Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

No scientific explanations offered on the existence of these flies. Looks like it could be down to HPW to see if he made notes and studies of the flies that lived off the gallawa droppings; miners droppings; cheese & jam sarnies and crawled up your nose for fun. Tried a Google of - 'pit men underground flies' - 'shit flies in coal mines' but for once nothing returned that resulted in a cry of eureka! Were flies tolerated so there was no need to bring canaries into the pit to prove one could breath, and smell, underground? Plenty water in the mines so no need for the intake of urinated refreshment. Symptoms - have you done some research?

So are you saying that everyone, apart from yourself, is either a) not allowed an opinion b ) not allowed free speech c) Labour party members who are parents must not say anything to our children, grandchildren etc. etc. in case they turn out to be political activists e) only Labour indoctrinates children f) me mam wasn't entitled to a point of view and g)g)g) the only time a man and woman can have simultaneous orgasms is when the judge signs the divorce papers (pinched from Woody Allen). And this guy, me, fit or not, wont be making any further replies on this topic.

Apart from a short guided tour, early 60s, a short distance into the Dr. Pit, probably with a chocolate bar in me pocket, never ate underground but always found the stories and the reasoning behind sarnie fillings interesting and amusing. Extracts from some of the members comments on the sixtownships site :- Mick Riley :- Used eat mine on the kist next to a transformer - Geoff Glass :- Used to sometimes eat mine sitting on transformer Nancy Luke :- Dad always had his jam sandwiches ,cheese attracted the rats lol.x Bill Engles :- My Dad (Joe Engles, Ellington) always took something for his Gallower too. Margaret Vare :- they had bread n jam .......they say it was the only thing that had any taste down the pit .... Pam Farquhar :- My grandad Tyler used to take an extra jam sandwich doon the pit and bring it back for me mam when she was a little girl she said it tasted lovely x Doreen Armstrong :- My dad used to take sugar on bread when he worked down the pit (for a short time in his life) because he said everything tasted the same down there!. Lawrence Whitfield :- I've had my bait in worse places than that so have most miners.The paper wrapping the sandwiches would be used to hold the bread as you ate it,you never knew where those hands had been!, It was a flask of tea I'm my day but that had its hazards,uncovered the top would get covered in coal dust or even worse,shit fleas.I didn't mind swallowing the dust but I drew the line at the fleas. John Dawson :- Lawrence if i had no paper held me sarnie on the corner and threw the corner bit away on the belt. Seen some throw food on the ground and you know they generated the deadly and termed "Shit Fly" Had to sit with my lamp out as if it was on it attracted them to you. Mind you must have swallowed many accidentally too. Lawrence Whitfield :- As long as we didn't know it was ok,it was awful if one of the little buggers got up your nose though a good pinch of Singletons snuff helped get it down again.Once the snuff got dried up in your locker it would blow a safe door off. Lawrence Whitfield :- One bloke down Lynemouth never carried bait or water,he would sneak a drink out of someone else's bottle as it hung on a dog in a prop.In the end the blokes got fed up & laced the water with Epsom Salts,they reckon the result was spectacular.. Rob Hardy :- Had to sit in tub sometimes to have bate cos it was too wet to sit Malcolm Common :- I remember at Burradon as you got out of the cage at the Bensham Seam Inset somebody had chalked on one of the Girders " Your'e late Your'e Late your much too late Geordie Johnson's snatched your bait " also when walking into a flat you would see the little bait parcels wrapped up and hung up from the centre of the arch girders with cap wire in an attempt to to prevent mice getting into jacket pockets and eating your bait while you were on the face. ------------------------------------------------------------------ and I'm sure HPW will explain any pit terminology, like Kist - A chest or the Deputies' office underground often used as an assembly point for men to find out where they will be working ?

Normal service resumed. Thank you.

And here was me thinking you might have swapped your bike for one!

Does this mean you have/had one Chris?

Surely the happiest day of anyone's life is always 'today'. Everyday we wake up has to be the the best day of one's life. One day we wont wake up, celebrate today.

It's bad enough having me ear throbbing on a phone but allowing people to see me react like 'Kevin the Tennager' on Skype whilst they rabbit on! But seriously Skype is brilliant and I do, occasionally use it, for free, from my desktop PC. Even my non PC wife, that prefers to prattle on phone has enjoyed Skype. Our youngest had a humanist wedding ceremony - King Pin bowling suite, Tavistock Hotel, London, and the misses (having experience the other kids, 1 church, 1 registrar & 1 pub meal + pint to let us know they were moving in together,) didn't know what to expect. The humanist ceremony would be followed up the following year by a 'legal' ceremony with one and only vicar Elvis in Las Vegas. The youngin amazed and delighted her mother with what she had arranged (she arranged, we paid). Humanist ceremony (chat with the guests from aisle two of the 4 lane private King Pin executive suite) so different from being preached at in a church pew, even the 80+ year olds enjoyed the event. What followed in Las Vegas, followed at midnight our time on Skype, made the misses even happier. There was I in dressing gown ready for bed and the wife in her full outfit watching, via Skype for free, Elvis in the Doo Wap Diner doing his duty. So Skype saved the day and I even did screen dumps as the event went on, but I was still forced to buy the official CD and photos. One of the Skype screen dump/print screen images :-

Hadn't driven from west to east this week so clicked on Live to get me fix :-

Killingworth today I saw my first one on a public foot. I believe they are still illegal to use in public areas. Never seen anything to say the legislation has changed. Red Lion to the the Grapes in under a minute! I wonder if one is obese one will require an HGV to use one?

I initially thought the same Moe, but on this evenings BBC Look North it was said that money does not come from the 'day to day' budget. The money is borrowed from central government, but I can't find anything on line to confirm, or disprove that.

