Broompark infant school county durham uk
Road Bridge over River Deerness, Ushaw Moor[/caption]
I value all comments on Paul's site but am concerned that Mr Bowery's comments might be missed by some readers because they are a wee bit buried: that is, within the responses to my Seven Words For The People Of Ushaw Moor post.
We have some grand writers and he is one of them. Have a read.
WB
In my quest to find out when the old village of Broompark was demolished
i found this~ ???.I attended that school as a toddler and went on to St Josephs.
The article was in the northern echo and is dated April 17 2009.
50 years ago from that date in my calculation would make the year 1959.
Yet i have no recollection of a pied piper bus driver tooting his horn.
We walked to the main bus stop near Loves hotel and caught the bus there.
April 17th, 2009
From the Durham County Advertiser 50 years ago.
The driver of a bus which arrives in Broompark each weekday morning has become known as the modern Pied Piper.
When he toots his horn, children of the village skip out of their homes and are not seen again until early evening.
“Very soon their parents will be leaving, never to return,”.
A villager remarked bitterly to an Advertiser reporter this week.. “A village which loses its school begins slowly to decay.”
At Broompark School, focal point of the life of the village since the beginning of the century, only one of three classrooms is now in use.
Thirty older chldren were transferred to Ushaw Moor a fortnight ago, but there is still a class for toddlers.
After the summer holidays, however, even they will probably have to make the mile and a half trip to Ushaw Moor.
As reported in the Advertiser last week, a petition protesting against the closure of the school has been signed by over 200 villagers.
Parents have already seen the county authorities and the Central Executive Education Committee.
They intend to fight resolutely to save the school.
It is doubtful, however, whether a reprieve will be granted, for the problem at Broompark is that of many villages throughout the county.
? Compiled with the help of Durham County Council’s Clayport library
Thank you Noodles for praising my last effort.There are a few of us running up and down the pitch in an effort to keep the site fresh and interesting: Noodles sweeping up at the back, WB playing in an unfamiliar wing half role and new signing Nightingale singing away as if there is no tomorrow. Clarkey is often seen on the touchline bellowing, encouraging and a lot more besides. There is lots of chatter with no sign of a petering out. Cluffy has been known to moan that we should be playing 4-4-2 not 4-3-3 however he is usually a fountain of hope and calmness.
I dashed off that last piece [92 not out] in about twenty minutes but,too late and to my dismay, I found a few errors in it, for example: how ever instead of however and neccesarily, which has to many cees and not enough esses.
But It's the message that counts, not the occasional errors. If you have something heartfelt to write just do it. As Sir Ken Robinson might say:
And stop talking like Shakespeare. You are confusing everybody. Just write. Create.
WB
One day, at the age of 15, my half-brother scored 92 runs for South Moor Cricket Club's first team. I thought that was a big score for his age and told him that I was delighted for him. 92 runs are a lot of runs but I am equally impressed if you have lived that amount of years on this tiny blue dot in the universe.
It is the way of life that Colin, being 15, had his best years ahead of him, unlike the 92 year old who has not. An aged person is likely to experience pain, despair and loneliness in generous measure, however caring and considerate his or her family happen to be. Ushaw Moor residents in the first half of the 20th century were lucky to reach 65, never mind 92. In the 1930s a common age for men to die was 57; by the time they had reached that milestone they tended to be tired but not necessarily dispirited. And not necessarily lonely. You still had a community that cared rather than finding yourself being administered to by well meaning officials.
Community was all, in Ushaw Moor: however old you were there was a good chance of being visited by family, work colleagues and neighbours that cared. Your heart might have been on the verge of stopping, or your lungs may have felt like a disobedient dog, but you had human warmth around you and in you.
There is still a lot of human warmth about but too much of it is miles away and distracted by other things. These days, if you are one of the unlucky ones, you can be left with a birthday card, a Christmas card and your memories. As well as pain and energy loss.
The very old have a lot to give, especially if you ignore a few concepts held by that'outdated' generation, but are alert to their perceptive and very wise comments.It demands patience, listening skills and love. Lots of love. We really are all on a journey with a terminus and should realise that virtually all of us will be dead by the time we are 110. Out caught in the slips by an away swinging ball.
WB
Found some interesting photos whilst browsing. Thought i would drop a few links here although most of you have most likely seen them. The first link shows a Wilf Bell in a class photo. Wonder if he can still remember how the photographer made some of them laugh rather than smile.
