Index

Haydon News

February 1998

email the editor

Editorial

Hi Folks - It has been a sad start to the year for the whole of the village as witnessed by the massive attendance's at the Funeral services held at the Parish Church. The mood of the village is reflected in this edition of your newsletter.

A decision has been made on the Public Local Inquiry into the disputed right of way from the A69 past Temple Houses and on to the existing river side public footpath. On 14th January the Inspector of the Inquiry, Mr. R.G. Brown issued his report which comes out in favour of those who believe that the footpath is a public right of way.

The report reads: “From the point of view of Section 31 of the Highways Act 1980, on the balance of probabilities, the footpath must be presumed to be dedicated to public use, and I propose to confirm this part of the order.”

In making his decision the Inspector said that:
“the evidence I have heard and seen comes down heavily in favour of a public right of way on foot having been established over it by reason of its use by the public, as of right and without interruption for more than 20 years prior to this use being challenged.”

The Inspector does not doubt that Temple Houses lane is in private ownership, and the only vehicular rights over it are private. The question of access to the football pitch via the lane was not a matter for the Inquiry.

Now a decision has been made it remains to be seen if both sides in the dispute are now content to let the matter rest. One viewpoint is expressed by the former Chairman of the Parish Council in his letter on page 5.

I had to make a difficult editorial decision today, Saturday 31st January, concerning a letter from the late Dr High which he gave to me not long before his sudden and unexpected death. He specifically asked me not to publish the letter until after he had left the village. The letter is titled ‘Thoughts on leaving Haydon Bridge’ - after much consideration I have decided to publish the letter in its entirety and hope that most of you will agree with my decision.

I see that the new Methodist Chapel is nearing completion and those who have been inside the building have reported that they are favourably impressed with what they have seen - although the inside has yet to be fitted out. After spending half an hour this in the cold former URC building at the coffee morning I am looking forward to the first one in the new Methodist complex where they’re to have new facilities . . . . Bye for now

Mitch

Index

Many thanks to all those who came and supported the coffee afternoon at the Church Hall on Saturday 29th November.

We raised £400 towards the hard court pitch.

Thanks to those who assisted on the day and those who gave generously to the cake stall raffle and tombola.

Shirley Borthwick on behalf of H.B.F.C.

P.S. Well done to the young footballers who raised £571 packing bags at Safeway.

Shaftoe Educational Foundation

The Governors will meet on 12th March 1998.
Applications for grants for educational purposes should be delivered to the Charity’s office on Shaftoe Terrace, Haydon Bridge by Saturday 28th February 1998. (Late applications cause considerable incovenience.)

Advice and further information is available from: The Clerk, John Richardson 684 298.

Index

Your usual reporter was not available for the meeting so I took on the role. There were about a dozen people on the public benches slightly outnumbering the 9 of 11 Parish Councillors present. The Hexham Courant reporter was also there.

Half a dozen people from Douglas Garden’s were there complaining that a resident had apparently laid claim to what appeared to be abandoned land (a former swing park then Scout field and immediately adjacent to his own land) and had applied for planning permission for change of use into a garden. In the Village Appraisal recommendations this land had been earmarked as a possible recreational area. Following a long debate the Parish Council decided to inform Tynedale District Council that they intended to look after the area for the ‘common good’ in accordance with Village Appraisal recommendations. However the Chairman emphasised that Tynedale were not interested in legal ownership of land and the Planning Committee will only look at the application as a planning issue - the Parish Council Chairman will contact the residents concerned and inform
them of the situation.

It was reported that the High School had not been succesful in their last bid for Sports College status. However they intend to pursue their goal.

The Village clock refurbishment to go ahead at a cost of £568 + VAT.

The PC had been informed by the water company all sampling carried out in Haydon Bridge had been satisfactory and daily sampling is carried out. This did not answer the question on what had happened to the water company’s procedures the last time we had problems when not all houses were informed of problems with supplies - PC to pursue.

