HIGH PIT WILMA

Heh heh,Malcolm,even me and Lone Ranger are scumfished by some of these terms!! "Snap" is Yorkshire twang for "Bait"..[lunch]. A "carvinace"[in John's list],was,at the High Pit in Choppington,and other pits also,referred to as "A Caterinarse" To enlighten this one a bit further we need to learn a wee bit aboot Geology heor,ti understand wat this was,and hoo dangerous they were for miners to contend with. 200 million years ago,Britain was covered in sub-tropical forests,and swamp conditions,like the Amazon. The trees had bark with patterns similar ti a Pineapple,and other weird-looking variations of this. As time went by,trees kept dying and falling,some stayed upright,then the sea came flooding in,for a million or two years,then desert conditions,for another million or two...and there we went,laying down vast areas of dead and decaying vegetation,covered by thick layers of sand,more vegetation,more sand.......until,due to intense pressure and heat,the vegetation turned into coal,and the sand and mud deposits turned into various types of stone,such as sandstone,and shale etc.[Metamorphic rocks!..i.e.formed due to a change of state..] Noo,"Caterinarse" !! Remember I said some trees stayed upright?,well,as they became covered in flood water and silt was laid down all around them,they were fossilised,and became what Geologists refer to as "Petrified",because the interior part of the tree turned to stone,still in it's previous shape and form,but the Bark,[the outer layer]turned into coal. Right! Now we have a forest of stone trees in the solid stone strata,where the roots would have been in what is now the coal seam,and the weakest part of this set-up,is that layer of "coaley" bark. Visualise driving a roadway through a coal seam,with a stone roof above your head,you have just blasted out the caunch, and you start "ploating" thi loose stones down,ready to put some supports in,for safety. You notice a black,roughly circular ring of thin coal straight above your head,[maybe a half-inch thick coal]. These rings could be anything from a few inches diameter,to six feet or more,but usually aboot three feet wud be the norm. What you are gazing up at,is the base of the tree,as if you were under the roots,looking up the trunk,now if you don't get cracking,and get sum timber in under that ring,["the Caterinarse"],it's gonna drop clean out and flatten you,cos sumtimes these things had a good length of fossilised stone "trunk" above them,and weighed several tons. Lots of miners were injured or killed by these things over the years,and I have worked in roadways where they were all over the roof along miles of roadways,and every one had to be timbered securely,to save accidents happening. Now you all know what a Caterinarse is!!

A used ti listen in on a huge pre-war wireless set,in me bedroom,ti thi short-wave bands,and mind,in 1956-on [for me i.e.],there was sum queer stuff on there,like the German and Russian numbers stations...cold-war clandestine activity,where naebody,and a mean NAEBODY!...,not the Yanks,nor us,nor naebugga else,cud find oot where they were being transmitted from..! Just a week or two ago they were on aboot these stations,on a radio programme,and it was interesting ti hear that they STILL divvent knaa where they originated from,although one codebreaker gave his thoughts on the possibilities! Aa was 12 years aad,[in 1956], when a forst hord.."Acht Noil Noil Seiben Seiben"....."Seiben Acht Noil Funf Seiben..",usually groups of five numbers,then a German female making a short announcement in between,then on it went,sumtimes for an hour or more. My two Sons are also Shortwave listeners,and after aal thi years gone by,it was strange for me ti be still tuning in ti these stations,with me Sons also listening in! Anybody else ever hear them..?...what about you...Threegee?

Aye,Keith,aav been a Shadows,[Hank Marvin] fan since the very first single they released,and well before that,when they were with Cliff Richard,as The Drifters,and a used ti want ti throttle the DJ's when they played a disc,and taaked aal owa it,then faded it oot before it ended....like they still dae noo,only it's different noo,cos a divvent need ti listen ti the radio ti hear me favourite music....aav got every track that the Shads ever played,and a also just play thi bugga's mesel,on me aan guitar,if a waant ti!! ...same wi aal otha music...DJ yakkin for ten minutes,loud and clear....then a gud track....then ...fade oot!!! "H.Samuel watches presents Michael Miles on .......[dramatic build-up of music..]..."Take your pick..."...!! Aye,them wor thi days of gud entertainment on wireless!

