Although I sometimes come up with real and relevant material about Ushaw Moor too often I offer little more than a chat. I wonder why that is? Well I cannot always come up with 'the goods', that is to say the fascinating little anecdotes about village life: it must be because they are hidden in your cupboard, along with the toy soldiers and Christmas tinsel. My cupboard is becoming bare whereas I hazard a guess that yours cannot even be closed properly - because of the sheer number of memories crammed into it. Why not release a few to this site and shut that door properly?
I suspect that the Facebook facility and the Memories Section need each other. Certainly there has been much transfer from Memories to Facebook but, and it is just my opinion, we need to release the creative force that is within some of the Facebook fans; in so doing it will uplift and energise the Memories section and show you that you can write and entertain us on rainy days!
WB
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Tuesday 30 March 2010
Have We Lost A Mile Somewhere?
Right through the 50s I was brought up to believe that Ushaw Moor was four miles from Durham City. I was convinced that I was being told the truth but now many people, for example estate agents, are telling us that we have, in effect, lost a mile. Where did we lose that mile? Does it matter?
I suppose it does matter if you have missed a bus and have decided to walk to Durham thinking it will take about 53 minutes to get there but find that it takes 72 minutes and consequently you miss your appointment. It does matter if you are trying to cut down petrol costs.
Is this posting the start of a great debate [akin to the Larkrise to Candleford controversy] or a whimper of an article that is misunderstood and destined for the scrapheap - where all dull subjects end their days?
WB
I suppose it does matter if you have missed a bus and have decided to walk to Durham thinking it will take about 53 minutes to get there but find that it takes 72 minutes and consequently you miss your appointment. It does matter if you are trying to cut down petrol costs.
Is this posting the start of a great debate [akin to the Larkrise to Candleford controversy] or a whimper of an article that is misunderstood and destined for the scrapheap - where all dull subjects end their days?
WB
Sunday 28 March 2010
Wilf Bell Has 0 [Correction] 3 Friends!
I am new to this Facebook thing and I nearly died laughing a few days ago when I saw in print, with all the public humiliation that goes with it, that I had no [let me be clear] 0 friends. It is not that I have a lot of friends - rather it was the assumption, by the mighty Facebook, that I had none -it hurt beneath my laughter I can tell you. It may be that when that person in the Facebook office saw this new member - Wilf Bell - it was inevitable, as night follows day, that a Facebook representative would come up with an educated guess - Wilf Bell = none/nil/0 friends.
What is a friend? We all have a view on that. Well whatever a friend is I now have three of them and they are all wholesome people. I can picture them now - all optimistic and colourful characters - willing me on to be a man deserving of them. Who knows, one day I might have 300 friends and how will I manage my diary with that number?
WB
What is a friend? We all have a view on that. Well whatever a friend is I now have three of them and they are all wholesome people. I can picture them now - all optimistic and colourful characters - willing me on to be a man deserving of them. Who knows, one day I might have 300 friends and how will I manage my diary with that number?
WB
Friday 26 March 2010
A Couple Of Memorable School Books
I can recall two memorable books from school [apart from set books for examinations] namely: The Water Babies and Hereward The Wake. The former would have been told to us wide eyed kids at New Brancepeth primary or junior school, and the latter at Ushaw Moor County.
Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies was very popular in Victorian times and I hazard a guess that it was read to us because it taught aspects of morality when we were at a very impressionable age. I guess most of you will be familiar with the story: young Tom was a chimney sweep employed by Mr Grimes a horrible bully. Tom falls down a chimney, is chased out of the house and finds himself falling into a river. It is at that point that the imagination can expand; he becomes a water baby in a magical river underworld. I recall being entranced when it was read out.
The big thing I recall about Hereward the Wake is that I was told that this Anglo Saxon leader never fell asleep in his quest to get one over on the Normans, hence the Wake part of his name. I now understand that it is much more likely that he was given the name Wake by the Norman land owning Wake family in order to legitimise their claim on his land! I suppose I must have been about nine when I first heard this tale [possibly from one of our teaches - Mr Spence is in the frame].
WB
Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies was very popular in Victorian times and I hazard a guess that it was read to us because it taught aspects of morality when we were at a very impressionable age. I guess most of you will be familiar with the story: young Tom was a chimney sweep employed by Mr Grimes a horrible bully. Tom falls down a chimney, is chased out of the house and finds himself falling into a river. It is at that point that the imagination can expand; he becomes a water baby in a magical river underworld. I recall being entranced when it was read out.
The big thing I recall about Hereward the Wake is that I was told that this Anglo Saxon leader never fell asleep in his quest to get one over on the Normans, hence the Wake part of his name. I now understand that it is much more likely that he was given the name Wake by the Norman land owning Wake family in order to legitimise their claim on his land! I suppose I must have been about nine when I first heard this tale [possibly from one of our teaches - Mr Spence is in the frame].
WB
Thursday 25 March 2010
At Least Ushaw Moor Is Built Upon Sweat And Good Character
More or less from the second half of the 19th century, until 1960, Ushaw Moor's economy relied almost entirely on King Coal, the muscle and brawn of its miners, and its women. The men worked hard in conditions of great danger and dirt whilst the women looked after the children, the cleaning and the cooking etc. There was a lot of etc. because although a woman's tasks were many she had little in the way of modern conveniences [until the 50s] to ease her day.
During the 50s and 60s mining suffered from competition from oil, as well as the threat from natural gas and nuclear power, and consequently there were many mine closures .Some villages were devastated while others, including Ushaw Moor, turned out rather better despite pit closure.
For many generations the people of this unpretentious village have done their best - but when you look further a field there is a darkside; the reputation of many of those representing us in Parliament is in virtual tatters; the Catholic Church's authority is in tatters, and the politics of food labelling look unsavoury. Much worse than all of that is the opposition to climate change science; the great denial by some that might mean the premature end for our great [?] grandchildren.
Looking to the USA for inspiritation can disappoint. A potentially great president is being harried by Republican opposition that sometimes has the appearance of insanity, when at its worst, and an opposition that lacks vision at its best. Please do not mention hockey sticks and lipstick in my earshot.
As individuals I suppose all we can do is to continue to live our lives with integrity, love our family, respect our neighbours, sharpen our minds to injustice, use our democratic muscle, however flabby, and try and ensure that our children reach their educational potential - in the hope that the good that is in the world wins out against the darkside.
WB
During the 50s and 60s mining suffered from competition from oil, as well as the threat from natural gas and nuclear power, and consequently there were many mine closures .Some villages were devastated while others, including Ushaw Moor, turned out rather better despite pit closure.
