The Eddie Liddle Story

                                                                                                                 BORN:14th FEBRUARY 1909                                         DIED: 25th JULY 1982 Life begins for all of us in many varied ways, mine began at High Row (pictured above). This was a one street place, one could hardly call it a village, as there was no church or pub, and only a small shop, if it could qualify for that name, a Mrs Ellison kept it. All I can remember of what I saw and sometimes spent my pennies or halfpennies on, was, sweets, tobacco, mineral waters, perhaps boiled ham and corned beef, boot laces, pins, and cottons. It had no shop window as we know today, it was just the same kind of house as the rest of them in the street.

                                                                                                                                                There  were two attic bedrooms, a large living room, a pantry you could walk into, which was something like the kitchenettes you have today. There was also a front room called the parlour, (the best room). This very often had a double brass bed in it. Unfortunately some of the houses only had two bedrooms, the one downstairs, the pantry, and no front door. These were called back to back houses, most of those were at the top end of the street, I think I was born in one of those. However, we left there before I was old enough to remember. I was very fond of High "Raar", as we used to call it, my favourite aunt and uncle, Aunt Vinnie (Lavinia) and Uncle Thomas James Taskas, lived there. I became very fond of those two as the years went by. We moved to New Houses as we called them, the houses here were much newer and of course, better too. We moved in with grandad Liddle, I am not sure when grandmother died. The house was 19 Cuthbert Street, it was a corner house. At this place, well, there was the Church and of course the churchyard, there were two house shops similar to the one at High Row. One was run by a Mrs Joe Clark, this one was in Cuthbert Street. On the even numbered side, and nearer to us, was the other shop, this came at a later date and was run on more elaborate lines, as they even sold wet fish, a very much appreciated extra facility. Let me give you a fuller description of the village at New Houses, (now named Marley Hill). The village was on a hill, on the main road to Gateshead and Newcastle on Tyne. In the opposite direction facing west was High Marley Hill which comprised of the large house belonging to the Colliery Agent, a Mr Berkley. Then there was six or seven more houses, colliery owned like all of the rest of them. On to Byermoor and Burnopfield, bearing left here, you eventually came to Consett, of course there were several coal mines on that journey.                                               Taking the road straight through Burnopfield and down a very long and quite steep hill, you met the Low Road (as we called it). This road ran alongside the river Derwent, in the north western direction the main towns were Corbridge and Hexham. Following the road in the opposite direction, you came to Newcastle city again. Having told you where the roads lead to, we go back to Marley Hill.  There were four blocks of ten houses named Cuthbert Street, and four blocks were Church Street. St Cuthbert’s Church (pictured above) was on the lower side of the hill, on the south side of the road. Two blocks of Church Street were the same as the other houses of the village, two bedrooms, a living room, a back kitchen, or scullery, as we called it. There was also a very large pantry. However, the other two blocks were larger and had a bath, they also had a front garden. All of the houses had back yards with an earth toilet, 'the closet or midden' as we used to call it, next to that was the coal house, all yards were enclosed with a seven foot brick wall. There was the boundary wall as we used to call it, which was roundabout eight feet high, and ran from the low side of Church Street and the north side of the main road, about fifteen to twenty yards from the back yard gates. It extended right around Cuthbert Street, then along the top of Cuthbert Street to the edge of the main road again.   Most of the population (male), were employed at the Coke Ovens which were at Old Marley Hill, about fifteen minutes walk southwards through the fields. My earliest recollection was when I was three or four years old. There was mother, father, grandfather Liddle, brother Bill, the eldest, then sister Dorrie, brother Joe, and Tommie who was three years my senior. Having just the two bedrooms, we had to have a double bed in the living room. I remember standing up in bed, which was in the alcove under the staircase, and crying as they were taking my dear mother out on a stretcher covered in a blanket with just her face showing. Outside the front door you stepped out onto the pavement of the street, Tom Meddicks wagon was waiting to take mother to the Newcastle Royal Infirmary, some 10 miles, where she underwent an operation for gallstones. The wagon I have mentioned was a horse drawn, four wheeled conveyance, and longer than the normal 'tub trap'. While mother was away, I was looked after by a young woman from a family who lived at thirty Church Street, her name was Mary Wilkinson. From this period of my life until I started school at five years of age, I have no recollections.I can not remember the actual day I started school, I can however remember some of my days in class six as they were the first classes of my education.                 Miss Cuthbert my first teacher, was very nice and used to play the violin, she was very quiet natured. Miss Western was rather shorter and did quite a lot of shouting. Most of the teaching was done by repeating after the teacher. Spelling and addition caused quite a noise, as the whole class of around thirty boys and girls, sang out with gusto, such as: C.A.T. spells cat, etc. or two plus two makes four, etc. Another thing I can remember, was making balls with various coloured tissue paper and small table mats, which were made of cane. I remember some of the singing lessons, these were a joint effort by the two classes and the two teachers, with Miss Cuthbert on the violin. This was one of the songs I learned, Here we go looby loo, here we go looby loo, we all go round the chimney stack on a Sunday afternoon. We went into the girls playground (play yard as we used to call it), for around a fifteen minute break. I can't remember anything at all of this period. One thing I can remember is a recreation period we sometimes had when the weather was fine. We would go out into the playground with the teacher, then we would form two circles, one inside the other. One circle would go round in one direction and the other the opposite direction. A boy or girl with a handkerchief in their hand would go around each circle and we'd all sing "my mother gave me a letter to post, but on the way I lost it, someone picked it up, then put it in their pocket". As soon as the word 'picked' was used, the person carrying the handkerchief, dropped the "hanky" as we called it, behind one of the boys or girls, who then turned around as soon as possible, picked up the hanky and chased the one who'd dropped it. Whoever reached the empty space first was the winner, the loser had to repeat the whole process again. I enjoyed this game, of course there were others too, but I just don't remember them. There are not many things I can really recall of my later years at school. However, some things really stand out quite clearly. I may have been about twelve years old, when the following incident took place. It was early in the school morning, we were in the large class-room. For some reason there was a mixture of classes gathered and my cousin Bill (who was about three years older than myself), was the boy being the cause of the incident. My cousin was a big strong chap for his age, he had done something wrong and was told to bend over the front desk this he refused to do, I am not sure who the teacher was, but he found the job impossible. Although help came, they didn't manage to get Bill over the desk. There were arms and legs whirling and swirling in all directions. I think cousin Bill had to see the Headmaster, where I suppose he got two strokes of the cane on each hand. The cane was very much in evidence in my school years, every class had one.                                                                                                    I remember one girl in my class, in fact she was sitting in the next desk to me, she had obviously done something wrong, Mr. Rodham was the teacher I believe. The regular practice when given the cane, was to step in the aisle between desks, holding your hand out. The teacher would raise his hand, holding the cane above his shoulder, bringing it down with quite a lot of force. The girl in question was Florrie (Florence) Cree, she was around my age, she stood out in the aisle holding her hand out, down came the cane with a swish, Florrie's hand was away from the point of contact in a flash, up came her leg bending at the knee and with mouth wide open gave a loud shout of Ooo'h. This happened several times until the teacher had to take hold of her wrist, to make sure she got her punishment. There was a time when we were returning to school after being home for dinner, and an airplane (Tiger Moth I believe) came over the school, just missing it. It was obvious to all that it was in trouble and would land. I think most of the boys and some of the girls were in pursuit of the plane. When it went over the horizon, in the direction of Gibside, it was well past the time we should have been in school. The Headmaster was waiting for us, cane in hand, ready to use it on us, as we came in. After school quite a few of us went to the scene of the crash, which was by a place we used to call Holmes Head. The plane was caught up in a hedge, the pilot was quite safe too, about three miles from New Houses. Another incident that has always lived in my memory, as clear as the day it happened. I must have been about twelve years old. When we commenced school each morning, we used to sing a hymn, then at lunch-time we sang another. This was the same one, year in and year out, I just can't remember it. Our teacher was Harry Rodham, he was also a local preacher at the Primitive Methodist Chapel and he also played the organ at the Marley Hill Primitive Chapel, very good he was too. Most of the teachers used to just stick to the old favourite, that had been sung for years, "now the day is over, night is drawing near". I don't think I have heard this hymn sung as quick as it was in my class. Mr Rodham though, used to vary the hymns to end the school day. The day in question, was a really beautiful one, a blue and cloudless sky. The air was fresh and clean, so it must have been late summer, to add to it's rarity and the larger meaning of this wonderful memory priceless to me. The view from the classroom window looking north, was really wonderful. (Of course to see it from the classroom, one would have to stand on the school desk). The far horizon was the Cheviot Hills and the more immediate view was, first our village playing field, which sloped down to the village, beyond came the farmer’s fields, with their hawthorn and holly hedges. Three farmsteads were just about visible, one and a half to two miles away. The intermediate view was the north side of the Tyne and Derwent rivers, I had seen this view from many places, I loved it very much. The hymn was, "summer suns are glowing over all the earth, happy light is flowing bountiful and free, all of Earths thousand voices swell the psalms of praise". This memory has been so fresh and beautiful all of my life. Another thing I remember about school, was the friday afternoon when I won a bunch or "truss" of tomatoes. Mrs Bullock was the teacher for our drawing lesson, which was pastel drawing this day. Some fridays it was pencil drawing, sometimes we would draw an object in the classroom, and some­times garden or wild flowers. I was really proud of my effort at the pastel drawing, as it was pinned on the class room partition with items of other