Ovalteeny

Quote

 

I am tending to agree with you Richard, Bedlington United FC. When did they move from Hollymount to Church Lane?  Have you ever seen the old maps, showing Hollymount and Church Lane, over the years. See attached

strong possibilities

Looking at the hairstyles, at the strip and the attire of the non players, I'd say it was 1920's wish, which would possibly be Bedlington United.  

Millne Park didn't become a football field/ground until Bedlington Mechanics were formed in 1949. The Pavilion / Changing Rooms were behind the goal (nearest the Dr. Pit) and there was banked standing areas along each side-line, but never any covered structure.

My understanding, and confirmed by John Reed (Reedy's Dad) was that there was a very amicable agreement regards rent of the field, between Jimmy Millne and my Grandad. However, once my Grandad had died then there was a deterioration in the relationship between Jimmy Millne and the Football Club's new Committee, not long after they were forced to relocate to the Station Park (the A Pit Recreation Ground). 

Superb photo Rigger, difficult to say which team it could be. Looks very much like early 20th. Century, so could be Bedlington United, maybe Richard Bloomfield can show some light on the puzzle?

Originally, I was simply interested in Bedlington Mechanics FC, but as I trawled through the old Blyth News/Morpeth Heralds I could see that football was so popular in Bedlingtonshire, after WW2 that I started to log details of other clubs and players. See the images below for a snapshot.

Richard, a couple of more facts that you might wish to use, league tables from the 3 years in the Miners welfare League and then 2 of the 3 years that the mechanics were in the Northern Combination. Apologies, but I haven't, as yet managed to complete the full information.

Richard, i did attempt to re-write the history for Ronnan, but the info that I sent him has never been used to update the history on the web-site. See attached, 2 files which contain some of the info you are searching for.

Bedlington Mechanics.pages

Mechanics history re-write.pages

Just one correction, my dad was Stan Kidd, however it was my Grandad who was one of the founding Committee men of Bedlington mechanics. His name was Christopher Septimus Kidd (known to everyone was Sepp). He was the Colliery Engineer at the Dr. Pit and as such lived, with his family, in one of the houses on the Pit Head (I guess he would have been on call 24/7 in case of emergencies or mechanical issues). He had also been a prominent Councillor for BUDC throughout the 1930's / 40's.

From what I've learnt from researching old copies of The Blyth News and Morpeth Herald at Woodhorn Archives and seen in articles on this site (mostly from Reedy and his Dad) Bedlington Mechanics FC were formed in 1948/49 season where they played friendlies (mostly at West Lea, I believe). They then joined the Miners Welfare League for season 1949/50. I have the final league tables for the 3 seasons they played in the Miners Welfare League, prior to then joining the Northern Combination League for another 3 seasons to then join the Northern Alliance in the 1955/56 season.

Slightly off subject, but when I was searching through The Morpeth Herald for a snooker query I came across the attached snippet regards an annual Good Friday Charity football match in Netherton. Proceeds to the Children's Gala.

Netherton Hall Pit Old Boys versus Howard Pit Old Boys.

Some of the name may help identify those in the photo above. 

The research I did last winter looking at football in Bedlingtonshire after World War 2 showed that a team from Netherton Colliery played in The Miners Welfare League for 4 seasons from 1948/49. They also had a Reserve Team that played in the Ashington Welfare League for one season only in 1948/49. The names of the players that I managed to get from the Morpeth Herald and/or Blyth News are in one of the jpegs below.

It just might be that some of the Netherton lads from before the War were still playing after the War

The other jpeg shows all the teams that I could find that were playing for the 5 or 6 years after the War.

Most of the teams did pay the players (as part-timers), so it wasn't uncommon for the better players to play for a different club (colliery/village) if the money was considered better. Players could also sign and play for more than one club, provided they were in different leagues. 

The name Baldry has just triggered off a memory. Was there an Alf Baldry, who had something like a small holding somewhere near Bedlington Station / Bank Top / Grange Park area. I recall he had a horse and cart and would deliver to our house, a load of horse manure for the garden and sometimes even a load of coal, which probably would have been bartered with a pitman friend or neighbour who had not used their allocation (as my Dad was a Slaughterman / Butcher, then swapping some meat for coals seemed like a good idea at the time). 

Sweden didn't need another chance, thanks to Germany.

Brilliant photo Eggy. Love the old Television (was it Redifusion) and your sister, Anne's doll!!!

Yep, you're right Eggie. In fact I got it right (Austin) in the 2nd. photo (the one with me in). I basically just copied & pasted from Bedlington Remembered (Facebook) without double checking (too much red wine last night - again).

Going back to the subject of John Brodie. In 1973 I took a job for Schweppes Ltd. in the North Staffordshire area and moved into my first ever property in Longton. I would sometimes go and watch Stoke City play, but I really enjoyed going to Vale Park on Monday evenings which was where and when Port Vale FC played most of their home games. John Brodie was a regular in that Post Vale team and I would  from time to time, bump into him in some of the local clubs, when we would have a chat and a catch up. Sadly, like with so many others, we lost touch and moved on.

John Brodie has a page on Wikipedia and the chart below shows his professional football career.  

The names of the team above are as follows :-

Back Row (L to R) Charles Allen, Terry "Tex" Dixon, Michael Southern, Danny Dodds, Derek Johnstone, Austin Anderton, Paul Cotsworth, Bob Storey

Front Row Jack Kidd, Leslie Nicholson, Harry Wilson, Gordon Roll, Geordie Elliott.

If this is 1963, then I would be 15 (as would Leslie Nicholson & Geordie Elliott). All the others were a year or so older. This leads me to suspect that this could be for the 1964/65 season, but then I could be completely wrong, I'd be 16 and only played the occasional game.

Good question, I think this was a year ahead of me, but here is a similar photo (same strip) from the following year. In fact I think the photo with John Brodie et al is actually from 1963 ish and the one below with moi is probably1964.

Here' another photo with John Brodie. It's Bedlington Juniors FC from circa 1964 or 1965.  The names are as follows Back Row from left to right Charles "Chuck" Allan, Bob Storey, Barry Temple, Joe Potts, Derek Johnstone, R. Anderton, Brian Goodwill, John Brodie, Bob Dodds, Bobby Short, Front Row from left to right Michael Southern, Michael Third, Les Collingwood, Gordon Roll, Derek Prescot.

Facts and analysis would provide some sort of perspective Canny Lass, but maybe wild and negative aspersions will be what most folks read (certainly on this site). How many people were arrested for all this drunken debauchery would be an interesting question. From memory, I know that many "Miners Picnics" included much of the same alcoholic shenanigans. To a certain majority, culturally, it's called having a good time.      

It is indeed Foxy. Although it's a canny night most nights if you are a "Glass Half Full" type of person.

Looking good "Foxy". A picture paints a thousand words (or something like that!!!).

welcome Jaxe45, we look forward to seeing positive contributions from you on all subjects concerning Bedlington. 

Absolutely true Vic Patterson, the ever changing world or evolvement has always been with us. Whilst we may all have opinions on whether progress is good or otherwise there is no effective way to prevent the world from evolving. I've seen almost 70 years of change, most of which I have embraced and benefited from.

Bedlington has never been immune to change and my hope and wish is for the pro-active, positive people to influence and mould the future for the greater good of all concerned. There are several forward thinking men & women who fall into this category. Everyone else, have a whinge, have a moan by all means, but for goodness sake stop living in the past and listen to what Bob Dylan was singing about in 1964. The sentiment is still the same some 54 years on, always was and always will be.