For many generations the people of this unpretentious village have done their best - but when you look further a field there is a darkside; the reputation of many of those representing us in Parliament is in virtual tatters; the Catholic Church's authority is in tatters, and the politics of food labelling look unsavoury. Much worse than all of that is the opposition to climate change science; the great denial by some that might mean the premature end for our great [?] grandchildren.
Looking to the USA for inspiritation can disappoint. A potentially great president is being harried by Republican opposition that sometimes has the appearance of insanity, when at its worst, and an opposition that lacks vision at its best. Please do not mention hockey sticks and lipstick in my earshot.
As individuals I suppose all we can do is to continue to live our lives with integrity, love our family, respect our neighbours, sharpen our minds to injustice, use our democratic muscle, however flabby, and try and ensure that our children reach their educational potential - in the hope that the good that is in the world wins out against the darkside.
WB
426 Not Out And A Grand Reunion?
I am of course referring to the current number of Ushaw Moor Memories Facebook fans. I cannot help but think there is an opportunity to be grasped. Let me make myself clear: there is a posting on site regarding the success that Witton Park village had in organising a village reunion. In that posting I expressed the view that if they could do it - then so could Ushaw Moor. Imagine it: a lovely warm day in the summer with chilled beer and wines for the adults and ice creams for the kids; Soccer Gleghorn chatting to an old Spennymoor United mate; Pigeon fanciers going over old times; Geoff Bowery chatting away twelve to the dozen with old mates and Paul Clough enjoying a fine cigar - as he views the scene. There could well be a clown or two to entertain the kids- maybe even Mr Gerrard our old goalkeeper, a performer more like Bert Williams than Coco, could bring out his act for the day. We could even have a stall for exhibiting old Ushaw Moor and Sleetburn photographs - all freshly removed from attics, garages, tallboys and safes! Perhaps those very photos could be photocopied on a local copier [home or shop] for putting on the Memories site!
As I say - let us see the Facebook traffic hum with chatter and enthusiam for THE GRAND REUNION! Of course it needs the will, the desire and effort enabled by organisational ability. So is the power of Facebook a myth? Can Facebook be the means to achieving 'the grand reunion?' We will see during the next week or so by means of monitoring Facebook chatter!
Oh and by the way if Paul does not smoke cigars there is no compulsion for him to start.
WB
As I say - let us see the Facebook traffic hum with chatter and enthusiam for THE GRAND REUNION! Of course it needs the will, the desire and effort enabled by organisational ability. So is the power of Facebook a myth? Can Facebook be the means to achieving 'the grand reunion?' We will see during the next week or so by means of monitoring Facebook chatter!
Oh and by the way if Paul does not smoke cigars there is no compulsion for him to start.
WB
Meet Ethel - she's Durham's No1 citizen (From The Northern Echo)
Meet Ethel - she's Durham's No1 citizen
A GRANDMOTHER who has done voluntary work in her village for more than 40 years is the second winner of Durham's annual Community Citizen Award.
Ethel Cummings, 74, of Ushaw Moor, has been involved with the local jazz band, bingo club, youth club, and fun days in the village and community groups including the Bearpark Quadrilateral Division of St John Ambulance, The 12 Villages Network, the area's Community Safety Compact, residents group umbrella organisation FORGE, SRB6 and Ushaw Moor Residents Group.
READ MORE
via Meet Ethel - she's Durham's No1 citizen (From The Northern Echo).
A GRANDMOTHER who has done voluntary work in her village for more than 40 years is the second winner of Durham's annual Community Citizen Award.
Ethel Cummings, 74, of Ushaw Moor, has been involved with the local jazz band, bingo club, youth club, and fun days in the village and community groups including the Bearpark Quadrilateral Division of St John Ambulance, The 12 Villages Network, the area's Community Safety Compact, residents group umbrella organisation FORGE, SRB6 and Ushaw Moor Residents Group.
READ MORE
Archive - Thursday, 8 November 2007
via Meet Ethel - she's Durham's No1 citizen (From The Northern Echo).
Keeping the wolf from the door in Ushaw Moor (From The Northern Echo)
Keeping the wolf from the door in Ushaw Moor
PLACENAMES do have this extraordinarily irritating habit of not quite being what they seem.
Take Ushaw Moor in County Durham, just outside Durham itself. That initial U is, in fact, of all things, a shortened version of the Anglo-Saxon wulf ,or ‘wolf’ as we would say. And shaw, another Dark Age word, gives us the Wood of the Wolf – a wolf lair once carefully avoided by locals.
Not that we should be surprised at this confusion.
Across 30 generations Wulfsceaga (as it originally was) was easily bent out of shape by careless and sometimes foreign mouths, the missing ‘W’, for example, was the fault of the Vikings.
And placenames referring to wolves are relatively common in Britain – they occur almost 40 times in England, mainly with reference to fields or forested areas. But how late did this particular lair survive?
Well, our last records of wolves in England come from the 14th century – though in the environs of mighty Durham, it is likely that the last wolf head had been stuck on a village gate in the 13th century. By that date, several other British dodos had also bit the dust including boars, bears and beavers, wolves being only the last to be wiped out by man.
Today, wolves are the playthings of TV wildlife programmes.
But back in Ushaw, circa 700, when the name was given, they were a peril to livestock and life.
Indeed, one can almost smell the fear as a group of armed men approach the copse at twilight and watch the snarling beasts defending their glades.
No quarter would have been asked and none given.
via Keeping the wolf from the door in Ushaw Moor (From The Northern Echo).
PLACENAMES do have this extraordinarily irritating habit of not quite being what they seem.
Take Ushaw Moor in County Durham, just outside Durham itself. That initial U is, in fact, of all things, a shortened version of the Anglo-Saxon wulf ,or ‘wolf’ as we would say. And shaw, another Dark Age word, gives us the Wood of the Wolf – a wolf lair once carefully avoided by locals.
Not that we should be surprised at this confusion.
Across 30 generations Wulfsceaga (as it originally was) was easily bent out of shape by careless and sometimes foreign mouths, the missing ‘W’, for example, was the fault of the Vikings.
And placenames referring to wolves are relatively common in Britain – they occur almost 40 times in England, mainly with reference to fields or forested areas. But how late did this particular lair survive?
Well, our last records of wolves in England come from the 14th century – though in the environs of mighty Durham, it is likely that the last wolf head had been stuck on a village gate in the 13th century. By that date, several other British dodos had also bit the dust including boars, bears and beavers, wolves being only the last to be wiped out by man.
Today, wolves are the playthings of TV wildlife programmes.
