HIGH PIT WILMA

[ Aam showing off noo!...aav fund oot hoo ti post pictures and advorts n things!!]

LITTLE IMPS,MADE IN BELGIUM..TRUE FLEMISH FLAVOUR! SO IT SAYS ON THE BLURB!!

Wat a bonny wee bairn ye were Al.!! For a split second ,and looking through me Varifocals at the wrang angle,[which has a distorting effect to the vision!].. ...a thowt ye had been in the Tardis...it luks like ya haadin' ya mobile in ya hand...!..typical of the world we are in...anywheh,sum great aad pics here,a once got a bar of McGowan's Chocolate Toffee,from me aader Sister,when a was aboot ten years aad..[we didn't get pocket money at aal till we started work after leaving Schyuul,so me Sister,who was then working at the Bedlington Store,next ti thi Lock Hall..],bought me this Taffee bar. It was like a gift from heaven,and a waanted it ti last!!..but it didn't! Vic,THESE are more like thi shape a remember,they weren't the round ones,they were like wee cushion-shaped pellets,but were three-cornered instead of four.Seems there were different versions of the same theme knocking around,and I am now thinking they were called "Little Imps",Wor Lass remembers them,so aam not imagining it! A see tha's loads of Retro-Sweeties being made again....where?....where ivry bliddy thing else is made!! [Naa just kiddin'....ut one or two are made there!] There's summik queer gaaning on wi this Editor,when a try and gaan back ti correct me typo's,it's deleting letters and CREATING TYPO'S! Is it my Laptop,or is anybody else getting the same grief?

Like...!..Easing of Coronavirus Lockdown rules...! Great ti get back doon ti Cammis!

...then we cud aal gaan aroond singing.."Thas a Moose Loose...Aboot thi Hoose.."!!!

Nippits were black Liquorice sweets wat got inti ya teeth and were hard as hell..and hot! A tiny bag wat lukked like nowt ,wud last a kid aal day at school,slyly slipping them aroond ahint him ti pass them ti he's mates, sitting behind him...cos tha wud be hell on if aad Mowldy Cheese got her beady eyes on ye chowing in class!! A wonder if Dennis Green can mind o' them days,he's Dad was Engineer at the Aad Pit in Bedlington,and Dennis used ti caal in ti Binksy's shop next ti the Whitley Schyuul,and get 2 oz of Midget Gems,[or wine gums],and 2oz of Dolly Mixtures,and occasionally,a packet of Nippits,he knew we were hard up and got nae pocket money,and he used ti share his bullets wi us reet through oot the day.. One kid who had everything he wanted but was nivvor a spoilt brat,a real canny kid..in later years a played at hes' 21 st Birthday party,wi me group. So howweh,folks,hoo can mind o' "NIPPITS"! They lukked like wee chippings of black pitch wat we used ti chow,when Tarmac became the new road surface,and big chunks of pitch were hoyed at the roadsides for the tar-sprayer machine to fill up with alang the road,as he was gannin...! Heh heh!...aam gettin auld...!..[taakin' as if aa was an aad - timer.......aam oownly 17 yr aad...in me heed!]

NIPPETS! It just came to me while weshing me brikfist dishes just noo! They were tha smaalest sweeties on this planet..the size oof a wee breadcrumb...but hot as hell...queer shaped little things.

You gotta remember we were green as grass in them days..nea telly,nae wireless,nae phones ,nae food hardly..rations were still on from WWII,we used to pinch a baigie oot the farmer's field,bite the peeling off and sit high up a tree chowing away...famished...even better if ye fund a field o' milky baigies!! There was also "Saucer-eyes"..who used to terrorise us...in wor imagination..Gilly the Ghost..a fella who used to jump oot the hedge at neet wi a white bedsheet aroond him...poor bugga needed help..and Tramps who would pinch aal ya claas and shoes if they caught ye oot at neet in the dark...!

Hi Cheesah! Welcome to the forum. We kids from Hollymount Square used to go down the Bedlington Bank to what became the Miner's Picnic Field,in the early 1950's,it was a lovely grazing meadow wi lang horned coos in in them days. Hunter's Farm was the lovely old Hoose at the bottom of the bank which the guy has re-built in recent years. Hunter the farmer had a Jelly gun,and if he caught you he fired it at you ,and clumps of jelly would be aal owa ya claas..... Ownly he never caught us..but we were terrified of thi gun....the imagination of the bigger lads was amazing!! A aalwis thowt that we were the ownly kids who had a farmer wi a Jelly Gun!!

