your question Keith would be - Unions controlled most industries, Civil Service stuck to the rules, Contractors did what they liked, and charged for it.

Tony - I just remember there was a pipe discharging hot water, can't really remember if there were two pipes, or just the one that I believe is still there and comes from the pit site. These are the Google satellite views from 2009;-

Eggy,the next time I'm back up north you can come with me & swim at Cambois beach that's got to be Cadder than an ice bucket

My kids have done it & screamed but I will donate my £5 to the good cause it represents...

If I could, I would sir. Long before the 'hot-pipe' was at Cambois we spent loads of time in that cold water. I can remember those cold waves going over my head  - Family and neighbour's Cambois beach - 1954-55 :-  

Hi Joanne,maybe a different family,but a Father and adult Son lived two doors away from my family,at Hollymount square,in the early to mid-fifties.

They both had the nickname of "Pop" Robson.

The Father used to drive a massive old 1940's Wolseley car,with the old-fashioned running boards,and huge Lucas "King of the road" headlights mounted on the front wings...green,if I remember correctly.

This was in the days when your milk,groceries,ice-cream,rag and bone men,and everything else,was horse and cart driven...so this car really stood out in our street.

Did you have other relatives who might have been driving a car like this?

Hope this is of some use,if only to eliminate!

Are we talking 'STOP SHOP with POP'?

I Failed :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQlvW0aFnKo

I nominate - Keith Lockey, Malcolm Robinson, Foxy, threegee, Canny lass, Maggie, Mercury, Tonyp, High Pit Wilma, Wonky, Adam Hogg & Symtoms.

https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/E8D18A0B781109214875680645120_2b41b8e429c.2.0.13420879194056863034.mp4?versionId=4ajh07glZMYcjQ_Di.ZlOL3FBRvNMITw

Maggie & Canny Lass - posted today on the Sixtownships History Group site were 2 old pictures of the Market Place Cross. With the permission of the originators of the posts here are the photos, side by side. You can see the church tower + clock in both photos but the phoot on the right shows no buildings to the right of the cross.

Is the one on the right, genuine, and the oldest you have seen?

Is the old one Westridge? or is there another (newer) High School? if it is, how old and where is it?

(I'm going to fly Google and look for it!)

Vic - think they are talking about the Bedlington Station High School at Palace Road (old grammar and modern schools combined) - the former West Ridge is now St. Benet Biscop Catholic High School.

Tonyp - don't know if this will have any relevance but there there is a bit about Salmon Place, The Neuk on the sixtownships site :-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1473242359580083/search/?query=neuk

But can you get their ginger biscuits?

 

Not to mention the many collectable gifts that my dear old Ma used to buy my cousins at Christmas?

Now if anyone is prepared to pay the post & package I can send them approx 27 Rington's items - tea pots, plates, tea caddys etc etc.

BUT don't tell the misses! I'm sure she once made me take a photo of most of them, that were displayed on a couple of shelves, in case we got burgled and I could give it to the police.

Found it :- http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/aerial-photographs-northumberland-castles-1920s-7390657

Loads of new pictures up on the Bedlington in Bloom facebook page. Taken of the Town as we went around with the Northumbria in Bloom judges. Like them and share please!

 and shared every item.

Tonyp - have you still got the link address in your 'History-browsing data'?

Wee can mind fight night at the Clayton Ballroom at Bedlington Station?

Only telling the truth of what it was like at times then in the early and mid sixties. I have no interest or any point to make except that, in general, society was more violent then than it is now. Solving problems with your fists was socially acceptable at the time. Fights were common in school, violence was used by teachers to keep order, bullying was common, and, as we are still finding out now, child abuse was hushed up and kept quiet about. Do not get me wrong, I love Northumberland which I think is the best county in Britain but I am talking about the past. In my better moments I am able to take off my rose tinted spectacles and look at the past as it really was not as a day dreamy fantasy world where coppers kept you right with a clip across the ear and the teachers were strict but fair. As an ex regular soldier who I abhor the murder of Lee Rigby as much as anyone but I tend to agree with his mother who has publicly stated that she hates the way the rightwing in this country has hijacked his murder to justify their racist views and use his murder as propaganda for their political purposes.

In the sixties I witnessed with my own eyes lots of violence in gang fights, some of which I'm ashamed to say I took part in. However, in the seventies and eighties the extreme horror of the Spanish civil war in the thirties didn't stop people from flocking there in their millions. Just as a now an almost forgotten load of gang fights in the sixties is hardly likely to put people off from coming here. Anyway the Welfare at Ashington could be far worse and Morpeth and Blyth had their own hard lads. The battles closed about every dance in Northumberland. Yes, there has been worse violence in other parts of Britain in the recent past however most of it has been politically or weird belief system motivated not as a way of life for fun. 

Isn't it sad though that are all from mining communities a few miles apart that you couldn't enjoy each other's company without beaten the s*** out of everybody & feeling good where's the unity In that...

Violence among a minority of teenage lads doesn't mean that the mining communities of the area were at each others throats. The older generation of miners tended to be gentle and the people in different villages were friendly to each other. Witness the happy revelry for the majority on picnic day. There were still fights among some of the lads but that didn't stop everybody else from enjoying themselves. Funny enough the mining school at Ashington had fifteen and sixteen year old lads from every pit village in the county there and I remember it as a very happy place with everyone telling jokes to each other. I never saw a fight there. Then, as now, most of the violent crime was fuelled by alcohol and instead of getting someone older to obtain it for them from to drink in a park the teenagers then would get the beer in pubs where certain landlords thought if your voice had broken you must be 18. 

Search for 'Bouncers' and you should get a bit about the Clayton Ballroom in the Topic 

Just as well that they didn't go into Bedlington Country Park. It used to be a lovely area, now only the fly tippers and weeds thrive.

Bayardm - somebody must have tidied up. In the Journal article the country park is listed, under the NCC group as getting an award:-

http://www.thejourna...r-north-7515218

NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY COUNCIL

Astley Park

Carlisle Park

Doctor Pit Park

Hexham Parks

Hirst Park

The lad second left back row looks very much like Micky Henderson and the lad on the right back row I'm sure is Martin Henderson:  I'm not sure if they were related.  Both played for Westridge teams ... I remember Micky being a brilliant footballer.  Ken went to the Grammar School and played for them ... I remember him being a little bit 'tubby' in the 6th Form but still a really good player.

 

Your right Symptons on the Martin Henderson. It just happened, as normal in a pub, that his sister was showing some old photos and this was the only one I borrowed for posting on this site. He is not related to Mickey.

Ken Pearson is the only other one I put a name to. I never went to Whitley. Knew Ken through the senior school and his parents as I went to their flat every Sunday morning in the early 1960s to collect the newspapers for delivery around the Station, Steadlane and Terrier.