But back in Ushaw, circa 700, when the name was given, they were a peril to livestock and life.
Indeed, one can almost smell the fear as a group of armed men approach the copse at twilight and watch the snarling beasts defending their glades.
No quarter would have been asked and none given.
via Keeping the wolf from the door in Ushaw Moor (From The Northern Echo).
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Evening Extra - New Site Verdict!
The headline was meant to be in the style of a noisy newspaper seller - I hope you got that and were therefore not baffled by it! My impression is that the site looks professional and yes.....sophisticated! I like it. Congratulations yet again Paul.
Now just a quick point: as well as clicking on the likes of Soccer Gleghorn etc. it might be useful to try the search box with a name. I can tell you that even if what you want does not come up your person might still be there somewhere on site. Just imagine Gloria Race putting her name into the search box and clicking: she might get the surprise of her life!
WB
Now just a quick point: as well as clicking on the likes of Soccer Gleghorn etc. it might be useful to try the search box with a name. I can tell you that even if what you want does not come up your person might still be there somewhere on site. Just imagine Gloria Race putting her name into the search box and clicking: she might get the surprise of her life!
WB
"Further memories take me back to the chestnut shop"
Further memories take me back to the chestnut shop on Oakridge Road owned by the hugely popular Cathy Donaldson who used to be the beneficiary of many a deerness schoolboys dinner money.
It is worth noting that in the late 80's early 90's the five a day theory was not yet in force so a bag of 'kopp kopps', some 'choc ...lick' and ice pops/jubilees were generally acknowlegded as part of the staple diet for the ushaw lad of the time.
It's little wonder not many of us went on to play for England or become international athletes given such a diet ! That said we used to love setting the football up on the green near Lilac Park using 2 coats and would entertain ourselves for hours on end, the biggest danger on the pitch being dog poo, some of which was white and is now strangely extinct !
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
It is worth noting that in the late 80's early 90's the five a day theory was not yet in force so a bag of 'kopp kopps', some 'choc ...lick' and ice pops/jubilees were generally acknowlegded as part of the staple diet for the ushaw lad of the time.
It's little wonder not many of us went on to play for England or become international athletes given such a diet ! That said we used to love setting the football up on the green near Lilac Park using 2 coats and would entertain ourselves for hours on end, the biggest danger on the pitch being dog poo, some of which was white and is now strangely extinct !
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
Geoff Bowery
Sunday 21 March 2010
Geoff Is Right!
To be fair our authors have generally been writing about the period and memories that they can readily associate with. It has left memories of the 70s onwards a bit sparse, despite the great Facebook innovation; hopefully that will change soon.
July 1998 was an interesting period for me and one particular incident struck me as amusing. I went to have a look around Crook and visit the town's football ground. The visit to the ground was to enable me to take a picture of the very goal area where Crook Town missed a penalty against Derby County in November 1955. I was a kid behind that goal when the penalty miss occured. Being a Derby fan I even hoped to see the Crook goalkeeper [1998 version] and arrange to put a penalty past him - to show how it should have been done way back in 55!
The ground was locked but a nice bloke shouted from his garden 'can I help?' I explained what I wanted to do and he let me take a picture of the relevant goalmouth from one of his bedrooms. The fact that his daughter was still in bed in that room [ a night shift worker] did not seem to inhibit his offer at all. He even left me in the bedroom whilst he got a brush to unjam the bedroom window [enabling me to take a better photograph!]. In other words he left me [a total stranger] in the bedroom with his daughter for one whole minute whilst he got that brush! He was a good judge of character and all's well that ended well! I have the photograph to this day.
WB
July 1998 was an interesting period for me and one particular incident struck me as amusing. I went to have a look around Crook and visit the town's football ground. The visit to the ground was to enable me to take a picture of the very goal area where Crook Town missed a penalty against Derby County in November 1955. I was a kid behind that goal when the penalty miss occured. Being a Derby fan I even hoped to see the Crook goalkeeper [1998 version] and arrange to put a penalty past him - to show how it should have been done way back in 55!
The ground was locked but a nice bloke shouted from his garden 'can I help?' I explained what I wanted to do and he let me take a picture of the relevant goalmouth from one of his bedrooms. The fact that his daughter was still in bed in that room [ a night shift worker] did not seem to inhibit his offer at all. He even left me in the bedroom whilst he got a brush to unjam the bedroom window [enabling me to take a better photograph!]. In other words he left me [a total stranger] in the bedroom with his daughter for one whole minute whilst he got that brush! He was a good judge of character and all's well that ended well! I have the photograph to this day.
WB
Loving all the old Memories
Loving all the old memories but must say I think we should try to make the link between yesteryear and today by filling in the gaps a little closer to this way. E.G memories of mine is watching Frank Bruno beat Oliver Mccall in 1994 (I think) to finally win the world heavyweight title at the 4th attempt. The club was packed and the place was rocking, fantastic.
Also the Winnings when it was owned by Mr Larry Thompson evokes many fond memories, snooker tournaments to keep the youth occupied and an improvised boxing gym in which myself and the Sacriston boxers, (Mcleans) used to train in prior to fighting. The people in the snooker hall used to complain as the balls would move when we were belting the bag downstairs !
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
Also the Winnings when it was owned by Mr Larry Thompson evokes many fond memories, snooker tournaments to keep the youth occupied and an improvised boxing gym in which myself and the Sacriston boxers, (Mcleans) used to train in prior to fighting. The people in the snooker hall used to complain as the balls would move when we were belting the bag downstairs !
via Facebook | Ushaw Moor Memories.
Geoff Bowery
Saturday 20 March 2010
Memories of Ushaw Moor: Roy Lambeth Nov 30th 2003
Memories of Ushaw Moor: Roy Lambeth Nov 30th 2003.
Having failed my 11+ exam, in September 1959 I went to Whinney Hill Secondary Modern School (i was living in Musgrave Gardens in Gilesgate, Durham). Some of the more senior boys tried to make us feel welcome by fiding out our interests and introducing us to senior with similar interests. Being a trainspotter I was introduced to the late Stephen Dent who lived at 22 Whitehouse Lane in Ushaw Moor (he was related to the Tallentyre Dent family - the bakers shop at the cross roads). His Father worked as a clerk with British Railways in Newcastle. One saturday I was invited to go with him to meet some of his railway friends. I went from Durham to Ushaw Moor by bus (United No.44), found Whitehouse Lane and headed up the back street as instructed. Since very few gates had numbers on them I soon lost count so I asked directions from an elderly lady, but before I got my information I was ushered into her kitchen and fed homemade cakes with a cup of tea. Being from a housing estate in Durham, this surprised me but I was to find out that it was typical of mining communities. Then I learned why I was in the back street. She told me that the front door was only used for "Hatches,Matches & Dispatches" but the back door was ALWAYS open.
