Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

When I was about fifteen I became interested in archery. I bought a bow, quiver and arrows. (McDermotts at Ashington) and wanted to join a club. Unfortunately there was none around here. So what I used to do was stand in the middle of the green down Stead Lane, opposite the cottages, and loose arrows at a man-made target. This would be in the early seventies. Police cars used to go by but not one of them stopped and approached me. I look back in amazement at what I did and wonder why I was never picked up by the fuzz - until someone told me about a 'by-law' about the right to practice archery - Henry VIII - I believe. But can you imagine someone doing that now!!!

In 1628/9 the 1515 Statute of Henry VIII requiring archery practice was reinforced and in 1633 Charles I issued yet another new order; for the use of bows in the Trained Bands, with training to be provided by a master bowman.

Indeed, a new company of pikemen also armed with bows (the 'double-armed man') was formed in Herefordshire as late as in 1642.

Henry VIII started a number of sporting archery groups – protecting them against prosecution from accidentally shooting with 'ye bowe and arrowe' anyone unfortunate enough to be passing by! This was termed as 'The King's Pardon'.

It is extremely doubtful that 'The Kings Pardon' still applies today!

These days only a young Hoodie called Robin would get away with it!

A Statue imposed by King Henry VIII and written by the King in the 6th year of his reign (1515) was an amended, more specifically detailed version to replace an earlier Royal Statute of 1363:

Item: Whether the Kinges subjectes, not lame nor having no lawfull impediment, and beinge within the age of XI yeares, excepte Spiritual men, Justices etc. and Barons of the Exchequer, use shoting on longe bowes, and have bowe continually in his house, to use himself and that fathers and governours of chyldren teache them to shote, and that bowes and arrowes be bought for chyldren under XVII and above VII yere, by him that has such a chylde in his house, and the Maister maye stoppe it againe of his wages, and after that age he to provideb them himselfe: and who that is founde in defaute, in not having bowes and arrowes by the space of a moneth, to forfayte xiid.. And boyers for everie bowe of ewe, to make two of Elme wiche or othere wood of meane price, and if thei be founde to doe the contrarie, to be committed to warde, by the space of viii daies or more......................................

Happy days. There were a few games we used to play - British Bulldog, Let the Bunnies Out!!! There was one where the small boy would climb on the back of a bigger boy and proceed to pull a similarly mounted opponent to the ground. (Can't remember the name of that one.) Then there was muggies - pottsies - with a hole dug in the ground. (Remember Penkers - the steel marbles.)

I remember me and Jim Hunter went raiding a garden for apples. We were hidden behind a tree waiting for the light to go off when all of a sudden a gang of four lads came round the corner with the same idea. The owner saw them and came running out. They legged it and we followed. They thought we were chasing them until we passed them at the top of the street. It was like Benny Hill meets the Keystone Cops and Mack Sennett. But the one thing I remember is there was no malice in anything we did; it was just mischief and adventure with no one getting harmed.

Remember mounting a large boy and getting puled off but like you no idea what perverted game it was called.

Penkers - afraid wor Geordie lost them all in doon a Barrington row!

'Let the bunnies out' - never heard of it so never played it.

Apples - too numerous to go through them all, but seem to recall one of the easiest, and best, was at the top of Melrose Terrace, across from where the YMCA used to be. There is a large semi and the garden wall, on your way through to what is now Melrose Court, aided the picking of apples from the apple tree. If the good people that supplied us hungry urchins with our five-a-day came out you could easily scarper (is that word for Maggies Caht Central Pitmatic/Dialect words topics) doon Melrose Terrace and hide in any back yard or garden.

Blind man's bluff - me brothers blindfolded me in Coquetdale Place and they went to the station for a couple of hours. Bumped into every gate and wall in Fontburn Road. Me mother was furious but they enjoyed it, b*$%*r#S.

I remember a game (but not its name) where a couple of lads would lean against a wall, more lads would join them until there was a line of them bent-double and holding onto the lad in front. Others would repeat this move but on top of the first group; more would join but on top of the second stack, and so on. The aim was to produce a high stacked snake of lads without the pile collapsing.

If it's the same one as I'm thinking it was called Moont-the-Cuddy, Symptoms, we used to play it as well.

Only picture I can find for Moont-the-Cuddy is on the British Library site under the Yorkshire name of - Riagamajee.

AND THE WINNER IS...EGGY!!!

I think that's it, Eggy, Apple Blossom.

