of Station Road operated a delivery service which covered a large
area of the Deerness Valley. They created employment for at least
22 people in 1914.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Old Store Ushaw Moor
Broughs store at the bottom
of Station Road operated a delivery service which covered a large
area of the Deerness Valley. They created employment for at least
22 people in 1914.
of Station Road operated a delivery service which covered a large
area of the Deerness Valley. They created employment for at least
22 people in 1914.
Saturday 30 January 2010
Deerness Valley Comp 84-89
I lived at Brandon but went to Deerness Valley Comp 84-89. I used to love nicking off outta school gates and going down to dents for a chip stottie..which l always halved with my mate Angela Graham coz she bought the ciggies lol! Or going to the van for kets n chewy. Just had to be careful going back into school after lunch break in case STRETCH (Mr Armstrong) was watching for ya's oh happy days !!!
Posted on behalf of
Ashley Bewick
Posted on behalf of
Ashley Bewick
I lived at brandon but went to Deerness Valley Comp 84-89. I used to love nicking off outta school gates and going down to dents for a chip stottie..which l always halved with my mate Angela Graham coz she bought the ciggies lol! Or going to the van for kets n chewy. Just had to be careful going back into school after lunch break incase STRETCH (Mr Armstrong) was watching for ya's oh happy days !!!
Thursday 28 January 2010
Was Your Mother An Aycliffe Angel?
Thousands of women living in the North East were ! During WW2 they worked at the munitions plant doing very brave and very dangerous work. A lady called Gladys Stoddart was one such angel but whether or not she was part of Phil Stoddart's family I have no idea. Certainly a lady called Doris Findlay worked there and the last information I had was that she lived in New Acres Ushaw Moor. My mother was also one of those angels!
There is a lot of detail about the Aycliffe Angels on the web including photographs and stories. One such story tells us that Winston Churchill - later Sir Winston of course - paid a WW2 visit during the month of May. There had been a lot of snow but by the time he was due to visit much of it was dirty. Some of the angels went to adjoining fields to get some fresh nice white snow to put over the top of the dirty stuff - just to please him. One of the angels gave him a big kiss.
To read the fascinationg story of the Aycliffe Angels just go into the Google search box by using: Aycliffe Angel - just those two words will bring it all back! The choice of sites will then be in front of you on page one. I like the Communigate feature very much.
WB
There is a lot of detail about the Aycliffe Angels on the web including photographs and stories. One such story tells us that Winston Churchill - later Sir Winston of course - paid a WW2 visit during the month of May. There had been a lot of snow but by the time he was due to visit much of it was dirty. Some of the angels went to adjoining fields to get some fresh nice white snow to put over the top of the dirty stuff - just to please him. One of the angels gave him a big kiss.
To read the fascinationg story of the Aycliffe Angels just go into the Google search box by using: Aycliffe Angel - just those two words will bring it all back! The choice of sites will then be in front of you on page one. I like the Communigate feature very much.
WB
Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories
Does anyone have any photos or info about the explosion down the pit as my Great Grandad William Timmons died in that. There was a massive funeral and photos but the photos we had as a family were given to the newspaper and they lost them.
Posted on behalf of Gillian Vargas
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
Posted on behalf of Gillian Vargas
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
Monday 18 January 2010
Ushaw Moor Kitchen
Photo of typical kitchen in Ushaw Moor Colliery House 1938.
Anyone got any memories of this photo, does anyone know where it was taken ? Who is the lady in the picture ?
Hope this photo brings back some memories for some of you.
Paul
Friday 15 January 2010
Get the Lemonade Out - WB 's 200th Posting On This Site
And that does not count the first website! There you are - I love starting a sentence with and - what an almighty rebel.
If you are a local football lover, as well as an amateur historian, I thoroughly recommend you to go onto the Durham County Schools Football Association website at www.durhamcountyschoolfa.org.uk . Over the years there have been several very local schoolboys donning the shirt of the full county schoolboy team and you can see their names on site if you look carefully.