Having failed my 11+ exam, in September 1959 I went to Whinney Hill Secondary Modern School (i was living in Musgrave Gardens in Gilesgate, Durham). Some of the more senior boys tried to make us feel welcome by fiding out our interests and introducing us to senior with similar interests. Being a trainspotter I was introduced to the late Stephen Dent who lived at 22 Whitehouse Lane in Ushaw Moor (he was related to the Tallentyre Dent family - the bakers shop at the cross roads). His Father worked as a clerk with British Railways in Newcastle. One saturday I was invited to go with him to meet some of his railway friends. I went from Durham to Ushaw Moor by bus (United No.44), found Whitehouse Lane and headed up the back street as instructed. Since very few gates had numbers on them I soon lost count so I asked directions from an elderly lady, but before I got my information I was ushered into her kitchen and fed homemade cakes with a cup of tea. Being from a housing estate in Durham, this surprised me but I was to find out that it was typical of mining communities. Then I learned why I was in the back street. She told me that the front door was only used for "Hatches,Matches & Dispatches" but the back door was ALWAYS open.
Barbara Porter Australia Feb. 24th 2004
From Original Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG
Barbara Porter Australia Feb. 24th 2004
My grandfather Frederick Vickers worked at the Ushaw Moor coal mine and lived at 29 Ladysmith Tce. All his children were born there including my mother Jane, born 1916. During WW11 I went to live with my grandparents for a short while and went to Ushaw Moor Infant School. I often saw Vicar Welby as the manse was at the end of Ladysmith Tce and I once went to tea there. My grandfather owned a big allotment in front of Ladysmith Tce where he grew vegetables and kept hens and pigs. Neighbors would come to buy fresh vegetables from him and Chrysanthemums when available. I spent many hours in summer collecting blackberries for my grandmother's yummy blackberry and apple pies. No one seemed to worry about us wandering off on our little adventures in those days although I was very young.
via Memories of Ushaw Moor: Barbara Porter Australia Feb. 24th 2004.
Barbara Porter Australia Feb. 24th 2004
My grandfather Frederick Vickers worked at the Ushaw Moor coal mine and lived at 29 Ladysmith Tce. All his children were born there including my mother Jane, born 1916. During WW11 I went to live with my grandparents for a short while and went to Ushaw Moor Infant School. I often saw Vicar Welby as the manse was at the end of Ladysmith Tce and I once went to tea there. My grandfather owned a big allotment in front of Ladysmith Tce where he grew vegetables and kept hens and pigs. Neighbors would come to buy fresh vegetables from him and Chrysanthemums when available. I spent many hours in summer collecting blackberries for my grandmother's yummy blackberry and apple pies. No one seemed to worry about us wandering off on our little adventures in those days although I was very young.
via Memories of Ushaw Moor: Barbara Porter Australia Feb. 24th 2004.
B. Drysdale , Billingham 28th June 2004
From First Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG
B. Drysdale , Billingham 28th June 2004
I enjoyed reading about Martin and Ruby Gallagher. My Gran and Grandad lived at 28 Arthur St. and as a child I was often sent to the little shop. It was a happy place, Ruby was always singing. My Gran never called her Ruby Gallaher it was Ruby Deaton. Also in Arthur St. were Mrs. Quinn, Mrs. Jolly , Mrs. Nanncarrow and the Wallige family. They were friendly with the Young family who lived in Whitehouse Lane.
The place I liked most was the Co-Op Store. I think the Manager was called Kilpatrick. Sometimes we had to go upstairs to the shoe dept. It was like an Aladdin's Cave. All kinds of boxes and drawers, I would have loved looking inside them, but all my Gran ever bought were Portland shoes. Another of my favourite places was the Empire Cinema. Upstairs, at the front, my head on the wide rail watching anything and everything, and a bag of Cherry Lips, magic.
My Gran kept the Doctors surgery when it was in Arthur St. Does anyone remember Dr. Dickinson? He was there when Dr. Millyard came to Ushaw Moor. Anyone wanting the Dr. would phone my Gran on 'New Brancepath 202' and leave a message for the Dr. to call.Other names from my early years in Ushaw Moor are Billy Defty, Tommy Hall, John Aberdeen and Susan Lough. Susans' family had the shoe shop on Station Rd.
Did anyone go to the Christmas parties at the Baptist Chapel? They were great fun, games and food, all home made by the ladies of the Chapel. We all had to wind different coloured cotton around our knives forks and spoons so that we didn't get them mixed up. They were held in the school room of the chapel, it seemed huge. The tables were set up on tressles, and everyone contributed plates and bowls, I wonder if they were returned to their owners?
Well I hope I have set some memories stirring. My Gran and Grandad were Janet and Jo Henderson, my Aunt Cissie and Uncle Jack lived next door at No.29 Arthur St. My Mams name is Peggy Elliott and she lives near me in Billingham. Looking forward to reading some more memories.
via Memories of Ushaw Moor: November 2004.
B. Drysdale , Billingham 28th June 2004
I enjoyed reading about Martin and Ruby Gallagher. My Gran and Grandad lived at 28 Arthur St. and as a child I was often sent to the little shop. It was a happy place, Ruby was always singing. My Gran never called her Ruby Gallaher it was Ruby Deaton. Also in Arthur St. were Mrs. Quinn, Mrs. Jolly , Mrs. Nanncarrow and the Wallige family. They were friendly with the Young family who lived in Whitehouse Lane.
The place I liked most was the Co-Op Store. I think the Manager was called Kilpatrick. Sometimes we had to go upstairs to the shoe dept. It was like an Aladdin's Cave. All kinds of boxes and drawers, I would have loved looking inside them, but all my Gran ever bought were Portland shoes. Another of my favourite places was the Empire Cinema. Upstairs, at the front, my head on the wide rail watching anything and everything, and a bag of Cherry Lips, magic.
My Gran kept the Doctors surgery when it was in Arthur St. Does anyone remember Dr. Dickinson? He was there when Dr. Millyard came to Ushaw Moor. Anyone wanting the Dr. would phone my Gran on 'New Brancepath 202' and leave a message for the Dr. to call.Other names from my early years in Ushaw Moor are Billy Defty, Tommy Hall, John Aberdeen and Susan Lough. Susans' family had the shoe shop on Station Rd.
