Symptoms

Even though I'm a devout and practising atheist I have a soft-spot for Chrissy choral music. I'm even prepared to ignore the elitist conotations of the King's College Choir to listen to a good tune.

I remember my Mum drying her long hair in front of the open fire. It always was cold back then as so few of us had central heating; I think that only became wide-spread in the 70s when North Sea gas arrived. As a kid my bed was always piled-up with extra blankets and an old eiderdown and heated by hot breath ... head under, deep breathing.

The last I heard they were going to cover the place with wind turbines .... www.middletonburnactiongroup.co.uk

Well I'm lovely and toasty doing this post ... just chucked another log into the blazing wood burner. Yummy! I want tons, and tons of snow.

Willy, I don't hold a torch for Scargs and his naive battle tactics, however, I do take a position on the much wider strategic views of both sides. This position has been recently reinforced by the National Archive's publication of a whole raft of documents petaining to the dispute. There was a concerted effort to dismantle the coal industry whose deep mines couldn't compete economically with the huge glut of cheaper open-cast stuff from abroad, or even the deep mined stuff from overseas where cheap labour costs created an unfair advantage. So Thatch and her vile henchmen (see, I just can't resist loading the arguement with a derogatory term) saw the economic excuse to pare down the industry; oh, and a glorious by product for them was some payback on the NUM. The NUM, and Scargs in particular, have been demonised over the years for CAUSING the destruction of the mining industry when the truth is much more complicated. Yep, Scargs was stupid or blinkered in employing some of his methods but history has shown that the fate of the mining industry here was probably doomed even before the dispute began and can't all be laid at his door. Hardly suprising when most of the 100 + year old pits were coming to the end of their productive lives. Some of the participants in the dispute on the workforce side have more blood on their hands than others: NACODS and that Quisling UDM group of miners in Notts. So who won? It certainly wasn't the small mining communities up and down Blighty, now blighted ghost towns. It certainly wasn't the industry crying-out for more modernisation and the resultant long-term benefits that might bring. It certainly wasn't the tens of thousands of pitmen who got a right royal stiffing, No, the only winners were the coal importers and their City backers. Heck, lets just call it globalisation, applaud and attempt to apportation all the blame on Scargs.

ThatchBasher Sym reporting for duty. This thread has two strands: 1. Campbell as an effective MP; 2. Facts and figures. All political parties have their clowns, idiots, inarticulates and crooks. Labour has in Campbell an inarticulate clown rapped inside an idiot; I have NO evidence that he's bent. Perhaps others might shed some light, say, on his expenses claims. The facts and figures outlined in that letter have always been available and have NEVER been denied by those on the left. Yep, they may have been spin but all side do that to score some advantage. Just to clear one thing up (and I've made this point on numerous occasions here) the NUM were never against pit closures; if the case was made that individual pits weren't economical to run then the Union would NEGOTIATE with the NCB for closure. None of this changes the evil legacy of Thatcher; one man's God is another man's Devil. There you have it .... a balanced opinion!

Tony, my reference was Dr Stone caught scoffing in the Chinese restaurant ... and off I went in a different direction to discuss the expertise of the sawbones; nothing to do with chips, chicken chow mein, flied lice or Cheshire cheese. Clearly, my pleadings in an earlier post above, fell on receptive lugholes. The tale of Sym's bits being examined and the wider issue of health well being has been restored ... thank you Mods. Dr Stone had a son who I was mates with for a time, but I can't remember his given name as most of us went by nicknames back then (obviously his was Stoney) ... any help with his given name???? Mods, what does that "0 warning points" mean?

Spot on Maggs. My mission here is always to educate. Perhaps if I'd used the medical term Smegma, those whose fingers hover over the' kill trigger' may have paused, scratched their heads, referred to a handy Anatomy and Physiology book (or headed to Wikipedia) to discover what the term meant. I hope they would have then realised that I was dealing with a very important health matter for men, and by association women. Other facts in my post reference World Health Organisation research studies that has been conducted for decades, so Dr Stone was clearly on top of his game. Note of caution ... the sawbones wasn't discussing something he found on me but was talking about general health issues confronting young men and women in the 60s and especially those leaving home for higher education. Oh, and the issue remains relevant today.

YesterdayI wrote a reply to doglover's posting about Dr Stone but it has mysteriously disappeared. Could it have been lost in the ether or was it deleted? If the Mods deleted it wouldn't courtesy expect me to get some sort of spanking via the Personal Message facility? Oh, I've just noticed that below my username is "0 warning points", what does this mean?

Dr Stone was the medic nominated to conduct my medical examination as part of my Uni application in early 69. I went to his surgery, which was on Netherton Lane, to 'drop my pants' and cough, various pressures taken and vital fluids dipped; I got a clean bill of health, "a fine specimen" were his exact words. The funny thing is I vividly remember him talking about importance of pecker cleanliness for students and ensuring no build-up of foreskin cheese to ensure the health of the ladies - I kid you not! He talked about the very low incidence of cervical cancer in the Jewish women and the link to male circumcision (no cheese).

