HIGH PIT WILMA

What's gaan on heor?,a been clartin on owa an hoor,and ownly haaf me taak has gettn posted,did a not put plenty stamps on or wat?!

Hi Maggie! O n the first day Westridge school opened,there were 500 pupils in the school hall,which was the full count for the school.Mr Hemming introduced all the staff members,and then announced that,because the stationers had renaged on their contract,there was no books,pens or paper ,or any other kind of stationery supplied to the school,so we would all be sent home,with a view to starting the next day. Now we did attend the

James,I really am chuffed to hell that you posted this pic,cos the Captain holding the ball,left school in 1956,Mick Rutherford,he lived a few doors away from me in Hollymount Square,and was My older Brother's best mate,and I used to follow them around...they were three years older than me.[15 years old in 1956!] Dicky Mitcheson back left,it looks like Yice Hale next to Dicky,[maybe wrong!],Brian [councillor] Richmond-goalie[sat behind me all the years through school from starting infant school],looks like one of the Wood twins next to him,then I cannot mind the lad's name on the right,even though I knew him well. Front row was...[pass!],then, My long standing school-mates through every class Alan Wikinson,[sat next to me in the same desk],Ronnie Leyland,[sat behind me and Alan],Mick Rutherford,Mick Bradley,[in the form 4 who finished school that year this pic was taken!] So it puzzles me how Mick Rutherford played his last game in 1957,as a school-kid,when he would have been working in the pit for almost a year,as did my older Brother who also left in 1956,and missed starting Westridge in the school term following the summer holidays........obviously the pic had to be taken while there was still a team,for posterity,and other political purposes,but in reality is meaningless!! Seeing this pic has had the memories flooding back in my mind,how A lan,and Ronnie,and me [with other friends]used to go down the Ha'apenny woods after school,and have lots of great times! Thanks for posting the pic,James.

Sorry if I sound arrogant,James,but the excellent,and rare,and very much appreciated pic of the team,doesn't really mean a thing to us who started on the first day Westridge opened,and have very vivid memories of that day,in 1956. It makes no difference when the last game of football was played,and,if you seriously think about it,rather than trying to "clear up confusion",try and see that what you are doing,is,in fact,doubting the intelligence,and integrity,of both Myself,AND Norman,who both started that day. It really is insulting,even if unintentionally!!,to try and convince someone, on what day they started a brand new school,after the post-war years of austerity,and suddenly find you have to attend wearing a ...uniform....!!...at 12 years of age! I was already studying electricity,and electronics,valve wireless theoretical circuit diagrams....magnetism,Faraday's Principles,Ohm's laws......etc....... building small two-valve radio sets etc,as the years went by,....from 12 years old...but I knew bugger all about football,and was always bullied by the "sporty" lads....cos I was different..and hated sport lessons! So I think I have the intelligence to know what day I started my new school! Right?!! [Rant over,and hope I haven't come over as being stroppy...!!!]

The concrete bases are hardly 50 yards from the stone river bridge,if that! When we were kids,about 13 years old,we used to ride the Costains road all the way to Bebside pit,from the Bedlington side,there was never any security on in those days....why would they need any?..we weren't going to destroy the road or the bridges..........!! It was truly an amazing thing to watch the 42-ton coal haulers bouncing their way across the river bridge,we used to watch,and say one day,it will collapse... shows how much us kids knew about Bailey engineering!! Check out Six-townships DVD about Acorn Bank Opencast site,and there is a short clip..[only about five seconds],of a coal hauler going over. Because I just lived up at Hollymount Square,My friends and me watched the laying of the foundations of both the road and river bridges,the cutting through the Blackberry hill and the construction of all the roads connecting the project,the building,and ,years later,demolition,and re-instating of the land to it's former self......minus all the masses of blackberry bushes,on the Blyth side,which provided us with a bit of hard-earned pocket money,when the blackies were in season![picking them and selling them to our neighbours for thruppence a pund!] It was fascinating to watch a Bailey bridge going up over the river at Rothbury,last year,as I knew every part,every pin ,washer and split-pin that held the frame sections together......never changed in sixty years since the Costain bridges!! I took pics of every stage of that project,building it,then inconveniently took seriously ill,near-death,so I missed the demolition stages when it was completed!!![talk about bad luck spoiling things!] Wish I could have had pics of the Costain ones....but I was only about ten years old at the start of the project!

Is that not Joe Raisbeck[bus driver-Raisbecks buses]? sure looks like him,hair an' all!,who is captain?