scholars who had pleased the teacher. In passing, and on the subject of drawing, I once got first prize at the local “Flower and Vegetable Show”, for a pencil drawing I did of a weed, which I believe was called pink perceycarria, four shillings was the prize I think. Another thing I remember of my schooldays, was the passing of notes to and fro from the girls in the class. It was quite an art the way we used to manage without being found out many times. It caused quite a lot of excitement, that was just about as far as the notes went, we would pull each others leg about the 'girlfriends'. I was very fond of football while I was at school, this was played mostly with a tennis ball or something similar. The real football was kept for the regular school team. If we were lucky we might manage to have a game of football with a real football, in the time which was allotted to physical training. I played mostly as a goalkeeper, I think I only played for the school once, as the team had quite a good goalkeeper, he was taller and older than I was. I was a very keen supporter, there was a league of schools of the district and several cup competitions too. These matches were played on a saturday morning if the matches were away from home. We would walk to the local games as there were several teams a mile or so away. Sometimes we had to take a bus ride, one saturday morning I remember very well, we went to play at a place called Chopwell. I think we went by coach as it must have been about eight or ten miles away. I dont remember much about the match, what I do remember was Harry Rodham who was in charge of the team and the outing. He took the team into a cafe to have tea and cakes, he included me as well. I can remember it all so well, it was a beautiful day, blue skies and quite a nip in the air. I sat at a table for four near the window, I felt so proud and elated. About the only time I had eaten out was in a fish and chip bar. Another set of memories fresh in my mind which happened while I was at school. The class we were in was at the end of the school, there was a corridor, (hall), which ran the full length of the School. The classroom door opened onto the hall which was then the entrance to the boys cloakroom, then out into the playground. There was a boy in our class whose family was large and his father had been a miner. He (the boys father) was also a drunkard, even in those days I felt sorry. They lived at Old Marley Hill, I think the boys name was Dick and he was so badly dressed. The clothes he wore were almost man size, torn and dirty, he was often late in getting to school, this of course led to him being punished. He always sat in the front desk just next to the door, this morning he'd had the stick, I think for being late. He had just got back to his seat when he shot out of it and out the door. The teacher called on some of us boys in the class to give chase. This we did with much gusto until we got out into the playground. Dick was already two hundred yards in the lead, there were some broken railings in the playground, he went through these onto the footpath leading to the Colliery, and to his house. We continued the chase for another three or four hundred yards without getting any nearer to Dick, although I don’t know what we would have done if we had caught him. I'm sure the teacher knew that we didn't try very hard to catch up with Dick, so he called off the chase. I suppose poor Dick was well punished when he did return to school. I think my favourite teacher was a Miss Appleby, she lived at High Marley Hill, about three quarters of a mile up the hill from the school. As I've said earlier there were six or seven cottages, she lived on the end one, farthest from the road. It was larger than the others as her father was in charge of the Bricklayers at the pit. I think she was in her late twenties when teaching us. She taught us nature study, and we often went for walks along the country lanes finding the different wild flowers, birds, plants etc. She had such a way with her that she had so little trouble with the girls and boys of the class. Sometimes she would read to us on Fridays, I remember "The Coral Island" was one of the books we read, to give us more interest, we made a model of the Island, which we all had to help by bringing twigs for the trees, stones for the rocks, and sand for the seashore. This proved to be most interesting and very educational. I believe she did not have a very long life, I heard that she died after a nervous breakdown. In my opinion she was a real and devoted servant of the community. From my age you will realise that I was at school when the 1914-18 War was on. The Headmaster, Mr Bellerby was a Captain in the army. A Mr Bullock was the Headmaster while the War was on and his wife taught at our School as well. Mrs Bellerby was also teaching at the school. We had several young people, all local, who had been to University to become teachers, these used to help out. There was one Tom Gill, his father was the local policeman, he very often showed his lack of restraint and tolerance towards us by flinging books, or anything that might be handy, at any wrongdoer. However, some of them were very good and I am sure they would have made very good teachers. This was school after all these years, nine years of school and so little to remember. Most of us say to children, make the most of your schooldays, they are the best days of your life. The best and sweetest, happiest times, was when I was at School or the life I had out of school hours. One more incident, I must recall and write about it. We had words to learn for homework, the following morning the teacher Mrs Bellerby would read out the words, and we had to write them down. I thought I had found an easy way round it, I had the list of words on a piece of paper under my writing book. As each word was read out, so I pulled the paper with the written words on up from behind, and just copied. I had been lucky for several days, I never dreamed the teacher would walk round to see what was going on. When she got to my position in the class, she spotted the paper peeping from behind my writing book. Out to the front of the full class I had to go. Standing by Mrs Bellerby, the cane in her hand, she addressed the room. " I have found this boy cheating, something I will not tolerate at any price. It is the lowest thing anyone can stoop to and I will punish for it as you will see". I knew what was coming, as I have said before, the Teacher in question had a furious temper. The cane she had was about a yard long with plenty of bend in it. She held my wrist in her left hand, held it out making sure that I would not be able to draw it away when the cane came down. A few short practice swishes then her arm went right up, down it came with all the strength she could muster. She was thin but no weakling, did it hurt! Four times it came down, two on each hand across the fingers, (it wasn't so bad if it came down in the middle of the hand). I don't think I was in tears, the humiliation I suffered was worse than the cane, I believe that it had the desired effect. My face may have been white, but her face was red as a turkey cock, this always happened when she was in a situation like that.   The school, pictured above, was called Marley Hill Colliery Council School, pictured above. It was just about four or five hundred yards up the road from our village, on the south side of the main road. The first gate you came to was the one which led to the girls school yard, the infants used this one too. You went up three or four steps into the corridor, the two infants classes were on the left, about thirty yards up. About ten yards up on the right was quite a large classroom, opposite this room was the girls cloakroom. Opposite the infants was two large rooms which were divided by large wood and glass partitions. Out of this room and into the end room, the Headmaster was upstairs, there was also the store room up there. The boys playground seemed very large to me in those days, but when I visited it in 1973, it seemed so very small. The area immediately outside the school was tarmac for about twenty or thirty yards all around. This had plenty of holes in it and was the cause of many skinned knees from falls. Beyond this area of tarmac in the girls play ground the ground fell away to the east. On the left was the back entrance to the Headmaster’s house, it was surrounded on three sides of garden. To the rear was a backyard complete with coal house and earth closet (as we called the toilet), this yard was walled with red brick. The front of the house double fronted a small garden in perhaps five to six strides to the front gate. This led to the footpath by the side of the main road. The garden on the east side was for growing vegetables, this section was the largest part and always looked well. The west side was all lawn, with a short steep bank down to the house. There was fairly large sycamore trees on three sides of this section. The boys playground was very much bigger, there was almost a full size football pitch, which sloped downward at both goal ends. There wasn't very much grass, and what there was, was long and tufted. In the far south corner there was a garden which was started during the war. We boys used to take turns in working there. Where the produce went to I never knew, or if I did I’ve forgotten. We sometimes played cricket too on the play field, the pitch was awful with very little grass. Small stones had a dreadful habit of showing where the bowler pitched his ball, giving the batsman little time to escape the flying ball. I was never much good as a batsman, when the ball came down, it was eyes shut and a desperate swing, which meant I was out to the first straight ball. I preferred fielding to batting, in fact I used to think I was quite good at it. What made this game worse, there were no pads and the bats were very poor. The toilets were on the edge of the tarmac backing on to each other, they were never very clean. The walls made a two sided corner, this is where most games of marbles were played. Many a boy had the cane through having dirty hands after playing marbles and not having time to wash them. Another important practice we did in the Autumn was to go out blackberry picking. About forty of us went, it was very tiring and gave us all a large appetite. We collected large amounts of blackberries, this was in the war years (1914-18), where the blackberries went to I am not sure. Things were very bad during this time, there was very little food, treacle was used in many ways for sweetener. Butter was very scarce and the margarine was of very poor quality. If you had jam, then it was without marge or butter, and of course the jam was just like water. Eggs were scarce and very expensive, half an egg was luxury and a real treat. Quite a lot of rabbits were eaten, my father often said that quite a lot of cats were skinned and sold as rabbits. The jam came in round cardboard cartons, when empty these were very handy for lighting fires, as the layers of cardboard were glued and of course burned very well. Most of the boys who were at school were more or less dressed the same. Ganzies (jersies) of navy blue, with no collar to them, long sleeves and fitted close to the neck. Any kind of trousers in any colour, they were always short trousers, the length so that they touched the back of the knee, very often they were patched back and front, so much so that it was hard to tell the original material. The shirts we wore were of a grey flannel, warm but very itchy as they were of a coarse material, they were similar in style to the unattached collar shirts we have today.                                                                                           