Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

Today Wendy Reed posted this poster on Facebook group Bygone Bedlington

A photo of the miners with the Netherton Colliery Banner at the 1973 Miners Picnic was posted by John Dawson on the sixtownships site and shared with the Bedlington sites. On the Bygone Bedlington site Robert Morland made this comment :- 'The black sash on top of the banner was for a miner who had been killed . In this case 1973 it was for Alan Stappard only in his 20s lived at 2 third street tragic . . A life never lived. RIP Harry.'

HPW - if you drive along the Choppington Road - A196, from Jonathan Scott's there is a Vauxhall garage - Davidson's of Morpeth - Coopies Estate, just before Stobhill where I got my Meriva. They have a 'Mobility' specialist - Alison Owen and they have (according to their web site) New Zafira Tourer & used Zafira & Zafira Tourer. There Motability section normally deals with customers purchasing vehicles via the Motabilty Scheme (DLA/PIP - WPMS (War Pensions Motability Scheme) but naturally they will sell to anyone with the money. I have looked at many different cars (over the last 10 years) with a view to disability aids fitting in. It's ages since I looked at the spec on the Zafira as it was too big for me, the wife and 1 mobility scooter. What I did find with the Meriva (compared to loads of other makes & models) is that the back seats do not have to be taken out to fit in a complete mobility scooter. I am assuming the Zafira seats will be the same as the Meriva. The back seats of the Meriva fold down flat so there is no 3-4" step, between the book/back floor and the seats. In most other cars the seats had to be removed to get a flat surface that is almost essential to keep the scooter stable. I am assuming that the Zafira spec is very similar to the Meriva spec. I have never been a car 'geek', for me a car is to get me from A to B so I can do things. The son-in-law and two grandsons dismantle cars, soup them up; show cars etc. etc. I used to wind them up by saying I want a blue one next! Anyway I have had no problem with any of the 3 1600c & 1400cc automatic Merivas I have had. Excelleration via pedals or hand controls I have found excellent - not a geek but still like to move easily and quickly away from stationery positions at lights and Moor House Farm roundabout! Before the Meriva we used to have to dismantle the mobility scooter to get it into the boot of the car we had then. What Davidsons would probably advise yo to do is talk to Bewick Mobility - Blaydon Industrial Park, Chain Bridge Rd, Blaydon-on-Tyne NE21 5AB - Phone: 0191 414 0240 about what adaptions can be made. And you will no doubt be aware the adaptions these days are endless, but also costly, and all firms are after your money. I have dealt with Bewick Mobility for 6 years and I can't fault them. Prior to Bewick many local garages gave me advice and suggestions that really were based on sales and not improving mobility experience and I always had to do more later on.

Too late - just packed the wife, daughter & sister-in-law on a Virgin train for their annual trip to Edinburgh; Lunch at The Dome then shopping. I will send them a text and get them to come back on the bus and next year we will ignore the 1hr 24min (each way) £18.60 return fare (with reserved seat) and go for the 2hr 45min (each way) £15.65 return coach journey. If I find any virgins, at the Comrades club, I will attempt to convert. I'm singing and dancing in the remain, doo be do, doo be doo be do.............

You will have to read read A History of Northumberland in 3 parts by John Hodgson. The rendering a rose yearly came from Alan Dickson that used to post on this site but now looks after the Facebook group - Barrington, Barnt' n memories and stuff!!. When I Googled the line Alan gave me - It's knight's fee, a rose !! To be rendered once a year in midsummer - no relevant info was returned. I asked Alan if that was all he had searched for and he came back with - Just type in fealty, and rendering a rose - and returned some interesting links, for those wanting to research and read that is. I also searched for - A History of Northumberland in three parts - and that gave a link to the site - archive.org - where you can read and download the book.

Cheers John - just checked the Gallery as I thought I had this posted in the Gallery - Historic Bedlington - Barrington County Primary School, but I hadn't. Thanks for the info - I have added the photo into the gallery. In the Gallery, there is also an Album for Bedlington Grammar school and there is a photo of the grammar school team, with the Barrington lads & Bobby Charlton. When you say - This was the first Barrington school football team with the school providing new Yellow football strips. - are you saying the first ever football team the school had OR the first team that got those yellow strips that nicknamed the team - The Canaries?

Haven't given it any thought but one reply to the question on the rendering quote was :- It's knight's fee, a rose !! To be rendered once a year in midsummer. Rental of lands etc.'

Just so the Expats can get a listen to the twang for a few weeks, and if a didn't post it whilst a remembered a would forget, a think, possibly, but not sure, mebees......

