Symptoms
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Everything posted by Symptoms
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I recently spotted a note on the Northumberland County Council's archive site that all the Westridge records were transferred to High School (I think ... but will check). Maybe they have a vault full of the old school snaps or perhaps the NCC archive might have them ... I might contact them next week to see what they have and what they may give out. Are there any Members here who have good contacts with the archive bods? Further to my earlier post about the rarity of old snaps and Maggie's point about the 'old gits'. I'm not sure that many/most folks in their 60s or 70s are 'online' to see these posts and be tempted to dig-out and share snaps ... maybe I'm wrong. How about all the younger Members here going to nag their parents/grannies to look in the photo 'shoebox' to see what's there? Get the oldies to talk and share their tales before they croak. I did this with my most of my elders and it proved to be invaluable when I researched the family tree; about 10 years ago I also got my Mum to annotate the back of all the photos in her shoebox and this has proved to be so useful.
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What seems to be driving this thread are the few photos that are being published ... they are quite rare. We think that there were tons of cameras owned by folks back then - even as late as the 60s - but they weren't that commonly used ... cost of buying them and cost of film/processing was maybe beyond most working family budgets. What we tend to see are photos from schools or works (or photo booths or beach snappers) that were done on contract and then made available to the punters. But again budgets must have been tight even for those school photos, including group shots and individual snaps. Thankfully my parents were just able to scrape the few shillings needed so I do have a few. However, the most important one I remember must have been lost in a house move 'cos when I went to clear my Mum's house after she died I couldn't find it.
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Thanks for those contributions - if, and when I get some more I'll add them to the photos and upload new ones. Orloff, are you sure about Helen Hurst/ Mary Tyler? I'm sure it's Mary ... I had a real crush on her but never had the nerve to ask her out; she was friends with Pauline Brown who I also liked.
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Here's a couple more Westridge Photos taken at Ford Castle. Westridge 4 taken 1966 or 7 & Westridge 5 taken 1964 or 5 ... can't remember exactly. I've racked by brain to come-up with names (quite confident about accuracy) but clearly there's gaps - perhaps Members could help name the question marks. Micky is that your brother Jimmy in WR5? I'm busy putting names on some other photos I have and will post them soon.
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Keep up Adam
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BE CERTAIN MY FLOCK THAT I SHALL HAVE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS.
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The Tory High Command were so fed-up with Owen Patterson's performance as Environment Minister in charge of the neddyburger scandal that they had his DNA tested and it came back as being 100% donkey.
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Well, now we know! Fritz the Pope mixed-up in the recent Vatican sex scandal ... and not one just involving boys but, and this is the hard one to believe, naughty nuns. Then there's the tale in the papers this week of the Fritz's top man in Jockoland allegedly being naughty with young priests. How prophetic my Operation Yewtree crack now appears.
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merc wrote: "The NHS has a finite number of employment positions available; i'd wager there are more native people out of work than that number." Yep, absolutely correct merc but how many of them have to correct skills set to work in the NHS? What's stopping them from applying for all those NHS jobs that don't require formal qualifications? merc, I'm sure your Uncle John worked his nuts off but hey, he was trading in a competitive market. Surely you're not suggesting that there should have been a form of apartheid operational in Blyth the aim of which was to protect 'white' businesses? I accept your assertion that "I'm no racist, by the way ... " but my giblets always quiver when hearing phrases like: "some of my best friends are black", or "I'm no racist but ... "; even that smarmy Bullingdon cretin Camaroonie mentions "my black man in Plymouth". To paraphrase Sammy Johnson, "Patriotism excusing or denying racism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". Phrases of denial will always undermine serious and honest comment and in my opinion should always be omitted.
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Oh, dear! Not the immigration card being dealt yet again. Northumberland is 'terribly white', Bedders is 'terribly white', most of Blighty is 'terribly white'. Yep, some parts of the country have higher concentrations of various ethnic groups but why not? Maybe it a safety in numbers thing ... maybe they feel threatened by the indigenous population with their vile hateful media - the repulsive Daily Mail spouting scare stories daily. Here's a thought ... the NHS wouldn't function without the effort of countless thousands of workers originally from overseas. Where would you get that pint of milk or packet of fags at 2 in the morning ... the corner shop run by a hardworking family from the Indian sub-continent? Oh, the list is endless.
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That's a Bessemer Converter ... used in the manufacture of steel not iron and not invented until the 1850s*. Ah, metalwork theory lessons again. *maybe our Iron Works had closed by then?
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And home to the Spanish Flu. My maternal Grandma had her first daughter with my Grandad when he returned from France ... but she died of the flu when an infant.
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Oh dear! The old fella's put his papers in ... I wonder if Operation Yewtree will show an interest.
