Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

Merry Xmas - 2018 - a chimney is cleaned oot :-

On the Bedlington Facebook groups there has only been one photo, that I know, of an old Bedlington Cricket Club team photo. This image, marked reserve team, was posted with the date 1911:-

Checking on the FreeBMD genealogy site for any registered births, between 1840 & 1870, for the name James King only returns one record. Checks for Joseph & Elizabeth King (using 1860 through to 1910 only return records for those names in 1891, 1903, 1905 & 1910. The Bedlington area registrar's office for the 19th century was Morpeth - approximately 7 miles from Bedlington so it's not unusual for the registration of births, deaths and marriages only to be done if and when the family visited the town where the registrar's was located.

@Bradford - never followed Bedlington Cricket Club team and I have no idea how long they have been in existence. They are still going but there web site does not give any historical info :- Looking at the old maps, 1858, :- the Hirst Head group appears to have been in existence since the middle of the 19th century. Although part of their land was sold off years ago for a housing development the cricket club still plays at the Hirst Head :-

@Bradford - there were two collieries in Bedlington. The one where the Brown side of your family lived, the Bedlington 'A' pit had the houses named South Row and the Doctor Pit had the houses named New South Row. This extract from Google shows approximately where the two pits were located :- Extracts from the old maps showing the Doctor Pit and rows :- Don't have a date for this image but it shows how close to the Doctor Pit the rows were :-

@HIGH PIT WILMA - unfortunately Davey Bower is no longer with us. If only I lived in Bedlington and still saw some of the lads from my teenage years. Let's try one more photo that I think one of the lads in it, Eric Theilman, worked at the 'A' pit. Eric lived in Shop Row so crosed the lines at the bottom of Shop Row to go to Barrington CP school. After leaving secondary school I think he started the pit along with Norman Hills and Davey Bower.

@HIGH PIT WILMA - in thye mining topic I answered your question about any of us , ie me, Jas or Ovalteeny, been musical by saying - no. What I should add is that I am not aware of the other two playing any musical instruments but Ovalteeny does have a love of various types of music and currently shares his tastes. Every Tuesday - Lionheart radio (Alnwick) Messin Show - Messing with the Kid - 15:00 to 17:00 Check out the 'Schedule' & 'Presenters' on this link :- https://www.lionheartradio.com/

Don't know about Djevvy - I will try and find out. Neither Jas, Ovalteeny or me worked at the pit. I remember I applied to be an electrician at the 'A' pit a few weeks before I left the Grammar school, July 1965 but what told there were no apprenticeships going at the time so I would have to wait 6 months or more. Didn't tell me parents as I would have had me ears clipped but I always enjoyed watching me dad (who eventually became an electrician at Blyth Power Station after years of labouring) strip down and repair any electrical appliance belonging to us, or the neighbours. My mam, eldest of nine, Beatty Road (friends of the Graham's that lived near you in Hollymount Square) never wanted my dad to go down the pit when he cam out of the army after WW2. My mam had to help me granny look after the miners in the family and she knew all about the dangers. My uncle Luke Henderson was at the Dr Pit until an accident prevented him from ever working again. Some kids had found some detonators from the Dr Pit and were playing with them. Luke took them off the kids but one went off and me mam always said that the scars on his chest looked like a map of Great Britain. So granda Martin Henderson, uncles Martin, Lule.,Bob and George all worked at the pit. The second youngest son, Brian, joined the navy. Jas worked for LEP transport in Newcastle and transferred down to the London Office. After a short spell at Blyth Ship yard, whilst I was waiting for an apprenticeship at the 'A' pit joined, and it was announced that it was going to close I joined the Civil Service, much to the delight of me mam. I transferred from DHSS Longbenton to a DHSS Local Office in East Ham, London. I can't remember what Ovalteeny was doing before he let Bedlington. None of us had any musical talent, just a sense of adventure.