Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

@Pete & @Canny lass - I will post my latest update of the YM plan in the comments for the photo 'YMCA 1977' in the 'Old Photos of Bedlington 2' album and any further updates I will do in that album. @Andy Millne - would you close this topic so no further comments can be added and after I type this I will repost the 'Piper award 2021' photos so the topic ends up as it started = award to CL

@Harvs72 - never heard, or seen any comment on social media, about haunted properties at Hartlands or West Lea. Even if I had I would not believe them as I am one on those who just do not believe in any paranormal activity. From 1948 I have lived in 7 properties and stayed and 50+ holiday homes and hotels and the only things I had to compete with I those buildings are - insects of all kinds and building materials that creak and crack as they expand and contract when warming up and then cooling down.

1. In which Christmas song can you find the words “Everyone dancing merrily in the new old-fashioned way”? Answer = 2. What is wassailing? Answer = an annual tradition to bless orchards to ensure a good harvest for the year to come 3. Before being connected with Christmas, what was Yule? Answer = Norse winter feast 4. What is the name of the last ghost that visits Scrooge in A Christmas Carol? Answer = 5. What is Frosty the Snowman’s nose made out of? Answer = 6. Among Christians who lived in the East when was Christmas originally celebrated? Answer = 7. In what century was Christmas first written as Xmas? Answer = 16th 8. What is the Capital of Christmas Island? Answer = Flying Fish Cove 9. What does Santa ride on in Finland? Answer = 10. According to the Christmas song, what did my true love give to me on the eighth day of Christmas? Answer = 11. In which direction should you stir the Christmas pudding mix if you want to avoid bad luck, clockwise or anticlockwise? Answer = As I am not superstitious either way - if I was then clockwise. 12. Apart from being the world’s largest, what was unusual about the snowman named Olympia? Answer = It was female 13. Under which zodiac sign are you born if your birthday is December 25th? Answer = 14. What popular Christmas song did Eartha Kitt record in 1953? Answer = 15. The Grinch is as cuddly as a what? Answer = 16. Are Santa’s reindeer male or female? Answer = 17. In Japan, Santa is said to live on the moon. True or false? Answer = 18 In the song Jingle Bells who was seated by my side? Answer = 19. Which American president banned Christmas trees from the White House? Answer = Theodore Roosevelt 20. In what decade did Coca-Cola start using Santa Clause in adverts? Answer = I’ll bet you didn’t know …. (and maybe you’d rather not) Caga Tío (the shitting log) is an integral part of a Catalonian Christmas. Starting December 8, children feed a log of wood every evening with morsels of food and cover it with a blanket to keep it warm. On Christmas Eve they leave the log alone and go to another room and pray for a lot of presents. On returning, they sing songs to the log while beating the living daylights out of it with big sticks and telling it to “shit”. The bewildered log obliges with sweets, nuts, small toys and the Catalonian delicacy Turron nougat. Believe me, it’s a sight to behold! Answer = I didn’t

@HIGH PIT WILMA - and all the best to the two of you

@Canny lass & @Pete - I posted the aerial photo of the YM + my latest plan on the FB group Bygone Bedlington to see if anyone could remember the layout of the rooms. Check out these two comments and if required I will update my plan - probably in the new year

Good to see you back @Brian Cross - all the best

I couldn't remember, for sure, if thy were square or round tables. I thought square but I doubted myself. I see I missed the door off the storage room and dark room. Updated images with doors added. ps. I keep thinking there was a door, into that storage cupboard next to the photography room, from the snack bar room🙂 pps. I don't like these new Smileys & Emotion - prefer the old ones.

@Canny lass & @Pete My latest attempt :-

Did you know that Yul Brynner was a life long Liverpool FC supporter, and despite his shaved head and clean shaven look he never wore after-shave - "Yul never wore cologne".

I'm thinking he same as you @Pete but it does seem feasible - if there was a performance going on on stage then access to the rooms at the back of the stage without going via the front of the stage where the audience could see would be possible. Add to that I just remembered why there wasn't a door into a room before the photography room = it was the back wall of the fairly large equipment storage room in the sports hall - where the gymnastics equipment - pommel horse - box - coconut mats + badminton net etc. were stored. So that would scuppers my idea of a storage cupboard/room for cleaning materials - mops - buckets etc. - but there must have been one. Can't remember the cleaners carrying in their own gear every week. But I think we now have 95% of the layout so I will do a revised plan, with straight lines, when I get a spare hour.

I will work in the updates. I am now thinking CL is right and there was a door from the table tennis room and you opened that and there was some steps up to the stage. But I could be totally wrong. Pete do you think the door at the back of the table tennis room, out onto the grass area, would have been one of those emergency exits?

One will do a new plan but first I must stew over 'a door in the corner ..................to the stage' - I can't remember , must have been concentrating on the 'three crowns' (or was it three stars?) - we played table tennis almost every time we were in the building.

BBC has had that story for a while. Although I have added a full turkey to my menu that doesn't happen these days, it's just a small turkey crown as there is only the two of us to eat it. Only one daughter has Christmas dinner with us, and she is vegan = nut roast or Beetroot Wellington. The other three children are grandparents and have their own family dinner. They, and their partners, all call in during the day. The grand kids plus great grand kids it is normally Boxing day or later as they also have partners parents and grandparents to visit. So our bungalow has the 'after dinner buffet' for about three days

Ours is simple and the only healthy food will be the vegetables, everything else adds to the waistline :-

Which pups should we advise people to stay away from? You must have been in them all lately - hope the real ales are up to scratch. Bamburgh is a lang way te gan for a pint🙂

So Can I stop clarting and leave the YM layout as it is

1. Which country joined the European Community on the same day as Britain and Ireland? Answer = 2. Which prison was demolished after the death of its last inmate, Rudolf Hess? Answer = 3.Of what do Fennel leaves taste? Answer = 4. What colour light do ships display at night on the starboard side? Answer = 5. What is the square root of 729? Answer = 6. Any alloy referred to as an ‘amalgam’ must always contain which metal? Answer = 7. When was the decimal currency introduced in Britain? Answer = 15th February 1971 8. The Trojan Horse, was it a gift TO or FROM the city of Troy? Answer = TO Troy 9. Which ‘Lane’ do Sheffield united play at? Answer = 10. What nickname was given to young men in the 1950s who wore mock Edwardian fashions? Answer = 11. Where was the German fleet scuttled in 1919? Answer = Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands 12. What sort of weapon was an arbalest? Answer = Bonus question: What is Santa Clause’s first language? Answer = I'ts all Greek to me I’ll bet you didn’t know …. Winston Churchill and Clement Atlee had the same nanny. Answer = I didn’t. Probably the on Jacob rees Mog still has

@Canny lass & @Pete - Store Room added before the YM leader's office. I haven't looked at this weeks quiz yet

@Pete - was there a room where the cleaners would have all their gear?

@Pete - my mind kept saying snooker table but I was trying to place it in the same room as the table tennis tables. Now you have said where it was my mind is at rest. As far as I can remember there were three table tennis tables available. One on the right, behind the kitchen wall facing toward the back window, as you went through the door and two on the left at 90 degrees to the one on the right. A quick diagram of the layout as I, and you hjave pointed out, can remember :- ps. I've forgotten to put the doors into the loos

A photo from the 2021 Piper Awards ceremony last night :-