Did anyone go to the Christmas parties at the Baptist Chapel? They were great fun, games and food, all home made by the ladies of the Chapel. We all had to wind different coloured cotton around our knives forks and spoons so that we didn't get them mixed up. They were held in the school room of the chapel, it seemed huge. The tables were set up on tressles, and everyone contributed plates and bowls, I wonder if they were returned to their owners?
Well I hope I have set some memories stirring. My Gran and Grandad were Janet and Jo Henderson, my Aunt Cissie and Uncle Jack lived next door at No.29 Arthur St. My Mams name is Peggy Elliott and she lives near me in Billingham. Looking forward to reading some more memories.
via Memories of Ushaw Moor: November 2004.
Thursday 18 March 2010
This And That
Some of you might not be aware that if you put - googlemaps - into the Google search engine and then - Ushaw Moor - you have access to a walking tour of Ushaw Moor, and just about every where else for that matter. It might be particularly attractive for those ex Ushaw Moor people that have not been back for decades. It really is a case of walking the streets and seeing the houses. It is brilliant but there is a knack to getting down to street level; I discovered how to do it by experimenting and I invite you to do the same.
I have been promised a photograph of the Ushaw Moor cricket team taken in the year 1906. Two of the players are known to be the brothers John Thomas Hope and William Hope. I do not know at this stage if it is a tiny photo or a big one but all the same I will get a copy of it to Paul as soon as I can for publication on site.
For those that follow Ushaw Moor Cricket Club please be aware that there is a lot of player information on site relating to 1947 as well as a few score cards for the 30s and 40s. If you are interested by all means have a go at finding it!
The Facebook feature is a turn up for the book! It has breathed new life into Ushaw Moor memories but it needs careful nurturing to prevent it going stale. It would be great if amongst the great four hundred plus we get a few writers for the main memories section; I could then slow down, put my slippers on, and smoke a pipe. Just joking - I do not smoke. I lounge a bit and get exhausted but I do not smoke!
I can tell from some of the facebook comments that some fans are probably not aware of some archived material. An example of this might have been a reference to vicar Welby. He is well featured on site for those that look. Even his family history is there!
WB
I have been promised a photograph of the Ushaw Moor cricket team taken in the year 1906. Two of the players are known to be the brothers John Thomas Hope and William Hope. I do not know at this stage if it is a tiny photo or a big one but all the same I will get a copy of it to Paul as soon as I can for publication on site.
For those that follow Ushaw Moor Cricket Club please be aware that there is a lot of player information on site relating to 1947 as well as a few score cards for the 30s and 40s. If you are interested by all means have a go at finding it!
The Facebook feature is a turn up for the book! It has breathed new life into Ushaw Moor memories but it needs careful nurturing to prevent it going stale. It would be great if amongst the great four hundred plus we get a few writers for the main memories section; I could then slow down, put my slippers on, and smoke a pipe. Just joking - I do not smoke. I lounge a bit and get exhausted but I do not smoke!
I can tell from some of the facebook comments that some fans are probably not aware of some archived material. An example of this might have been a reference to vicar Welby. He is well featured on site for those that look. Even his family history is there!
WB
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Spider - James Hay Stories
Aa had this aaful gallowa caalled Spider when Aa was workin down the pit. Mind he wes a real little bugger. Neebody liked him cause he use ta kick an bite an bump yer with he’s heed when yer warn’t lookin - an sometimes when yer ware!
Anyway, there was one day Aa waalked inter the hosskeeper’s ter get Spider out an draa me whip. Neebody was allowed ter tak a gallowa without a whip, in case yer badly used them, like. In case yer hit them wi summing else, see.
Anyway, there was one day Aa waalked inter the hosskeeper’s ter get Spider out an draa me whip. Neebody was allowed ter tak a gallowa without a whip, in case yer badly used them, like. In case yer hit them wi summing else, see.
Sunday 14 March 2010
Ushaw Moor Co-Op
From Original Memories BLOG
Tonight I would like to concentrate on the building where Mc Cormicks shop is now situated in Durham Road. This building was constructed in the years leading up to the First World War by the New Brancepth Cooperative Society. If we start from the first department of the store from the Broompark end then this was the Greengrocery department. There was a female employee worked in this department but I cannot remember her name. Next was the Butchery Department. The butcher was Norman Ridley and he lived in a flat behind the Butchers shop. The butchers shop was huge and in the war years when I was a child there was a lack of fresh meat. The shop was spotless and you could literally eat your food off the floor. (My Dad was serving his time as a bricklayer in 1915 on this site when as an eighteen year old boy he volunteered for the Army and enlisted with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.) The thing that fascinated me as a young child was the size of the walk in fridge in the butchers shop. There were no domestic fridges in those days; it was the first fridge I can remember.
Next to the Butchers traveling towards the Flass was a loading area which was used among other things to take goods up to the Hardware Department upstairs in the store by means of a pulley system. The main door to the store led into the Grocery and Hardware Departments. The stairs leading to the Hardware Department rose directly from the main door. It was a very limited magic world of shoes, bedding, lino, furniture, cloth, buttons, cottons, and high ceilings. The man in charge was Eddie Manford whose family originated from Pringle Place at New Brancepeth. If you turned to the right inside the main door you entered the magic world of the Grocery Department. Butter and cheese came in barrels in those days, the wooden barrels were stripped from their contents and the butter or cheese was cut into portions with thin steel wires. Everything was measured out and placed into strong paper bags and it was magic to watch sugar, flour, raisins, currants, biscuits, and other commodities expertly weighed and bagged very quickly. The men behind the counters were known personally, Kit Kitchen Billy Calvert amongst them and they were on first name terms with all customers. The bill was made out by the server but you took the bill to the office. The "office" was a small area enclosed by a wooden partition which looked out onto Durham Road. There was a small hatch where the transaction took place. The lady, again I cannot remember her name took the bill and asked for your check number. She then gave you a small paper check which registered the money you had spent The smell in the different departments were magic, numerous unwrapped commodities side by side, they blended to create individual smells for each Department. Last but not least was the Cobblers, this situated on the gable end of the store where the road led down to High View. The smell of leather and chemicals in the polishes was magic, plus the sound of the high speed lathes, or a knife cutting leather and the nails being hammered into the leather repairs. Danny Henderson from Mew Brancepeth worked there and I knew the cobbler as "Cody" who I think came from Esh Winning. Our check number was 27. An article on the "Dividend" is in the pipeline. I hope readers enjoy this and add their own memories to this excellent website. Please add to this article.