You realise your prize for giving me the correct answer is the honour of cutting the bush back; and whilst you're at it you might as well mow the lawn as well; then there's the side garden that needs weeding, but don't worry I'll make you a cuppa as you go along...mind you you'll have to work around the cat's poo, I've tried training them to do it in other people's gardens but no luck so far, I'm teaching them by example, unfortunately the neighbour caught me with my pants down...literally...I mean I tried to bury it under her hibiscus so it wouldn't show but there is a limitation to what you can do with your pants around your ankles with the sun in your eyes and I nearly did my back in scent marking her geranium...but anyway I know you won't mind the bit of gardening...what's that nurse, my medication is due...

Eileen, if you want a cutting feel free. Send me a PM and you can pop over, no probs.

Hold on, that ginger tom is back again...how far up that tree can I reach...

How come I have never noticed this bush before. With that amount of flowers from spring thru summer,good growth & evergreen I would have expected most gardeners would use it as an alternative to hedging.

I will get Wilf to come and - slice the bush down - drive the turds away and you can give him any spare tee you have. He likes a herbiscuit with his tea.

Escallonia :- Evergreen

Sweetly scented

Wind resistant

Holds the RHS garden of merit award

Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' is a compact evergreen shrub at around 1.8 to 2.4m in height when mature. It has small leathery, glossy mid green leaves and produces cup shaped blush pink and white flowers from mid spring well into summer. It will thrive in any moist well drained soils in sun or partial shade so is ideal. Doesn't mind wind so will make a good barrier for other more delicate plants.The plant supplied will be around 30cms tall in a 9cm pot with multi growing stems.

A seriously depressed woman stands at the edge of a cliff, trying to get the nerve up to jump.

A passing bum stops and says,

"Since you're about to kill yourself anyway, would you mind if we had sex first?"

The woman said

"Hell no ... you pervert .......... get away from me!"

The bum turned to leave and muttered,

"Fine, I'll just go wait at the bottom."

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Sex with a prostitute- Commercial Union;

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Sex resulting in pregnancy- General Accident

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Sex with a transvestite - confused.com

Husband takes the wife to a disco.

There's a guy on the dance floor giving it large - break dancing, moon-walking, back flips, the works.

The wife turns to her husband and says:

"See that guy? 25 years ago he proposed to me and I turned him down."

Husband says:

"Looks like he's still celebrating!!!

Remember the shuttering boards used to keep the coal in place in the coal hoose? As the hoose was filled the shuttering would be added to act as a sort of dam, as the coal was removed for the fire the stockpile would get lower so the top board would be removed. The removal process would be repeated until the hoose was nearly empty. The shuttering was held in place by the door frame. Did these shuttering boards have a local name?

Can't remember one, we just called then 'planks' of wood. If you were posh you had tongued & grooved planks.

Keith, only because I have an old 'The Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants and Flowers' that shows a load of photos of some of the 250 + species I think it has to be a variey of wild rose and I have spotted a couple where the flower petals/clusters and leaves very very similar to yours.

Rosa paulii looks exactly like yours but the description says 4' high by 15' spread, so if it's yours you have planted it on it's side! Small bright round hips in autumn.

Rosa rubrifolia also very similar, descriptions say 7' high by 5' spread.

I can't find a picture with one + bee of that size. Are you feeding the bees?

Dear Keith, if you have an address for a cuddy please publish, thank you.

I would like to play 'Knocky door ginger (or knocky nine doors) at the cuddies hoose.

Just like you my first thought would be - 'got him', but could you sleep with it? Remember your closing line from the black bridge story about owning up and saying sorry -

its funny ,how you get older these things come back and you remember what a lunatic you were....i certanly was for sure ,to be sure ,to be sure.

just wanted to get that off my chest..thankyouverymuch

My thoughts are - Don't out him; sleep soundly every night in the knowledge that he knows that you know and from time to time just make him aware, for as long as it takes, to keep that grin on your face! He knows you have the cards in your hand, keep him waiting but aware they could be used any time.

Now if that sounds vindictive then, it is - an eye for an eye.

Please Maggie, the poss tub was in the wesh hoose; the old newspaper in ootside netty, and the heating fuel in the coal cree.

One does try and educate the grandchildren of the simplicity of today's living, buying a house with a fitted washer/dryer already in place in the kitchen; downstairs cloakroom and a thermostat control in the entrance hall.

So we have no manual appliances left. The last to go was the tin bath. It spent the last 15 years as a large plant pot but the bottom finally fell oot.