Derek Wilkinson,is the spitting image of Alan,and in 1953 we were eight/nine years old,depending which part of the year you look at. So,while Derek was captain here,Alan was following close on his older Brother's heels. The likeness is really freaky..it's like I'm looking at a pic of Alan!! It's also freaky how they both suffered death-defying terrible accidents,at about this time of life,and survived to tell the tale! Derek,fell from the old Humford mill building,which stood at the top of Bedlington Bank,while trying to reach a pidgeon's nest,injuring his head very badly. Alan fell of the spiky low railings which went around the gardens at the market-place,next to the market cross,as he was trying to walk along the top of the spikes. One of the spikes went through him,and impaled him,near to his heart. Doctors said he was very lucky to be alive. Alan,if you are in there,can you confirm the stories for me please?!

Right! Just to clear up the ambiguity of the houses....the set up on the right of the pic,over from the Whitley School IS Hollymount Square,where i lived from it first being built after the war,left a bit,and you can see Haig Road,and Cornwall Crescent,facing onto the Dr pit football field. Central,and leading over to Haig Road,is Rosalind Avenue ,aa knew every body in them houses when i lived there,but a lot of names are gone noo! I sat next to Derek Wilkinson's younger Brother Alan,all my school life,from the Villlage infants,the Whitley,and Westridge,for a while,until I went into the Upper Remove..[which was the worst thing I ever did in my School life!!] Alan was considered for East Northumberland juniors football team,but a canna mind noo,if he got there,but he was a great footballer,even though I knew nowt aboot fitba',I could see how good he was back then!

I used to go to the Sunday School up there,at the top-end,and got a little blue star stamped on my attendance card each week. I can remember playing games and the guys running it were very good with all the kids,I was only aboot eight,and my older Brother took me each week for a while,then we just stopped going...canna mind why!

About twenty years ago,an old friend of mine died. His Son,Bob,also a very good friend,went with another close friend of his,to clear out his Dad's house and garage. Bob came across a very old and a bit battered brass instrument,in the old garage. He was in the process of carrying it outside to throw it into the skip,when Alan,his mate stopped him and said he knew who would give it a good home. Next day Alan knocked on my door,holding a black bin liner,with something bulky,and heavy-looking in it. "Bill",Alan said,"can ye find room in your studio for this aad thing...?" I looked to see what it was,and saw it was what I thought was a Euphonium..very old,with most of the silver-plating worn off. Upon closer examination,and advice from Dennis Todd,at Bedlington's only musical instrument shop,[lovely fella,so is his Wife,],we saw a plate with the words "Salvation Army"...plus other text details. Dennis said it was a "b-flat bass",and the valves were worn out. He said it could be restored and re-plated Silver once more,for about two-hundred pounds,[then!],but it would be worth about 2,500 pounds. It is still in it's original worn-out and blackened condition,in my studio....I hadn't the heart to interfere with it!...it's a memento of my good old friend who passed away all those years ago. Mind,if I knew of a Salvation Army Museum,I would willingly donate it,if only to preserve it after i'm gone! It's definitely pre-war,and looks like it has been blackened purposefully,as if to avoid it reflecting light during total blackout situations.

Slightly off-topic,Threegee,but looking around everywhere noo,a think AAL thi lamp-posts are dangerous!! Half the stock of the metal ones are sawn off three feet above the ground and safety -taped,and the remaining ones are showing signs of rusting near the ground,I think some lamp-post makers just took Wansbeck Council for a ride,when they were contracted to make and supply the council with a few thousand for the whole shire! Back to Trotter's Memorial,he was a good doctor,who more or less pushed through laws to have better sanitation,and living conditions for the residents of Bedlingtonshire. I can picture the 3, and the 3A,buses swinging roond the memorial,ti turn into the "Bus-stand,at the top-end......on thi way ti thi toon!![in the '50s!],oh!... ...AND the 10,and thi 10A,also.....cos buses were so packed in them days that the United bus company had to put extra buses on,so they had the "A" suffix,and also the "Duplicate"...which was an extra bus to cope with demand,especially on days like "Cock-n-Hen day",from Morpeth to Blyth,on Wednesdays,which was a thriving market day in Morpeth....which was the 47 bus,and also the 48. When we came out of the pit,at Choppington High Pit,on Wednesdays,we had to stand for over an hour,as one bus after the other went past full-up,and the old-timer's would say,in a grumbly tone of voice,"Whey yi might knaa,it's bliddy cock-n-hen day..."!!

