Keith Scantlebury

Just a thought, was it not Swans shop then George Strakers, me mammy's not with us anymore so I can't ask her

Peter Bacci was a smashing fella, if two kids went into his shop and only one had money, Peter made sure that the one with no money left with a sweetie or two. Mind you he didn't take too kindly to the "bigger kids" trying to knock the crap out of his pinball machines.

The original shops at the oval as far as I remember were George Swan's then the chemist (4D per lb for the rose hips), the barbers, a Haberdashery shop and the Co op, on the next corner was Dobsons followed by Christine Henderson the Chiropodist Wakes the butcher (nice pies) Mr Beadnells Paper shop and another drapers, there could have been more but I can not remember. I do remember the Oval being built. I remember one of those shops changing hands and it becam a record shop.

Thinking back I remember the chiropotist and the chemist dont think I can remember the co-op, [was it the co-op that preceeded the bakers] my mother worked in George Swans shop for about 17 years. The thing is Pete, those shops in the oval have changed hands /use, [with the exception of a couple] so many times over the years. I can remember during the first miners strike when we had electricity rationing and power cuts [was it winter '71 or '72] some of those shopkeepers camping out in their shops overnight for fear of looters.

The Oval used to be a thriving little community as many of us well remember. There was the clinic/school dentist, the doctors surgery [ivory and Brown] paper shop, hairdressers , Dennis' greengrocer, George Swan's [mini mart] the butcher, bakers, fish and chip shop and the school.I've bound to have something out. There was a second hand motorbike shop [was that in what used to be the bakers?]

Press release,

Bedlington a suburb of Newcastle!!!!!!! Not a good start!

I sent them an e-mail and gave them a little geography lesson Malcolm ......... I hope the good people of North Uist appreciate their new Morrison store.

can anyone tell me about the routledge family that lived in the bedlington area?

Arthur Routledge ........... Had a butchers shop at the oval during 60's and 70's

DONE IT AT LAST....... Thanks GGG and Brettly. We did everything as you said and a bit of help from others. It seemed that perseverence was the thing. Its up and running now so hopefuly now that all the settings are in place and stored ,all the bairn has to do is log on and use it. Mind you, I hope people don't think me too harsh for sending a 10 year old out to work so that he can earn the money to download games at 20 quid a crack.

Our town is virtually cut of from the north and south, the supermarkets are almost out of food, milk bread included fuel supplies have run out except for essential services. but the devastation here is no where near as bad as those to the west and south west .........our Federal Govt has graciously donated 1 Million towards flood relief they are in cloud nine and not in touch with reality only a couple of weeks ago i read we had given Indonesia a cool 474.700.00 in aid ,,,,,,Brian

I read that Rio Tinto [the company that owns Alcan] have been badly affected by the flooding down there, they have a few coal mines etc in Queensland. This will have a major impact on the steel industry in Asia and in Europe. Apparently, they donated A$1ooo,ooo to the flood relief fund ,so for the Australian govt just to match that sum is a disgrace. Lets see how many of Australia's so called freinds rush in with financial and practical help as they do with "less fortunate countries". Also the Rio Tinto mine workers who have been unable to work, because of the flooding, have been put to good use helping the victims the best way they can. Lets all hope you do not need their assistance Brian, good luck mate and we all hope that you and yours stay safe and dry.

Keith,

If you can do all those twists and turns ever considered a career in politics?

come on Malcolm, now you are talking silly, it takes years of dedicated training to become that bent and twisted........whereas the Chinese State Circus......well at least you have to be dedicated

Here's some culture you heathens!

If the regular stuff was like this it would be worth watching........

I can do that, me and my flexible freinds that is

Personally, I think the country would be at a loss without them. The christmas special this time round was an absolute hoot. Jim Royle having to be lifted onto the crapper 'cos he had two sore big toes ................ or is that the wrong family. oops , mebe them ROYALS in London should swap with them ROYLES in Manchester. The christmas message would be better to watch for one thing

Thanks GGG will try again tomorrow with what you say. We will have to get it working somehow, the laddie wants to get to use it. I suppose we could get on to Sony if all else fails

My youngest got a PSP GO for xmas and we are having difficulty connecting it to the wireless router. We have followed the instructions to the letter and when we get to the last instruction it says The access point was not detected the signal of the access point may be weak or the SSID you entered may not be correct. We took it back to comet and even their games geeks were confused as it was new to them as well, but after about 1 1/2 hours they got it sorted .When we got home and whent through it all again .. still nothing. Our phone and internet package is with talktalk and all we have connected to the router is 2 laptops and a wireless printer. The router is able to take 5 devices, so that should not be a problem. Can anyone please help?

The whole thing stinks to the high heavens. I would not be surprised if they got away with it completely, or it takes so long to deal with , it would just fizzle out. Like I have said before if it was me I would get clattered cos if I so much as farted in a clean air zone I would get nicked for it.

Well regardles if he does or does,nt or even spells Bedlington with 2b,s I still think ALL the small traders in the town deserve a medal as big as a frying pan.......anyway whats wrong with a bit of enterprise

I totaly agree. Just cannot see any reason he had to hide the fact he was the owner in the first place. Maybe he was a little shy to big the place up and admit he was at the helm

i own eats and treats food takeaway and i strongly feel that we give value for money i am not out to fleece anyone and i think you will find like me that other small traders in the town are out to make a simple living and just want to get by in life like everyone else its very hard having to compete with the likes of gregs and other big companies , at least you get a good welcome when you come into our takeaway, its hard work running your own buisness , if traders actualy charged for the time and dedication put in to there shops no one could afford to shop with them .