A question for you Maggie. As the old ariy house have been knocked down, around the oval = Coquetale Place, Fontburn Avenue etc. the old ootside building with wesh hoose;cree & netty will have been knocked down. Does anyone know if these buildings, like the houses were modernised/rebuilt, without the coal cree of course?

I Have created a 'Gallery' headed 'Barrington County Primary School'. I would like to upload/copy any class photos of Barrington CP teachers and pupils from any of the topics they have been uploaded to on this site so the history, in photos, of that school is in one easily accessible place.

As the majority of the photos (only one mine) have been upload, and shared, by the members it should be up to the majority to agree with my actions.

Has anyone any objections to me collecting all existing, and future Barrington CP school photos into this gallery?

If there are objections then I will arrange for the deletion of the gallery I have created and the one photo I have added.

The lad sitting between Catherine and Jean was Alan Jarvis. I think the lad between Robin and Derek was called Turner, but I could be wrong.

About that time there was an influx of new pupils to the Barrington School from the Oval, Station. This was the result of families moving from the pit rows at Choppington to much more luxury lifestyle in the Oval.

Picture updated with the two names - Alan Jarvis & (Turner?) and picture added to gallery.

Rafie your comment on the influx of pupils to Barrington could be the answer to the question I have asked many for years and years - 'Why did our family, from Coquetdale Place, behind the Oval Shops, go to Barrington and not Bedlington Station?' As fas as I can recall (and probably wrong) we were the only family from Coquetadle that went to Barrington. There were people from Waverley Ave, Roy Batchelor ? & Steadlands Tom, Rob & Harry Dixon ? that went to Barrington. My eldest brother, borth 1946 would have started Barrington in August 1950. We moved in to Coquetdale, from Beatty Road, in either winter 1948 or Spring 1949. So our family moving from Topend catchment area to Station catchment area could have coincided with the much more 'airey' houses influx from Choppington. Even if it is not totally true I can now say it is rather than - nee idea mate' as I have for the past 20 years. Thank you Rafie.

ps. just Google street viewed the Oval area and Coquetdale place, although in the pics, is not named. Had to input Waverley Drive to get the map. Perhaps it was all just a dream and me mam was right -'your in your own little world lad, day dreaming away'.

Hi, I hope this class photo has attached OK. Taken 1950's. Does any one know the names ?

Rafie - read the quotes and unless I missed it the kids in the photo were not named by anyone.

Check out the photo (I have shrank it a bit cos it was massive) and see if you recognise the names added, not by me, by a lad in the photo:-

Photo of Bedlington Station football team in 1957. The teacher was Jimmy Johnston.

Some names added and file saved in 'png' format so they can be changed if necessary.

Ed - The Arkles confuse me. I can only remember an Ian Arkle, good defender, but from Bolam Place, not Barrington.

I went to Barrington CP. I was born 1948 so I can remember a few names, some younger and some older :-

Purvis (could have been Purves) - Alexander, Elaine & Alan

Rutter - Melvyn & James (Jimmy). One picture in this topic shows the Melvyn I knew (2/3 years older than me) and also names Jimmy. The Jimmy I knew was in the same year as me.

Ramsay - Robert (Bob) - every jumper he had had a hole in (me mam used to darn ours) - had an older sister but can't remember her name.

I think that lot all lived in Alexander Terrace - the one closest to the Glove facotry.

Lynne Maddison - Office row, I think.

Did the Anderton's run the Post Office?

Brian Davidson (or Davison had an older Brother & Sister but can't recall their names) - Victoria Row

In the 1949 school photo is Ralph Lowe, my wife worked with his wife, at Ronsons in the 1960s. They are still in touch and I have sent him some of the other photo's to see if he can remember any one.

Don't hold your breath!

Memory - just made a couple of changes to some names, to protect the innocent.

I remember the Arkles - the boys were both really good footballers. We used to go for a kick about and they were always there

You couldn't get the ball back once they had it. Happy times !!! Also a couple of doors away from them were the Phillipsons. Ronnie and I went to school together.

Ed - The Arkles confuse me. I can only remember an Ian Arkle, good defender, but from Bolam Place, not Barrington.

I went to Barrington CP. I was born 1948 so I can remember a few names, some younger and some older :-

Purvis (could have been Purves) - Alexander, Lynn & Alan

Rutter - Melvyn & James (Jimmy). One picture in this topic shows the Melvyn I knew (2/3 years older than me) and also names Jimmy. The Jimmy I knew was in the same year as me.

