Keith Scantlebury

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?]

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Thanks Andy. We had a little help from the Chemist but willpower is still needed. I bottled some wine yesterday and got stuck into some last night. I was worried that the taste of drink would trigger the craving for a tab, but I was fine. Just goes to show that it was more to do with people smoking arround you [before the ban] in pubs that made you crave a tab rather than the taste of the drink. [although I must say that I smoked helluva lot more while drinking wether it was at home or in the boozer].

Thanks Malcolm.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh I've not had a tab for 6 weeks me and the wife both stopped together after 35 years on them...... now and then could kill for one. ARRRRRRRRRRGH