Canny lass

@lilbill15You've got the wrong Maud there. Maud was a popular name in the Bower family - Maud, Elizabeth Maud, Lily Maud and Maud Ellen. It was Elizabeth Maud who married into the Carr family. With the exception of a few friends, she went by her first name - Elizabeth and would be too old for this photo.

I'm still not convinced that nr 5 is Maud. Lily Maud would be about the right age but I never met her so I've no idea what she looked like. However, I don't think she ever lived at Netherton. 

If this is 1948 then nr. 5 (Maud Bower) would be about 14 and that would be about right (born 1934). However, the closure of Netherton Colliery school couldn't have been the reason for the move to West End Council School. It was open long after 1948. I was a pupil there myself for a large part of the fifties.

On 09/07/2021 at 21:49, lilbill15 said:

PLEASE don’t count the chins!

What chins?

On 09/07/2021 at 20:59, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

This photo I would say was 50+ years ago - could be Netherton Colliery - see text.

Definitely bot Netherton. The only windows in Netherton were the four-paned sash type. 

On 09/07/2021 at 20:59, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

some of Alan Dickson's paintings that he posts on the Bygone Bedlington, Cambois and Barrington groups.

Lövely work!

Here's one the right way up, but I still don't know who it is?

13 hours ago, lilbill15 said:

Canny lasson reading this comment again it sounds facetious and possibly even sarcastic. I apologise, this was not my intention

No apologies needed. I didn't find it to be either facetious or sarcastic. I learned a long time ago to look at details rather than the whole. As a child, I loved those "Find five differences" games that appeared im magazines and newspapers and could spend ages perusing all small details. That experience has been very valuable in my job as I learned to look at details, rather than the whole, at a very early age.

Not too many years ago I collected 3 of the grandchildren from nursery and school every day and they stayed with me until mum and dad came home from work. One of their favourite games was "Spot the difference". While we waited outside the door, one child remained in the sitting room and changed one item in some way. Then we entered and had to spot the difference.  Good fun.

I needn't tell you how useful it is when you are doing family research.

I don't think you should change it. It looks like a roof repair and the same type of repair is evident on the single storey buildings. It's a valuable record of repair/building technique at the turn of the century.

2 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

I don't know why but my mam sent me, and my two older brothers, to the Church of Christ in the late 1950's.

She probably knew that you were destinied to do great things with old photos of the area later in life. Mothers are good at that sort of thing.

I had a wander around the area using the enumerator's book for the 1911 census, just 5 years after the photo was taken,. Here are pages 13 and 14. (unfortunately, you get pages 7 and 8 as well as the book has been taken apart for scanning).

Following the enumerator on his rounds from  Hartford Road(Page 13 schedule number 277) you see that he moves west to east along the south of the main street - then called "High Street", recording as he goes:

Doctors Yard - private houses and lock-up shops

High Street - also lock up shops and private houses.

continuing eastwards on High Street, between schedule number 295 and 296 (Page 14) he records: 

Presbyterian Church (Now Trinity Church)

Private house x 2 (Now the garage)

Lock-up shop x 2 ( the single storey buildings with window shutters in the 1907 photo.

Christian Meeting House (presumably part of or behind the next building)

Primitive Methodist Chapel

Garth House, High Street.

So we got it mapped out correctly. Well done!

Page 13 (right side)

Page 14 (left side).

Was that not at Bedlington Station?

... and, as an afterthought, could that be railway tracks in the bottom left of the photo?

Here's another observation/suggestion. Trinity Church is actually the building to the far right of the  picture towering above the other buildngs. Only the roof and a small section of wall is visible but the wall has an interesting feature. Zoom in and you can see a tile-topped buttress and a part of the lighter, horizontal brick stripe. Both are clearly evident in the recent photo.

The building to the left of it and set back further from the road is now the garage.

I'm having difficulty seeing those two buildings as one and the same church.

One is stone built, the other is brick built.

The brickbuilt church has corner buttresses.

The windows have different sizes and placements.

The roof angles are different.

Fetters Springs seems like quite the 'in place to be' in the early 1900s. There's quite a lot to read about it online.

Used to be called Morgan's if you look at another photo in this album:

19 hours ago, Canny lass said:

This is how I remember Front Street east, starting at the Northumberland Arms and moving east.

As you see, I don't remember any newsagents only a small off-licence. This was early 60s. Of course the O-L may have sold other things than Lambrusco - the 'in' drink of the time - or maybe that's just a sign of my mis-spent youth. We've had Feasters up for discussion earlier (see Topic: 'Old Bedlington shops' in History Hollow. I felt sure that Foxy had posted a picture but I can't find it now.