Thanks Tonyg! As a keep sayin'..ignorance is bliss!! Can anybody mind wat thi Rediffusion was originally? It was the original form of "piped music",and of course,other light radio [..NOT WIRELESS MIND!..]..where your radio programmes comprised the "Light,Home,and Third" BBC radio programmes....oh!,AND!, if you were lucky,you got Radio Luxembourg,when propagation conditions allowed it!![or else,you had to put up with it fading,and coming on strong,then fading,all the time!!]. The radio programmes were brought into your house via actual cables through your window frame,usually,where a small box with a rotary switch was fixed onto your windowsill,usually but not always. The switch allowed you to choose your desired radio programme,and you had freedom of choice,as long as it was the Light,Home,or Third![similar to cable tv?] The reason I said,not wireless,was because it wasn't "Wireless"....it was cabled in! When the "Wireless" radio sets came into fashion,they were the bees knees!...you could tune into "Hilversum",and "Oslo" ...heh heh!!

Great bit o' work,John,must a tuk a canny bit o' ya time daeing it aal,it teks me a week ti waak a fortneet,once aa start typing!! Howw,John,yi reminded me o' me aad [deceased] Mother-in -law,who was an utter Angel on earth,to me,and sorely missed noo. She used ti hae wa family in stitches regularly wi hor aad-fashinned sayin's! "Mind yi divvent trip owa them lurks in the carpet theor noo..."...["Lurks"..?...nivvor hord that one afore!] [This one in conversation with a beach seller of spades and pails ,etc,at Skegness,in approx 1970-ish....]............ "Ee yi bugger,tha's croods doon heor,dae yi like stor?..."....["Stor"..?....thi poor bugger just lukked blankly back at her and sed ....."I beg your pardon madam?".......!!]Heh heh! "Cummeor yi little bugga ,orraal boil yi in oil"...was anotha saying she had.....oh!...and tha was...."Haddaway,yi big stuffa...!"["Go on,you big.......?..what word wud ye use in this situation,in place of "stuffa"?....!!!!] Malcolm,aam sorry I leave you bemused,it's really not intentional,aa just write like a taak,and a get carried away sumtimes,but wi John's help,yi'll be a proppa Northumbrian taaka yase'll afore lang!

Heh heh! Thanks a lot Eileen! A write like a taak,so when a pick me pen up every other month or two,as a hev been,for the last three years,[or more!],to continue on wi me life story,me pen just gaans away on it's aan,in top gear,withoot me hevvin' ti think wat ti say! Alan wud say that's wat becomes of a gud taaker....[and Alan knaas me very well!] Aa like ti correct folk who caal me "a gud taaker",and tell them aam a gud "conversationalist" ! From being very young,aav tuk an interest in things aroond me,for instance,a was ten years aad when "Sputnik" [thi Russian satellite],was launched.O.K.? Right!,a can mind playing ootside on dark neets,in thi winter,as we did,and on lovely frosty clear neets,aa wud be staring up into thi stars,lukking ti see if a cud see thi satellite gaan owa!![and also watching shooting stars] A used ti read aal H.G.Wells's books,and even though they were science fiction,a learned a lot from the factual content included in thi stories.[H.G.Wells was a respected scientist,and already had worked out a lot of the formulae for rocket propulsion etc.] Aal the years gone by,and aam still the syem!!...tha's nowt a canna taak aboot...oh!...politics!!...that's aboot thi ownly subject aam dumb aboot..! Noo pitwark!....divvent set me away......! Anyway Eileen,a appreciate your kind comments very much,and aal try not ti ramble on owa much afta this one!

