pilgrim

It was wonderful help - Its half term here so used the opportunity to lay down 8 tonne of gravel in a grotto we use for the camp fires. (we are in an ex convent) the kids loved doing it, especially with the quads and trailers whizzing about! Then we took the opportunity to sort some wood out for the fires - there was only one casualty - er a leader who wondered how sharp these new axes were - I think I might have to revisit the whole safety thing !!!!! But after an hour or so of use the hatchets were still as sharp as they started out - lovely bit of Swedish steel.

Way back in the 60's and 70's a couple of men lived in a cottage on the river bank deep into the grounds of Hartford Hall and I believe they were brothers. Possibly ex staff from the 'old hall?' They were getting on and had been there many years. the cottage had no mains facilities and they had to 'barrow' coal from the hall down through the woods as well as anything else they needed. I have no idea who they were or what happened to them.

Dredging through what is left of my memory - I recall being told that in one of the competitions there was a full cooked pigs head as a table centre piece - complete with apple in the mouth etc. (it may have been in France) and Joe munched through his allotted amount of pies, sausages or whatever the competition was and finished well head of the others - the tale goes that he then reached for the pigs head.... with the immediate effect of the other competitor/competitors - passing out - throwing up or just walking away....

canny lass - forgive the lower case.. have bought some husky axes and felling axes and splitting mauls -- soooo sharp and wonderful balance - nice xxxx

i knew this man - in a very distant way - as in I knew the name and he came to our house- he was a champion eater- I seem to think he drank at the 'gate' club as well as the grapes

greggs best - although those floury white buns add a certain substance and texture - and if you want some roughage go for the multi seeded types

you should try the ultimate hangover cure - the yodellburger I discovered this in Belfast after copious amounts of bush mills and guinness It consists of a tripe sandwich with a runny egg on top the clue is in the name...

so - either 16000 million years or 3000 -depends on your beliefs - but - surely big G meant that evolution meant more than being able to type with our thumbs?/ (ok if you are under 20) sic transit gloria mundi

bugga - its that foreign timeline thing !!! xxx stick another candle on your cake from me

damn - missed it - happy belated thingys - hope you don't have too bad a headache.

its wonderful that we still have living memories - we can put down the facts now before they are gone forever - this is why local history is so important and has to be done now!

much obliged eggy1948! the gasometer sets the location for me - another mystery solved.

Begbies - yes I think that was the name ! thank you - I not that you are in Seghill -- one of the most historic places in the county

I would never have thought that not only did they build trains at Bedlington but also motor cars!!! - and where was the shirt factory? and what happened to all the trades and industries???? Bedlington should be booming now but seems to have 'missed the boat' You do learn some amazing things on here. 3G was it Bill Elliot who had the garage in the market place? and - I recall a garage on the road south of Bedlington, on the east side but cannot recall the name - it sticks in my mind as it had a sign in the hedgerow saying 'petrol 100 yards' - now that might not seem important but to a small child it was magic as for the first time you could see what 100 yards looked like!!!

update re the joistripper. I have spoken to phil joisce and this is the background. "My father produced a tool to enable him to save time when installing sliced bread plant at Proudlocks bakery in Ashington. All the bakeries agreed to introduce sliced bread at the same time but Rank launched early and many bakers, including Proudlocks ended up with van loads of bread unsold, as the saying goes "the best thing since sliced bread"! Proudlocks was one of the firms my father installed/maintained plant for, along with pop factories Waters & Robson in Morpeth and Muters at Bedlington Station, The Bedlington Glove Company (Rema I think they were called who made gloves for M&S etc) Aycroyd's shirt factory in Bedlington and many more. My father installed the slicing machinery AND designed equipment to join the new machinery to the existing production plant in 6 weeks, normal time was 3 months with 3 electricians and 4 apprentices. He managed to do it himself with only an apprentice to help. The time saving was made as a result of him speeding up the installation of the Mineral Insulated cable (Pyro) terminations using what was the forerunner of the Joistripper. Ironically it was a severe back injury sustained when lifting an industrial fridge with seven other workers at Proudlocks that ended his active career. He was forced to find a way of earning a living without lifting heavy items, working outside etc. He picked up his makeshift tool used for terminating MI cable and decided to turn it into something that could be sold to help other electricians in their work - the Joistripper! He never made a fortune, but maintained his independence and managed to bring me up. That is the brief history, I may enlarge at some point, but for a Bank Holiday Tuesday, that's the lot. I'd love to have something on my father on Wikipedia. He also designed and built the Joisce car, I still have the logbook (with Joisce as manufacturer) and many of the parts for the one he ran, one other was built for a good friend of the family, Rex Dixon, who owned Dixons Filling Station at Stannington (the one on the left as you travel South towards Newcastle on the A1)... Kind regards Philip" So Bedlington was home to another innovation!!

er- noticed that bit earlier about owners looking like their dogs... I have a Bernese mountain dog and have had them for many years - a bigger dafter more affable dog you couldn't find, but over the last 30 yrs the life span has gone down from about 12 (my first was 11) to about 6 - last one died 2 weeks afore 6th b/day - cancer takes most of them. But have hopes for the present one as father was brought in from Scandinavia and mother is of a good line. its never easy getting a dog that you know doesn't last long but i'm well taken with the breed, but then I like big dogs. HOWEVER, herself has met a few Bedlington terriers on her rounds and is most taken with them, and cant believe how soft the coat is - she keeps hinting that maybe when we cant cope with big dogs that is the way to go...

force ten

not sure about the history - but I always knew it as the grapes... there are a few other pubs with the names 'grapes' and usually refers to Bacchus - eg Elson etc. can anyone recall which bands used which pubs on picnic day? I seem to recall that each pub had its own following?? and it was quite close knit.

HPW - thank you very much for your kind comments about uncle 'Jack' I haven't seen him in a few years, but he was working at Wallsend police station as a driver - handyman last I saw him. and as daft as ever - he moved to a bungalow in Woodside above furnace bank so you are much closer than me (I am up in the wilds aside Berwick) might be worth ya taking jess for a walk along that way!

choc toffee bar but no nuts - er or maybe it had ...

29 trekker

Caramac is still available, although it did disappear for a while! You can get other Caramac flavoured things as well I believe. We have had some of that cheese and it is delicious although not easy to obtain. The only suppliers we have obtained it from are a small deli in Ripley and herself assures me that Selfridges in Manchester stocks it (although no doubt it is available online.

who would have thought that Frank Sinatra's song strangers in the night was about a cartoon dog that wasn't even invented for decades after the song! perhaps he could see the future? possibly better than Sammy Davis jnr...

as an aside - I noticed summat on the chronicle website re Cathy Secker - news broadcaster etc - I seem to recall and I may be well wrong - that she was Catherine Barnfather of the Choppington clan and was a model but had a road accident which left her with legs scars and that put an end to the modelling so she went to broadcasting - nice lass