Back in Edwardian times a coal mining family called Lowery lived at this address. There was George and Mary with their sons - Robert, Joseph, John and William. In addition there was daughter Frances and granddaughter Jane.
George and Mary originated from Middle Rainton.
After all the media is bombarding us with revelations that should shock us to the core. We cannot even trust NHS inspections and ...... no I will not continue in that vein. But I could and it would take up scores of size A4 pages. The British Empire would take a verbal battering, I can tell you, and I will be telling Michael Gove the same thing.
So is it any wonder that we might wish to escape it all with a misty eyed walk down memory lane and with a familiar fondness for the old tramping grounds? As we begin to step out we have to be wary of a bit of false memory and a bit of exaggeration. Take the Ushaw Moor County School football team.
In its epic match against the present Spain side [I did not refer to Brigadoon for nothing]. the 1958/9 school football team performed with credit. But how much credit? That's a rhetorical question and because I have done some sterling work on that I insist on revealing my findings to you without delay.
My calculations have taken into account several pieces of information, as follows: Spain beat Tahiti 10-0 yesterday, at home; Chelsea takes only six seconds to score from its own goal line; Ushaw Moor would play fairly openly, and finally the magnificent Spain team would be trying. Very trying. So let me reveal the score:
Ushaw Moor 1 Spain 38. So that was a very credible result for Ushaw Moor County. Ah, I know what you are wondering but I am not going to reveal that. Not just yet. If you think this little article is a little overblown, just take on board one fact: West Auckland was too good for Juventus.
WB
I was told today that Keith Wardman has died at the age of 68. It is very sad news and a reminder to us all to enjoy life while we have it. I have not seen Keith for years but that fact does not really dampen down the sadness very much; he often sat next to me at Ushaw Moor County School in the 50s and as an act of friendship we played table tennis at my parent's place at 42 Whitehouse Court. I was reminded today that I had in the past likened Keith to a youngish version of comedian Bill Maynard and I stand by that, but only in terms of Bill's gentle delivery and smile rather than his wit. Keith was a friendly, long standing, and hardworking official at Esh Winning Football Club. As I say, very sad news.
On Tuesday gone I paid a visit to Imperial College London, together with some special friends, to listen to a lecture by Professor Tejinder S Virdee, FRS, Professor of Physics at Imperial. He has a long standing involvement with supervision and research at the Large Hadron Collider. It was a privilege to be no further than twenty feet from a man that can be spoken about in the same breath as Sir Isaac Newton. Mr Fawcett my science teacher at Ushaw Moor would have been impressed with my enthusiasm. It is true that Mr Fawcett's lesson was billed as science but I am not sure that it amounted to much of a science lesson; there again although little was learned there was much laughter during his session.
On the same day as the visit to Imperial we also visited the Globe Theatre in London to witness a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was such a professional performance and worth the entrance fee several times over. In our younger days we were not taught Shakespeare because one or more educational academics considered it too intellectual and academic for us; but that was tosh and playing with the value and potential of young lives. Many of us were underestimated!
WB
Back in the early part of the 20th century New Brancepeth Brass Band entertained far and wide and in the process picked up several plaudits. It was a very competitive band; take a look at a few of its successes, by means of googling:
Brass Bands New Brancepeth [and similar searches]
They won a competition at Mickley, County Durham on 07/09/1912. Its conductor was a F Smith. Throckley Working Men's [club I assume] was second, Willington Silver Band was third and Mickley fourth.
New Brancepeth also won at Tow Law on 06/07/1912 with South Derwent and Willington Silver in its wake. In the same year it won very close to home - at Waterhouses.
There were several near misses, for example the band came second at Stanley, County Durham, on 17/07/1909.
WB
Tim Bawden of the I newspaper informs us that this could be the coldest spring for 50 years and could even end up being the coldest since 1962. However if the weather in Durham and District can repeat or better its 1960 trick - you are in for a great June 2013!
We had only 7 [Seven] rainy days in the area of Ushaw Moor/Durham City of June 1960 vintage. There were 237.6 hours of sunshine - equating to a mean average of 7.92 hours per day. The hottest day achieved 79 degrees F. and that occurred on the second day of the Durham regatta. [Durham University Observation data].
So what was going on in the area at that time? Lots.Obviously. No Spanish siestas' in the valley! The Durham County Advertiser reported that in nearby Brandon children could be seen running around with axes, and a hammer was a child's play thing [!]
So it was a sunny June. The snag for Ushaw Moor Cricket Club is that Raine poured on its team. Put another way, Bearpark beat Ushaw Moor in a Northern Echo Cup semi-final. Raine scored 60 in Bearpark's total of 134 for 4. In reply Ushaw Moor was all out for 82. The damage was done by that man Raine's fine bowling [5 wickets for 23 runs].
WB
Some of you will already be aware of the Ushaw Moor miners' strike that began in 1881 but there is a further slant on it, in respect of the Irish, and it's there to read by googling the following:
The Irish in County Durham and Newcastle c1840 -1880.
The material I have in mind starts on page 213 of Roger Cooler's doctoral thesis [ Durham University]. I assume that soon afterwards his title would have been Dr. R Cooler.
WB
I came across Last resting place.com. It can get you into Ushaw Moor cemetery - in a manner of speaking - with some details and photographs; this could be especially useful for family historians, and such like, that live some distance away.
I have not used it myself.
WB