One of them was Jimmy Dodds from New Brancepeth School. He played outside left for Durham against Northumberland in 1911. If I had only known, when I played for Durham and District Boys [selected from about 26 schools] that my great uncle Jimmy had donned the shirt of the full schoolboy county team [in the same position!] I would have surely had a sense of history. Ofcourse playing for Durham and District was not quite the same feather in the cap as playing for the full county side.
Blow me at outside right was a lad called Vasey - this is weird. It could not be John because I am sure that he is not presently 113 years old.
There was a player in the 1911 match - playing alongside our Jimmy from New Brancepeth - that went on to be very famous - Warney Cresswell - on that day in 1911 he played right half for Durham. Later he earned the sobriquet 'the Prince of Full backs' . He won 7 caps for England as well as helping Everton to win the Football League Championship twice and the FA Cup.
WB
If you are a local football lover, as well as an amateur historian, I thoroughly recommend you to go onto the Durham County Schools Football Association website at www.durhamcountyschoolfa.org.uk . Over the years there have been several very local schoolboys donning the shirt of the full county schoolboy team and you can see their names on site if you look carefully.
One of them was Jimmy Dodds from New Brancepeth School. He played outside left for Durham against Northumberland in 1911. If I had only known, when I played for Durham and District Boys [selected from about 26 schools] that my great uncle Jimmy had donned the shirt of the full schoolboy county team [in the same position!] I would have surely had a sense of history. Ofcourse playing for Durham and District was not quite the same feather in the cap as playing for the full county side.
Blow me at outside right was a lad called Vasey - this is weird. It could not be John because I am sure that he is not presently 113 years old.
There was a player in the 1911 match - playing alongside our Jimmy from New Brancepeth - that went on to be very famous - Warney Cresswell - on that day in 1911 he played right half for Durham. Later he earned the sobriquet 'the Prince of Full backs' . He won 7 caps for England as well as helping Everton to win the Football League Championship twice and the FA Cup.
WB
Thursday 14 January 2010
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Saturday 9 January 2010
Teachers' Time In Temperance Terrace
That 1906/7 photo of Ushaw Moor Temperance AFC has prompted a few words about the Temperance Movement and the 'academics' living in Temperance Terrace around about the time of WW1.
Beer was not the target for many of the movement in its early days - the target was spirits. However by the 1840s many were beginning to seek teetotalism. I have to say that drunkenness became a serious problem in Victorian times and remarkably many young children not only suffered because of their parents drinking -they drank themselves silly as well - when given the opportunity.
In Ireland a Catholic priest, Theobald Matthew, persuaded a considerable number of people to sign the pledge but there were several other influential people and organisations striving to do the same - the Band of Hope springs to mind as do the Quakers and the Salvation Army. That's a point - the Salvation Army got shillings from me many a time in the 1970s by approaching me in pubs. I did read its War Cry and at for a while I found myself 'going out' with a daughter of a salvationist!
Just before WW1 there was a salvationist living in Temperance Terrace - how apt. It might be of some interest to know that there were several teachers living in that terrace at that time and they included: Phyliss O'Doherty, Mr Spears, Jessie Davies, and Catherine Heaton. Catherine boarded at 2/3 Temperance Terrace with Elizabeth Hope and her son John Thomas Hope [he is mentioned in detail elsewhere on site]. I am descended from that Hope family.
WB
Beer was not the target for many of the movement in its early days - the target was spirits. However by the 1840s many were beginning to seek teetotalism. I have to say that drunkenness became a serious problem in Victorian times and remarkably many young children not only suffered because of their parents drinking -they drank themselves silly as well - when given the opportunity.
In Ireland a Catholic priest, Theobald Matthew, persuaded a considerable number of people to sign the pledge but there were several other influential people and organisations striving to do the same - the Band of Hope springs to mind as do the Quakers and the Salvation Army. That's a point - the Salvation Army got shillings from me many a time in the 1970s by approaching me in pubs. I did read its War Cry and at for a while I found myself 'going out' with a daughter of a salvationist!
Just before WW1 there was a salvationist living in Temperance Terrace - how apt. It might be of some interest to know that there were several teachers living in that terrace at that time and they included: Phyliss O'Doherty, Mr Spears, Jessie Davies, and Catherine Heaton. Catherine boarded at 2/3 Temperance Terrace with Elizabeth Hope and her son John Thomas Hope [he is mentioned in detail elsewhere on site]. I am descended from that Hope family.