You may (or may not depending on how you rate my drawing skills) be able to see that Moldens and Feasters were situated on either side of a small 'arcade' with a mosaic floor. Before Millne opened they had the largest shop windows in town with one window acing the main street and the other, much larger, liningthe arcade.

I need to correct my drawing of Front Street east. Thanks to Andy's wonderful photo collection I can now see that the off-licence wasn't situated between Millne's and Molden's as there is no shop between them. I can see now that at one time Feaster's has occupied both sides of the 'arcade' (the Feaster sign covers the whole length of Molden's and Feasters as I remember them). It must have been split into two outlets before my time. 

After Feaster's comes Carrs, but I've no idea what sort of shop it was. It seems too big for the off-licence. One photo shows Millne's gift shop directly to the east (right on the photo) of Carr's (compare signage and facade work). Next comes a row of 3 small shops, the second of which (possibly joined with the third, as it was quite a large shop inside)  is Walter Wilsons (farm produce). I believe that one of these three shops eventually became Wm. Ward photographers, One of them may have been the off licence but I seem to remember it being nearer the Northumberland Arms. Could the OL have been in Millne's cycle shop after it's closure? Anybody know when that closed?

@Andy MillneDoes your family have any connections with USA?

One of the magazines on the stand is The Delineator. This was an American  woman’s “Journal of Fashion, Culture and Fine Arts” which was published in New York 1873 – 1930 before merging with  Pictorial Review. This may help to date and place the photo.

Also, we can read on the window:

“ Victor, [FRENCH  C]USTARD, [ICE] CREAM” (Text in square brackets is my suggestion).

Victor French Custard Ice Cream was, according to Wiki, from a Californian company and anything to do with the company seems now to be very collectable (E-Bay).

 I don’t think this is Bedlington. Although 1930 is a bit before my time and things may have changed before I became familiar with the streets, I don’t remember ant pavements with diagonally laid paving stones. Neither do I remember anywhere with high bar stools – which I think I detect just inside the door. Could this be an American ‘ice-cream parlour’?

Millne didn't have a juke-box. It catered for an older type of person, I think, a place to rest your feet and have a natter after a hard day's shopping. How we poor women sacrificed ourselves:

29 minutes ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

you could get a cup of frothy milky coffee in the early 1960's - Moscadinni's.

... well, lucky you! I think Millne's was the first place I tasted coffee. 

1 hour ago, lilbill15 said:

Anyone, remember the bag of scramshuns

Oh, my mouth's watering! I didn't know you could get them instead of chips but I do remember that they always asked "Do you wan't scramshuns" when they were wrapping up your order. The answer was always "yes please" and they threw a scoop of them into the bag.

This is how I remember Front Street east, starting at the Northumberland Arms and moving east.

As you see, I don't remember any newsagents only a small off-licence. This was early 60s. Of course the O-L may have sold other things than Lambrusco - the 'in' drink of the time - or maybe that's just a sign of my mis-spent youth. We've had Feasters up for discussion earlier (see Topic: 'Old Bedlington shops' in History Hollow. I felt sure that Foxy had posted a picture but I can't find it now.

You may (or may not depending on how you rate my drawing skills) be able to see that Moldens and Feasters were situated on either side of a small 'arcade' with a mosaic floor. Before Millne opened they had the largest shop windows in town with one window acing the main street and the other, much larger, liningthe arcade.

6 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Was that Baccis' coffe shop/bar (a few doors to the left away from Millne's) you are talking about?

No, Bacci's wa further west towards the neuk. When Jimmy Millne opened his store it included a 'coffe bar' just out of shot and to the right in this picture. It ran the length of the shop from front to back where a staircase accessed the car park ... AND you could get a cup of milky coffee, something unknown outside of Morpeth.There was also a connecting door directly into the store. Jimmy was often there - service epitomised. He would take your bag, escort you to a seat, exchange a few pleasantries and made you feel really welcome. You don't get service like that anywhere today. As @Jr6468 says, it was a bit ahead of it's time with everything under one roof.

Thanks James. It had me puzzled!

Is the photo a mirror image of reality?

HPW, the school opened in 1957-8. I was there 59 -62 and Mr Abrahart was my history teacher throughout that time. He was also deputy headmaster.

As for being unable to write for laughing, that was certainly true but my main memory of writing and Mr Abrahart is that he got the whole school writing italic as the standard form of writing. Parker must have done a roaring trade in italic pens!

Remember it well! Bedlington's first ever 'Coffee Bar' just to the right.