Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

@Canny lass - questions asked on FB group - awaiting replies-

@Canny lass - @AllanUK - just checked the info in the Gallery album for St Bede's and the web address in there is is no longer active so looks like CL's above link to the online site has taken over. This is the entry in the album :- @AllanUK - the only other images I can find on the Facebook Group - Bygone Bedlington - are wedding photos = wedding groups standing outside the church entrance.

@AllanUK - haven't found the one(s) I thought I had see. I've searched the Bygone Bedlington Facebook group. All I have found at the moment is this aerial shot that @John Fox (foxy) posted. There wasn't a date with the photo but it has to be between 1953, when the B.U.D.C shelter, to the right of The Red Lion as you look at the photo, and the early 1970's, as the Trotter monument hasn't been moved for the building of the roundabout and dual carriageway down the Glebe bank. @Canny lass

@AllanUK I think all the photos of St Bede's that we have on this site are the school class photos in the 'Gallery' album - St. Bede's Primary & Senior School - in page 2 of the Historic Bedlington section. Have you looked through the album? I think I have seen a photo having been taken in the alley way between Hartford Road West and the old Police Station but I will have to do some searching. Let you know, one way or the other, what I find.

Well I'll still enjoy life whilst the development is in progress and finally completed - but Roll on 2025 and we should see the state of things. You never know by 2025 we might all have taken a step back in time, as importing is getting more difficult, and we will have gone back to the early part of the 20th century days to growing our own produce in our gardens and following the local horse and trailer sellers for horse manure

That sounds like a good idea but would they have to leave out a gymnasium area? I wonder if the paramount Health & Fitness Club, on the Glebe Road, would be involved or would they loose their business in the area? Nowt to do with Bedlington but just what happens to small businesses when a shopping complex with additional facilities opens. I know an ex work mate of mine opened the Aspire Health & Fitness club, Newgate Street, Morpeth but I don't know if she and her husband were aware of planned new leisure centre facilities. They bought the premises, 76, Newgate Street just before covid hit so all their plans were nocked back months and now they have opened and have some members I wonder how long their members will stay with them when the new leisure centre gym opens.

I had heard that when Tesco pulled out all the small retailers also backed away. Naturally as that's just what I heard I have no idea what went on behind the scenes and at the council meetings. I assume all the minutes from all the meetings involving every stage of the development, that has gone on for years, are available to the general public. Reading the minutes, or attending council meetings, It's not something I have ever thought I could pass a few hours/days of my time doing.

If they had an Ann Summers shop on Front Street then the footfall could be monitored and then we would know who was working from home. This isn't totally accurate but the best I could do - Market Place area & Cramlington Manor Walks and Concordia area (car parking areas outlined in yellow) :-

@PetePete I know what you mean Pete – it’s the same here. There are quite a few who only do home visits. The wife uses a hairdresser that used to rent a space (one chair, bench and mirror) in a local Hair Salon. The covid lockdown resulted in that hairdresser starting to work from home and she has now converted one of her rooms into her ‘one person at a time’ salon. Once I got to my teens, mid 1960’s, I hardly went to a barbers. I preferred the hippy style to the Teddy Boy brylcreemed wave. These days I never go to a barber or have a home visit – It’s a do-it-yourself hair shaver job with a No 3 guard so one length all over.

@rosco Do you think the space now under development at the Market Place would have been large enough to hold a leisure facility, with all the amenities, for the whole of Bedlington? Bearing in mind I think it would have to have it’s own car park. I know we all would prefer to see a thriving Front Street but would we all be prepared to spend more in the individual family Butchers, Bakers, Greengrocers, Florists etc. than we would in a Supermarket? Even for those that could afford to pay extra for their weekly shop there are still many more that would prefer the cheaper option. If Bedlington did not have Supermarkets would the town’s folk, with transport, shop elsewhere. I know a few relatives, from Bedlington Station, do their weekly shop at Blyth (Cowpen) Asda and only use the Station Co-op and corner shops for the odd items they may need through the week. One of our daughters used to be in charge of the Guidepost Co-op But still did a large shop at ASDA.

Unfortunately it used to be the public that went up and down the Font Street that would influence anyone in business to open a shop. These days it's only the things you can't but online - Hair dresser/Barbers - Nail Bar - Beauty Salon & Cafe that will tempt a business owner. I can't imagine a business owner thinking - what retail shop could I open, in any town, that will bring in joe public during normal working hours? The majority of families, weather house owners or renters, have all the bread winners working. Even after child birth the parent wants to get back to work asap, even when child minding costs as much as they will earn. Even green grocers can't compete with the way the Supermarkets have forced the farming industry prices to below what an independent Highstreet trader could make a decent living from. I have always though that Supermarkets should only sell food; not clothes, cosmetics, gardening tools & plants, electrical goods etc. etc. I wonder if by 2050 house will be built without kitchens - ever meal delivered to your door!!

1. Which cricketer was the first to hit six sixes in an over? Answer =Gibbs 2. Jack had his second birthday yesterday and he’ll be 4 years old next year. What is the date of Jack’s birthday? Answer = 31st December 3. Which sea lies between the Bosporus and the Dardanelles? Answer = 4. Which literary family lived at Haworth in Yorkshire? Answer = Bronte 5. Who recorded the albums After the Goldrush and Harvest? Answer = 6. In which city did the summer Olympic Games of 1984 take place? Answer = 7. Orlando International Airport has the location code ‘MCO’. What do these letters stand for? Answer = 8. Alfred, Farmingdale and Pixy are all types of what? Answer = Plums 9. Who sang with Elton John on Act of War? Answer = 10. Who lives in Hundred Acre Wood? Answer = 11. In which country was Florence Nightingale born? Answer = 12. Who led the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381? Answer = Wat Tyler I’ll bet you didn’t know …. The onion is the most widely used vegetable in the world. Answer = I did. I hate them. I’ll bet you don’t know how many times I have had to scrape the onions out of a cheese sandwich I have ordered in a pub or café?