Blyth

[pityackafromblyth]

This is one hell of a site, especially the one containing the old photos of the harbour, etc.  Over the years I have tried to find out where 'Boca Chica' came from.  Even Googled it and was referred to Columbia. Gave up trying, and today I have found the reason on this site.  There was a signpost at the bottom of the market, Waterloo side of the old Police box, and Boca Chica was on one of the fingers of the sign, besides other exotic places such as Bedlington, etc.
Also there is mention of Blyth B power being commenced in Dec. 1961, which is incorrect.  I was working in the site offices of Mitchell Construction(Peterborough) in 1960, and at that time there were 300+ tradesmen, labourers, etc on the payroll.  Before I left in May 1961, I was taken up the chimney when it was only partially completed. Its height then was 250 feet, and it was an astounding view, especially southwards. I was told to get back when it was finished(and before they lit the fire)and they would take me tothe top at 550 feet.  I never got back, so missed out on something special.Only saw the demolition of the chimneys on TV.

[c-side]

Hi Pit yacka,

Glad you like the site, though I notice no-one's got around to saying 'welcome' yet    So welcome to rootschat 

Did you find out where Boca Chica got it's name?  If not I'm sure there's a few of us on here who can provide their take on it

Christine

[Phodgetts]

Welcome pityacka 

Glad you have enjoyed the site so much and got the answer to your Boca Chica question.

I was brought up in Cowpen and it seems missed all the fun of the fair and the excitement of the new building and hive of activity that was Blyth and it's harbour. Never mind, I am enjoying doing the research that I am and looking for pictures and dating them and adding what info I can to them. One thing I have found is that quite a bit of the info out there is inaccurate but I have no way of verifying one way or the other what is correct until someone comes along who can set the facts right by personal experience. One individual has a good method of working. If one person tells him something about his images of Blyth he makes a note of. If a second person comes up with the same info, he regards it as good info but if a third person says the same....... then he will publish that info as verifyable fact. A good system,  but sadly for me that takes too long. I would rather get the info out there and be corrected as at least there is something for people to talk about rapture over and see.

It would be nice to know more about your experiences in and around Blyth. Just PM me or get in touch through the website email address. Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Also, Christine, have you got any further with research into the Napoleonic Blyth Battery?

Philip

[c-side]

Hi Philip

There's not been much time during the summer when we're open.  We also put on 6 different displays (1 a month) Home Guard, submarine base, shipyard, Home front, ARP and the beach in peacetime.  I did a lot of research on the beach one looking at before, between and after the wars and how the battery buildings managed to survive by being re-used.

Winter is when we usually do additional stuff but first I'm writing a guide book - first meeting was tonight!  We will get back to Napoleon though and we are having the 1797 map of the planned gun locations printed onto a display board for next year.

Christine

[pityackafromblyth]

Hi to you all,  No need for an official welcome- everyone knows that people from Bonny Blyth always make you welcome.  Took some friends up for the New Years way back in the 1960s, and they could not believe the friendliness.  One was astounded by the carry-on on the last No49 bus from Blyth to Cowpen on a night.Practically everybody laughing, singing, etc., and no fighting whatsoever.  He went back for a week the following summer to experience it all again.  We used to use the Station Hotel as our local in the 60s, when Stan Gray and his daughter Olive ran it.   Saturday dinnertime, when Newcastle were at home, couple of pints there, a meat pie from Coles Bakers shop in Bowes Street, then off to the match.  Are Central Pork Stores still trading ?  Of all the different makes of pork sausages I've had, I still think theirs were the best. Lived at New Deleval until 1953 and the morning rolls from Lowther's Bakery, Plessey Road, great, and only surpassed by those from Charltons, on Coomassie Road(?)  Have been up to Blyth 2/3 times in the last few years, and it has changed a lot.  Still look on it as home. At Deleval used to play on the pit heaps, visit the Red Rocks(as cowboys) and go to the Yellow Babby.  Why the stream had that name I do not know.

[aspin]

Welcome from me too
just reading through about the pub and a pie

I used to have to go to Blyth to pick up my fisherman husband and his crew
I had to pick them up from the Quennie

It was the dirtyest place I have ever been i

Men used sit with their shoes off at a big coal fire and eat pies and have their pints
yuk it makes me shiver to think of it

Elizabeth

[pityackafromblyth]

Can any of you older site visitors recall the Dutch and Polish fishing vessels coming into Blyth harbour during the summer months ?  I do not know if they were after callahaan(herring) or mackerel.  The town was flooded with the crews - the Dutch in their wooden clogs, and the Poles selling cheap cigarettes. There was one day when a Pole was making his way into town with his illicit stock inside his clothing.  He was being tailed by Customs, but he realised before they got too near.  He was seen running past the bus station off-loading packets of cigs from his clothing.

And what about the Onion Johnies ?  The were from Roscoff, Finisterre.  They arrived in the Tyne on their own boat, and lived somewhere in Newcastle, where they had a van, and the bikes.  They visited the surrounding areas, including Blyth.  The onions they sold were fantastic, and you could eat them like an apple. (My wife, a non-geordie, and my friends where I live now, always said I had queer tastes- just because I once mentioned that I drank the brine from hot dog sausages, and also sweetened vinegar from pickles, etc.)  Mind I still have the occasional leek pudding.

[aspin]

i still make leek puddings
Elizabeth  not far from Blyth

[Phodgetts]

A beautiful picture of Dutch boys at Blyth. I am sorry that I have no information at all regarding this image. Who, what, why and when................?

P