I think one of the pit lads on bikes was me,coming yem from High pit,Choppington!!.....no,mistaken,AGAIN!....my bike had a dynamo on!!Heh heh!

This pic looks circa late 1950's to very early 1960's,disregarding the appearance of the horse and cart![ My Wife and I moved house on a horse and cart in 1970!] Note the two modern-ish water hydrants' concrete info posts,on the right,the furry cagoul that the lady with the shopping bag is wearing,the new section of bridge parapet on the right,which was re-built after a bus went through the old wall,after skidding on ice,[can't remember the exact date,but wonder if Alan has any memory of it happening...[i think it might have been 1959-ish...but stand to be corrected..] When I played in that field on the right,in 1947,there were houses all the way down the bank,on the right,and no bushes in the field,not having recovered from being bombed,there were only small dead tree stumps here and there,one of which was our "motorbike"!!!! [to us little kids..!] If I can find a very rare photo of Myself and little Ronnie Andrews,my friend,aged three and a half years,I will try and post it,although it doesn't show anything except us kids,and a bit of the field,but nevertheless,interesting history! During and after the war,there was no un-necessary wastage of paper,like the huge adverts on the gable end,no wallpaper for decorating....more like distemper stippled with a bit of rag!! [ now called "Rag-rolling",by our more affluent and posh society!] Mind you,that guy leaning against the wall on the left,on the bridge,looks for all the world,like wor aad chep!!!...and,considering we lived only twenty yards along from where he is standing,[on the left],at number 3 Storey's buildings,it is easy for me to picture it as him,wondering if he should go to work,or not!

Big chinkaplonka on your comments,Malcolm! I tried to open the link,but a security notice popped up,saying content was blocked due to security certificate errors...etc. However,the book title suggests it isn't the book that I referred to.[not that that should matter,if history is recorded accurately!] I was taught this date in social studies class,and never forgot it,as I have always loved St Cuthberts Church,more from a nostalgic,and architectural point of view,as I am not deeply religious,but do believe in Jesus,and our creator,only a bit unorthodox,maybe strange to some people.....[certainly raise the eyebrows of visiting Jehovah's Witnesses,when they call around!] I knew a lot about the history of the Church,when I was a young lad at school,took a special interest,but whilst I have vivid memories of my childhood,some things have faded due to being a decrepit old sod! 611 AD!!!, I am certain as I know today is wednesday,about being taught this date,but if you are onto the blue Queens Coronation Presentation book,circa 1953-ish and you say there is no mention of it, in that book,then I must concede that I have made a very unusual [said conceitedly!!]..mistake! Heh heh! We have to get to the bottom of this one,Malcolm,and everyone else on the forum,for all our sakes,trouble is,everthing that we ever read,[including the Bible],about history,was written by Man,and all we can do is accept,or reject,as we think fit! I will see if my Sister still has her book that she was presented with,in the Coronation year,but I think it will be a difficult task tracing it!

Hi Maggie,there used to be a reservoir behind the Red Lion,but I don't know which source of water you refer to. Was/is there an ancient well up there? As a kid we played all over Bedlington,knew every apple orchard,all the little short cuts..etc,but I don't know of any old wells there,though there well might have been an ancient one,and you could be spot on in your theory!...keep investigating!!

Has anybody seen the small gravestone behind the church,depicting a skull and cross-bones in the middle of the headstone,with gargoyles at either side, supposedly to ward off evil spirits. I have photo's of it,which I took in the mid-1960's,when I learning myself how to use my new camera.[35mm film..manual focus-aperture-and shutter speed settings....no batteries then!!] The stone is dated around 1790 [i think]. It wud be interesting to know how the poor soul died,but I wouldn't mind betting that he died from the plague or something similar. It's the skull etc that fascinates me,take a look around and see if it's still there,cos it was when I last attended a family wedding there,a year or two back.