The majority of us never wore underpants or vests, as a lot of the trousers had a thin cotton lining in them. In wintertime we used to have quite a lot of trouble with chapped legs. Our knee length stockings were very often hand knitted, now and again Mother would knit a pair, but her time for knitting was very limited, I don’t think she was very keen either. Now Granny Prinn used to knit quite a lot of socks, she did so on four short steel needles. I loved the wool stockings, they always seemed so warm and comfortable. The other socks we had to wear were made of a coarse sort of yarn and used to stretch quite a bit. The footwear was always black boots, mostly heavy hob-nailed boots, sometimes they would be mudd nail boots which were not quite so heavy. The mudd nails were level with the leather soles, and the tips on heels, were only tips, instead of the full heavy heel plates which covered the whole outside edge of the heel. Overcoats and winter coats for weekdays were generally our Sunday ones which had become too shabby for Sundays. Or sometimes we would have one of our older brother’s coat’s, perhaps with shortened sleeves and length. Of course it was quite an advantage to have these boots in winter time as they were very good for sliding. When we had snow and it got compressed, then we would make these slides, with a crowd sliding down they soon become very slippery and just like glass. Sometimes they would become thirty or forty yards long we used to have great fun on these slides, and some good laughs too at the less experienced ones, as it wasn't easy to keep ones balance when you think of it. We used to take quite a run before we came to the slide and if you didn't get your feet quite right, then down you would go with three or four others on top of you, we used to follow each other down the slide in such quick succession.                                                                                   I was very fond of the snow, to see a very heavy fall which had been blown into drifts, with all those various shapes and curves, it would cause such a stillness and quietness. I remember one or two winters when the snow hung around for a long while and with heavy frosts at night. We were able to build snow houses and forts in the streets, with blocks of snow. Then we would have snowball fights which became very rough at times, stones were sometimes added to the snowball, and if one of these were to hit you on any part of your body, you knew about it. There were some ideal spots for sledging in the area, there was Berkleys bank, this was the hill past New Houses, I mentioned it earlier. This was quite a long run in fact, once or twice when conditions were ideal, one sledge which could seat five or six, trundled all the way from Berkleys bank top, across the level stretch, then on through New Houses and down onto the Church bank which was quite steep, with a sharp bend almost at the bottom. The church bank was the one where we had so many good times. Mostly we used the footpath as a slide, we often made the grown-ups move or jump for safety as we sped down, there wasn't much lighting, about three or four gas lamps covered the whole length of the run. Another favourite run for the sledges was the footpath down Berkleys bank. In the field the footpath led down to High Row and there was no danger here, as very few people used it. The biggest stumbling block for the boys living in New Houses was that it was a bit too far for us to walk to get there. I remember one winter getting into very hot water with my parents for playing in the snow so much. My boots got soaking wet so I dried them in front of the fire, I forgot about them, and of course they burned, they were unwearable after that. I did that twice, so you can imagine how very cross they were. I suffered a lot with chilblains on my feet too, as I was always coming home with wet feet. Many is the time I have cried with cold hands, they used to be so cold. I would be too impatient to warm them gradually and hold them in front of the fire or put them in hot water, this of course made them even more painful. If the weather was too bad, Mother would sometimes let me have a friend indoors, however this didn't happen very often. We didn't have toys to play with and as far as reading went, well, I can't ever remember reading a book away from school and there wasn't an awful lot done at school. Friday afternoons the teacher would read aloud to us all, from a favourite book. Three I can remember were, Robinson Crusoe, Coral Island and The Swiss Family Robinson, there were some Dickens novels too. On sundays, it was always Sunday School in the morning and the service in the afternoon, which used to last about one and a half hours, sometimes longer depending on the local preacher. I didn't care very much for having to go in the afternoon. Sometimes, after the service, I would go and see my grannie Prinn and grandad as they lived at Colliery Houses, they lived in Middle Row. Grannie always made cornish pasties on sundays, and I was always given a nice piece to eat. My eldest brother went to grannies every sunday for his tea, oh for years and years. Grannie and grandad thought the world of Bill, of course he was called after both grandads. There was two ways to go from Marley Hill Colliery to New Houses. One was by footpath through the fields, this we called the High Way, the other we called the Low Road, so called because this was the road where the traffic came and went from the Colliery to the main road. The Low Road was much more interesting, for after leaving grannies, you walked up the street which by todays standards was really awful. The houses had a back yard about twelve feet square, outside of this was the so called footway which was about six to eight feet wide. The dividing line was the gutter which took all of the water, including the slops, from each household. Outside of each yard, the householder had a section of this footpath, this was allocated for their coal which was stacked up against the outside wall of the pantry. It was held in place by rows of bricks or stones, and sometimes even with railway sleepers. There was a row of houses on the other side, the intervening space between the two rows of houses was just the earth with large stones jutting out of the ground, it had never been levelled out. The row on the opposite side to grannies was much higher, and of course you had the clothes lines stretched across the street. At the end of the row about twenty or thirty yards away, was a stone wall about five feet high. This was known as the 'Pit Wall' because it encompassed the colliery buildings, and the pit pond which supplied the steam winding engines responsible for lifting the shaft cages up and down both pit shafts. Anyway, beside this wall, in the centre of the rows of houses were about a dozen toilets which served the houses at the top end. There was another dozen toilets, (middens as we called them), earth toilets they were, served the houses at the lower end of the rows. Turning left at the top of the row you came to the colliery gates, I can't remember ever seeing any gates, but the posts were there. Just inside the gateway was the timber yard, pit props of various sizes were stacked there, three feet, four feet, four feet six, etc. Sometimes they were well stacked but sometimes they were like the leaning tower of Pisa, the yard always looked very untidy to me, there was such a lot of timber lying around in disorder. If I had a playmate with me we would go exploring among the timber and climbing the stacks. Sometimes we would go to the pit head hoping to see the cages pulled up and down. The Busty and Brockwell shaft was a downcast, it was completely open on the top, except for the wooden gates at the front and back which lifted up when the cage came to the surface. When the shaft wasn't in use the cages would be in the middle, we would lean over the rails of the gate and look down, but there was little to see. The main coal shaft was about twenty yards away in a diagonal direction from the Brockwell shaft. It was an upcast shaft which meant it was the outlet for the bad air which had circulated the pit workings below. The Busty shaft drew the air down into the workings below. The main coal shaft top was closely boarded up, almost to the pulley wheels, so that the foul air escaped into the atmosphere. Thus making it more healthy and comfortable for the men who worked at the shaft top.                          When the main coal cage went down, the doors used to drop with a bang. Turning left behind the Busty shaft you went up a wooden slope with a rail track for the tubs, where they were emptied onto the screens which were under the slope, this area was covered with corrugated metal sheets. To the top of the slope was a large opening leading onto a wooden bridge, which spanned a valley where the raiway lines were, to take away the coal to various destinations. On the bridge were two sets of tub lines which led to the large slag heap. This very large heap was made up of the stone waste which came out of the two mine shafts. The heap was huge, as it had commenced in a natural valley and grown into a miniature mountain, sometimes we would search the slag heap for fossils. I never liked walking over the bridge as there were gaps between the planks which was the covering. If you turned to the right at the slag heap side, it led to a footpath, which went to the L.N.E.R. (London North Eastern Railway) track and on to the mining villages of Andrews House and Causey Row. Sometimes we would turn left at the pit gates, we would pass the small lamp cabin, in here were kept the safety lamps and of course the lamps the overman carried. Just beyond this was the Tub Shop where the pit tubs were repaired. A little further on there was some stone steps which went down to the railway. There was a steel stair rail, I don't know how many steps there was, but making a guess I should say about forty or fifty. On the left side of the railways were a lot of stone ruined buildings, which I was told were once blacking factories and where the old tallow candles were made. These candles were used by the Miners in the very early years of coal mining, I remember my parents saying how smoky and dirty these candles were. As you walked along here for perhaps three quarters of a mile the road and the railway met, just past this junction on the left, there was the "Hole", the "Valley" was its Sunday name and appeared on letters addressed to this street of houses. I should say that there were between twenty or thirty houses, there was one missing just about in the middle. I am told that it was washed away one night when there was a very heavy rain storm. At this end of the street there was only a very rough footpath which was very steep and quite a climb up to the railway. Following the road above the Valley, the ground rose very steeply indeed. There was a lot of elderberry bushes, these were quite hollow inside and made a lovely playground. Coming home from Sunday School we sometimes played games in these bushes. This high ground only lasted for about four hundred yards, where it came steeply to an end, with a long slope westward. At this same point there was a small square where a steel tap came out of the stone wall, this was drinking water which was used frequently in dry summer weather. Very often there used to be quite a lot of people queing there, all kind of pails jugs and cans were used to carry this water. Two or three hundred yards forward, we came to a large detached house on the left. Just before a house on the right was the cart road leading down into the valley. Another forty yards further on, you came to the entrance of the allotment gardens which belonged to the people of New Houses. Next to this entrance was the curates house, his garden joined up with the Church Hall, (the Tin Hall as we called it). Next to this was the churchyard or graveyard, this had a stone wall surrounding it. At the end of the road you came to the main road, which to the east went on to Newcastle, going westward, to Stanley etc. About thirty yards previous to the end of the wall was the main entrance to the church, where the hearse for funerals used to enter. When there was weddings the cars used to stop at these gates. After the wedding service was over, the wedding party would walk down to the cars where the boys and girls from the village would be waiting. There was always a rush and scramble to get to the Brides car handle to open the door for the Bride and Groom. After they were well seated, in would go the boys cap which very often came out with a shilling in it. The rest of the boys and girls would start shouting, "Hoy oot, hoy oot, me