Them were the days,when a was lad of 12 years old,when a used ti gaan up ti thi Netherton colliery village,and help Ray Bell to mek thi pigswill in a huge witches setpot,ootside,doon at the ranch.[in 1956-ish].When a was riding me bike up the Netherton Lonnen,[now dilapitated and disused due to another council sacrilegous blunder...],a cud smell the swill cooking a half-mile away...it was lovely on a winter's day,cos effectively,it was real vegetable soup,better than we humans eat,cos it was made from the skins of all the vegetables,which is known to be the best part OF the vegetable!!....and we are supposed to be intelligent! The swill cooked for three days ,cos there was a bit more than your average Asda tin in that setpot!....enough to feed fifty pigs! A used ti enjoy feeding times,and also when a sow had her litter,you had sometimes 17 piglets to juggle around the udders,cos the weakest ones couldn't push their way in,so you had to help them oot! My oldest Sister married Ray,that's why I used ti go up there a lot. Everybody in the village kept their peelings for Ray,and I think they might have got a reward of a few rashers,or a joint,in return....I don't know for sure. His Mother,ran a lovely green Morris Oxford,in 1956,that was the big car of the day,very luxurious...made me wonder how,when everybody was so hard-up,in the post-war years of austerity! Aye....those were the days my friend!

Brilliant pics,and a reminder to see my Sister about howking my mug oot...[the drinking one ...for all you clever-clogs!...],a think she boxed all me Mother's china away,when Ma died. Do you know of anybody who got the blue history book? Did you go to the Whitley as weel Maggie?

Hi Canny Lass! Aye,Dougie was a real gud crack,and a canny fella.Sorry to hear of him passing away. You know,half of Netherton village moved into Hollymount Square,when it was completed , in the early 1950's. As a bairn,I played with all the "new" kids who moved in...[cos my family were among the very first ones to move there...I was about three years old..nearly four....and one of the "experienced" kids!] Can you remember the Bell family who had the "ranch" at Netherton? or Robbie's garage? Bobby Cowell was the Safety Officer at the pit,he was a canny lad.

Hi Brian,aye,a got me Deputies tickets,I was on Deputy-work for seven years at Bates pit,[they sent me there cos Bedlington A pit was closing-so it was nae gud me gaan back there after the course was finished]. A chucked it in,and the NUM accepted me back into the union,and I spent the rest of my time there,on composite work,in the Three-quarter seam,amang aal the waata and clarts,and bad roof conditions![ a man-made hell!] A musta gotten on weel wi aal thi lads,cos it had nivvor been knaan before,cos once you are a Deputy,there was never any way you could go back into the NUM! But there were loads of lads in all the face teams said they would have ne working with them. I ended up back with my old Marra from 1962 [at Choppington high pit],who I got split from way back then,when all the little pits closed in the 1960's. Bill,[my old long-time Marra],can be seen on my photostream,on Flickr,taken doon the three-quarter at Bates pit ,in 1986. Where did you work Brian,and also,you wouldn't happen to be actor Bobby's Brother....would you? Old Bobby Cross,[actor Bobby's Dad],worked at Choppington high pit,in the 1950-60's a canny aad soul.

Hi Canny Lass! You reminded me that I did three weeks training down Netherton pit,in 1971,as part of my Deputy training course.I was only 27 years old,then!! I was under the charge of Norman Smeaton,and Dougie Moore,in alternating shifts. Dougie told me the local story of the district we were working in. One night,in night-shift,a few years before my time there,the deputy was sitting at his "Kist",writing out his official reports for that shift, .He happened to look up from his report book,and a dim light caught his eye,a long way inbye. Naturally,he thought it was just one of his men coming outbye,at the end of the shift. As the light came nearer,he glanced up again,and was frozen with fear,when the figure of an old miner from a byegone year,dressed with his soft cloth "stottie-cake" cap and "Midge" oil-lamp in his hand,[from generations before the Deputy..] slowly,and silently,walked past the Kist,without showing any sign of being aware that the Deputy was even watching him....he had an old clay pipe in his mouth,which wasn't lit. Then the figure just faded into the darkness. After that,several men saw the same old figure,and each one described him exactly the same,passing the kist at the same time each night ,until the men no longer were afraid,and used to remark about seeing .."old Freddie"...[or whatever name they had given the figure.] Noo,can anybody from Netherton confirm the origin of this story please? Once you heard a story like this,underground,it forever left you being wary,and wondering if you would encounter the same figure,and how you would react! Ask around for me will you ..please? Cheers!

Another famous-to -be-in -Bedlington name on there John,that of James Bower of Market Place. The Bower family ran the coal wagons,and Rafffi Bower ran the Marqee hire business also with his Daughter,who spent her days with one-hundredwieght sacks of coal on her shoulders running up flights of stairs with them sometimes! James grew up and moved to number 6 Hollymount Square,when the houses were first built,at the same time my family moved into number 13. ME and his Son,young Jimmy Bower,became inseparable mates so much,people took us for brothers! Russel is in there ,A lass who later bore family who lived in Milllfield,and I am assuming it would be her son,Jimmy, who sat behind me all the way through our entire school life[cos in those day,you could sit next to your friend as you went through the school years till you left!] Interesting document! would love to see more!

