Canny lass

This morning at breakfast I read an excellent article from our News bot here on site. I did this on my mobile phone. The article , Public health boss' plea as Covid-19 'spreading like wildfire' in Northumberland is well worth a read and still available on my phone. However, it doesn't appear here on my lap top when I log in. Is it just me or have we a problem? PS It should appear just before Eggy's last post on Humford

A couple of questions: Did you have a great grandmother called Catherine? Did your grandparents or great grandparents have any connections with Scotland? Do you recognise any of the following names: Annie, Patrick, Gilbert, Margaret?

Time to keep the grey cell in trim! 1. Which household appliance was patented by Cecil Booth in 1901? 2. In bookmaker’s slang what odds are denoted by ‘double carpet’ 3. Who did Bjorn Borg defeat in 1976 to win his first Wimbledon singles title? 4. What is the more common name of the chemical Ethylene Glycol? 5. In what year were dog licences abolished in Britain? 6. On a Monopoly board, which property clockwise is situated after the Water Works? 7. In which part of the British Isles would you find bailiwicks? 8. In which war was the battle of Gettysburg? 9. By what name is the plant Lonicera better known? 10. Which Archbishop of Canterbury seized the devil’s nose in a pair of red-hot tongs? 11. What is the longest river in Scotland? 12. What is the medical name for Rabies? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. In 1877 a wealthy widow promised Russian composer Tchaikovsky a generous annual allowance – on condition that they never met. Answers on Thursday, as usual!

Answers to last week's quiz: 1. Kenya 2. Mercury 3. Senate 4. Retsina 5. Kidney 6. Mark Spitz 7. The Kray twins 1952 8. Salmanazar 9. CATS 10. 121 11. An eyrie 12. Combustion New quiz tomorrow!

I know the feeling, Jammy! Last week I got the left and right of a photo mixed up. I think It's an 'age thing' - well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I think it might be the other way round, Jammy. Howard Terrace came first. Reedy's dad described the area in the 1950s -60s and said "Starting at what used to be Joe Jennings farm and shop including Mansion House now possibly 'Smiles' was Glassey Terrace. The first 7 houses were originally named Howard Terrace but the name was changed to Glassey Terrace as a result of misdirected mail as another Howard Terrace existed in Netherton". Howard Terrace must therefore have started at Mansion House and could only be extended towards the Bank Top. Looking at the present day Glassey Terrace it's possible to see where the extension started because of the differing roof- and upstairs window heights: I'm pretty certain I've seen Howard Terrace in an early census. I'll see if I can find it. There was a Howard terrace at Netherton Colliery. It was renamed Office Row but I don't know when.

These are two different Puddlers Row. The 'old' Puddlers Row is also shown on the 1859 map but unlike the 'new' Puddlers it is on the east side of the main road. The old Puddlers Row belonged not to Bedlington Station/Sleekburn, but to 'Village of Bank Top', according to census information, and was there before Glassey's arrival in 1867. It appears in the 1871 census as a row of 22 dwellings. Glassey left Bedlington in 1884 and the old Puddlers Row still appears on OS maps in 1898 but without a name. On the same map the new Puddlers Row appears running east-west along what later became Stead Lane. We can also see here that the west side of the road, north of the Bank Top Hotel, is still not developed. At some point between 1897 and 1922 we can see a devlopment on the west side of the road - the area now occupied by Glassey Terrace. This is called Front Row. New development on the east side of the road in the area of the old Puddlers Row, includes a 'Back Row' and what could be old Puddlers Row but with an extension. By 1947 Puddlers Row is no longer shown on the OS maps and Front Row is still called Front Row - not Glassey Terrace.

Is it perhaps time for a new set of specs? Bedlington A Pit is shown on the map above. Directly above the 'O' in BEDLINGTON.

I thought that i'd finished my research on Puddlers Row way back in August 2017 (earlier in this topic). However, because of Evans' statement I've had another look. If Glassey bought Puddlers Row and renamed it Glassey Terrace, then it was not the Glassey terrace which we know today. Glassey terrace doesn't appear on OS maps until the period between 1897 - 1922 and by then Glassey had left Bedlington having emigrated down under in 1884. Glassey must have bought the old Puddlers Row which fronted the main road exactly opposite the present Glassey Terrace - the site now occupied by Melrose Avenue. The present Glassey Terrace may well have taken over the name but was originally built as Front Row, as far as I can deduce from the OS series of maps.

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. .

There have been a lot of suggestions as to the whereabouts of Puddlers Row at Bedlington Station. Just to add to the confusion, Evan Martin in his book Bedlingtonshire Remembered says the following (page 57) in relation to the Barrington and Choppington brickworks: "Local worthies Dr James Trotter and Thomas Glassey, encouraged miners to take shares in brick companies. Glassey himself bought Puddlers. Row at Bank Top and renamed it Glassey Terrace before emigrating to Queensland". PS Thanks for the tip-off, Eggy. A thoroughly good read!

Here it is! A bit late but we've had real summer weather today so I finished off the gardening chores before it gets dark. 1. Nairobi is the capital of which African country? 2. Which planet is nearest the sun? 3. What name, derived from the Latin for ‘old man’, is sometimes given to the legislative assembly of a country? 4. Which wine is flavoured with pine resin? 5. Which organ is inflamed when you are suffering from Nephritis? 6. Which swimmer won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games? 7. Who was the last prisoner to be held at the Tower of London? 8. Which bottle size is equivalent to 12 standard bottles? 9. Which West End and Broadway musical was adapted from T.S. Elliott’s Old Possum Poems? 10. How many points win a game of Cribbage? 11. What name is given to an eagle’s home? 12. What do we call the chemical process by which a substance combines with oxygen to produce heat and light? I’ll bet you didn’t know …. William Wordsworth was, at one time, thought to be a French spy and was followed for a whole month by a detective. Answers on Thursday.