Posted on behalf of
brian mcloughlin-- Tue Nov 16 1:42:17 GB-Eire 2004
Tonight I would like to concentrate on the building where Mc Cormicks shop is now situated in Durham Road. This building was constructed in the years leading up to the First World War by the New Brancepth Cooperative Society. If we start from the first department of the store from the Broompark end then this was the Greengrocery department. There was a female employee worked in this department but I cannot remember her name. Next was the Butchery Department. The butcher was Norman Ridley and he lived in a flat behind the Butchers shop. The butchers shop was huge and in the war years when I was a child there was a lack of fresh meat. The shop was spotless and you could literally eat your food off the floor. (My Dad was serving his time as a bricklayer in 1915 on this site when as an eighteen year old boy he volunteered for the Army and enlisted with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.) The thing that fascinated me as a young child was the size of the walk in fridge in the butchers shop. There were no domestic fridges in those days; it was the first fridge I can remember.
Next to the Butchers traveling towards the Flass was a loading area which was used among other things to take goods up to the Hardware Department upstairs in the store by means of a pulley system. The main door to the store led into the Grocery and Hardware Departments. The stairs leading to the Hardware Department rose directly from the main door. It was a very limited magic world of shoes, bedding, lino, furniture, cloth, buttons, cottons, and high ceilings. The man in charge was Eddie Manford whose family originated from Pringle Place at New Brancepeth. If you turned to the right inside the main door you entered the magic world of the Grocery Department. Butter and cheese came in barrels in those days, the wooden barrels were stripped from their contents and the butter or cheese was cut into portions with thin steel wires. Everything was measured out and placed into strong paper bags and it was magic to watch sugar, flour, raisins, currants, biscuits, and other commodities expertly weighed and bagged very quickly. The men behind the counters were known personally, Kit Kitchen Billy Calvert amongst them and they were on first name terms with all customers. The bill was made out by the server but you took the bill to the office. The "office" was a small area enclosed by a wooden partition which looked out onto Durham Road. There was a small hatch where the transaction took place. The lady, again I cannot remember her name took the bill and asked for your check number. She then gave you a small paper check which registered the money you had spent The smell in the different departments were magic, numerous unwrapped commodities side by side, they blended to create individual smells for each Department. Last but not least was the Cobblers, this situated on the gable end of the store where the road led down to High View. The smell of leather and chemicals in the polishes was magic, plus the sound of the high speed lathes, or a knife cutting leather and the nails being hammered into the leather repairs. Danny Henderson from Mew Brancepeth worked there and I knew the cobbler as "Cody" who I think came from Esh Winning. Our check number was 27. An article on the "Dividend" is in the pipeline. I hope readers enjoy this and add their own memories to this excellent website. Please add to this article.
Posted on behalf of
Brian Mcloughlin
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Autobiography of Frank Proctor
Brian McLoughlin 23rd June 2004
I read the “Autobiography of Frank Proctor” some time ago and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I would recommend this book to any of the older generation in Ushaw Moor.
Frank was a very strong character who went as a very young man with a number of friends to work on the farms in Canada. He suffered homesickness as one by one his friends returned to the Ushaw Moor area and he was left alone in a strange country thousands of miles away from his home.
He was a very strong Christian and it was his faith that carried him through these difficult times. He was, as a young man, very strongly influenced by Vicar John Welby who was the vicar at Saint Lukes CE Church on the Esh Winning road.
He married in Canada and shortly after joined the Regina Rifles and served with the Canadian Army in Europe throughout the entire Second World War. He managed to visit Ushaw Moor on leave a couple of times during the War.
This man was a tribute to his home village and the hard times he suffered as a young man. His faith in God had a major bearing on his life but this book is about Franks’ life and his family.
His early memories of Ushaw Moor are fascinating, his mother was stewardess at the “Bush” at the bottom of the village for a while.
Again I would recommend anyone of the older generation to read the book.
From OLD Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG
Orginally Posted by in 10:09:38
I read the “Autobiography of Frank Proctor” some time ago and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I would recommend this book to any of the older generation in Ushaw Moor.
Frank was a very strong character who went as a very young man with a number of friends to work on the farms in Canada. He suffered homesickness as one by one his friends returned to the Ushaw Moor area and he was left alone in a strange country thousands of miles away from his home.
He was a very strong Christian and it was his faith that carried him through these difficult times. He was, as a young man, very strongly influenced by Vicar John Welby who was the vicar at Saint Lukes CE Church on the Esh Winning road.
He married in Canada and shortly after joined the Regina Rifles and served with the Canadian Army in Europe throughout the entire Second World War. He managed to visit Ushaw Moor on leave a couple of times during the War.
This man was a tribute to his home village and the hard times he suffered as a young man. His faith in God had a major bearing on his life but this book is about Franks’ life and his family.
His early memories of Ushaw Moor are fascinating, his mother was stewardess at the “Bush” at the bottom of the village for a while.
Again I would recommend anyone of the older generation to read the book.
From OLD Ushaw Moor Memories BLOG
Orginally Posted by in 10:09:38
Saturday 6 March 2010
Waterhouses Station 1958
Early photo of Waterhouses Station which was actually situated in Esh Winning.
Thursday 4 March 2010
Did Ushaw Moor's Women Gossip Too Much in the 50s?
Well some of them no doubt gossiped but those that did were far too busy to do much of it! I won't go into the poss tub, kitchen skivvy, brasso account but many of us know how busy and admirable those ladies were: well most of them - those that were unclean and neglectful were scandalised and yes - gossiped about!
Certainly several people could be seen in conversation outside their houses on a sunday in the South Street and Joyce Terrace area - as you come out of Ushaw Moor towards Esh Winning. Did I get that right - Joyce Terrace? Not many cars were passing during these conversations so it is probably a recollection from the early 50s - rather than the middle and late.
I have some notes - not my work - that have been adapted from work done by 'Roberts' in 1973. I suppose 'Roberts' was a sociologist, or similiar, and this writer should be fully acknowledged; I will do that, if and when I am in a position to. Anyway here is a short piece adapted from his/her work:
From early morning to late at night little groups formed and faded, traded with goodwill, candour or cattishness the detailed gossip of a closed society. Over a period the health, honesty, conduct, history and connections of everyone in the neighbourhood would be examined. Each would be criticised, praised, censured openly or by hint and finally allocated by tacit consent a position on the social scale.
How do you feel about that? It rings true does it not?
Getting more up to date a Daily Mail article, dated 08/05/09, informs us that a survey revealed that, amongst other things:
--More than two thirds of women admit they pay full attention to conversations only when they are gossiping
--Only half of men said they listen intently to gossip
--Women are more likely to switch off when listening to their work colleagues, with the average women catching what the boss says only two thirds of the time.
-- Women only hear 70% of the conversations they have with their partner
What do you think?