The youngin was Lawrence ["Lol"] Pattison,and his Sister Ann was in my class at school..[real canny lassie she was].[Lol was a canny lad an aal..] When we were kids,we used ti often see Lol reversing his Father's big haulage truck into thi narrow opening,and into the yard at the rear of their property. It was an amazing feat of driving skill,and we always watched with open mooths,cos it always seemed as if thi lorry was gonna come doon owa onto the road on it's side!! Even when a was in me teens,and a understood better,a wud stop,on me way up the street,and notice hoo little leeway Lol had for error,and when it had been raining heavy,his tyres used ti slide doon the grassy embankment,tipping the body and cab ti a very precarious level! Can anybody else mind o' this,or aam aa thi dinosaur of thi family heor nooo?! Symptoms,forgive my ignorance,but you often mention the "peelers"........er.......educate me please.......[ignorance is bliss!!!!]

Cheers,Brian,tek nae notice o' my impitence! A knaa the tune,but a didn't knaa the nyem o' it!! Like a say,ignorance is bliss! Mind,a think we were born in the best period of time,since time began,cos we had simple happy pleasures as kids,grew up wi rock'n'roll,and the space -age..technology advances.....etc....kids will never experience the advances from horse and carts to wat they've got nooadays!,like we did!!!

My Parents moved to Hollymount Square in 1947-8..ish,and I grew up wi Smaily's shop aroond the corner. Noo!,what curiosity dae yi think was aroused in a kid,of aboot four years and upwards,ti see folk waakin' aroond ti Smaily's shop,carrying a lang,square,funny-lukkin' glass "jar",wi a carrying handle,and full of black-lukkin' liquid,wi brass "terminals" on thi top?,[one in each hand!] This was ,it seemed,every time we were ootside playing,that sumbody wud waak by,on their way ti Smaily's. ACCUMULATOR'S!........the earliest form of re-chargeable batteries,wat powered the new-fangled wireless sets! Mrs Smails played the organ at Saint Cuthbert's Church,for centuries!,but the organ bellows were so inadequate,that the attack rate,being slow,meant that the congregation used to leave the organ accompaniment,struggling ti keep in time![We kids always thought Mrs Smails was playing too slowly!...ignorance is bliss!] I used to go in for me Mutha's shopping......."Two oonces o' tea,please,and two oonces o' sugar..."..[scooped oot o' tea-chests made o' plywood,and put in little strong broon paper bags.] While a was waiting,in a queue,a wud stare up on the top shelf,which ran right aroond the shop...weird-looking big tin containers,wi lids on,aal different shapes and sizes,aal bonny painted wi oriental artwork,sum were really dark colours,and creepy-lukkin,ti a little bairn! They were antiques then,aroond 1950-ish,and a often wonder wat happened ti them,they were obviously from other parts of the world,and hoo did they get there? Old Mr Smails,was aboot ninety years old,when aa was a kid,and a can remember him taking these Accumulator's off a weird lookin' bench,wi loads of wires leading to loads of these things,aal bubbling away,creating a queer smell,as ye stood near them.[they were all being charged for customers!] Butter was in the barrel,and yi had a chunk carved oot expertly,by Mrs Smails,hoo,like other places,[the store for instance..],cud guess the weight as near as a knat's whisker!! We kids used ti ask for the empty tea-chests,ti mek rabbit hutches,cos yi only had ti cut a door oot,and clag a bit o' chicken-wire owa thi front,and ye had a posh hoose for Bunty! The whole of the shop interior was fitted oot wi dark oak,panelling,counter-tops,shelves,etc,and was again,a bit daunting for kids,like way back in the hill-billy days!! Smails at Morpeth is the same stamp,and also the hardware shop at Rothbury,[modern-day Matty Robinson's!!!] [yi cud ask for a pink elephant,and if they didn't hae one,they wud get yi one!!] The nearest aav seen ti a shop like Smaily's,is the hardware shop at Beamish museum,[for the antiquity that is,not necessary aal the stock..] Mrs Smails was a lovely natured old lady,well thought of in Bedlington,and aam thinking noo,that there shud have been some sort of recognition for the service to the community,which she provided,aav got a clear picture of her in my mind,after aal the years since a last saw her. Vic,ask your Lass if she can remember these tins aam on aboot! Oh,and a hope she is keeping weel!