Tragic isn't the word for it is it?...makes me wonder if,at that time,it was so commonplace,that they would expect at least one part of their family to die young,and also if they became so despairing,that they just accepted it, whole communities would be affected by plague etc,we were the lucky ones to have been born and immunised against so many of these terrible diseases. St Cuthbert's Church has a few VERY interesting headstones from the old ages..the oldest I can think of is one where I took photos of in the 1960's,pleased I did cos last time I saw it,just a few years ago ,it had weathered so much,that the inscription was barely legible. It has a Skull and crossbones in the centre,with Gargoyle's carved at each side of the Skull..and it was dated 1760 if I remember correctly. I have often wondered what was the cause of death,and why such a gruesome looking Headstone?[ Death by plague?...or similar?] When our two Sons were just wee Bairns,we went to Scotland a lot of times for Summer Holidays. One place we stayed at was up in the Mountains called "LeadHills"...an old Leadmining village...absoloutely ancient. We went to the Churchyards,while we visited the old Churches,and almost every headstone had lists of very young children,who had died from Lead poisoning..a lot of them were employed from six years old,to climb up and sweep the flues clean,cos an adult wouldn't be able to fit into the narrow flue ways. Made me wonder..why didn't they just build them so adults COULD get into them!! Stinks of greedy Mine-owners,employing cheap or free child labour. That place had an eerie presence that Cath and me both felt..it was creepy..dilapidated looking buildings...not a soul to be seen..the whole area just one big slag heap,not like coalmining where at least we had a big pit heap....but just ONE!..this place was slag heaps everywhere we looked around us..obviously ancient and no organised transport system like rope haulage or owt like that to transport the slag waste. We never went back!!

Aye, and wa STILL GUD MARRA'S,ownly wi nivvor see each otha these days! A wish a had ye for a Nybor Eddie,wadn't it be great....pit taak,jam sessions when Cath's health permitted..bike taak......theor a gaan! Noo!Wheor dae a start?!! Tha's that many points a wud like ti discuss on these great pics by Aad Grundy,a divvent knaa wat ti taak aboot forst! Ed,forst of aal,welcome ti this great forum,ye winna find any muppets on here,like otha places,just aal canny helpful folk. Wor aad Chep's Family members worked at the Winning Pit,which was the nickname for West Sleekburn ,shown here,but aa was too young ti knaa any of them .Noo if anybody cums up wi nyems,aal knaa them,just as nyems,not fyesses. Eddie,No 4 pic,luk like tha waiting on ye and me tekking a new fyess motor cyebble inbye for them....!! Nice conditions,like a palace,as we used ti say undagrund,nowt like where me and Eddie used ti be wading through up past the knees,sometimes at waist height,the waata level,in 100 yard lang swalleys..!! Edie,aav telt aal me stories aboot thi High Pit,if ye get a chance ti read some of the topics,ye might kindly add some more wat a might have forgotten aboot,and confirm also that a haven't got a vivid imagination!!..it's aal as true as if we were still there amang it! The seam is aboot three feet high,on a few pics,nice hard clean coal,could be the Yard Seam,and the others are in aboot four feet high coal,cud be any other seam,cos seams varied in height and geological conditions from pit to pit. Where Eddie and me worked,at the High Pit,we were up in the Beaumont Seam,where it went from ten feet high ,filthy coal,full of bands,on one face,and reet doon ti 18 inches high,and full of water on the faces and roadways..in the other side of the districts. Noo at Bates Pit,the Beaumont was aboot 3feet 6inches high,clean coal,nae bands,straight and level,and bone dry..just the opposite,and it was miles oot under the sea!!..[thi High Pit was way oot west,heading owa Hepscott way..and rising quickly ti the surface.]..[it was 25 feet from the surface when they stopped the 2nd West Face....remember that one Eddie?!!...turnips and rabbits running aboot...they used to tell strangers ti thi pit!!] Notice the corrugated steel "Straps"..or "Planks",keeping the roof up?...aa carried one of them from owa the fields aback of me hoose,it was part of the farmer's rickety fencework,it came from the Bomarsund ["Thi Bomar"] Pit heaps,when the Cooncil landscaped the heaps and forrested it,god knaas hoo it ended up in the fence,many years ago,but noo it's at thi bottom of my garden as a curio..bent ti 90degrees wi roof pressure underground on the coalface,and probably came oot on a pit tub and was ditched. They didn't ditch them at the High Pit,they had a portable hand-operated hydraulic-ram straightener. It was a monotonous job,working a handle back and forward aal day lang..tekkin and hoor ti stryten one steel plank! Notice the Driller has stood he's Carbine lamp up on the left side,on the stone strata,facing away from the camera,so as not ti spoil the exposure? Taaking aboot the camera,Eddie,if my memory is correct,Grundy had a Rollieflex [twin-lens reflex ] camera,when we were Marra's..[and just for the record..off-topic like..but dae ye still have the Oris wristwatch ye used ti hae on yor wrist!!?] A still have the Halina 35X [35mm film] camera wat a tuk aal your Photo's wi,in thi 1960's!...which are still in my albums!!..[ye knaa thi ones!] and that is the camera a used ti tek pics doon Bates Pit in 1986!![Check the Bates Pit Gallery oot Ed,tha's sum great pics on there!..including big Bill Etheridge] Cheers folks! Hungry and tired..! Stay safe and alert! Bill.