Unfortunately no rain. The thermostat, in the middle of the house (front South facing) hasn't dropped below 24.5 in three days and nights. Highest was 28 so I guess the sitting room was above that. I'm melting, the wife is loving it. Had to visit Seghill Comrades club, north facing bar, on Tuesday lunch time to keep cool. So the one terrible thing that will NOT happen is I will continue to visit the Comrades - the rest of the drinking establishments have Seg_exit_ed.

I'm singing and dancing in the remain - doo be do do, doobe doobe do do, doo be do do, doobe doobe do do, doo be do do, doobe doobe do do

Me to Vic - mine goes with me in the car and will be used in an emergency, that is Breakdown & Recovery services and I have made a couple of calls to those services in the last 15 years. Grandkids I can excuse as that's what they have been brought up on so they do get a text, twice a year, birthday & xmas. I have been know to have quite long conversations on a phone, landline of course, with Friday night mates and me ear was throbbing after them. Normally it would be - 'see you in The Shoes at 20:30, Ok' - end of call but when we were after a change of venue it was - 'What pub then?' - pause to listen to reply, then - ' Ok, The Old Fat Ox at 20:30' Can't ever remember asking any mate - what did you have for tea then?

More names, and if they are all right just No 10 to add.

More names added

Some names added by No 12 Alexandra - and she reckons Nos 5 & 19 are twins, but can't recall their names.

Another class photo, c1958, from Edith Barrett - Class = M2?

I know in the 'new' East Coast line franchise agreement, story in the Chronicle - 2014, they were talking about reducing the early morning and late evening stops, and departures, to and from London, but not cancelling all stops at Morpeth :- http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/morpeth-could-lose-rail-services-7020425

Does this mean you will now have to consider applying for a 3 year driving licence? Oh the joys of soixante neuf! It's a good golf score though, but very soon you will always be over par!

Foxy - this is just a guess. The images you have displayed in this topic have an approx size of 10 x 7 ins. and I am guessing that this size is what the system has automatically resized the uploaded image to so it can post within the posting. If I select the photo, by 'mouse-click' the system appears to display the original uploaded image with a size of approx 60 x 40 ins !! Could you have the size setting on your camera to 60 x 40 ins? You could try changing the size on you camera and see if this system allows you to load multiple smaller images. Of course I could be totally on the wrong track and GGG will have an answer. This is your photo downloaded into my system - Microsoft Digital Pro 10 - see the sizes on the left.

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is politics?" The dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me capitalism. Your mother, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the people. The nanny, we'll consider her the working class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense." The little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has soiled his diaper. The little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now." The father says, "Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about." The little boy replies, "Well, while capitalism is screwing the working class, the government is sound asleep, the people are being ignored and the future is in deep shit."

The story stlli live. Link posted by John Krzyzanowski on Bygone Bedlington Facebook group http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/plans-major-metro-upgrade-revealed-11613893#ICID=FB-Chron-main Extract from the article :- Expansion plans include: Newcastle’s West End A rail extension out of Central Station along the original Newcastle to Carlisle line could head along Scotswood Road to serve Newcastle’s west, while a bridge could then connect the city to the Metrocentre. This would be integrated with the Metro system. Building developments in Gallowgate have greatly reduced any chance of extending the Metro west from St James’ Park. South east Northumberland A route north of Northumberland Park would see a rail service restored to Ashington, Bedlington and Blyth, by upgrading a freight only line which terminates at Woodhorn, but could be extended to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. It passes through Seaton Delaval and Seghill. NECA says the route would connect with the Metro system at Northumberland Park, and would also join the East Coast Mainline five miles north of Newcastle, leading to Central Station and the possibility of direct services from south east Northumberland to the Metrocentre and Hexham.

There might be more Canny Lass but these are the postings I found :- High_Pit_Wilma wrote on the topic 'Saint Cuthbert And Bedlington Church' in History Hollow :- 'Now,the older pupils,of which i have two Sisters who fell into that category,each got a lovely gilt embossed book,entitled....."The History of Northumberland". An entry in that book stated that the old keep dated back to the reign of King John,who stayed at the keep,overnight,as he fled from the Barons,upon the return of His Brother King Richard,from the Crusades. When Richard found out about his evil Brother's nasty deeds,he went after him like a dog at broth...so ti speak. John fled from the old keep,down underground tunnels,which led from there to the site of the old original Post Office,beside Bache's ice-cream shop,in the market-place,then farther down to the river blyth,at the bottom left-hand side of Bedlington bank,where the cliffs overhang that part of the now riverside walk. ....onto a boat and away ti France.......but they catched him didn't they.' -------------------------------------------------- There is no mention of the publishers or the author of the book. Mickypotts wrote :- What I think was the mechanics institute behind the Sun Inn was a private clubhouse for our gang, lots of old billiard tables and an entrance only we knew of, In the cellar was a tunnel of some kind that seemed to go under the Sun Inn and the road, it was stone lined and I cant remember anyone going to where it ended, anyone else out there that may know??? ------------------------------------------------ Eileen wrote :- · ----------------------------------------------- By the way Maggie, one of the stories my dad used to tell me about Hollymount Hall, was that there was a tunnel that came out at the church, wonder if it was true? And Brett wrote September 16, 2013 I bet The Old Vicarage would make a lovely family home, nicely set back behind those large walls and large double gates. I remember reading that 90 Front Street was owned by the Church at the same time and the land next door to Dennis Todd's, which is now overgrown, was all part and parcel. I do briefly remember a story that there would have been an underground escape tunnel dating way back which lead out across the road somewhere. ----------------------------------------------