The tit-suckers, ankle-bitters, and assorted rugrats will never be as wise as old Sym or, to a lesser extent, Mal. Go on, show them what they missed and let them weep when they compare their heros with the greats of the 60s.

Is The Blyth News still going? My old man was featured a few times and it would be nice to see if they've got a searchable archive so I can get some 'clippings'.

Nice one Mal. I'll need to find time to sit for an hour to watch it again. Why don't you put a link in the Jack Bruce R.I.P. thread to direct folks here and to show what all those whippersnappers missed back in the day.

HPW - I remember that cooked cat story that you mentioned above. It was very big local news and I remember reading about it in a local Blyth paper, the name of which I've forgotten. It fed into the widely held mythology (racist) of the time about what was served-up in Chinese (another racial epithet was used back then) restaurants. Wasn't the restaurant down an ally near the Market Square?

One of the first things I got when I went down to London in 69 was to get a bike. I'd done my bike & car tests when living in Bedders. Anyway, the beast I got in London was a second-hand Tribsa off another student. A Tribsa was a bastard son of Triumph and BSA - it had a 650cc Triumph T120 pre-unit engine mounted in a BSA frame and was a great bike for around London. All this before the introduction of compulsory crash helmets ... picture the scene: Sym astride the throaty beast, long flowing locks streaming in the wind, and the image completed with the teardrop sunglasses (Easy Rider branded). I stopped riding bikes in Blighty' cos of the crash helmet law ... there's always some bastard politicos who want to stop folks having fun. When I turned 50 I thought I'd give it another go and went for a refresher course, but when I went out on one of the training centres bikes, I discovered that London had become a very, very, scary place to ride a bike ... it had completely changed from my student days. End result .... I didn't get a bike ... it would have been a Harley.

No excuses Mal ... digital prophylactics protection dear boy.

Just look what some poxy little town in Cheshire did to gain National (and International) attention for their Chrissylight switch-on. They created a Fartbook page and Twatter storm about the glorious William Shatner (Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise) coming to do the deed ... of course, it was all a fib but it resulted in massive publicity. What a missed trick for Bedders ... it could have been put-out there that he was coming 'from far away' to get a free haircut* before the aliens turned up. *for those who don't know what that reference means do a forum search or wait for clarification.

Just who does this Les Gilbert think he is? Is he the boss of some equipment hire firm? Is he the NCC boss road bloke? Or is he the shovel leaning gadgie we always see at road mending sites?

Bad habits are creeping back ... A brief description about the links please

Reedy ... it's a shame that you're reluctant to post your Dad's pics here, but I fully understand your reasons. One of the joys of the Forum is the historic pics folks post as they are quite rare; very, very few working people could afford cameras or film back then, and those who could just about manage always did their own processing at home. Have you considered either, watermarking your dad's photos or publishing an index of what you have. As you have to scan the original snaps or negs into digital form watermarking becomes very easy using free/cheepo/expensive software. Worth considering so you can publish here and we can all enjoy, plus the bastards out there can't remove your visible watermark.

Weren't there pit coppers who would chase you off pit property? I have a clear memory of these gadgies going after us when ever we went tobogganing (on balata belt* mats) down the heaps or when we were trying to nick stuff from the pit yard. Snow sliding in Winter, dry sliding rest of the year. * for our younger viewers, balata belting was the rubber/fabric stuff they made the underground conveyor belts with. Lengths of it often appeared mixed in the slag on the heaps and we'd cut off suitable bits with our trusty knives (most lads carried knives back then).

Thanks for the clarification Mal. I did read the mission statement on my first visit, but, but, but .... often these have to be 'taken with a pinch of salt'. I'm glad that it's honest. Ditto with merc's post above. Back in the day* there was quite a bit of 'organised' stuff for us kids to do: popular and well-attended youth clubs attached (and run) by the schools, cubs/scouts/guides, lots of activities nearby (Humford Baths, for example). I'm sure other 'old timers' here could add to the list. Oh, and our parents would be content to let us stay-out all day doing our shit ... now they're petrified of lurking kiddie fiddlers. *Pre-Thatcher evisceration terror.

Yeh Brett, Openzone ... that's the beast.

Blimey Willy, there a name from the past ... Blodwyn Pig. When I went to Uni in London in 69 the bands playing at our Freshers Ball were, Blodwyn Pig, Timebox, and Free (in that order). What a lineup! I've posted here before about the remarkable college music scene in London in the late 60s and early 70s.

Mal, I've just had a look, via your link above, at Leading Light; looks to be a worthwhile venture. Just a quick question: I noticed that some of the Trustees had links to the Catholic school/church. Is the Charity a Catholic one, or is it an ecumenical one, or is it secular?