Blyth

[c-side]

The newt pond!  I used to collect the newts and keep them in an old sink in the back garden.  In the winter the pond used to freeze so solid we could skate on it.  I think they built the schoold right on top of it.

I'm out with the 'girls' for lunch today - will try to remember to ask about the stagecoach.

Christine

[c-side]

One of my friends does remember the stagecoach - early to mid fifties.  Apparently it used to go down Union Street and the children used to ride on it.

She doesn't know why or who owned it.

Not away with the pixies yet, eh Barbara 

Christine

[aspin]

I let my husband see the photo of the Young Dutch boys him being a retired fisherman and he can remember the young boys coming into Amble as well
Elizabeth

[Phodgetts]

Well, my Blyth contact of mature years has been able to come up with more information. 

His latest email is as follows;

Yep  Partner,  spot on.     the stage coach,     acc' to my recent  re search this morning.     It was owned by a guy called   Jack Thomas,     not as I suggested,      Bailie,   the harbour gateman,     [slapped wrist  on that one].      He had the first bookstall on  Blyth market,     you will poss' remember it,      it resembled a hot dog /  hamburger type, towing van.    The sort of thing you see in laybys.     The respectable stuff was on the table,  in front of the van,       the bluey type was on the top,  inside.  you just had to give him a wink, and he knew what the porny old guys were after.

He was a very tall guy,   getting on in years,  had an extremely long nose,  which always had a permanent dribble.       At that time,    there was a kids roundabout,  next to him,    that was owned by the  Lillico family,

Jack got rid of the "royal coach"  and bought the roundabout,     (which was operated by a handle).      He still worked the bookstall,  and his wife cranked the handle.     That roundabout was later bought by a neighbour of mine,    who operated it for a couple of years,  and then it went  un- repairable, and then scrapped.

Such a shame about that little roundabout as I used to ride on that when my mum took me into town from Cowpen, and I remember it being hand cranked. A very pleasant lady who it seems was probably Mrs Lillico. 

[emmadog]

Thanks for that. I know now that it was not a figment of my imagination.

I also remember the roundabout on the market But not the bookstall.  I seem to remember a lady who lived down the street to us used to hand crank it.  She was a mrs Tulip and her husband worked on the fruit and veg stall,  name I can't remember. 

Barbara

[pityackafromblyth]

Bobby Charlton/ Bedlington GS v. Blyth GS. Details of the match posted on the site re the Charlton brothers, in the Northumberland section. There is also a photograph of Bobby"Chuck"Charlton and his team on the Bedlington GS site.

[HenryWood]

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

From the looks of the trawlers in the background I think these may be the ship's "mice". Each fishing vessel carried a very young cabin boy who was just starting out at sea and he was known as a "sea mouse". I remember reading this was how Jan de Hartog, a famous Dutch writer, began his seagoing career in 1925 when he was aged about 11. He tells a fictionalised account of his early sea life in "The Lost Sea". (Cover pic and pic of 2 "mice"attached)

[pityackafromblyth]

Interesting info re the ship's mice.  They went to sea even younger than what I estimated their ages to be from the photograph. I may be wrong, but the photo looks like a 1950 ish.  I would not have thought any country would have let any youngsters go to sea at that age.
Oh, Aspin, have you got the pubs mixed up.  I referred to the Station Hotel, which was situated at the side of the railway station, and opposite Woodcock's (?)  Was the pub you were mentioning opposite the main entrance to the rail station, and was it called the 'Railway Tavern'.  Never went into that one.  When got to drinking age, my parents warned me to keep out of The Commercial, and the Brewery Bar, or else.

[rumneyt]

Hi
I recently had an article in the Blyth Leader asking if any of you folks up there could remember, or had any photographs of my Grandfathers' stagecoach which used to ride around the streets of Blyth.  This stirred quite a few memories, and I received a lot of responses about the stagecoach, one chap even remembered the route the stagecoach took around Blyth.
My Grandfather was called Harold Edward Thomas (Ned) and as mentioned in an earlier post, after selling the stagecoach he ran two bookstalls in Blyth market for quite a few years.  He lived in Wright Street, Blyth for many years, and I lived in Maddison Street, until moving to Yorkshire in 1960 at the age of 10.
I did manage to find a photo of the stagecoach with my Grandad and his horse Silver, hope this brings back happy memories for all you who rode it. Having difficulty attaching the photo i will post it separately.