Him speak with forked tongue. In the consumer forum When it was suggested that he worked there he said "no I work in Morpeth, I just call in when I pass through" See, my talents are wasted should have been a snoop.

For as long as I can remember, the people of bedlington have been asking for a sports centre. When Blyth got their swimming pool, we asked for one. Ashington and Blyth had one so we wanted one. The then council [ Bedlington Urban District Council ] told us we had a perfectly good pool at Humford. It was not too long before Newbiggin got a sports centre, then Cramlington [ or vice versa ] then eventually Ashington and Blyth got theirs improved as well. We, the people of Bedlington asked again , Wansbeck said no, Newbiggin had theirs brought up to date. Ashington had theirs closed, the others in the area continued to improve, oh, I forgot to mention that in the meantime Humford pool closed and was made into a car park [which attracted pervs at night so they had to lock it] Now we are looked after by the very capable and extremely competent people known to us as Northumberland County Council [ yes, I have been on the sauce], so it will be a very cold day in hell before Bedlington gets anything resembling a sports centre [ unless Mr.Tesco wants to build us one as a thank you for allowing them to rip a perfectly good town centre apart.... methinks not]. No doubt NCC will continue to look after their favourites, Alnwick, Morpeth and Hexham, after all, the tourists need to be looked after dont they?

Malcolm do you ever get the feeling that you are talking to yersel. All the posts on here , bar 1 , are from you ...... Maybe you are just a frustrated european finance correspondent. lol. never mind, there are people you can be referred to that can sort you out, until then just carry on bashing the keys, youre a trooper lol.

I can remember them in the Railway but I am to young to have known them in the Tankerville. Can't say that I remember a son but they did have a daughter, Florence, who worked in the pub........ The only thing i really know about the Tankerville , is that I used to work for the Earl of Tankerville at Chillingham [with the wild cattle among other things] The pubs that are named after them are far more interesting than the family. The dowager Lady Tankerville had. to be the most eccentric woman I have ever known. There were certainly a few disorientated bats in her loft to say the least.

Small business's in this town and others are faced with astronomical overheads, what with greedy landlords and greedy cooncils, who seem to think just because you want to open a shop, they have the right to fleece you because you must have money to want to open a shop in the first place! Wrong! Many people just want to earn an honest crust and don't have aspirations of grandeur. Is it any wonder that many fail within the first year? I worked for somebody who had a shop on the front street, over a grand a month in rent plus electric plus insurance plus cooncil rates plus wages and had to deliver a fair price to the public, and a cooncil he had to fight because he had the audacity to want to put a sign up on the front of his shop, no such problems for Tesco there, eh! People need help to open a shop so that they can pay their bills and to be able to offer a fair price for their goods as well as being able to live! This help should not stop with new business's but should include existing business's also. If we want to shop in Bedlington for all our needs then we should be encouraging people to set up, not pricing them out of the market before they even start! But there again we've got Tesco Haven't WE so WHY BOTHER :dribble: :blink:

You are absolutely spot on there Merlin. The phrase pxxxing against the wind comes to mind

ASDA was started by a group of yorkshire dairy farmers ASDA = Associated Dairies = it was not a particuarly small company from the start. The vegetable growers from the east riding and north lincolnshire soon joined in and helped to make asda a major player from the word go.

I agree Vic, I have seen the buyers from the big supermarkets many times at the livestock mart. They are sent to buy weight, not quality. As cattle enter the sale ring they pass over a weighbridge. The buyers from the likes of asda and tesco just bid for the early entries until they have purchased their designated weights. A good butcher spends time looking at the beasts before deciding on which ones he would like to bid for, cattle that are "finished" properly kill out better and the carcase would be hung for 3 or 4 weeks before butchering for sale. Hung meat should not be confused with the supermarket term of MATURED MEAT. Matured meat is butchered straight away, vaccuum packed and stored in a coldroom for a few weeks before being distributed to the stores and stuck on the shelves . That is why you get the packs with the absorbant pads in them to soak up the blood. Beef that has been hung properley is more brown in colour and when you press it w,hith your thumb you should leave an indentation, matured beef , on the other hand, is still bright red and when you press it, it springs back much quicker. There are still many butchers who attend the marts themselves, buy livestock and have them sent to their chosen abatoir.

people of bedders please try and support small local buisnesses, the bigger chains take our money and give no personal service whereas local small shops get to know the locals and actualy care what happens to there customers small shops may have to charge a little more but look at the pesonal service you get so come on support the littleuns

I hate places like ASDA and TESCO, but the fact is they make shopping too easy [one stop shopping]. They have turned the knack of depriving you of your hard earned cash into an art form. I would much rather go to a proper grocer and baker etc. The quality is much better and as Malcolm says, it is easier to see the boss if need be. We never buy supermarket meat as we have a perfectly good butcher in Bobby Cowell who has served us well for years. What we need is another Pop Clowston [remember him?] I dont think we woluld spend too much more if we used the smaller shops because we would be more likely to only buy what we actually went in for and not be conned into 2 for 1 deals on something we dont want.

My daughters boyfriend, who works for N.C.C., has been told not to plough and grit at the same time. This is for health and safety reasons as they are two seperate jobs and doing both at the same time would affect concentration levels. He has also been sent on a course to learn how to climb in and out of a tractor cab.

My grandparents lived at Doctor terrace opposite the Tankerville Arms they and their friends used to drink there nearly every night. The landlord and landlady where called Mr & Mrs Exton I remember they had names for different rooms and used to talk about the Blue room which had blue wallpaper. It could have been to widen the road in the 60s I can remember seeing it being knocked down and fires burning around it during the night. A very popular pub.

I wonder if they were the same Extons that were in the Railway Tavern during the 1970's