Muthers in the spoot, an am ganna git hor oot" (which translated meant, look out, look out, my mothers in the spout and I am going to get her out) The pennies and half pennies would be thrown out, especially when the brides father and the best man’s cars left. The main road climbed up the hill for about two hundred yards before you came to the first house of the new houses. To travel from the pit and the chapel over the High Road, was through the fields. The first field was really used for anything, sometimes you might see a goat or two feeding there or a few boys playing football or cricket, whatever the season might be. The land was full of ups and downs and I am sure it could never have been used for cultivation. After passing up this field, the footpath was on the north boundary side. Passing through a small gate you turned right, with a hawthorn hedge on the right of the footpath. Behind was the colliery field as we called it, there was nearly always a few pit ponies in here, the grass always seemed to be lovely, lush and green. The field on he left was always cultivated and was part of the land belonging to Mr Gibson's farm. The footpath here ran due north with a gradual rise, but not much for about half a mile, then it turned left towards the schoolyard (playground). At this bend looking north, on a clear day you could see the Cheviot Hills clearly in the far distance. Coming to the schoolyard you then turned half right for three or four hundred yards before meeting the main Newcastle road. The school Master's house was on the left, a quiet close on the north side was on the main road. From there after turning right it was only about one hundred yards to New Houses. I remember walking this road, many, many times with my grandfather going to sunday school. And very often complaining within myself, of how slow he walked, of course I have to do the same myself now. I also used this road going and coming from the Pit over the years. Some happy memories I recall of father, mother, and myself, visiting aunt Vinnie and her family. Which was cousin Ettie, a ginger haired girl who was about eight years older than me, Billy, who was about two years younger than Ettie, and Tommie who was about two years younger than myself. Strange, but I can't recall what took place on these few visits. One thing I remember the most was the journey back home, I was always tired and very sleepy, sometimes I got a ride on my fathers back. Sometimes I would perhaps walk halfway, holding my mother and fathers hand. Very often while walking thus, I would close my eyes and think about all kinds of nice things. On our way home we had to pass Mr Gibson's farm, sometimes we'd hear the 'moo' of the cows, or the 'neighing' of the horses. Another feature of that walk was to watch out for falling stars, the autumn and winter was the time I think, when you saw most of them. How brightly those stars shone, it was one of these features which delighted and inspired me more than anything, and the one thing I missed very much when I lived in town. Talking of walking, while I was still young there was a walk I remember very well and it must have been quite a few miles. I can't remember any other members of the family going with us. Tommie may have done as we had great sunday teas at our house. Cold meat and fried potatoes, teacakes, and very often there would be two sandwich cakes. When tea was over, which would be about 4-30 to 5-0 pm, we'd get ready, then off we'd go, we would walk almost to High Row where aunt Vinnie lived, past the end of the street (there was only one) over the single railway track which was the link for most of the pits in the area, I believe it began at Pontop and went downhill to Kibblesworth Pit. There were five bar gates here, one each side of the track. Going through these into the field you would sometimes see it full of lovely golden corn, or as I recall, full of potatoes, and how healthy they looked. This road was just a short track. We went due south for about quarter of a mile or so, then turned sharp right towards Beckley Woods. At this corner, standing back from the road and encircled with a hedge, was red tiled Woodhouses, I believe one of the Lawsons lived there. After making this turn, we came to an occasional tree, the footpath was some twelve or fourteen feet lower than the field above. Sometimes we would sit down here and have a rest as the grass was long and spongy, just like sitting on a feather bed, and being sheltered from the wind, it was really a lovely spot. Further along this footpath we came to the beginning of Beckley Woods, how they came to have this name I never knew. We turned left through the wood for a while, when we came to the Whinny Pasture, this was like a large clearing in the wood, most of the remaining trees were silver birch. There was also quite a lot of gorse bushes, (whinny bushes we used to call them). The land here sloped downward to the valley, which extended from Byermoor on the right of us, to almost the Causey on the left. There was a beautiful crystal clear stream running here, with two or three planks across it for a bridge and a kind of 'style' at the far side. Once over the stream we turned left and after a few hundred yards we would bear left and climb sharply up the side of the valley, which brought us out into the open fields. Directly in front of us about three quarters of a mile away, was around six to eight red brick houses, Belle View Houses they were called. It was quite a view from there as you could see for miles around in all directions of the compass. Leaving Belle View we descended the hill to Tanfield, a small very old village with an old church. After resting here for a while we would make a start for the homeward journey. Instead of going back through the woods we took to the main road, one way led to Tantobie and then on to Stanley. In the opposite direction, which we took, the road led on to the Causey. It was downhill most of the way with trees and bushes on each side of the road. After walking for about a mile and a half we came to the Causey Arch Inn, or 'Pub' as it was called. This was just a house turned into a pub, father went in here and had half a pint of beer. I know that I used to have a glass of lemonade, and I think that mother had a glass of stout sitting outside with me. From here we took a footpath which led us onto a steep slope and down into the valley. At the top of the slope was one end of the Coke Ovens, as we called the Chemical Works. I always remember this valley by an incident I saw there one lovely summers day. I was sitting half way down gazing up into the sky, I saw this sparrow hawk fluttering very high above the valley, then like a stone falling, it was down on the ground like a flash, no doubt catching some field mouse or small bird. After crossing the railway and passing the end of the Coke Ovens, we would go along the road towards Marley Hill with the Coke Ovens on our right. We would then go by the footpath on our left, which took us past the Marley Hill football field. This led onto the high footpath leading to home. The games I played when I was about ten, eleven, or twelve, was mostly football. Very often it was played with a ball of rags rolled up tight and tied with string, which when it was finished, was about twice the size of a tennis ball, we generally played at the corner end of the streets. In finer weather we would play with cigarette cards, flicking them up against the wall, the one who got his card nearest the wall after throwing or flicking a given number of cards, would then collect all the cards and throw them up in the air. The ones falling face up were the throwers, the other boy would then throw the remaining cards up in the air, claiming the ones which fell face up. This went on until all the cards had been given to one or the other. Another game which was very popular, was ‘rounders’ (a type of baseball), girls and boys played this together in the street. Another favourite game especially at dusk, was 'kick the block'. A ring was scraped on the road and a tin box was placed in the middle. One boy would be 'on' as the term went, he closed his eyes and the others would then hide. Then the boy 'on', would have to find the others, if possible the ones hiding would rush to the ring where the tin was. If they beat the seeker to the tin block, the tin was kicked by them as far as they could any boys who had already been found could then run off and hide again. The boy who was still 'on' had to collect the tin, place it back in the circle and start hunting all over again. When the boy who was searching saw one of the hiding, he had to run to the ring and touch the tin with his foot. If all were found, then the first one to be caught had to take his turn at being 'on'.                                                                                                                              Another favourite game was “Hunt the Hare”, two boys would run off, after a space of time the others would take up the chase. Sometimes the ones chased would hide in backyards, at times the chase could soon be over, however it could go on for quite a while until the two were caught. Another game was 'hide the midgy', the midgy was an open flamed lamp which was used down the pit if there was no gas present. Two boys would go off with a lamp lit and hide it somewhere, then the others had to find it. Whoever found it would then take their turn to hide it. The lamps usually gave off a very strong smell and smoked quite a lot, so it wasn't too hard a job a to find them. Of course this game was just played on the dark nights. When we got older, say twelve to fourteen, when the days were short we spent a lot of time beneath the gas lamps which were at the end of each block. I lived one side and the lamp post was at the other corner where old Frank Sims lived, his daughter was married to Ned Morton and lived in the same house. Sometimes we would do quite a lot of singing, others chatting, and sometimes gossiping. During that age period, in summer times, a few of us got to making tents, first of all they were in the style of Indian wigwams. We would make them from branches and twigs, then cover them with old lino sacks or carpets we got from the midden. We would cut turf and place them on top of the carpet and lino covering. We would find an old bucket and put plenty of holes in the bottom and sides to make a brazier. Once we got the kindling going, we would use the bigger pieces of ash we had found in the middens. I must explain, the ashes came from the household fires, they had a good supply of coal. After the coal was burned it formed into ashes, when people raked their fires out, the ashes fell through the grate onto the bottom. Sometimes small coal would also fall through onto the hot ashes, this formed large pieces of ash. Every fire was cleaned out and emptied once or even twice a day, the ashes were emptied into the earth closets, and thence to the middens. These ashes used to catch fire very quick and were almost as smokeless as coke. After filling our bucket with the ashes and getting our 'pail fire' nice and red hot, we would have it inside the tent standing on a couple of bricks. We very often had a sack or something over the entrance, so it was quite dark inside. Sometimes one of us might have been able to pinch a candle, or part of one, which made things better and quite cosy inside. We would boil or roast potatoes on the fire using an old jam tin to do the boiling in. We would sometimes make cocoa, of course everything we had to eat and drink were stolen while mother wasn't watching. I had witnessed one or two nasty accidents, some got burned or scalded from the fire or boiling water. Sometimes we would build these 'camps', (our favourite name for them), in the hedges surrounding our playing field. Those we were able to camouflage, however we very often found these pulled down in our absence.        