Brian Steel

5 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

HI Brian,welcome to the forum!

Are you any relation ti one of me aad Bates' pit marra's...[whey,"Aad" is a figure of speech,cos the lad aam taaking aboot was just a young'un when the pit was gaanin'!]

Jimmy Steel? Went ti live in Perth Australia a few years ago.

Aye,Ted was a crackerjack aal reet!,if we heard he was coming through the free woods  doon Bedlington bank,[jungle drums!],we used ti climb up the tallest,thinnest tree we could find,cos we knew he couldn't climb that far up a tree for fear of the tree branch breaking off,or for fear of falling!

That was our safety escape plan,cos if ye hung aroond by the river,he wud delight in tossing ye in fully clothed and wud watch ye droond....not so funny.[and aa cudn't swim,but a cud climb higher,and faster than any of the lads doon the woods...[cudn't run,used ti get caught by farmers etc for apple-raiding etc!!]

There was aalwis loads of lads doon the woods in them days....circa 1954...[before that and after that also... aa was 10 yrs aad in that year]

Sym,mebbe the cooncil was strapped for cash ti build a new block of classrooms,and had ti mek dae wi "Pre-fabs"..[they weren't  portacabins],they must have been built after the end of the war,at least,mebbe earlier,but my eldest Sister started the family trend of attending the Whitley,[aal five of us..],and she would have started there in aroond 1948-ish,and I think....THINK,mind,!,that they were there then.

I stand to be willingly corrected if I am wrong on that point.[they were there when I started in aroond 1952-ish.]

Jimmy is my cousin but never seen him for years

On 15/06/2012 at 10:31, curly said:

can people really remember why it had to be demolished?............and having classes in the porta cabins

Ted coils burnt it down