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/mam_class.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/youth_club.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/primary_1900.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/relly_brown1.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/crossroads.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloughy/4283914935/in/pool-ushawmoor/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloughy/4527870640/in/pool-ushawmoor/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloughy/4527240369/in/pool-ushawmoor/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloughy/4748027311/in/pool-ushawmoor/
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/1951_infants.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/bpk_colliery_band.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/class_unknown.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/snow_queen.htm
http://ushawmoor.awardspace.info/history/singers.htm
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ushawmoor/pool/
All you have to do to get 246 people up is google the following line:
Search Durham's hidden depths Ushaw Moor
It will give their ages on a given day in history and references to one or more of:
union subscriptions paid, an accident, or death.
All courtesy of the Durham County Records Office.
WB
Florence Nightingale Number1
The younger Florence, aged 9 and born in Waterhouses and was part of the Nightingale family that occupied both 2 and 3 West Street Ushaw Moor.
Her father was John Nightingale a 42 year old colliery Undermanager; born in Northumberland he had gained his manager’s certificate on 26/02/1893. His managerial experience included overseeing the ‘Busty’ which would be abandoned 43 years later – well after his involvement!
Florence’s mother was 35 year old Sarah; she was born in St. John’s Chapel in Durham.
Florence had a lot of siblings: Alice [born in Waterhouses], Edith [b Esh], James W [b Waterhouses], Margaret [b Ushaw Moor], Mary J [b Waterhouses] and Phillis [bWaterhouses]. One of Florence’s grandfathers was called James Nightingale; he was born in 1822 at Chilton, County Durham, spent part of his life as a gardener and was married to Phillis [born in 1820].
Two of the Nightingale’s immediate neighbours, back in 1901, were John Herron – a stationary Engineman and Billy Thompson – a colliery engineman.
FLORENCE NO 2
The other Florence Nightingale was born in Tow Law in 1890, lived in South View, Ushaw Moor with her 53 year old dad [he was born in Northumberland and by this time worked at Ushaw Moor Colliery].
Florence had two elder brothers – Thomas [17] and John J [20]. They were both born in Tow Law and both worked at Ushaw Moor Colliery.
Florence had two sisters – Ethel [15 and born in Tow Law] and Hannah [20 – born Waterhouses].
We can surmise that this family was not in absolute dire poverty – bearing in mind the size of it and the number of workers.
Their immediate neighbours were:
[1] Mr John Stobart aged 41 – he was married to Mary – aged 41; they had a daughter – Jane aged 12 and
[2] Tommy Walker 42 [coal hewer Ushaw Moor] and his wife Ann [42]. They had four sons –Joseph 22 [putter/hewer Ushaw Moor], Thomas 18 [putter/coal hewer at Ushaw Moor], Solomon, 15 [bank lad] and John aged 4.
Tommy and Ann also had two daughters Sarah [9] and Florence [2]. So of the eight people living in the house we can see that four of them were in paid employment. Ann Walker would have been very busy looking after them especially bearing in mind the various coal mining shifts and that John was only 4 – I wonder whether Mrs Walker got much sleep.
All of the adult Ushaw Moor males mentioned above would know James Curry because he was the Rapper Man; his job was to get them to wake up and work! He lived at 6 William Street which incidentally was only three doors away from the Trotter family; one of whom was a three months old infant that, I believe, would go on to be the school teacher that some people can still remember. I believe he was the Trotter that, at least once, infuriated my grandfather on the cricket field!
WB
My grandfather Albert Turner with My Grandmother Agnes. I cannot give the location. Possibly in the entrance of the Loves hotel in Broompark, but i am thinking some other location in Ushaw Moor. No buildings in Broompark had a double door and brickwork like that except perhaps the Loves hotel.???? Albert was a very distinguished gentleman and a very good businessman who lent money and also a collector of fine antiques and collectables.
But also a maker of fine whiskey and loved a drink.
Some said that he was one that could turn a sows ear into a silk purse. But he was a worker and worked his gut out just as the rest.
A Canadian Soldier's Real Life Adventure Story
Summary: Frank Proctor grew up in a coal mining town near Durham, England, came to Saskatchewan to work in the grain harvest, enlisted in the Regina Rifles on the outbreak of war, trained in Canada and England, landed in Normandy on D-Day, fought through France and Holland to Germany, returned to Canada and moved to Mission, B.C., where he raised his family and operated his own business until retirement to the beauty of his art.
Read this gripping first hand account by a Canadian infantryman of his personal experiences in the tremendous events resulting in the liberation of Europe.
What readers and reviewers have said about I Was There click here