Of course Sunday School played a very big part in our lives, some were Wesleyian Methodists, some Primitive Methodists, some were Church of England, there were a few Catholics. Our Sunday School Wesleyian was at 10.0am and generally finished about 11.45am. I began going to Church when I was four, I think, and went until I was fourteen or fifteen. I am very grateful for the teaching and the example of the teachers. Of course my grandfather Liddle was connected with the Wesleyian Chapel for a very long time. He played the organ for many years and was President of the Sunday School too. The first teacher I remember having was Jack Ridler, he was as bald as a badger. He taught the very young ones and when lesson time came we all used to go into the vestry. He always kept us interested in some story, he was a very heavy chap but so gentle and good. To go on to my later years at Sunday School, there was Mr John Thomas Elliott, his father, Peter, and John Albert Dinning who later became a local Preacher on the Gateshead circuit. The Sunday School Anniversary used to be the highlight of the year, this was a service held on two Sundays, generally in June or July. We nearly always had a special preacher for these occasions, my favourite was a Mr Jack Watson from Swalwell, another one was Mr Joe Stott from Kibblesworth. We used to learn pieces of poetry or psalms and then recite them on Anniversary Day. I tried only twice to give my recitation, after a few words I broke down and began to cry, I never got over this. We were rewarded with a prize for taking part, I remember receiving two prizes, it was always story books, sometimes it would be a Bible. I remember the title of one of the books I had, it was called "The Spy of The Huns". I remember little of it, but what I do remember is the terrible atrocities committed by the Germans on the Belgium women. We generally had special songs for the anniversary, they were usually very nice and happy. We would go around the villages of Marley Hill, Andrews House and The Causey, singing the hymns in the streets, which was quite an experience. We would take the little harmonium with us and generally go on the Sunday mornings before the afternoon service. Following the Anniversary we would have the Sunday School picnic which was held on a Saturday afternoon, a week or two after the Anniverary. We would congregate at the chapel, with our mugs wrapped up in a handkerchief. When we were all present we'd march to some field, sometimes it would be the Marley Hill football field which was behind the Chapel, or sometimes it was the field above the playing field at New Houses. Having arrived at the field, races of various descriptions were held for small prizes. Then we would have a mug of tea, a cake or two, and perhaps an orange. In the later years when I was a teacher, we went to Whitley Bay, (the seaside), by charabanc. The boys of the village aged about 11 or 12yrs were mad keen on football so we decided to form a club. What we could spare from our small pocket money, a penny or twopence each was saved each week. Then I remember going out carol singing, which was a great boost to our savings. This was an experience I enjoyed, we would sing outside the front door, the occupant would open the door and invite us in, then we had to sing one or two carols, we generally got threepence. We had our favourite houses to call on, people who were keen chapel or church workers, of course we never called on the catholic families. We were always changing from one treasurer to another, I don't think we trusted one and other too much. However, the day came when we had enough money to buy the football a "case ball", (an inflatable rubber inner and a leather outer, once blown up inside the outer, the tube nozzle was tied up tightly and pushed inside, the slot in the outer was then laced up, just like a shoe).). So we decided to go into Gateshead one saturday morning, this was quite an experience for me. Of course we had to walk all the way there and back, the very long walk did not deter us, (some twelve miles round trip). There must have been about nine of us, we went into several shops in several of the main streets of Gateshead. I can't remember the total amount of money we had, however, we eventually bought the ball and it looked smashing, the beautiful brown leather made us feel very proud. I remember we went down Bottle Bank, this was a very steep street which led down to the Swing Bridge spanning the River Tyne. The street was made up of small dirty old shops and houses, I remember a public house called "The Goat". The majority of people we saw were like the houses and shops, I think we were all very pleased to get away from the squalor and staring eyes of the people. I know mother was worried when I told her we'd been down Bottle Bank, we got home very tired and weary. How long that football lasted I am not sure, but I think we had our monies worth. I think most of the football was played with small balls, tennis or sponge ones, sometimes paper rolled tightly into a ball, covered with rag and tied with string. Now and again one of the boys would have a case ball for his christmas present, however this wasn't very often, as christmas presents were usually very small and cheap. Sometimes you may get a tin toy, an orange, apple, and some new pennies, perhaps a silver sixpence, or a shilling, with a few assorted nuts in ones stocking as well. However, even though the presents were not very startling, we always went to bed full of excitement as to what 'Santee', (Santa), would bring for us in the night. Christmas Day was quite nice, the menfolk would perhaps have a little extra to drink, I think dad used to get a drop of whisky in. However, if dad went out at christmas dinner time he was always home to have dinner about 1.0pm.                                                                          Normal sundays were just the same with him, although there were quite a lot of menfolk who would stay until 2.0pm closing time. The christmas dinner was a real feast, with duck, sometimes a goose, or a rabbit pie, with nearly always a piece of roast beef and plenty potatoes boiled or roasted, with a good selection of vegetables. The christmas pudding always had a sprig of holly stuck on top. The pudding was always sprinkled with whisky then set on fire. The whisky came from the black china bull which was kept in the 'press', (china cabinet), the handle was the bull's tail and the whisky came out of its mouth. This was a moment of excitement when dad struck a match, and lit the whisky on the pudding. The whole family would be there, father at one end of the table, oldest son Bill at the other end, grandad Liddle next to him on the 'form' (bench), as we called it. Then Dorrie, Mother, Tommie and I would sit on the edge of the bed, Joe generally had a chair next to Bill. If we had company, such as uncle Tom and uncle Dick my mother's brothers, then Tommie and I would have our dinner sitting on a 'cracket', (stool), with the plate of dinner on a chair. We nearly always had a bottle of 'pop', (lemonade), to wash it down with, or there was sarsaparilla, or lime juice and soda. mother and grandfather liked a drop of stout, of course Dad and Uncles would have a drink of beer. Now when I look back I don't remember many parties, there was one party I remember however, when I was in my early teens, whether it was at Christmas I can't remember. The party was in aunt Vinnies house at High Row, as she had two doors to her house and two rooms downstairs. The front room was really nice, of course there was a bed in it. This party I remember was quite a good and happy one. A Mr Joe Liddle was there and he played the accordion, this kept the party going. I always remember my dear mother on this occasion, there was quite a lot of dancing, the jig type of thing, a sort of scottish dance. I remember dancing with her for a time, however she kept on and danced everyone off their feet, she was so happy. There was some drink but I don't think there was anyone drunk, I am sure that the majority of people there had a good time. Commencing work, this was a topic of conversation among us boys of thirteen years onwards, when we congregated at the corner end or up at the gate. This was the top of the street where the gardens and 'crees' (sheds) were, some were used for stables, others for hen houses, one chap had a couple of goats, some had pigeons. These sheds were on the field side of the boundary wall. A lot of our talk was mostly gleaned from the young men who were already working at the pit. Of all the men I've mixed with, pitmen are the ones who talked most about their work.                                                                                                                                           For all I heard of, at the top of the street and in the house was pit work. With grandad, father, and uncles, all miners, I learned a lot of names connected with pit work. With my birthday being in February I had to go to school until the end of term, which I think was the end of March. I was really fed up with last two months at school, it was filled up with tidying cupboards for teachers and the Headmaster. I don't know why I was so concerned to get to work, as I had made it known to my parents that I wasn't keen on going down the pit. But, as my brother Tommie had been out of work for about eighteen months after leaving school, I felt it my duty to try and help with the running of the house. I suppose I also wanted some pocket money that I had earned myself, and I had told my parents that I would go on trying to get a job out of the pit. Now that I can look back, I wasn't very well fitted for many jobs, I could have been more studious. However, those days in our class and district were hardly seats of learning. I wasn't keen on schooling and learning from books. Some of the boys and girls from our school did go to High School, but these were the children of pit Overmen, Deputy Overmen, or people with some sort of higher position in the pits. Most of those children as I remember, became school teachers.            I remember the day I got the job at the pit (Marley Hill Pit pictured above) as plain as if it were yesterday. It was rather a fine day with some showers about, father must have been on the foreshift, starting at 3.45am and finishing at about 11.0am. Father had been to bed for a few hours, so after a cup of tea we went off to see the under manager at the colliery office. He was a kindly sort of man and of course father had already spoken to him about me wanting to start. He looked me up and down and I haven't the faintest idea what his thoughts could be. At the end of the interview he said, "alright Joe, he can start down the Brockwell First Shaft on monday morning". When I got home and told mother, I have no idea how she felt. My pit clothes were sorted out and a new lunch (bait) bag, was made ready. This was made from a piece of linen, perhaps an old sheet or pillowcase, a long tape was threaded through a hem at the top for a drawstring. After the sandwiches were put in the tape was drawn tight into a single loop, we would put our arm through it and onto our shoulder, then swing it around a few times to tighten it up. A new tin bottle was bought, this held about a pint or so of tea or water, these we carried in our jacket pocket. My jacket was an old one belonging to one of my older brothers, as I remember it was quite long, my own hob nail boots I had worn at school. I also had a flat cap, these cost about 1/6d, the better ones cost 2/6d. I always remember the shop was in Clayton Street at Newcastle, they sold mostly caps, ties, mens scarfs, and gloves, they must have sold thousands of them.           