Because of the high quotation for putting a street light in Land Ends Road (£1520) it was agreed that Northumberland County Council should be approached and supply cost of installing the street-lamp on the opposite side of the road. A Cllr will obtain residents views.

Tynedale Local Plan - Public Local Inquiry will take place on Tuesday 23rd June 1998.

A £20 donation was agreed for the Community Council for Northumberland.

A skip will be available for clean-up week commencing 3rd April.

The Friends of Haydon Bridge have agreed to obtain funding for a permanent commemorative seat with plaque at the Spa Well.

Concern was expressed at large cracks in parapet of old bridge.

Bowling Green - More interest was now being shown - a second meeting of the group will be held in the Community Centre on 17th February at 7pm.

SBM

Index

Mrs M Bowen told members of ‘Another side of Japan’ when she visited her daughter who was studying at Kyoto University - she was there 4 years and being home-sick Mrs Bowen and her husband took separate visits to see her. The air journey was an adventure in itself, via Manchester - Dusseldorf - Anchorage. The later journey was 11 hours leaving at 2:30 pm to arrive at the same time! - the time changes!

Kyoto was a colourful elegant city with original buildings - very expensive - learning the etiquette had been eventful. A visit to Hiroshima had left a lot of memories - the details of the memorial gardens were very moving - very much enjoyed by everyone.

Competition for calendar won by Mrs A. Turnbull. Raffle was won by Mrs M. Anderson.

Anyone interested in joining is very welcome.The next meeting is Feb. 9th 7 pm - Paper Flower Craft.

Index

Stepping in at short notice, Joe Collins gave an interesting talk at the January meeting of Langley WI about the People’s Kitchen (a registered charity based in Newcastle upon Tyne) Founded by Allison Kay The People’s Kitchen was set up to provide food and friendship for people who have nowhere to go.

Joe told us that although mainly used by men there are a few bag ladies turn up for meals and even though it is held in a building, which used to be a Baptist Church, you don’t have to sing for your supper. Supported by volunteer workers who give their time freely, food and companionship is offered to people with nobody to take care of them. Joe is retired and the secretary of The People’s Kitchen. He told us that at Christmas about 200 people enjoyed a Christmas party, and that on different nights there is music and even bingo for everyone. If someone needs a bed for the night Joe has contacts who can provide this service.

Joe’s claim to fame is his expertise in making a mean stew to warm people up on a cold winters evening. There are many stories to tell working with the homeless and we heard about a character called Albert who causes mayhem walking down the main streets of Newcastle pushing a shopping trolley. He was once in a gas explosion, which blew off his beard and another time, he’d set fire to his leg. He usually ends up getting arrested whereupon is cleaned up fed and let out again, because he is a bigger threat to himself than to the general public.
There are meetings of the People’s Kitchen at the back of Eldon Square on Sunday mornings and in Elswick Cemetery back yard. There is no restriction and everyone is welcome. Clothing is also given out and there is always a need for men’s casual wear. Everyone was interested in hearing about this vital and essential service where food and friendship go hand in hand with the People’s Kitchen in Newcastle.

Sylvia Mitchell
Tel: 684035

Index

---

Letters to the Editor & Readers Viewpoints

To: Editor of Haydon News

How wonderful to find the Haydon News on the web. Until March this year, I used to live in the village. For 16 years on Heugh House Lane, then six months at Parkers Terrace. I moved down here to Ealing in London when my Australian girlfriend got a job here (although I still telework for TNL, a company based in Hexham). Life in London is very hectic, especially in the run-up to Christmas, and I miss the peace and calm of Haydon Bridge.

My parents still live on Heugh House Lane, and I'll be visiting them for a week just after Christmas.

Regards from the smoke. I look forward to the next Haydon News, which brings back good memories of the village.

Kevin Hawley - Ealing, London

Sincerely,
William Clifton
SW Seattle, USA

Index

My name is Patricia Mielnicki and I'm writing from Florida U.S.A. In my family, my mother was born at 9 Rose Hill Gardens, Wallsend. Her father was Lancelot Henderson (we don't know where he was from) but he died at Wallsend in 1921.....