Tune to these words,Brian! heh heh![hae ye had a few?!!!!!!] Sunday nights in the summer,at Hollymount Square,was a hive of activity! Bob Humble,[a neighbour friend],and my eldest Sister,used to organise games,which ranged from "Hot rice" [wi tennis racquets],Rounders,Cannon..[yes,lolly sticks on top of a bean can,hit by a ball..],"Tiggy-in-thi-bay",Sprinting races aroond thi block,and a game where yi aal stood in a circle,and one in thi middle,and yi had ti try and hit thi middle one wi thi baal!! Bob went aroond the kerbs in the square,and measured thi distance wi a foot-ruler,[a wood one from skyeull!],....[300mm in new money!],and then did a bit arithmetic,working it oot that five times aroond the square was near enough to a straight mile,near enough for timing the races aroond thi block! Of course he was accompanied by a squad of us other kids,eager ti find oot thi results! This seems so simple a pleasure noo,when yi think back,but at thi time,everything was exciting,cost nowt,and we had loads of excercise,fresh air,and gud aad friendship. There were similar gatherings through the week also,but early bedtimes for a lot of us meant there were fewer kids taking part,and you couldn't make any noise for the pitmen who were in bed,ti get up for fore-shift,which was usually the midneet shift. Vic's better half will remember playing two,and three,mebbe four-baaly,bays , skippy,"chucks"..[wi bits of chippings off the road!-nae fancy chaak ones!] A can vividly remember the lassies playing these games and singing along but a canna mind the words noo! Us laddies used ti sumtimes play skippy and bays wi thi lassies,cos we were aal gud friends and neighbours. These were really happy days,and that's just when we laddies weren't playing doon the woods,and the river etc.....we didn't need P.T. lessons at school,we got loads of excercise at yem!!

Alan,one of thi best laughs me and Bill etheridge,[me Marra,and Tom Young...deceased....R.I.P. Tom..],had,was when a canny young timber lad used ti work he'sell', digging and nipping ye from behind,punching yi in thi ribs playfully,and caaling ye a baaldy aad sod....etc! We warned him that we wud crucify him if he didn't waatch he's step! So he carried on being a worky-ticket,and he was shocked when me two big Marra's held him doon between the rails of the rolleyway,lying his body alang the sleepers,and aa dogged he's claas by each shoulder,to the sleepers wi rolleyway dogs..[like big thick nails,wi dog's-heads on them,so yi can nail thi rails to the sleepers]. A also dogged he's waistband of he's troosers,and he's trooserbottoms,ti the sleepers,so he was fast,and cudn't move an inch!! We tuk he's caplamp off him,and went through thi air-doors,leaving him in total blackness,and shouted .."so long,yi impitint young...###### " Once we got through thi airlock doors,we just stood and listened ti him screaming he's heed off......tha wasn't any danger to him,we weren't stupid aaltigither! We let him stew a bit,and aa started feeling sorry for thi poor lad,so a tuk he's lamp back in,and cut him free by hacking he's claas away,partly,and let him cut thi rest. When he caught us up,at thi shaft bottom,he was a total mess,wi aal raggy claas,cos when yi knock a dog reet in,ti thi hilt,tha there ti stay,so he had ti rip hesell oot!! Thi lad was that gud natured,he telt ivery body in thi queue for thi cage,and STILL towsed us when we were waiting for the next cage ti bank!!! Years later,we see him doon the river Wansbeck,dog-waakin',and he aalwis tells me Wife the story aboot he's crucifixion!!! We wud be tuk ti court nooadays by the wimps who divvent knaa wat a gud day's work is,and hoo ti mek thi best of a bad job!!