Ramsay - Robert (Bob) - every jumper he had had a hole in (me mam used to darn ours) - had an older sister but can't remember her name.

I think that lot all lived in Alexander Terrace - the one closest to the Glove facotry.

Lynne Maddison - Office row, I think.

Did the Anderton's run the Post Office?

Brian Davidson (had an older Brother but can't recall his name) - Victoria Row

In the 1949 school photo is Ralph Lowe, my wife worked with his wife, at Ronsons in the 1960s. They are still in touch and I have sent hisome of the other photo's to see if he can remember any one.

Don't hold your breath!

Photo of Bedlington Station football team in 1957. The teacher was Jimmy Johnston.

I would say - Back row, third from right = Ralph Lowe

Your right Keith, it's just my memory - 2011 that pic must be. I forgot all the police, and the portaloos, were at the olympics last year.

Seem to member seeing a picture of workers playing 5-a-side in an extremely large sewerage tank they were building, in a field next to Glastonbury, and it was sign posted 'Stadium of S***e'. But I could be mixing that up as well.

I had remembered that bit about the septic tank. Found a partial story in The Times:-

Welcome to your preview of The Times - Behind the scenes at Glastonbury

Hugo Rifkind

Last updated at 12:01AM, June 27 2011

Exactly how does Glastonbury deal with the needs of 177,000 revellers? Hugo Rifkind asks the questions you don't want answered

You see jaunty, hand-painted signs on white backgrounds pretty much everywhere you go at the Glastonbury Festival, telling you how to get to the Pyramid Stage, or the Other Stage, or just the best way to get the hell out. There is one though, high up above the west corner of the site, on which most festival-goers will never set their eyes. "Stadium of S***e†it says.

It is on a sewage tank. I can't tell you how many gallons it holds, because the number that I wrote down in my notebook, before the word "million†is obscured by a

There was no Glastonbury festival last year because of the Olympics. It was decided not hold it because of security difficulties.

Your right Keith, it's just my memory - 2011 that pic must be. I forgot all the police, and the portaloos, were at the olympics last year.

Seem to member seeing a picture of workers playing 5-a-side in an extremely large sewerage tank they were building, in a field next to Glastonbury, and it was sign posted 'Stadium of S***e'. But I could be mixing that up as well.

No - I will not be there but I am sure some Terrier's must be there and have some stories or pictures.

TICKET PRICES

Standard Ticket: £205 + £5 booking fee per ticket + £6 P&P per booking (a £50 deposit per ticket is payable on October 7th 2012).

My mate is there - this is him last year:-

Previous Jokes:-

I was approached by Beyonce who had just finished her set at Glastonbury. She said, "Excuse me hon. You haven't seen my phone have you? It's pink with a 'Bubblicious' cover on it."

I said, "No, sorry. Have you tried calling it?"

She said, "No. I put it on silent before my gig."

I said, "If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it."

I went Glastonbury once with Victoria Beckham, and she was a right miserable bitch.

Talk about a stick in the mud.

When I told my mum I was going to Glastonbury she made me make a solemn promise not to take any drugs.

She obviously didn't realise how easy it would be to buy some when I got here.

Glastonbury Festival 2013 revelers greeted by mud.

Brilliant, I wonder if they did Tiger Feet?

BBC News: U2 Pulls Out Of Glastonbury

Sky news: Glastonbury ticket sales increase dramatically.

If you have BT Broadband and and SKY or BT HD box you can get BT sport free for 1 year.

Just got to remember that in June/July 2014!

Unless you get a reply from someone involved in this area then it has to be guess work!

Have you just attempted to upgrade 'Adobe' and it has failed and the pdf (Portable Data File) element is corrupted?

Never dabbled in this before, just found that whatever page you are on you can right click (I still use mouse) and the following is displayed:-

When you select one of the options eg. 'Inspect Element' you get:-

and that shows you all the scripts/dialogues/software calls etc. and in yours you might see an ERROR that may give you a hint, tip or clue of something that has changed.

Probably not a lot of help but it might fill in half an hour!

Malcolm - I received an email from you, via this site, today, and I have replied, via the link in the email to you. No problems using what I did.

I assume you have the email as a post on this site, but I have not worked out how this site's mailing system works so I can't see where my reply appears.

He He, soon he will be recognised all over the world, not just Bedlington.

Whilst he was getting his two pairs of golfing trousers, from Greenwoods, he noticed a cheap pair of jodhpurs and bought a pair for his trip to Cragside today.

Wilf could not find a horse so he Rhododendron!