WB
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Alcohol Free Football Team 1906-07
My my – you wait ages for a bus and two turn up at once er… I meant football teams. It is interesting to note that two of the players are wearing ties and one is sporting a cap – all of that would be curious to see in modern teams. One of the supporters is smoking so … a ban on drink but not on fags! Does anyone recognise a long lost relative? Do you reckon the picture was taken at Broadgate?
I wish to thank that splendid chap Keith Belton, of the Durham Amateur Football Trust, for this photograph – it formed page three of the Christmas card he sent me. And what an interesting page 3!
If there are any other appropriate acknowledgements to make in respect of the photograph I will gladly arrange it: please contact me if that applies.
WB
Durham Boys v Crook - Ferrens Park circa 1959
Here we have a photograph of the Durham Boys football team with their captain Norman Ferguson of Ushaw Moor, his best friend the late Les Gleghorn to his right ( both Johnstonians ) and then Vic Meredith of Pittington School.
On the top row we have identified Brian Crampton, Ian Pattison ( South Hetton ) and Robert Hancock. Can W.B. identify himself please and anyone else he is able to.
Posted on Behalf of Peter Clarke
On the top row we have identified Brian Crampton, Ian Pattison ( South Hetton ) and Robert Hancock. Can W.B. identify himself please and anyone else he is able to.
Posted on Behalf of Peter Clarke
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Sleetburn And Ushaw Moor Virtually Uncut
First of all I wish you all a happy New Year.
So from three months old until almost 16 years old and all spent in the Valley. How did it happen and what was it about? My mother's family were originally farmers but eventually pressing economic considerations almost inevitably led the later male line into the coal mining industry. Just about all of them were in supervisory roles and they made a good 'fist' of that responsibility.
My mother did not think too much about my natural father and as far as I can gather the main problem was his untidiness.
I spent my youth with a mother and step- father and was more or less none the worse for it. Several kids wondered why my surname was not the same as my half sister's surname and that was wounding for a while.
I attended New Brancepeth Infants and its junior school. I do not have good memories of the junior school at all - apart from memories of marbles at break and impressive steam trains rushing along the line through Ushaw Moor. It all seems a bit sinister - foreboding at the time - clearly that school did not make me feel happy. Mind you a word of caution will not go amiss: the memory is very selective and unreliable at times. Afterall Wallace Hayton taught there and he was far from sinister - a gentleman infact. Mr Hill? Some liked him but I thought he was far too oppressive.
I have previously mentioned winter sledging down the Sleetburn bank [towards Ushaw Moor] and several other things so I am trying not to be too repetitive. I have another twenty minutes to spare - not much because I could probably write for hours.
Ushaw Moor! If I brainstorm some words - ie just let them out - what would I come up with? Well let us see! Starting now:
Harry Barlow, vicar Welby, 11 plus nerves - a mockery of a system but I recovered, Waterhouses Modern we beat them more than once, Watson's, The Empire, the Modern school - Edith Smith , Pauline Newman - grand girls - Gillian Cruddace -the Pinkneys' to the left and right of us at Whitehouse Court - Titchy Thompson - jelly and ice cream - bluebird toffee nearly choking my half brother - Peggy living in Whitehouse Court two doors up ie towards the main road -Mr Tonks good teacher eventually headmaster elsewhere - Newcastle 3 Manchester City 1 Crook 2 Derby County 2 - very clean living room at my grandmother's house with polish and consequently a nice smell -potato picking in the field opposite Whitehouse Court - John Vasey delicate on the ball - number 7 shirt not a bad winger - smell of beer fumes at the bottom of Station Road - plush new seats at the Empire - sort of gold coloured they were c1957 - pit hooter - singing accents - Soccer Gleghorn let us all bow to him - etc etc.
Did my childhood help me? Yes but only much much later. Five minutes left must press on.
Socrates - the moral philosopher - said that the unconsidered life is not worth living. Well I survived Sleetburn and Ushaw Moor and am in a fit state to consider it all - back -present and future. As I see it we must not be overly impressed by certain institutions - we must not bow and scrape at the alter of life or the alter at some church or other - rather we should observe the world as it is, consult the wise and think for ourselves - if we do not we are living the agenda of others and that would be so sad, so unnecessary and rather futile.