Thanks Canny lass! Aav got vivid memories of thi ranch,and feeding thi pigs,and aal thi other livestock!!

Heh heh! Alan,nivvor hord o that one,but ye had me creased up theor!! Aye,Al,first week doon Bates,as a Deputy,[as you were also],my appointment was as a Gate-end supervisor,in thi tailgate,in 84's face,up in thi Beaumont seam.Half-way alang 8's main belt road,[in thi Beaumont,Alan,not thi Harvey...], Dennis Holiday,[ deceased R.I.P. Dennis..],pulled some lagging boards away from above wa heeds,between thi arched girders. Dennis said "Howway Wilma,aal show yi summick that'll mek ya eyes rowl..[roll]..." We climbed up the packwaal at thi side and got above thi gorda's,and sure enough,me eyes DID rowl!! A bet that cavity was best part of 30 feet high,or more,and was full of crystals,pentagon,[5-sided] facets,mostly quartz,but lots of other colours,which were ,after thi passing of time from it's discovery,covered in coal dust,and oxidised. What a sight to behold! At weekends,Me marra's used ti ask me ti fetch some bits oot.."for thi bairns ti tek ti school"....[aalwis for thi bairns...nivvor for thi Wives ti use as an ornament!!] The floor was composed entirely of thick,multi-coloured crystals among the stone,which was whin-stone,and which was originally Magma,[or molten lava from volcanic action,over 200 million years ago.] Apparently,it was discovered when the caunch-men fired the caunch down,one day,around 1982-ish. After thi shots went off,water started rushing in so furiously,that it was out of control. The roadway flooded within a very short time,and they rushed extra pumps in,[D12d's...Alan...a few of them,then Mackley turbine pumps],the Management thought they were gonna lose the whole pit to thi water coming in. After a few days,the inrush started to ebb,and they got hold of thi water levels,to a static pioint. When the men eventually worked their way in through the water,back to the face,they were treated to the sight of this cavity,only it was freshly exposed,and glittering like diamonds..[which some of the men thought the crystals were....to their disappointment!]. The Manager called in people from the Hancock museum,who called further archeologists in from London,and it was they who determined the age,and origin of this spectacle. What comes aroond,gaans aroond.......and that cavity is back ti being flooded again,and it'll be flooded for many a year afore anybody ever sees it again.! Just thinking,Alan,did they caal the Harvey,thi Beaumont,at Bates,cos they caaled the Plessey,thi Hutton!...which aa couldn't figure oot. A dea knaa that different pits caaled seams differently,ti others,but Bates caaled the bugga's both names!! So mebbe we are both reet,and aal apologise for correcting yi earlier in this posting,Alan!

Definately the old Whitley,and a think the player to the right of Derek..["Deg.."] Wilkinson,was called "Hopey"...[nickname]....John Hope,I'm pretty sure of the surname,but a bit unsure of his first name....if you know what I mean. Deg Wilkinson's younger Brother,Alan,followed him onto the school team,and is posted on the Six Township's site,they are the spit of each other! Alan and me sat at the same desk all our school days from infant school,Whitley,and the early days at Westridge,until I did the mistake of going into the Upper Remove class.