Of course I had to have a new lamp to start work, open lights were mostly used in the three seams working at the colliery at this time. There were odd places where safety lamps were used down the Brockwell Seam. So my midgy lamp was bought, this was made of tin and all shiny and bright, I should think it was four or five inches high, two and a half to three inches across from back to front, there was no glass in it. The vessel containing the oil and wick was almost square and rested on the bottom of the case. There was a hole about half an inch in diameter, this was to push the vessel out for trimming purposes. The wick was made from similar material as that used on dish or floor mops. The oil was a mixture of paraffin and a thicker oil, because neat paraffin was too inflammable on its own, the mixture was known as pit oil. This was bought from a chap who came around the villages quite regularly with his horse and cart. He sold other oil too, for household lamps. I am not sure what they burned in those, paraffin I think. There were still quite a lot of people using oil lamps as gas was not very portable, quite a few cottages and houses did not have the gas piped through yet. I am not quite sure now, which day of the week it was that I was all prepared, I think it was wednesday or thursday. Now the remaining days were full of anticipation, hopes, fears, and doubts, as to what I was I going to find seventy fathoms down. As I said beforehand, I had heard plenty of talk about the pit, however I had no idea what it was really like, or what my job as a 'driver' would be. I believe that beginners down the mines these days, have several weeks training on the surface before going down. I am sure this must be a very big blessing and help, in my case it was very much different. Norman Clark who lived opposite me, was to take me down the pit, as he worked down the Brockwell seam as a pony driver. He must have been about fifteen and a half years old, and quite a veteran as far as being a river was concerned. I was to start on the backshift which was 9.0am to 5.0pm or 5.15pm, I don't think I slept so very well that sunday night as I was full of these fears and hopes. However I was up bright and very early, I saw my bait (food) and new bottle all ready and waiting for me, after breakfast I was away with Norman. The 'buzzer' used to blow for this shift, 8.45am, for the men to go down, these were the Coal Hewers, the men who dug the coal out. The buzzer would go again at 9.0am for the boys to go down, of course the men were all down by this time. Norman and I walked over the fields way as the road to the pit passed the School and went over the fields, it was about ten minutes walk. We passed the Wesleyan chapel which was about fifty or sixty yards from the pit yard. Once inside the yard we went to the token cabin, this was a wooden hut, with two pigeon holes. Inside was token for every person who walked down the pit. The brass token was round, I think the words, John Bowes & Partners, also a number was printed on. When leaving the pit the token had to be handed back in at the cabin and your name was ticked off. There was string threaded through a hole and a loop at the end, this was attached to the button hole of your jacket. A few yards from the token cabin we went through a doorway onto the pithead, as we called it, here it was very noisy. The main coal shaft was an upgrade shaft which had wood doors and was covered in all round. When the cage left the surface the noise when it dropped down was very loud, the Screens when working were very noisy too. The screens consisted of a few pieces of machinery to drive a metal latted conveyor. When the full tubs of coal came out of the cage, they were pulled out then guided onto an endless chain, this hooked onto them and took them to the top and back of the screens. There were two of these for the main coal shaft and one for the full tubs which came out of the Busty shaft. When they reached the top of the endless chain, they then free wheeled down an incline to their separate tipplers. These were machines just big enough to take one tub, when the tub was inside a clip came up and locked the tub in. It was then tipped upside down and the coals slid down a chute onto the screens. This was a wide, steel latted conveyor, where a few men stood alongside of it picking the stones out from among the coal, (screening) they through the stones through a hole in the floor into a truck below. Here it was very noisy, with screeches and squeaks from the belt. About the only other times I used to be on the pit head was when we were homeward bound from Sunday School on Sunday mornings. Of course it was very quiet then, sometimes we could see the cage coming up, not very often though. We would go to the edge of the shaft, lean on the gates and peer down into the darkness of the pit shaft, which was so full of mystery. This morning it was so different, at last I was going to find out what it was really like down there. The cage was a double deck, four persons to each deck, I am not sure which deck I took for my first 'ride' down into the darkness. The boys usually stood up on the top deck, however on the bottom deck you had to sit on your haunches. Norman and I got in, sitting or standing opposite each other. After the cage was loaded and the steel gates shut, the banksman gave a signal on the 'rapper', (a handle which transmitted signals) to the Winding Engineman, as he was called. The cage went up and down two or three inches before going down, this was done so that the banksman could pull out the 'kipps', these were what the cage rested on while it was at the top of the shaft. The cage seemed to drop away ever so fast and scared the life out of me. We were soon into the darkness and lost any sense of speed, until the brake went on to slow us down for the stop at the bottom. This was a most strange feeling as you felt as though you had suddenly changed direction. At the bottom of the shaft it was fairly light as there were two or three electric lights. I stepped out of the cage and almost slipped on the smooth flat (metal) sheets. We turned left here as this was the Busty seam and we had to go to the Brockwell seam. We walked along to the left, there was a set of rails on each side. The empties were on the left hand side and the full tubs were on the right. After walking about fifty yards we stepped up onto the Wagon Way (the main tunnel for sending the full coal tubs out by rail and pulling empty ones back in). Norman ushered me into the overmans (managers) cabin which was a small square, cut into the stone side of the wall, and lined with wood. A small square table stood in the middle of it, with an electric light hanging from the roof. There was a wooden arm chair with forms (seats) stood around the sides. Mr Pearson Sharp was the Overman, he really was the man in charge of every person down the mine at that time. He gave some orders to Norman, however I don't think Norman heard right, as I will explain later. We reached the Brockwell shaft which was much smaller, the depth was only sixty feet deep, and the cage was a single decker. The winding engine was driven by steam, my uncle Tom was the Banksman here. We soon reached the bottom of the Brockwell, here again there were a few electric lights hanging. As we came out of the cage, on the left a pumping engine was working away, pumping water up to the top of the shaft. We walked straight on for about one hundred yards, I think there were two electric lights in the distance. I wasn't used to the half light so I couldn't give very many details about the surroundings. At the end of this one hundred yards the tunnel turned to the left, here there was a big station, with the full tubs on the right and the empties on the left. On the right hand side after turning the corner was the 'main and tail' engine. this was used to pull the sets (anything up to about twenty full tubs) from the two or three districts which were down here. After Norman had made a few enquiry’s from the several young boys and men who were standing around, we had to walk to our destination which was the Fifth West, and about four to five miles from where we were. We lit our lamps, there were quite a few of us on our way in. In the station there were about four or five electric lamps, this was the last reasonable chance I had of viewing the surroundings. Out of the station the rail track became a single ‘way’, there was a wire rope in the centre of the rails, while the other rope was running in the opposite direction over on the outside of the rails. The walking side was on the right going in-by, (the terms in-bye and out-by quite simply meant going out out from the coal face or going in toward it). Quite a few of the men were coming out-by having finished working at the coal face. I was spoken to very harshly two or three times for shining my light in their face, when this was done the person lost his sight, just temporarily. So the next time anyone came in the opposite direction, I pointed my light down onto the foot-way after some kindly advice from Norman. I must say I still wasn't able to see very well, however I can remember the variation in the roof. Sometimes there was so much timber that the roof was hidden, and sometimes there was hardly any timber at all. We came to the part where another tunnel went down to the right, Norman told me that this was the Sunniside District, however, I think that it was worked out. One thing I forgot to mention when describing the tunnels was that on the walking side of them, every ten or twelve yards were 'man­-holes', these were for ducking into if a set of tubs passed by, they were about a yard square and of course roof high.                                                                                                                     After passing the Sunniside turn and walking for a further four or five minutes, we came to the stables which were on the left, we all went in there. The stables had a concrete floor, and a brick wall running the full length of the tables, the brick was on the right-hand wall. Between the wall and the pony stalls was the concrete floor with a set of tub rails running the full length of the stables. There were three or four hurricane lamps lit, which made it reasonably bright, I was able to recognise the ‘Horse Keeper', Geordie Burns. After spending five minutes or so in there, we once more continued on our way. The road in-by from the stables began to go down-hill a little. We came to another turn, this was to the left, the road was very 'clarty' (muddy) here, and began to rise.                                                                                             It wasn't too long before we reached the Fifth West Station, it too was wet and 'clarty' (muddy). I can't remember an awful lot about the rest of the day, however I do remember Normans horse, it was chestnut brown with a white blaze down its face and named Boxer, I suppose he would be twelve to thirteen hands high. The horses carried 'limbers' around with them, these were similar to the shafts you would see on the old horse carts, except they were joined at the rear in a half circle. The centre of the half circle was shaped into what resembled a hook, it had a slot cut through it. The hook fitted into a bracket on the front of the tubs, and a cotter pin inserted into the slot on the limbers hook, held it in place when pulling the tub. There were three sets of chains on the harness, one for pulling, one for holding the limbers up, and the other for leaning back on when going down a hill.                                                                                                                                          