WB
Certainly several people could be seen in conversation outside their houses on a sunday in the South Street and Joyce Terrace area - as you come out of Ushaw Moor towards Esh Winning. Did I get that right - Joyce Terrace? Not many cars were passing during these conversations so it is probably a recollection from the early 50s - rather than the middle and late.
I have some notes - not my work - that have been adapted from work done by 'Roberts' in 1973. I suppose 'Roberts' was a sociologist, or similiar, and this writer should be fully acknowledged; I will do that, if and when I am in a position to. Anyway here is a short piece adapted from his/her work:
From early morning to late at night little groups formed and faded, traded with goodwill, candour or cattishness the detailed gossip of a closed society. Over a period the health, honesty, conduct, history and connections of everyone in the neighbourhood would be examined. Each would be criticised, praised, censured openly or by hint and finally allocated by tacit consent a position on the social scale.
How do you feel about that? It rings true does it not?
Getting more up to date a Daily Mail article, dated 08/05/09, informs us that a survey revealed that, amongst other things:
--More than two thirds of women admit they pay full attention to conversations only when they are gossiping
--Only half of men said they listen intently to gossip
--Women are more likely to switch off when listening to their work colleagues, with the average women catching what the boss says only two thirds of the time.
-- Women only hear 70% of the conversations they have with their partner
What do you think?
WB
Tuesday 2 March 2010
A Pervasive Stink
Focusing on the 19th century we can see that it was men causing the rotten and very obnoxious stink, not just the Thames; it was because of the way they enslaved women. Of course you cannot generalise; some relationships were no doubt loving and constructive, but the law and the Establishment disempowered women.
During Victorian times women were treated like a bit of bird dropping on men's shoes; it is true that the middle and higher classes of women were meant to be sensitive loving creatures but the trouble was their lives were not their own - they were there to look good and serve their husband's needs, to the exclusion of their own individuality.
You might find this extract from the Derbyshire Times, published in 1861, quite interesting; certainly it says a lot about the culture then and the status of working class women and of course it relates to mining community life, a topic highly relevant to Ushaw Moor's past:
The paper's leader piece was entitled - A Word to colliers' wives:
We address ourselves to a class, some of whom, at least, we are quite sure we will reach, although we may not succeed in making ourselves heard by all the neighbourhood. There be they who cannot read, these we hope to communicate with through their gossiping friends who can. What we have to tell them is something in which they are deeply concerned, something which their future happiness is concerned, the happiness of their husbands, the safety of their homes.
The judge at the Chesterfield County Court - an excellent, wise judge - say the colliers of this district are getting into a very bad habit. They start on credit at the small shops, and when they have money to pay with the money is appropriated to other purposes. In many cases, his Honour says, colliers' wives run their husbands into debt whilst their husbands are hard at work.This we have reason to know, is too true, and the result is County Court summonses after sunnonses, distresses after distresses upon the household furniture, and often committals of the husband to to prison.
Now we would earnestly warn the women against this bad system. It is hard work for a man labouring from morning tonight, to find himself brought to misery and distress by the woman who should comfort, console, and cheer him in his toil. For their own sakes, too - we would put it in this selfish way - wives shoud be more careful, and rather store up for a rainy day than bring clouds of misery about the house by their own bad and unhly practices.
The leader prattles on further and concludes: The judge has not the power to do so yet - but laws are made very quickly in these days, and there is no knowing what may be done to punish the wicked ones if they persist in their evil doings.
What I object to in that piece is the presumption the women were totally to blame. I suspect the miners' wage levels were not very good and furthermore I suspect that some of the money never even got to the wives - rather it went from the men's pockets to to the barman at the local ale house. It was not as if the women did not also work very hard; they fed men at all times of the day - especially if there were several family members working at the mine on different shifts.They also worked extremely hard to keep the house and the family clean. Washday - making bread - rearing many children and sadly burying and mourning dead children etc must have exhausted women.
I also object to the tone of the article's language and the demeaning way women are sneered at and catergorized as gossips.
Let's have a chat about women as gossips. Were they always just gossiping? Or were they sometimes doing something else like exchanging information about shop prices and the best way to wash this and that and bake this and that. Women were not angels - being human they could not possibly be, or behave like, angels but the leader writer was expressing the prevailing view that women were just there for men - to look after them like slaves and to make financial ends meet.
I have already hinted that it was rather different for the middle class and upper class women; they were meant to be decorative and amusing. They spend much of their time visiting relatives, entertaining relatives, [not that they did the cooking - the servants did that, and being ten a penny, they were paid badly for long hours of work] sewing, painting etc.
There were several women that chose to take on this obnoxious inequality and Caroline Norton was one of them. She was an intelligent and well connected woman in an unhappy marriage. She choose to fight for justice against her obnoxious husband George Norton; in doing she sought changes to the law regarding women's marital rights; a cause that gained significant legal gains for wives and mothers. At the time - legally - a married couple amounted to one person - the man; he had ownership of his wife's income, property and their children! He could not dispose of her real estate without permission but otherwise she appeared powerless. Caroline Norton won some rights for women and this was followed up by others after her day. Going back a little further back Mary Wollstoncraft did much to spell out the position of women and what they needed to do to bring more fairness to the relationship between men and women. For anyone interested do consider googling these brilliant ladies!
WB
During Victorian times women were treated like a bit of bird dropping on men's shoes; it is true that the middle and higher classes of women were meant to be sensitive loving creatures but the trouble was their lives were not their own - they were there to look good and serve their husband's needs, to the exclusion of their own individuality.
You might find this extract from the Derbyshire Times, published in 1861, quite interesting; certainly it says a lot about the culture then and the status of working class women and of course it relates to mining community life, a topic highly relevant to Ushaw Moor's past:
The paper's leader piece was entitled - A Word to colliers' wives:
We address ourselves to a class, some of whom, at least, we are quite sure we will reach, although we may not succeed in making ourselves heard by all the neighbourhood. There be they who cannot read, these we hope to communicate with through their gossiping friends who can. What we have to tell them is something in which they are deeply concerned, something which their future happiness is concerned, the happiness of their husbands, the safety of their homes.
The judge at the Chesterfield County Court - an excellent, wise judge - say the colliers of this district are getting into a very bad habit. They start on credit at the small shops, and when they have money to pay with the money is appropriated to other purposes. In many cases, his Honour says, colliers' wives run their husbands into debt whilst their husbands are hard at work.This we have reason to know, is too true, and the result is County Court summonses after sunnonses, distresses after distresses upon the household furniture, and often committals of the husband to to prison.