Hi Malcolm! The 611 AD date is given in a blue "Queen Elizabeth 's Coronation" presentation book,which was given to the senior classes at the Whitley Memorial,and I suppose all other schools,in 1953. Us younger kids got a lovely Coronation Mug. Well ,the book was called..." A history of Northumberland",and as I grew up,that book was,to us kids,[who had nowt,and our parents were hard up],the bible of knowledge! The Teacher ,Mr Davidson,who took us for social studies,at the old Whitley,also taught us the history of Saint Cuthbert's church..verifying the same date as being 611 AD...[mind,that is the recorded date of the monks settling there and building the earliest form of a meeting place for worship....it might have been made of tree branches like a bird hide,for all we know,but the ground was consecrated then,which is the most important point,not so much the actual building.] The window to the right of the pulpit,was known as .."the Leper's window",cos those people who were smitten with leprosy,or other contagious diseases,were not allowed into the church!![so much for christianity....Jesus walked among all men,no matter what they suffered from!] So the lepers had to watch the service through that window. A canna mind the vicar's name, who wanted to bury the ancient font,but it's only a few years ago,fairly recently,and a kinda think it was thi same guy who changed from being a man,to being a woman,with his Wife's total support...not a secret,the press carried a full article,the T.V media also covered the story,so no rats nest being raked here, a might be wrong on he/she being the one,but anyway,due to it being fairly recent,it shouldn't be too hard to research these facts. This vicar was an archaeologist,and so wanted to do this for the benefit of future digger's!!! Anybody who is half-decent,and very respectful of the church,would have been horrified if this person had had his /her way. Vicar Ward was a very cool guy! His Son and My Son,were good friends,when they attended the West Sleekburn middle school,in the 1970's. He allowed the lads who had formed a small music group,to play in the church,at one of the services,a canna mind which service it was,maybe the carol service,but a remember the lads playing the Shadows's "Apache",instrumental,from 1960,as well as other tunes. It was great seeing guitars being played in church,cos in the sixties,we were regarded by a lot of the religious fraternity,as instruments of the devil...with all that gyrating and hideous noise coming from our speakers......! Vicar Ward was well-liked by everyone cos he was such a pleasant fella,like one of us,nae snootiness.

Me aauldest Son is noo 45 yrs old. When we lived in the colliery hoose at West Terrace,in Bomarsund,it was me Son's fifth,[a think!]..birthday,and wor lass aalwis byekked a load o stuff ti gie the bairns a nice little tea party.[this party would have been aboot 1973-ish.]Aal thi bairns in the street came in for the tea party. Wa neighbour's lovely little lassie,Julie,responded to the game where each kid had ti sing a song,or say a bit o poetry,with this little ditty...[said in broadest Northumbrian...we're NOT Geordie's....right!]........ "Aal uv a sudden,thi big black pudden,came floatin owa thi air.......it missed me Mutha, and hit me Faatha, and knocked him off thi chaior..."!![chair]. We aal fell aboot laughing,cos this little lassie had a lovely way of speaking,normally,and it soonded queer hearing her tryin ti taak i n wor dialect,even though she was a coalminer's Daughter..! Obviously her Granny or sumbody aada had larn't hor that one,which aav still got on aad-fashioned reel ti reel tape,alang with aal the kids having a gud time at wor hoose,in the days when it wasn't a crime ti say hello ti ya neighbour's kids,or kick a baal roond wi thi young laddies in the back street,withoot being thought of as a ..........!!!! Happy days!

Cheers Alan! That's chinkaplonka,aad love ti hae them Al,a saw one wi Mr Davidson,my aad teacher,at thi Whitley,standing wi thi fitba' team,which was mostly my mates and next-door neighbours at Hollymount Square,but a canna find it again! [ it was on the "Six Townships site,which is a great site.] Can ye mind Ken Bird?..[NACODS union secretary at Bates,at the latter end....] Whey he mailed me a pic of my rhythm group,taken in approx 1963-ish.[maybe a bit earlier,]which wor bass player's Son,who lives in Cambridgeshire,has posted up on the Six Township's site. Av nivvor seen it before,so check the site oot if ye ain't done so aalriddy,like!! Cheers Alan,and thanks!