Our job as a Pony Driver/Putter was to take the empty tubs from the station to the flat. The flat was a two way siding where there were two sets of rails, one for the 'chummens' (empty tubs) and the other for the full tubs. There was enough room in the flat for about six or seven of each kind of tub. I can't remember how many sidings we went through, they were the old flats where the coal face had been worked out and the distance from the flat to the face was too far for the Putters (Drivers) to travel. As I said before, that first day is now so vague, about the only thing I can remember, was riding out from the Flat to the Station. Norman scooped out a hollow in the coal of the last tub of four to take back to the 'full station', and I climbed into it. I do remember this ride very well, it is about the only thing I can remember about that first shift. I can see it so clearly, the closeness of the roof as I lay curled up in the hollow of coal inside the tub. I can also recall going indoors back home, my mother was waiting at the back door for my return, anxious to know how I got on. I put a brave face on things, but I knew from that first day, down in the darkest darkness I had ever been in, pit work was not for me. One other thing which comes to mind, was my uncle Will's concern about me, I want to put this in here. Uncle Will lived at 5 Cuthbert Street and we lived at nineteen, there wasn't many days that we didn't have uncle Will call in to see us. Whether it was because we had grandfather Liddle living with us or what, I should imagine that was why though. Come to think of it, I wonder why he didn't have grandad live with him, as he had only a son and daughter, while there were five of us. The next day at work I had a surprise, as there had been some misunderstanding with the orders Norman Clark had received, concerning myself. I should have gone down the Sandy Gate District with a chap called Fisher. He was a much bigger chap than Norman and older too, he didn't have much to say. I went along with him to the stables, where horses and putting ­ponies were kept for the shaft bottom work and the Sandy Gate District. These stables were behind the bottom of the small Brockwell shaft which I mentioned earlier. When you left the cage, you went by the side of the shaft and straight on for about twenty yards, then turned left and you were at the stables, these were in the shape of a letter 'L'. They were much older than the Fifth West Stables where I had been on my first shift. The stalls were divided by timber instead of brick and concrete. The floor and the manger were concrete also a bowl shape at the side of the manger. The whitewash was a very dark grey, so the light from the horse keepers hurricane lamps did not afford a very good light. Turpin was the horse used for drawing the tubs from the Brockwell Landing (station) to the shaft bottom, there was another horse to do the same work, but I can't remember his name. Then there was 'Brockwell Prince', he was a dark chestnut colour and a quiet sort. 'Rover' was the next, he was brown with a white blaze down the front of his head. he was younger and a very nice horse too, my cousin Billie drove him and thought the world of him. Then 'Togo' came next, this was the one I had to do my training with, he was about the youngest of all and was colored black. Then there was 'Busty Prince', he was a strange one! He seemed to have long legs with a thin body and a such a shiny black coat. The reason I said he was strange was because he was never still, he was always swaying from side to side while he was in the stall. There must have been others, Tiger was one, he was a grey and the dirt and harness marks used to show up on him so much that he never looked clean. There must have been about twelve horses in this section, then the stables turned to the right. Most of these stalls were occupied by putting-ponies which were a Shetland breed. At the end of these stalls a couple of tubs were kept, when the stalls were cleaned out the horse keeper filled the manure into the tubs. The urine used to flow down a channel which was just outside each stall, the full length of the stalls had a gentle downward slope so that the urine flowed out of the stables and into a sump. From these stables, the horses and ponies were for use at the Sandy Gate District. We had to lead them along this old air-way at the back of the shaft and come out near the end of the station, then onto the main rolleyway. Carrying on around the corner to the right, led to the Sandy Gate station, I suppose this must have been about three quarters of a mile from the shaft bottom. We were met by Bob Milburn, I suppose he was about forty years old, he was the rolleyway man and in charge of us boy drivers, to quote our proper name. His job was also keeping the wagonway in good order, and making sure he kept his district well supplied with empty tubs. This may not seem very much, but it was quite a lot when you knew how many things could go wrong at times. I knew Mr Milburn quite well as he lived at Marley Hill so I knew I'd be okay with him. We hung our bait and jackets up at the station, there was a seat made out of planks at the side of the wagonway on the in-by end of the station. The change over of the shifts meant a slight lull in coal coming out-by. We would talk to our mates who had been on the first shift, most of the horses worked a double shift. There were two or three wooden boxes provided at the in-by end of the Station, there was also a water and hay box for the ponies to eat and drink. The instructions I had from Fisher were very meagre when we set off to go in-by, I was told to sit on the tub bottom and keep my hands inside.                                                                                                                                               It was quite a long way into the flat and I think we passed through several sidings. I was initiated that day, there were two boys from Bensham (Gateshead), I had never cared much for them. One was called Charlie Myers and the other Walter Wilson, I was held on the ground by several boys, my trousers were pulled down and black grease mixed with soot was spread over my 'privates'. I struggled very hard but to no avail, I thought it was a most humiliating and awful experience. Of course the family knew it would happen, so when I got home that evening and before I started washing, when I asked for some margarine to remove the grease, they thought nothing of it, for very few boys escaped being initiated. The rest of the week soon went by and I got more used to the darkness and the routine of pony driving. Monday morning came and I was on fore-shift, starting at 3.45am. I did not care very much for such an early start, however when I got downstairs, there were my pit clothes laid out ready on the cracket (stool). I called for Norman after I had a cup of tea and a slice of bread and jam. We were near the pit when the buzzer went for the men to start going down, the boys followed the men down on first-shift. When I reached the stables I was told I would be on my own, so my experience soon became much wider, and by the end of the week I was almost as good as any of the other drivers. I suppose if I had kept a diary each day, it would have been a story in itself. However after fifty or more years there are very few experiences I can recall of my 'driving' days. One of my earliest experiences was when I went in-by to the 2nd east flat, there were only one or two hewers (the men working on the coal face hewing the coal) working there so there wasn't many tubs of coal to come out. It was early on in the shift when I went into the flat and waited and waited. I began to think of all kind of things that could have happened, however the rolleyway man had began to enquire where I was. He was told where I was so he sent one of the other drivers to the flat to fetch me, I think the mistake had been caused by one of the other drivers. I must try to describe the drive from the station to the 1st and 2nd east flats as well as the cross-cut flat. The station was on an incline (slope), the first branch off was just in-by from the station points, this was the 1st south. There was one special driver for that flat, I will tell more of that later. The ground still sloped downward, about fifty yards on we came to an electric pump. It was very noisy and pumped water out to just before the Sandy Gate turn, from there the water was siphoned to the shaft bottom. There was a brick arch which was about thirty yards long, the roof must have been very bad here, for this was about the only time that brick arching was used. At the end of the arching we turned to the right, the incline seemed to be steeper here and there were a pair of tub wheel greasers at this point. After a further fifty yards the going levelled out and we came to the first siding. It was very wet indeed, the tub rails were covered with water most of the time, it was here that the sump was situated, for the pump to extract the surplus water from. This was the siding where we were to wait until the driver came in. Another thirty or forty yards on was the Deputy’s 'kist' (a large wooden storage box), when turning left we were in the 1st east. On proceeding to the cross-cuts we had to leave our midgy lamps and pick up a safety lamp from the kist. We then went through the canvas doors, the 'way' (tub rails) had a gradual slope most of the time, I think it was about a quarter of a mile to the next siding, it was very dry here and warmer too. Someway further on we came to the 2nd east, perhaps another two or three hundred yards further on, we came to the flat. The right hand side was the 'chum' (empty tubs) side, and the left was the full side. It wasn't very often that we spent much time there, as more often than not the putter was already waiting with the empties. The coal seam was a good one, four feet to four feet six inches in height, so from start to finish we had a very busy day of it. Pulling three tubs at a time from the flat to the station was quite a haul, so the horses could not be allowed to go slow and lose momentum. The best of the way was from the Deputy’s kist as it was dry and the rise in the ground level to the flat was less harsh. We would jump off the tub, collect our midgy lamp, and leave the safety lamp (a Davey lamp designed to detect gas presence) for the next driver going in-by. We would then come to the siding where the water was, very often there would be two or three drivers with full loads, waiting for the other drivers to come in with empties. When we got to the station, if there were any other full tubs there, we would remove the cotter pin from our horses limbers and disconnect it from the tubs. We would then use a chain with a hook at each end, one hook went onto the tub handle and the other one onto the horses limbers. The horse could then step out of the centre of the track and still be able to pull our full tubs, right up to the tubs already there. We would then couple the tubs up to each other, with the chains and hooks fixed to the base of each tub for that purpose. Really the ponies were almost human, they carried out most movements when asked, because they had done them so many times before. Now that I am old, I marvel that there wasn't more serious accidents among the young drivers, for when we were going in and out-by, we sat on the edge of the tub and drove the horse. Going in-by we would sometimes get into a tub to travel, when the wagonway was too narrow or too low to sit on the edge of the tub. However, we got so used to our surroundings that we did everything without needing to think. Sometimes while coming out-by our backs would scrape against the roof, we would bend right over when the roof became too low to sit upright. Then when it was too narrow we put our legs round onto the limbers, or jumped off and stood on the buffers on the back of the last tub of our set. We got to know all these variations and were always ready to carry out whatever motion necessary to get through. Sometimes when coming out-by we used to go quite fast, and when we came to switches at the sidings, the tubs would suddenly jump off the way (rails). We would be thrown to the ground or up against the wall. This used to be very frustrating and it was hard work lifting the full tubs back onto the rails. Very often we would struggle with them, but experience is a good teacher, especially when it comes to lifting a full tub of coal. Of course at first we never managed to do the job without help from other drivers or the rolleyway man, however, pit work soon made boys into men. It really used to make me very sad when I saw some of the boys making a start. I wasn't very big myself, but some of the boys were so small and frail they couldn't even lift the limbers onto the tubs. My grandfather used to tell me of the days when boys eight years old used to start work, it must have been terrible for them. Still, life goes on and of course pit work does too, you get into a routine and feel that one day is the same as another, even with life outside the pit. This of course isn't true, it would be impossible to describe the variations of each day down the mine. I worked in the Streetgate District for sometime with the boys Wilson and Myers, they were always ready to cause an argument, and to do a bit of bullying too. I remember on one occasion there were four of us waiting in the siding amid the water and the mud, all of us with full tubs. There were Walter Wilson, Charlie Myers, and a chap called Bartrum, he came from High Row. Wilson and Byers started an argument with Bartrum, of course there was plenty bad language, anyway, Bartrum could stand it no longer and a fight began, they were soon rolling around in the mud and water. Wilson and Myers came from Bensham (Gateshead), a lot of the boys who came from the Town (Newcastle) and over in that area, always thought themselves to be a bit wiser and cleverer. It was often proved otherwise, as it was on this day, they did not pick so many arguments after that. I feel that I must pay tribute to the conscientious men who were very poor scholars as far as history, geography, etc. But the way the rolleyway men kept us in order, looked after the rolleyway, as well as making sure that there were always plenty empty tubs available, really was to their credit. At christmas time the rolleyway man would give each of his pony drivers 6d and an orange, if the putter had done well and made some good money throughout the three months, he too may have given us 3d or even 6d.           