Now we would earnestly warn the women against this bad system. It is hard work for a man labouring from morning tonight, to find himself brought to misery and distress by the woman who should comfort, console, and cheer him in his toil. For their own sakes, too - we would put it in this selfish way - wives shoud be more careful, and rather store up for a rainy day than bring clouds of misery about the house by their own bad and unhly practices.
The leader prattles on further and concludes: The judge has not the power to do so yet - but laws are made very quickly in these days, and there is no knowing what may be done to punish the wicked ones if they persist in their evil doings.
What I object to in that piece is the presumption the women were totally to blame. I suspect the miners' wage levels were not very good and furthermore I suspect that some of the money never even got to the wives - rather it went from the men's pockets to to the barman at the local ale house. It was not as if the women did not also work very hard; they fed men at all times of the day - especially if there were several family members working at the mine on different shifts.They also worked extremely hard to keep the house and the family clean. Washday - making bread - rearing many children and sadly burying and mourning dead children etc must have exhausted women.
I also object to the tone of the article's language and the demeaning way women are sneered at and catergorized as gossips.
Let's have a chat about women as gossips. Were they always just gossiping? Or were they sometimes doing something else like exchanging information about shop prices and the best way to wash this and that and bake this and that. Women were not angels - being human they could not possibly be, or behave like, angels but the leader writer was expressing the prevailing view that women were just there for men - to look after them like slaves and to make financial ends meet.
I have already hinted that it was rather different for the middle class and upper class women; they were meant to be decorative and amusing. They spend much of their time visiting relatives, entertaining relatives, [not that they did the cooking - the servants did that, and being ten a penny, they were paid badly for long hours of work] sewing, painting etc.
There were several women that chose to take on this obnoxious inequality and Caroline Norton was one of them. She was an intelligent and well connected woman in an unhappy marriage. She choose to fight for justice against her obnoxious husband George Norton; in doing she sought changes to the law regarding women's marital rights; a cause that gained significant legal gains for wives and mothers. At the time - legally - a married couple amounted to one person - the man; he had ownership of his wife's income, property and their children! He could not dispose of her real estate without permission but otherwise she appeared powerless. Caroline Norton won some rights for women and this was followed up by others after her day. Going back a little further back Mary Wollstoncraft did much to spell out the position of women and what they needed to do to bring more fairness to the relationship between men and women. For anyone interested do consider googling these brilliant ladies!
WB
Replying To Mr Gillon's Guest Book Entry
Denis Gillon - 2010-02-27 15:24:59
"My father John Edward Gillon was born 1910 and lived in Michell Sreet. His mother was Alice Lumley.
Does anyone know anything about them?"
As an infant John Edward Gillon lived in Mitchell Street but it was in South Moor not Ushaw Moor. The family did spend sometime in Ushaw Moor before moving to South Moor.The remarkable and chuckling co-incidence is that decades later I lived a few doors away from what was his home in the very same Mitchell Street.
Unfortunately I am not able to help further.
WB
Monday 1 March 2010
Taking things for granted.
When you are young you take things for granted and you think things will never change. The Deerness Valley is still the same shape, the same length and the same height as when I was a lad but the pits, the pit heaps, and the colliery villages have almost disappeared and nature, with mans assistance, has moved back into the valley.
Seen on a clear sunny day from the crossroads above Whitehouse Court the valley is very beautiful. It is a far cry from the valley that was when I was conscripted into the Army in March 1960. The mineral railway line still ran up the valley to Waterhouses Colliery. The collieries in the Valley at that time were Ushaw Moor, Esh Winning, Waterhouses, and on the rim of the valley was Pit House Colliery and the West Brandon drift. New Brancepth Colliery had closed in the early 1950s, and East Hedley Hope Closed sometime in the 50s also. On top of these collieries were a number of open cast coal sites. The valley was really given over to the production of coal. It was said that more coal was produced in the bar at Ushaw Moor Big Club on a Sunday dinner time than was ever produced at the Colliery.
The work of a miner was hard, dirty and unrelenting. When I left school I wanted to go down the pit but my mother said "NO" and that was that. Whilst in the Army in Kenya in 1961 I read in the Durhan County Advertiser of the death of a boyhood friend who was killed at Pithouse Coliiery and I realised then why my mother was against me going down the pit.
Back to the Deerness Valley.; Collieries were dirty, ugly blots on the landscape, with steam, smoke and dust flying about. Couple this with a plant producing coke as at New Brancepeth Colliery and the pollution was very high. You took these collieries for granted and as a child or young man I never saw them as ugly. There were just part of the landscape and part of your life. I thought that when the pits closed and families were moving to Yorkshire and the Midlands for work in the pits down there that the Valley would stagnate.
The opposite has been proved with villages expanding with modern housing, schools and amenities and the scenery today is beautiful. I find it so but I think most people who live in the valley take the beauty for granted. After living on Tyneside since 1965 I still miss the closesness of a village like Ushaw Moor.
Brian Mc
Seen on a clear sunny day from the crossroads above Whitehouse Court the valley is very beautiful. It is a far cry from the valley that was when I was conscripted into the Army in March 1960. The mineral railway line still ran up the valley to Waterhouses Colliery. The collieries in the Valley at that time were Ushaw Moor, Esh Winning, Waterhouses, and on the rim of the valley was Pit House Colliery and the West Brandon drift. New Brancepth Colliery had closed in the early 1950s, and East Hedley Hope Closed sometime in the 50s also. On top of these collieries were a number of open cast coal sites. The valley was really given over to the production of coal. It was said that more coal was produced in the bar at Ushaw Moor Big Club on a Sunday dinner time than was ever produced at the Colliery.
The work of a miner was hard, dirty and unrelenting. When I left school I wanted to go down the pit but my mother said "NO" and that was that. Whilst in the Army in Kenya in 1961 I read in the Durhan County Advertiser of the death of a boyhood friend who was killed at Pithouse Coliiery and I realised then why my mother was against me going down the pit.
Back to the Deerness Valley.; Collieries were dirty, ugly blots on the landscape, with steam, smoke and dust flying about. Couple this with a plant producing coke as at New Brancepeth Colliery and the pollution was very high. You took these collieries for granted and as a child or young man I never saw them as ugly. There were just part of the landscape and part of your life. I thought that when the pits closed and families were moving to Yorkshire and the Midlands for work in the pits down there that the Valley would stagnate.
The opposite has been proved with villages expanding with modern housing, schools and amenities and the scenery today is beautiful. I find it so but I think most people who live in the valley take the beauty for granted. After living on Tyneside since 1965 I still miss the closesness of a village like Ushaw Moor.
Brian Mc
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