Margaret Wilson

4 hours ago, bluebarby said:

I am q toting myself here! 

Well as promised here are the photos of the viaduct that took the railway up to the pits. Hope it is appreciated 'cos they took some finding!

 

Whow to this picture you must be a genius to have found IT blue barby much appreciated A Big THANK YOU.

"Loved the Photo HPW you look a little darling thank you so much for sending it.  My husband went to that school in the fifties some of the faces looks familiar to me I'm sure some of them went  to guide post senior school when I was there . Getting back to the black pipe it was round  about 48ish when I played there so it could have been possibe you were there.  I remember me and my little freind  were playing on the pipe and her foot got stuck in that  horrible black mud and she lost her shoe in it , we were terrified to go home with only one shoe," her dad had to go and dig it out then wash it on the outside tap . My mams freind  lived in story buildings her name was Beatie Hart she had two little girls Valerie and Beryl Valerie was your age and they got a house at Bedlington when they pulled Story Buildings down . Beatie and my mam were freinds right up untill they passed away. 

16 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Heh heh!

Many thanks for your kind comments,Bayardm and Margaret!

You reminded me of a tale me old deceased Mother used to relate to  me.

We lived just a few yards up from the burn,at the Willow Bridge..and I was only a wee bairn,when me Granda,who lived in with us,answered the door to a knock.

Two little lassies were standing there,aboot 6 years old,one was covered in black sleck...[filthy black coal silt and mud],and was unrecogniseable.

They were both sobbing their little hearts out terrified.

Me Granda looked at them both,and said to the "clean" lassie.."Eh!who's this little bairn,where dae yi belang me bonny lass,tek that bairn yem....she'll get hor deeth o' caad..!"

The lassie said "Mr,it's your Betty,she fell in thi born trying ti waak owa thi pipe ti cross thi born"..[burn]....

Me Granda didn't knaa it was he's own Grand-daughter!

Me Sister got cleaned up and her hint-end clipped for "coming in droonded"!![hard-up times during thi war,nae money ti buy new claas....folk had ti "mend and make do"]....it wud be easy for modern P.C. folk ti be horrified at me Mother clipping thi bairn,withoot knaa-in' thi stress she was under bringin a family of four kids up wi a Man who wadn't work sumtimes,and used ti gaan away gambling wi he's aan family for days on end and drinking he's pay when he DID work!!!

Later on[ from me Sister's plight] ,as I grew up,at age three,I can clearly remember me me Granda opening the door to  a knock ,exactly the same,and me seeing me older Brother,blood all over him,sobbing,and being held up by he's little friend,both would  have been aboot 6yrs old.When Granda asked what happened my Brother's friend said they were climbing the Black Bridge,when my Brother had fallen off and had split his head badly.

My Mother went beserk and clipped him after rushing him to Doctor Hickey's surgery,just a few yards up the bank from where we lived,and the Doctor stitched my Brother's head.

She had warned him before he went out to play,not to go near the bridge,cos that's where aal the bairns played.

He got clipped for disobeying orders!!

He recently told me that he hadn't been playing on the bridge at all that day!![aboot 70 years later mind...but never too late to confess!]

What HAD happened was,he and his friend had been playing in a side-tipping pit tub,beside the Low pit[up thi fields,in thi pit timber yard].,and they were trying ti move the tub,which must have had a stone under the wheel,[which was how you sometimes stopped tubs running amain...out of control].

The tub started to run amain,down a slight gradient,getting faster as it went ,and my Brother was half in and half out of the tub,with his head literally bouncing off the railway sleepers.

He was thrown out of the tub,fortunately,hurt,but alive and nearly passing out as his friend half-carried him back home.

He was terrified to tell the truth,so he went for the little white lie route to my Mother.

He can vividly recall feeling his head stotting of the sleepers to this day!!

Whey,wat dae yi expect laddies ti dae?!!!!...laddies were laddies in them days...ye HAD ti mek ya aan enjoyment.......!!

We used to sit on thi aforementioned  pipe ti try and catch water spiders at three and a half years aad,wi wor older brothers and sisters!!..[thi pipe is still there yet!!!..just a few yards down from the bridge]

This story brings back memiories I used to play on that very same black pipe maybe we played together HPW .

Thank you HPW  you  are an inspiration to the Bedlington community .       "  Choppington"  might not have had a real golf course but it did have a really "Good Park"with tennis court's  bowling green swings, teapot lid , roundabout see saw everything was first class  it was situated  in an area across the road from Tates shop I used to go and play there after school . I also played under the black bridge you mentioned  trying to get across the burn with stepping stones .