They used cobs at Bedlington A pit in the High Main seam,cos it was nearly ten feet high coal. Shetlands,in the Harvey seam when I worked there in 1965-71,wwhen the pit closed. At Choppington High Pit,conditions were very bad,with extreme roof pressure,twisting and lowering a 12foot wide,by eight foot high roadway,down to less than four foot high in places....scary when you see it for the first time. Consequently all the pony's were small Shetlands,not all of which were broken in and trained!!....we often had to take fresh unbroken ponies inbye and train them with a long rein to the bit.[not forgetting,it WAS a "tetty-pit"....!] When they drifted down to the Top Busty seam,conditions were wet,and really bad on the coalfaces,but the roadways stood for longer than they did up in the Beaumont seam....so it made it a bit better for the ponies,even though it was still cruelty them being there.

The "Wheatsheaf" pub adjacent to Smails shop,with "Hunter's" shop built on,as you were heading down the bank,in that order. Between Smails and the pub,ran the back lane for Hollymount Avenue,and about 50 yards down the lane,was the Co-op dairy warehouse,where all the milk supplies were stored,plus the dairy vans were kept there also. The lite shop used to be Smails,or,"Smaily's" as we called it when we were kids. I lived in Hollymount Square,from 3 years old,till I got married. When I was about 11 years old,I used to go over to the dairy,and wait sometimes 2 hours ,for the delivery truck,coming from Stocksfield,Ryton,Crawcrook,Greenside,and over to our dairy. At first,I couldn't lift a full wooden heavy 20-pint crate,["helping the milkman!"],so old Bob Reed,the Bedlington dairyman,with only one arm used to stack the crates off the lorry,three-high,and I used to pull the stack across the bare concrete floor,which Bob had dampened to help with slideability........! I had to pull each stack about 15 yards,clear of the doors,and put the stacks in neat lines,so Bob could get at them to load his little Morris Minor van up in the morning,to start HIS deliveries around Bedlington. At that age,my arms and legs ached,by the time I had pulled 30-odd full crates over the floor,and the same number of crates of empty bottles. Those were the days of big heavy glass bottles with the wide necks,with cardboard tops,where you pressed out the centre to pull the top of the bottle off. We kids collected the tops,dried them out,and played "Skimmers"with them! As time went by,and I got stronger,I was literally throwing the crates up and onto the lorry deck,as I took turns with the lorry driver,and old Bob,to load up the lorry with all the empties. Best part was having a ride over to Seaton Delaval dairy,to unload all their crates,and take on the empties,then from there,back over to Choppington,Scotland Gate dairy,...same again,then back home. It was bloody hard work,a lot of fun and gud crack,cos the old'uns treated me like a young man,not a kid! My reward was a couple of "buckshee"pints of milk,for my Mother,and sometimes a bottle of orange juice,you know....the third-pint ones...they were a luxury item,cos rations were just about ending,so my "pay",in milk,saved my Mother a bit of money each day,it all mounted up,in those hard times! Bob drove his van all over Bedlington,with only the one arm,his right one,and he changed gear by pushing his arm through the steering wheel,changing gear,then resuming his hold on the wheel as normal. I never ever heard of old Bob having an accident of any kind! A bit off-topic,but you set me on a bender,Eileen,with your query!!

John,this is intriguing the hell oot o' me here! The top name on the register is that of my Granda on me Faatha's side.[not me Granda,mind...cos me Faatha was born in 1915.....6 years after this lad was born. Summik fishy was gaan on in thi aad days,when they were so prim and proppa.....like hell were they!! Aad love ti see the register for 1948/9,for the village infants school,when aa started,a think a was aboot 4-and a -haaf,coos the way me birthday fell,between terms. A need ti dae sum research aboot me granda's aad chep! Thanks for posting this gem,John.!

Pleased ti hear that ,Canny Lass,lasting mementoes nobody else will ever have,unless they buy them in a gift shop!...not quite the same fondness for them!

Bed-time again,already,and I have just gotten sat down,been walking Jess,me little darlin'!! Adam,thanks for your kind comment also,we have to be forever grateful to your Pa for me gettin the excellent pics of Bates,which everybody can see if they go to "Flickr.com.",or just type "Bates Pit Photos..Wilma's photostream",into Google. It's nearly 28 years since we went up the pit headgear,to get them shots, man....frightening how fast time slips away,the older you get!!