We only had Christmas day off and it was back to work the next, if you happened to be on first shift it was awful getting up at 3.15am to be at work by 3.45am. Some of the hewers would have been on the beer Christmas day, I don't know how they managed to work so hard after having so much to drink. Of course some of them didn't make it to work, but if that happened often I am sure that they would soon be looking for another job. Mind, I don't think the coal output was very high over the christmas period, so we rivers had a very easy time. Of course taking a rest down the pit wasn't too comfortable, sometimes at the station or flat we would have a more permanent seat. They were made of planks of wood, and would have originally been used to hold the roof up as coal was taken off the face. We had three planks for the seat, and three or four for the back rest. Very often it was on the floor, sometimes we'd be able to have it raised off the ground and if we were lucky we would have some canvas hung on the out-by side of the seat, as the fresh air came in from the shaft in that direction. Of course the air did not travel as a wind or even a slight breeze, all you knew was that if you sat still for five or ten minutes it soon got cold. It was at the seat in the station where we would hang up our coats and bait bags. If you did happen to fall asleep, you nearly always woke up cold and stiff. At the other end of the station where the rolleyway men sat it was better, he had a square cut out of the coal, with a telephone in it which looked very much like a welsh dresser, it had a cupboard at the bottom, and a place at the top for the bell and for the push, which was in the shape of a capital D, this was spring loaded from the the straight line of the D. In the cupboard were either six or eight batteries (wet), these provided the power for the telephone and bell. The earpiece was a steel spring tube, with a bell shape which was held to the ear, the box to speak into was about six or seven inches square and two inches deep. The rolleyway man was able to make a more comfortable seat, because he had a saw and hammer. Of course the ponies benefited too when we were resting, they had two or three boxes placed near our seats with hay in, there was also a tank with drinking water for them. There were other times when we were able to take a rest, that was when we had filled the station with full tubs and there were no more empties left. This was where the telephone generally came in use to contact the shaft bottom into the Engine Room. The engine driver would take a message as to which station was making a request for the next load of empties, called a 'set'. The rolleyway man at the shaft bottom, was the man who decided which district should have the next set of tubs, generally it went in rotation, first to ring was first served. Of course it was also taken into consideration where most of the coal was coming from. On some faces the coal was softer and easier to get out, there was also a difference in the number of men working on the faces in each district. At times a set would go off the rails, or the wire cable pulling the set in or out-by would break. This generally meant that quite a few of the tubs on that set would also come off the 'way' (rails). The blacksmith would have to be brought down from the surface, this very often meant a very long stoppage. Of course the more stoppages, the less coal output, which used to cause much aggravation. It was our responsibility to get as much coal as possible onto the surface in a shift, this was very competitive between shifts. In later times when I was about seventeen, I think my job was working at the bottom of the shaft with the onsetter. We pushed the full tubs into the cage, as the empties were pulled out by a chap at the back of the shaft. This would happen on the lower section of the cage, then the onsetter would signal to the winding room and the cage would drop to allow us to repeat the same process with the upper cage section. As the cage left, it was my job to take the first empty tub, pull it round on the rails and push it so far up a siding. Sometimes the tubs were very hard to push, this was very often caused by lack of grease on the wheel axles. The means of greasing the tubs was quite simple, there was a box set into the ground full of grease, a cogged wheel on a spindle was set across it at axle height. When a tub was pushed over it, the cog caught the axle and rotated, at the same time it smeared the axle with grease, there was a grease trough on each side of the track. It was the rolleyway mans duty to keep the troughs filled up grease. The area at the shaft bottom was covered with big steel plates (flat sheets), these were there so that we could slide the tubs into the required position for pushing onto the rails. Somedays we would be kept going for the full eight hours without a break, so we had to eat our sandwiches while still working. Of course we had four or five electric bulbs at the shaft bottom and the same at the station so we didn't use any lamps. It wasn't very bright, I think the bulbs would be about sixty to one hundred watts. For a time we had bluish coloured lights and these gave quite a nice glow, more like daylight. These lights at the shaft bottom were like the lights at home. On many occasions if you were working on the 5th West District, which was about four and a half to five miles from the shaft, the lights could be seen from about one mile in-by. I'm sure they could have been seen from a further distance had it not been for a slight bend in the rolleyway. It was such a joy to see these lights, when you felt so tired and weary after working so hard, and after such a long walk out-by.                                                                                                                                        Now and again if mother was short of milk she would send me to Bowman's farm to get a pint. I'd guess this would be about a mile and a half across the fields from New Houses. It was a really lovely walk, as the footpath followed the edges of the fields, which were divided mainly by hawthorn bushes and the occasional tree of some kind. We carried a tin can with a tin lid, and a piece of wire for a handle. These cans were very popular with outdoor workers such as farm hinds, or the men working on the roads, the can lid served as a cup. There was many an occasion when I've had a cup of tea in the field. I have already mentioned the playing field, having a cup of tea outdoors was quite a favourite pastime of we boys, of course the weather had to be fine. Then we had to ask our mothers of course and some of us would get a refusal, the excuse was "I haven't time to prepare". Of course it wasn't a lot of trouble really, but some of the mothers were very busy. If we were lucky we would have a nice can of tea, two slices of bread and jam, and if we were very lucky, a piece of cake would be included, everything wrapped in a piece of newspaper. We would then pick a nice pleasant part of the field to sit down and enjoy our picnic. I have written of my early days at Sunday School, however, when I was eleven or twelve years old I began to get a bit discontented with it, I would stay away if I got the chance. I think what brought me back into the chapel, or the commencement of the journey, was when I was about thirteen, the chapel had an Evangelist Preacher there for a fortnight, his name was Bakewell. His campaign was to get the children of church members to go around the streets, and have short meetings in the open air, at the same time inviting people to come to the chapel services. He played the concertina and his followers soon learned the catchy and joyful choruses as he sang and played. There were also lots of posters advertising the meetings, I was greatly impressed by this man's message. and enjoyed the meetings. They were preceded by a prayer meeting, the church members who could go, always went and they prayed for the success of the meetings, and the saving of souls. The main service was similar to that held in a Methodist Chapel on a sunday evening. The bible readings and the chosen text, was often on the theme of the wrongful ways of sin and the value of having Jesus Christ as your Saviour and friend. Of course the Methodists have countless good hymns to go with any sermon or any type of religious service. At the end of a service, there were prayers said for people to come forward and accept Jesus. Between saying prayers, there was the odd chorus of some appropriate hymn. True, this played on peoples emotions and during the fortnight, there were quite a few who decided to try. Some kept it up and some fell by the wayside, back into their bad old ways after a few weeks, however, I do believe it helped, and reinforced the beliefs of permanent members. I was a boy soprano at this time, my school mate and I were in the chapel choir. I always enjoyed singing, the first time I sang in public was with my friend, it was at a concert the choir gave in a neighboring chapel. I remember that saturday night, the chapel was lit with gas lamps but there wasn't many of them. We sang "Poor Old Joe" and "Dare to do right and Dare to be True", which we sang quite well. Several times the chapels in the area of the Circuit (as it was called), would get together to sing "The Messiah", and "Elijah". This took place in the central chapel of the circuit, known as the Circuit Chapel, it was the Bensham Road Chapel, Gateshead, which was very large. Special singers were engaged to sing the solo's, I really enjoyed the massed choir singing, even now when I hear those wonderful 'pieces', it gives me a great thrill and I follow the words and music most of the time. The same goes for most of the hymns I hear on television. I mentioned earlier of my very early days at Sunday School, anyway, I am not sure when I decided to walk on the straight and narrow and to take Jesus as my friend and Saviour. But as far as my memory goes, it must have been when I was about sixteen or seventeen years of age, for I remember speaking to to the class leader about joining the class meeting. He said I was a bit on the young side to join, I don't think that he realised I was really genuine in my convictions. However my friend Bob Dinning had been going to Whickham Chapel, he said that he had been attending class meetings there and how good it was. He invited me to go with him and was sure that I would be welcome, I went with him, and was delighted, I came away greatly blessed. The leader was a kindly man, his name escapes me now but I can still remember his face. He had a full bushy beard which covered most of his face. I do remember most of the faces of the people who met there for the Fellowship, and I am sure that they all did their best, with the help of God, to follow in the steps of the Master. This class meeting was held on tuesday nights, Mr John Dinning and Mr Peter Elliott used to be the leaders here. I also used to go to the Wesley Guild, this was for young people. The main idea was to make it as interesting as possible, with someone giving a talk on an interesting topic and we would take our turns. Sadly, for whatever reason, (possibly due to ill health), the story ends here.