Hi Jack B ! Was Joe Caine the same fella,[maybe John was his middle name?..or vice-versa..]? In the mid-sixties,Joe,who was a real canny fella,used to book my pop/rhythm group,for Labour party social evenings,at the Market-place club. In fact ,our very first booking ever,was done by him,at that club. He used to be smiling all the time you ever saw him. Stocky-ish,jet-black hair,very amiable-natured fella. Sorry I don't have any pics,but I'm sure there must be loads in the council archives,newspaper cuttings etc,and I bet John Dawson is the guy who willl be able to help on this one!

Hi John! This pic is on the information board at the entrance to Choppington High Pit road,up Guide Post road,on the left,[for new visitors!] As a 17-year-old transport lad,at the High Pit,in 1961,I supplied all these men with thier coalcutters,conveyor belt driveheads,cutter cables...etc. Now the coalfiller on the left,in the middle row,[unless I am getting severe dementia!!],wasn't Sammy Neal,John,it was John Million. My Wife has an old Lady friend,whose [deceased] Husband,Tom,was John's Brother,I think. I showed her a copy of this pic,which I took from the info board [with my digital camera,]and she recognised him immediately,even though she is a very sprightly 80-odd year old lady. I can remember John Million,and the rest of these fella's,as if it was yesterday!! Leighton Bush's Son,[billy Bush],was on timber-leading,at the time this pic was taken,in the Beaumont Seam,5th South coalface. I used to see Billy odd times,long after the pit was closed,walking down the GuidePost road,and also Joe Barratt,the Overman. Mind,I never knew that anybody ever took a camera down,while I was there,which makes me wonder if the pic was taken in maybe [at the latest] -early 1960,cos I was down the pit in August of that year,after my 16th birthday. At that time,there were only 300-odd men at the pit,so if you split that count into four shifts,i.e,back-shift[8-30 am],night-shift.[5-0pm],foreshift [12-0am], with odd amounts of men in at 6-0am,and 2-0pm,it doesn't take much working out,to find that you quickly got to know every man at the pit ! [less than a hundred men per shift,as opposed to 500 men per shift like in the big pits..] Gossip travelled quickly in such a tight knit underground community like this family pit,where four Brothers and their Father,and usually a brother-in-law,or Uncle,all filled coal next to each other,on the same coal face![like the Nicholson's,the Dreyer's,the Barratt's...[officials].....etc] So I think it would have been the talk of the pit,men having their photo taken,and I think I would have known about it,but as I say,I am at a funny age.......! Bediesathome,I wish I could place you,cos if you were around in the fifties,did you not work down the High Pit also? We used to also play quoits with cast-off ponies's shoes,at bait-times,underground,cards,pony-jumping over hardwood chocks stacked up to create the fences.......thundering up the mothergate like hell,bare-back,jumping the fences and getting hoyed off.....crackers we were!!...all black and blue,but the conditions were so bad,these games were like stress relievers,though we didn't think that way,at thi time,we were just young and daft!!

Hi Symtoms,that wasn't Ray Bell,he didn't have a lorry of any kind....more like gaan roond the doors wi a wheel-barra ti get the peelings in!! Hi Canny Lass!,I told the whole story of the ranch in another posting,but just to re-cap,the original ranch was on the left-hand side of the white lonnen,as you walked up towards the Netherton colliery village from Choppington Station. Mrs Bell bought the land,incl. the Chapel,on the right-hand side,in later years,around 1956-ish,thereabouts. Ray was my Brother-in-law,from my age of about 12 years old,in 1956-ish,and I used to help him often with the feeding of all the animals. Ray and my Sister lived in a caravan beside the chapel for a year or two,till they could find a place ,[proper], to live. They were so hard-up,at the time,that my Sister used to walk from her caravan,at the top of the lonnen,all the way to Bedlington top-end,down the main street to my Mother's house at Hollymount Square,and back again,after a few hour's visit. She used to be carrying her baby in one arm,and shopping bag on the other,and on the journey home,her bag was full of coal for her caravan fire! [about half a pail-full!] Can you imagine any young girl doing that noo?