As an afterthought,we weren't dumb pitmen,like society used to portray us,....striking greedy miners...! Miners never had a strike from the 1926 general strike,until 1972....not a bad record for the most dangerous industry in the country,bar none! Compared to Dagenham Ford,and other industries,where they had lightning strikes every other week,sometimes over things like the coffe pot wasn't working,or the place was cold and draughty......COLD AND DRAUGHTY!![ They should have spent ONE shift at the shaft bottom,at any pit,but especially the wet pits like Choppington High PIT....they would be pleased to settle down in front of their work and not complain! Like my Personell Manager said to me once,at Ashington pit,"The Coal Board don't put a £30million machine into any daft bugga's hands ye naa,Bill.." Skilled men!

EEEH!Thanks Maggie,these are stories you couldn't make up,if you tried!! But you know,when my two lads were very young,they asked questions about what i did,when I went out to go down the pit. Most other men I worked with,used to say that once they chucked their tally [safety token],into the tally office,they forgot about the pit,and didn't want to hear about it till the next shift! They said they wouldn't talk to their wives or kids about it. But they would talk all night about what happened at the club the night before,what beer was best,and who had died.....funerals etc.... I explained in detail,with drawings,and mining books from the library,exactly how coal was mined,coalcutters,shearers,hand-filling,low seams,water,bad roof conditions,methods of timbering up the roof for your own,and your marra's safety......etc This was from the ages when they could start to talk almost!! My wife could tell you all about ridding a caunch,or ploughing back to the mothergate with a uni-directional shearer! See?....I always thought the day would come,when there were no more coalmines to be seen...and it happened! Mining could sometimes have an interesting side to it..... Like when you were driving a new roadway,and you hit a Whinstone dyke,[igneous intrusion],after you blasted your way into the dyke,with explosives,you would sometimes smell rotten eggs,this was a gas called "stinkdamp",and was very dangerous,as it quickly killed your sense of smell,though the danger was still present,you had a false sense of security.With good ventilation,you quickly dispersed the gas,and made your way back into your place of work.Sometimes the gas was released from cavities in the whinstone,and these cavities were usually lined with beautiful crystals of differing types,mostly quartz,with a pentagon facet. One such cavity we encountered was about four feet high and about three feet wide,by about three feet deep. When we shone our caplamps into the cavity,it was like aladdin's cave!! The inside of the cavity was glittering like diamonds,and my marra's thought I was stupid when I remarked that this cavity was more than 200 million years old,and we were the first persons in the history of mankind,to see it! it would have been full of acidic water,and the action of the water on Iron Pyrites in the cavity would have produced the gas H2S ...Hydrogen Sulphide, otherwise known as "Stinkdamp".["Damp has no connection with water...it is a derivative of the German word.."Dampfe"..."Gas". So,Firedamp, [Methane],afterdamp..[Carbon Monoxide...after an explosion..],stinkdamp..[H2S],Blackdamp..[Carbon Dioxide..."Stythe"..caused by total depletion of Oxygen in the atmosphere,due to oxidation with materials such as the timber,the actual strata,and everything oxygen comes into contact with....causes death by suffocation..not actually poison.] Anyway,I had the foresight to collect some large specimens of crystals,still attached to the rock,and brought them home for my wife,to put on the hearth as unusual,and unique ornaments.I also brought loads of specimens for my kids to take to school for teacher,and also for other men,for their kids to take to school. Now that the pitis under water,and lost,these rocks and crystals are a fine reminder how bad it was working down the mines!

When I was young,after the first few weeks at Westy,I had bad dreams that I was late for school and couldn't find the classroom where the lesson was being held! In my dreams I was frantically running up and down the stairs and going from room to room....of which there were millions!!...opening doors where lessons were in progress,and being reprimanded by each teacher for interrupting the lesson! See?....at the gud old Whitley memorial,you usually sat in the same desk,in the same room,and the different teachers came to you,with the odd exception to the rule,such as having to go for woodwork,obviously,or going into old Mouldy cheese's classroom for music lesson,where she thumped the life out of the piano keys till it was grossly out of tune!! So we from the Whitley,were totally bemused at seeing all these classrooms,and having to walk a quarter of a mile to go from maths,with Mr Freeman,to the other side of the school,to have history with Mr Abrahart!..[carrying a haversack on your back,equal to your own body weight with books!] At the Whitley you went in,empty-handed,did your lessons,and came yem,empty-handed!....tea,and away doon the woods ti play,or gaan fishing,or stuff like that....nae homework!! Westy,didn't haaf shake us up for adulthood...did it not?!!