CL there was a comment on Bygone Bedlington, by Alan Brady, some months ago that got me to do some 'Googling'. The comment from Alan was :- 'Netherton was the name of the village and the name of the area until the postal system began in the 1840's. There was confusion with Netherton in Coquetdale so the name of the village was changed to Nedderton. Which was also it's name mentioned on a historical document back when they didn't care very much about spelling. The district remained as Netherton ward of Bedlingtonshire' You probably have found this stuff already but here are the images I found and posted on the Bygone Bedlington site. Can't remember what site the info was on and how many pages of Google links I had to work through to find thses :-

Champion.

Regards given. The booklet is by Stephen B. Martin = Netherton (Nedderton) from Bedlingtonshire Villages History Series - 20 pages. When searching Bygone Bedlington for Nedderton info I found a link to the booklet a Phil Hodgetts had posted on flickr

Oooops, can't get Row oot me mind. I should have known, the street with no name! CL & Maggie - do you two have the Netherton Colliery Booklet as I do have a copy, scanned, I could send to you. CL - Westridge & Netherton came up in a conversation during lunch in the Hastings Arms, Seaton Delaval and when I mentioned your name Elizabeth (Betty) Hall said - 'say hello to CL we were at Westridge together.

HPW - both Simon Williams (Bygone Bedlington) and Foxy got a photo before they pulled it doon

I was asked by ex Third Row resident Hilda Oliver (née Storey) :- 'why was Plessey Row named within the simple sequence First, Second & Third Row? Did a Google search just to see if the question had been asked, and answered, before but no luck. CL - during your research have you found anything to suggest why they would name the rows in that sequence? Whilst searching the following info on the name Plessey was found :- The name Plessey has been used for :- Plessey Hall – Plessey Mill – Plessey Checks – The Plessey Farm pub (now rebuilt and restructured as the Snowy Owl pub) – Plessey Street, East Hartford - Plessey Road, Blyth – & at the pits Plessey seam was worked (according to Durham Mining Museum [DMM] site) from 1914 at Netherton, Bedlington ‘A’, Doctor Pit, Cambois, Bebside and from 1935 at Bates. In Evan Martin’s book – Bedlingtonshire – he states that the building of the Rows commenced in 1902. So compared with the info on the DMM site the building of the rows commenced 13 years before the Plessey seam was worked at the pits. First, Second & Third Row names appear on the old maps from 1921 to 1947 but the name Plessey Row does not appear until the 1961 map. -------------------------------------------- http://northeasthistorytour.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/plessey-waggonway-nz229791-to-blyth.html Plessey Waggonway (NZ229791 to Blyth) Described as one of the earliest and longest waggonways in Northumberland, Plessey Waggonway is known to have ran from Plessey Hall Farm eastwards for some five and a half miles to the port of Blyth. It was in use from at least as early as 1709 and continued carrying goods – mainly coal – until 1812. Though it was very probably far from the earliest – nor, indeed, the longest – in the county, it is remarkable for its survival in the landscape. Though now overlaid for long stretches by both the A192 and A1061, it can be seen in places as an earthwork over six feet in height. Out of commission by the time of the birth of the railways proper, it was used to transport coal on horse-drawn waggons and was made from beech wood rails laid on oak sleepers – though iron runners were used in later years. The horses would have been small in stature, each animal pulling a ‘chaldron’ of 52 hundred weight – and would be expected to make two round trips per day. One may look at Plessey and its environs today and wonder what all the historical fuss is about. But this now largely empty space on the map was once a thriving village, with coal being mined from the immediate area – and shipped to London – from as early as the thirteenth century. Plessey Hall Farm itself dates from 1680, but the site was almost certainly occupied by an earlier building belonging to the Plessis family and formed the centre of the local manor. A series of lumps and bumps in a nearby field provide likely evidence of the deserted medieval village. ----------------------- http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/24766 In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Plessey like this: PLESSEY, a ville in Stannington parish, Northumberland; on the river Blyth and the North eastern railway, 5 miles S S E of Morpeth. It has a station on the railway; and it figures in many ancient deeds and records. P. Hall was formerly the seat of the Plessey family, but is now a farm-house; and P. Mill was connected with St. Bartholomew's monastery in Newcastle. A little Pub history - The Snowy Owl sits on the site of Plessy North Moor Farm, which was originally part of the estate owned by the Ridley family of Blagdon Hall. When converted to an inn, the building was named The Plessy Farm, though the structure has been rebuilt and restored at least three times since it was originally constructed long before 1600. -------------------------- None of the above answers the question - 'why was the sequence - First, Second, Plessey, then Third?' Does anyone know why?