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Spot on Orloff. Puddling was a process used in the manufature of wrought iron - guys would use very long iron ladles to mix the molten iron in the crucible during the melt. The purpose of this action was to stir-in the 'slag' (a bit like the scum floating on the top) and this resulted in the iron having a slightly fibrous structure and made it good in tension (not like cast iron which is good in compression). Facts remembered from school metalwork theory lessons.
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Oh no! A report in the paper this morning that Waitrose has been affected. This has now become a serious issue ...
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Of course, the Bullingdon Club ruling elite consider the correct fix for food for the poor is for the poor to eat their own kids.
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What did she expect crossing the road there. The number of folks pushing buggies or leading ankle-biters across busy roads AND NOT using pedestrian crossings is commonplace. Perhaps the Peelers might like to consider charging her with something after they lift the car driver. Thomas Hamilton, up in Jockoland, had form for serious kiddie-fiddling (I know he wasn't a murderer but almost as bad) but was allowed to keep his Firearm Certificate; Michale Ryan, down in Hungerford, was another with serious form but had legit shooters. Both went on the become mass-murderers using their legally held guns.
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Whilst Blackadder IV was a satirical/comedy take on what went on, I still reckon it was a very accurate depiction of the uncaring command structure in place and the resignation of the poor sods stuck in the trenches. The British class system at its best. My Grandad was a Corporal in the Northumberland Hussars* during that buns fight with Fritz and was awarded the Military Medal for a series of outstanding actions in Flanders ... there's a whole section on him in Howard Pease's History of the Northumberland Hussars. As my Grandad was in the Regiment as a volunteer part-time trooper before the War he was sent over to France at the beginning and was there for the whole four year duration and survived. I still have his spurs and his jack-knife (one of those knives with a blade and a marlin spike used for cleaning horse hooves); his medals and citations are at Durham Cathedral. My maternal Grandmother lost her first husband and three brothers (she later married the guy above); my paternal Grandmother lost two brothers. This wasn't unusual - thousands and thousands of families had multiple losses. * Yeoman Cavalry - horse-mounted Territorials. I watched the film War Horse on the telly last year and got a bit of a flavour about what it might have been like.
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This is a photo of the equity fund boss Leynton Lea who owns Findus delivering Sunday lunch. ... you all can guess where the knackered polo dobbins end up.
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This is beginning to sound like the stuff blue comics used to dish up in the clubs in the 60s & 70s ... I think it might be appropriate to leave it there.
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Protest action often ends in a series of unforetold consequences and perhaps those taking part don't always consider extreme outcomes, or maybe they do. However, that cannot ever be allowed to lessen the impact of the cause ... history is crammed with episodes where folks have dared ruling elites only to be met with death or incarceration. Should Martin Niemöller have kept his trap shut knowing he (and his family) would be lifted by the SS; he spoke out and became another hero (with flaws) to millions of us. What about the guys way back who knew they'd get roasted, not by Premiership footballers, but by the agents various churches ... they were prepared to call for change - were they wrong? What about the mucky-faced serfs and peasants in Ye Olde Bedlingtonshire who agitated against their masters for a bit of freedom knowing full well they risked being beheaded (or worse ... having their new brides lifted by the local Lord on the wedding night). And you know what? It's still going on all over the World. The sight of 'freedom' is such a powerful motivator that folks will go to any length to reach out for it and I for one will always applaud.
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I Need Your Help With Funds My Friend....
Symptoms replied to Malcolm Robinson's topic in Chat Central
Come on Mal, life's too short to blindly click on all these links that get posted ... a friendly suggestion - how about adding up to five or six word summary or preview about what we are likely to find if we go there. Something like, "Top doc botch ops" for that last one, or "NHS Trust dosh con" for the first one. This is not meant as a criticism Mal. -
Keith, I agree that "(There is no evidence that says Em planned on suicide is there?)" hence my comment "The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her ..." . I think her action was designed to stop, or at least hinder, the King's nag ... oh what a sensation that would have been on it's own with the fantastic publicity that would have followed. It would have had the added bonus that she would have lived to see it. You're not being flippant with your achievement list as I think all can be ticked-off as done bar the hurt/croaking one; that one, in my book, gets her placed firmly in the glorious martyrdom group. I did see a film years ago about this story but Meryl wasn't in it.
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Come on Keith, "I would have been more inspired if she had become the first female jockey and rode Anmer to victory. Now that would have been one in the cap for the sufragettes!" ... she would never have been allowed to by the old buffers in charge. The action was clearly a protest that went wrong for her but became iconic for her cause. Protest movements around the world are littered with martyrs to the cause: just a few local ones ... the Tolpuddle guys, and in recent times - Blair Peach, Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee, Michael Devine. The lists are endless ....
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Does Alan Routledge have a brother Michael? I went to school with a Micky Routledge ... he'd be 61ish now.