Aahh! Thanks for your kind greeting Canny Lass! Aav missed aal thi crack ,ye knaa wat it's like bonny lass,caring for your loved one..full time just noo for me..in fact it's treble time withoot owatime pay! Cath is gaan through a really bad patch,so a haven't been able to come on as much,wat time a dae get afore bedtime,aav been settling doon wi a u-tube music video ti relax. Anywheor frae rock-n-roll music..ti opera,and classical organ works..a recently discovered a wee lassie from your end o toon,[whey,she ain't a wee lassie NOO..!..she is a big bonny lassie,caaled AMIRA..[ [ Holland''s Got Talent winner aboot 2013]. She was nine years aad,singing "Nessun Dorma,and Ave Maria" like a seasoned adult opera singer! A daein't watch telly at aal,but she came up in my google search for Nessun Dorma by Harry Secombe,from the 1960's!! Anywheh,I digress!..a hope you are both keeping weel and stayin' safe as weel!! Noo,Can ye mind o' the Chinese takeaway that Tony is on aboot? Alan,thanks ti ye also,a PM'd ye just noo. Is the "Ginny's" Fish shop ye mentioned,opposite the Black Bull pub?..when aa was aboot five years aad and growing up,Bill and Jean Gates had that fish shop,and in them days,when ivry otha property in the street was a pub or Working Men's Club,tha was queue's a mile lang at hoyin' oot time...ivry neet!!.. Cheers folks,Stay safe and alert.!

50 yrs ago,in 1970,a shifted ti Stakeford,and a had aalriddy been living in wi me Angel Mother in Law,for 2 years..doon at Grange Park. So a was oot o touch wi Bedlington itself. We had a Chinese Takeaway starting up next door ti the Lord Barrington,on Gleggie's corner. A think it was caaled The Monsoon,but stand to be corrected on that one. A was famished one neet and went up ti hae a luk in ti see wat a cud get. A was faced wi 2000 choices of Chicken this and that....wi Beansproots..etc etc! A settled for an English mixed grill. A waited aboot 20 mins,taaking ti the young Chinese kid aback o the coonta. He was the loviest natured kid ye cud ever wish ti meet. His Brother Jimmy Lee,painted this huge picture of a Leopard in the Jungle...it was like a photo..hangin' on thi waal above the serving hatch..it was aboot 6 feet by 4 feet high,and magnificent! He said do you llike paintings?..I show you some more what my Brotha Jimmy has done.. He pulled a stack of Artist sized drawing pads...like 2 feet by 18 inches or maybe bigger..they were all of big Cats..amazing. A got me mixed grill on a foil dish,it was that big a had ti carry it wi both hands stretched oot,and me arms were aching by the time aa got doon yem...aboot 200 yards. Mind,that,was what aa caaled ...a dinner!! As years went by they moved,and new owners came in...then aal the cats in the neighbourhood went missing...including two of ours...[at different times]. Whey rumours flew thick and fast,and it was reported that they were raided and there were cats and rats in the fridges! The rumours came oot aboot every Chinese restaurant that ever opened!!...after that..the poor guys had a really hard time ti get a decent reputation. It's unthinkable nooadays,but even the Kam Tong was raided and closed doon for the same accusations,in the early 1960's,it was the first time I ever stepped into a place like that ,and only cos we had been playing at the Big Club in Blyth,and me Marra's in the group suggested it. Aa was green as grass..nivvor been owa the plate-ends in me life,so a was that famished,a had Chicken and chips,just that..[nowt else!]...but ordered a second lot after finishing the forst lot. Me group Marras thowt a was a greedy sod,but aa was,and still aam,used ti having a big plateful of tetties ,baigie,cabbage,carrots,peas,and broccoli,wi meat and yorksha puddings...!! This Chinese Chicken meal wadn't o fed me little Black Jess..that's hoo a ahad ti hae a second helpin' !! Me aad Marra at Bates Pit,was a Butcher by trade,afore gaan doon thi pits..[a knew a few gud tradesmen who went doon the black hole for better pay in the aad days..],and he telt me that the only difference between a Cat,and a Rabbit,was the shape and size of their Kidneys,and both could be flavoured and cooked ti taste like Chicken. Whey aav had me share of Rabbits in me lifetime,and aal tek sum convincing that ye cud possibly cook a rabbit ti taste like Chicken..but theor yi gaan! Aam back again folks!,canna cum on like a used ti,me Wife isn't weel at aal,and aam full on caring for her,just gud ti put me oar in again...!!! Stay Safe folks..Cheers! Bill.

Hi Maggie,aam a bit late on catching ye up aboot the photo,of the two workmen. It was taken during the construction of the big "New" roundabout at Guide Post,sometime in the 1960's,a think,but not 100%!! The fella on the left was my next door Nieghbour,at Hollymount Square,when I was a young kid. His Name was Jimmy McCullough,and if you like The Shadows ,and Country music,you might like to watch his Grand -Daughter Zoe McCullough,and her group..."The Crickettes",on U-Tube..she is a great guitarist!..has lived in Wales for a canny few years noo. Stay Safe Maggie! Bill.