Time up - must dash.
WB
So from three months old until almost 16 years old and all spent in the Valley. How did it happen and what was it about? My mother's family were originally farmers but eventually pressing economic considerations almost inevitably led the later male line into the coal mining industry. Just about all of them were in supervisory roles and they made a good 'fist' of that responsibility.
My mother did not think too much about my natural father and as far as I can gather the main problem was his untidiness.
I spent my youth with a mother and step- father and was more or less none the worse for it. Several kids wondered why my surname was not the same as my half sister's surname and that was wounding for a while.
I attended New Brancepeth Infants and its junior school. I do not have good memories of the junior school at all - apart from memories of marbles at break and impressive steam trains rushing along the line through Ushaw Moor. It all seems a bit sinister - foreboding at the time - clearly that school did not make me feel happy. Mind you a word of caution will not go amiss: the memory is very selective and unreliable at times. Afterall Wallace Hayton taught there and he was far from sinister - a gentleman infact. Mr Hill? Some liked him but I thought he was far too oppressive.
I have previously mentioned winter sledging down the Sleetburn bank [towards Ushaw Moor] and several other things so I am trying not to be too repetitive. I have another twenty minutes to spare - not much because I could probably write for hours.
Ushaw Moor! If I brainstorm some words - ie just let them out - what would I come up with? Well let us see! Starting now:
Harry Barlow, vicar Welby, 11 plus nerves - a mockery of a system but I recovered, Waterhouses Modern we beat them more than once, Watson's, The Empire, the Modern school - Edith Smith , Pauline Newman - grand girls - Gillian Cruddace -the Pinkneys' to the left and right of us at Whitehouse Court - Titchy Thompson - jelly and ice cream - bluebird toffee nearly choking my half brother - Peggy living in Whitehouse Court two doors up ie towards the main road -Mr Tonks good teacher eventually headmaster elsewhere - Newcastle 3 Manchester City 1 Crook 2 Derby County 2 - very clean living room at my grandmother's house with polish and consequently a nice smell -potato picking in the field opposite Whitehouse Court - John Vasey delicate on the ball - number 7 shirt not a bad winger - smell of beer fumes at the bottom of Station Road - plush new seats at the Empire - sort of gold coloured they were c1957 - pit hooter - singing accents - Soccer Gleghorn let us all bow to him - etc etc.
Did my childhood help me? Yes but only much much later. Five minutes left must press on.
Socrates - the moral philosopher - said that the unconsidered life is not worth living. Well I survived Sleetburn and Ushaw Moor and am in a fit state to consider it all - back -present and future. As I see it we must not be overly impressed by certain institutions - we must not bow and scrape at the alter of life or the alter at some church or other - rather we should observe the world as it is, consult the wise and think for ourselves - if we do not we are living the agenda of others and that would be so sad, so unnecessary and rather futile.
Time up - must dash.
WB
The Golden Age Of Soccer
A Durham Amateur Football Trust [DAFT] publication tells us/reminds us, word for word, of the following:
Bishop Auckland were victorious in the FA Amateur Cup Final on ten occasions, twice as many as the next team - nearby Crook Town - who won it five times!
In 71 seasons of the FA Amateur Cup, Northern League teams appeared in 39 finals and won on 24 occasions.
Crook Town appeared in five Amatur Cup Finals and won each one, enabling Jimmy McMillan [ the DAFT President] to capture four winner's medals - an unbeatable record.
In 1928 the two street village of Cockfield in County Durham - with every player unemployed - reached the Amateur Cup Final at Middlesborough before losing 3-2 to Leyton.
Bob Hardisty, to many the greatest amateur soccer player of all time, played for the British team at the Olympic Games, and won 15 international Caps for England.
In the 1954 FA Amateur Cup Final between Crook Town and Bishop Auckland required three games before Crook Town won 1-0 and was watched by crowds totalling almost 200,000.
