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Photo of a group of lads - 1951 - in Dr Pit Welfare Park. The ride in the top left corner we called the 'Lollipop' or 'Witches Tit'. Do you recognise any of this lot @HIGH PIT WILMA ?

#16 is peter dmytrenko, #17 is meself - walter dmytrenko. #18 is my old pal dennis smith. we lived at hirst terrace & dennis was across the lane at gladstone terrace. his family had a garden looking onto the park and at nightfall we would hear the ratatat tat of the parky dragging a stick across the fences as he walked the perimeter of the park. a signal for us kids to be out of the park. . . . best to all . . . w

Don't know about Bedlington - @John Fox (foxy) and @Jammy should. Seghill very quiet for the 5 months. I've been watching out the window whilst Jacquie works away in the garden, without her specs so she can't tell a weed from a new flower shoot.

Day 183 of isolation for me today. The house has been cleaned from top to bottom and the garden has had the overhaul of a lifetime! Every tree has been pruned, some in late spring some this month. Knowing we'd be at home through the summer we over-fertilised the lawns in an attempt to kill the moss, which has made a strong take-over bid these last few years. It's been a great success, though it has resulted in an increased need for grass cutting, 2½ hours every other day since May! This job has fallen to yours truly as the OH's skills were needed elsewhere (repairing a collapsing balcony and re-laying the patio under it). Together we have also widened the driveway by 50 cm by digging out the lawns which had grown into it over the years. We've resurfaced with 30 tons of natural gravel - all raked out by hand. Being at home we've been more in touch with what's going on around us. We've always fed birds and squirrels (which have their very own resaraunt here) but this year I've reared a family of five who seem to have lost their mother. They've all flown the nest now but I've adopted a hedgehog instead, who moved into my OH's workshop among all the oily rags , old paint tins, dried up paint brushes and a miriad of other "things that might come in handy one day". Then there's been mushroom and berry picking. I do this every year but I this summer have excelled myself: 27 litres of chantrelles, 16 litres of ceps, 8 litres of wild raspberries, 16 litres of blueberries and 11 litres of "lingon". I had to look this up and it seems they are called "cowberries" in English. I've never heard this before but, on the other hand, I've never seen them in England either. The freezer's full and so is the jam shelf in the pantry. We've only left the house three times for essential errands: collecting a passport from the police (the issuing authority), vaccination against TBE and a hospital visit for my OH: We get out and about to the surrounding forests and lakes for walking and swimming and use the telephone and Skype for family contact - we've become great grandparents for the first time so it's been used an awful lot as we are unable to visit. Things seem to be going well, generally speaking, for the country as a whole and we pensioners are to recieve a pension increase and a tax reduction next year, by way of thanks for staying at home! I need a holiday!!!! How's the situation in Bedlington today? Heard on the news today that the North East is being locked down. Must be bad when we are hearing about it here. .

I used to live at 11 Gladstone Terrace in the 50's before moving to Australia in 1960. I remember the shed and roundabout in the background. The "Parky" was Mr Elliott and lived at no.10. He was indeed more interested in his bowling green and gardens than the playground . Still, we had some great times there.

A must be gaan senile!..a realised after posting me above comment that it wasn't Alan Sanderson who worked at the High Pit,it was a lad called Jacky Watson!!...a knew them both,Alan Sanderson was a quiet lad,they both went to the Whitley School..as did a lot of the "Parky Gang"..as we called them. With prompting,I can see Ronnie Helmsley No 10,noo,he sat directly behind me and Alan Wilkinson..third desk from the front! Same with No 3..Brian Parmley,his nickname was "Branchy",and his younger Brother Gordon,who was also in my class,[both great characters!],was nicknamed "Twiggy"..this was because Brian was a big strong lad,and Gordon was a very thin lad...totally opposite to his bigger Brother!...this was in the mid-1950's.. Funny hoo ye canna place a face till ye get a prompt!..a knew most of these lads as we grew up together,but canna recognise some of them on this pic..like Geordie Webster...knew naebody better..Micky Bradley..Jackie Hope was in my older Sister's class... One other thing came to me after I posted the above comment aboot the park....I distinctly remember going through the park to school at the Whitley,one day,[aged aboot 10 years..1954-ish],and the Cooncil men were repairing all the broken swings,which were absoloutely vandalised for a lang time,and the whole park was in disrepair. The Roondi had broken bars on it..sticking oot like spears,for a lang time..naebody got hurt,but it was the big lads who did the damage...deliberately crashing the Roondie against the centre pole..bending the bars till they broke. Same with the High flyer..took it up weel past where it was supposed ti gaan... So anywheh,as the days went by,aal the rides were repaired or renewed,and then painted a bonny Silver..that sticks in my mind..a can smell the paint yit!! When they re-opened the park,the kids queued up for a go on the swings and things...but it didn't tek lang for the big lads ti come back and spoil things again..they used ti swing the seats so hard that they literally wrapped the swing chains roond and roond till they were suspended aboot six feet in the air,so we little kids cudn't reach them doon.We had ti wait till thi Parky [park-keeper],came and put them back in order. We used ti say that the Parky was mair bothered aboot thi Bowling green,and tennis courts and gardens,than he was aboot the kids park!...cos they were kept absoloutely immaculate..aa can mind even in later years ,waaking through and seeing hoo luvly he kept the place for the adults!! Mebbe they moved things aroond in the park while daeing the repair -work,and mebbe that's hoo a canna get me heed aroond the park background in thi pic...also it's thi big shelter behind thi Roondie,aav got no recollection of that shelter being there when a grew up playing there,cos even when aal us kids left school,and the majority of us went doon thi pits at 15 yrs aad,we used to congregate owa the park at neet time,in the summer,after the little we-ens were away ti bed,and compare stories aboot the different pits we were in,and what operations we were learning...such as timber-leading,transport lads,like me,pipe-fitter appprentices,welder apprentices as weel as the fitting and sparky trades..and we used ti just sit on the Roondie seats or Low-flyer seats or whatever..cos there was nae seats ti sit on properly...otherwise if the shelter had been there...whey it wudda med sense ti sit in there! Mind , aam just reminiscing here,trying me best ti get things reet,in me heed!,not saying that thi shelter wasn't there aal thi time,just that aa canna mind of it...nor thi big trees in the background,aam sure yi cud see owa ti Roslin Avenue hooses from the where this pic was taken..lukkin owa the big playing field. Can sumbody put me reet ,aam taaking aboot thi park from aboot 1954-9 ..ish..[this pic was 1951..was there a big clean-oot aroond that time?]