I might add that Johnny Weirs was educated at Waterhouses Secondary Modern and went on to winner an FA Amatur Cup winners medal with Crook Town in 1964. The Ushaw Moor County school team had the pleasure of playing against him and that is dealt with in some detail elsewhere on site.
Why not apply for membership of the Durham Amateur Football Trust? It has some fun and interest and can be contacted at:
4 Soho Cottages, Shildon, Co. Durham DL4 1PQ. Address your letter to the Membership Secretary - you will not regret it.
WB
Bishop Auckland were victorious in the FA Amateur Cup Final on ten occasions, twice as many as the next team - nearby Crook Town - who won it five times!
In 71 seasons of the FA Amateur Cup, Northern League teams appeared in 39 finals and won on 24 occasions.
Crook Town appeared in five Amatur Cup Finals and won each one, enabling Jimmy McMillan [ the DAFT President] to capture four winner's medals - an unbeatable record.
In 1928 the two street village of Cockfield in County Durham - with every player unemployed - reached the Amateur Cup Final at Middlesborough before losing 3-2 to Leyton.
Bob Hardisty, to many the greatest amateur soccer player of all time, played for the British team at the Olympic Games, and won 15 international Caps for England.
In the 1954 FA Amateur Cup Final between Crook Town and Bishop Auckland required three games before Crook Town won 1-0 and was watched by crowds totalling almost 200,000.
I might add that Johnny Weirs was educated at Waterhouses Secondary Modern and went on to winner an FA Amatur Cup winners medal with Crook Town in 1964. The Ushaw Moor County school team had the pleasure of playing against him and that is dealt with in some detail elsewhere on site.
Why not apply for membership of the Durham Amateur Football Trust? It has some fun and interest and can be contacted at:
4 Soho Cottages, Shildon, Co. Durham DL4 1PQ. Address your letter to the Membership Secretary - you will not regret it.
WB
Monday 4 January 2010
Ushaw Moor's Mining Community And Noisy London
I agree with Mr Clarke's very last remark: bring it on Brian. In the meantime I would like to dwell on the noise of Ushaw Moor in Victorian times [and beyond] and also the noise of Victorian London.
Starting with Ushaw Moor - and Sleetburn for that matter - we had the clink and clank of coal wagons - the noise of steam trains on the main line - not forgetting the local colliery tankies - scores of tired and hungry men walking home from the pit - vicar Welby last seen walking down the hill, with Rock Terrace on the right in 1954 - pit hooters and deep 1947 snow - which was a great talking point in the Co-op stores of both villages. I could go on with that but will leave it all to your imagination. See also the associated article published on 18.07.07.
Victorian London was noisy - my goodness it was noisy and the following all contributed towards it:
traffic - a lack of pneumatic tyres did not help - industries small and large - street musicians - cries of street sellers -costermongers -organ grinders - brass bands - English bands - German bands -violinists -hurdy gurdy players -harpists -clarinet players -Glee singers -Black serenaders -noisy cab drivers -railways - bagpipers -scavengers shouting to each other - paper boys yelling out - drunks singing their heads off -watercress sellers -dustmen - church bells -chestnut sellers - etc etc.
Not forgetting loads and loads of silent horse muck.
WB
Starting with Ushaw Moor - and Sleetburn for that matter - we had the clink and clank of coal wagons - the noise of steam trains on the main line - not forgetting the local colliery tankies - scores of tired and hungry men walking home from the pit - vicar Welby last seen walking down the hill, with Rock Terrace on the right in 1954 - pit hooters and deep 1947 snow - which was a great talking point in the Co-op stores of both villages. I could go on with that but will leave it all to your imagination. See also the associated article published on 18.07.07.
Victorian London was noisy - my goodness it was noisy and the following all contributed towards it:
traffic - a lack of pneumatic tyres did not help - industries small and large - street musicians - cries of street sellers -costermongers -organ grinders - brass bands - English bands - German bands -violinists -hurdy gurdy players -harpists -clarinet players -Glee singers -Black serenaders -noisy cab drivers -railways - bagpipers -scavengers shouting to each other - paper boys yelling out - drunks singing their heads off -watercress sellers -dustmen - church bells -chestnut sellers - etc etc.
Not forgetting loads and loads of silent horse muck.
WB
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