My great grandparents came from Hexham. Edward Robson(1833) and Sarah Wilson(1838). They married in Hexham in 1857.He was a shoemaker on Hencotes road. They had 13 children,two sets of twins that died. One of their sons William Robson (15 June 1868-1967) lived at Haydon Bridge.

He had two daughters Margaret and Edith.They never married...... I find this so interesting. Do you know of anyway I can find out more ?? Where can I write to ? Do you know any Robsons that might be related. It would be most interesting... Thank you for putting out your home page. I love seeing the area that my ancestors came from. Would love to see more of Hexham

Pat
Florida USA

Editors Note
I have sent interim replies to our two American writers. If any Haydon News reader can help on any of the two queries please let me know and I will forward your responses by e-mail to Pat and William.

Potential Threat to Village Retailing

There is a strong rumour circulating in the village - even in the Co-op itself - that the latter is planning yet another internal re-organisation, this time to allow it to sell newspapers, stationery, etc. I am lead to understand that this ‘big brother’ decision emanates from regional or even national headquarters of the Co-op. It is yet another example of those retailers who believe they have the ‘deepest pockets’ seeking to gain total monopolistic advantage in a local market place, namely our village, without giving any thought to the longer term consequences of their actions.

The village is already well served with CTN (confectionery, tobacco and newspapers/magazines) facilities by John Clark and Werner Nagel. These two businesses have been around for many years and as such represent a ‘balanced economy’ in the heart of our village. If the Co-op deliberately destabilises either one or both of these businesses by seeking to supply goods that are already well supplied, in the long run the village will suffer. We have already lost our butcher, and there have been other retail closures in recent memory. If either John or Werner, or both, are driven out of business, the minimum ‘critical mass’ of available retail facilities will be lost, probably to the detriment of the Co-op as well as the village. In other words, there will be so few shops that
no-one will shop in the village at all, including in the Co-op! Somebody should point out this danger to the Co-op before it is too late. Alternatively, if the Co-op strategy is successful i.e. they reduce or eliminate competition altogether for CTN products, we will all be the losers, because it will seek to maximise the benefits of its monopolistic position in terms of a poorer range of product, less personal service and almost certainly higher prices!

Peter Henriksen ‘Highshield’
6th January 1998

Peter
I have printed your letter in full and invite the Co-op to reply as they think fit. In fairness I must say that many will say that the store provides a more economical range of products rather than ‘poorer’ as you describe.

Is it not we, the public, who are the cause of the closure of so many village shops by our failure to patronise them with our custom before it is too late? Werner Nagel and John Clarke’s businesses will survive only if they continue to give us the friendly and personal service as they now do - however they also do need our continuing patronage. Similarly the Co-op (and other retailers), with or without newspapers, can only survive if more villagers would shop locally. The true cost of motoring is about 40p per mile so a trip into Hexham costs about £6:00 whilst a trip to the Metro or Newcastle costs a massive £24:00, I bet not many people take that into account when trooping off to the supermarkets.

Mitch

Index

Suggestion of Inconsistency

An error seems to have crept into the reportage of the Temple Houses saga. It should be corrected, if only to negate the suggestion of inconsistency in the parish council’s policy. The relevant minutes of the Parish Council when the County Council disclosed their intention to include the Lane on their Comprehensive Map would record the Parish Council raising no objection to the proposal, but in no way being the applicant for its inclusion.

There was some quiet satisfaction that the CC was taking a step towards settling this time-consuming wrangle which used from time to time erupt in the council’s arena, though the council was always firm in its resolve not to take sides.

I told Mrs. Thompson ad nauseam that the matter would be decided judicially if anyone could be bothered to press the issue. In that, I may have been right, and will make a further prediction; if the matter is not judged in accordance with Mrs T’s point of view, she will not accept the verdict. I hope that if this should happen and Mrs. T does want to take it higher, that it will be done at her expense.

And to you Sir, I must say this. A more sensitive person that myself might have been irritated by your mild rebuke directed towards me for my failure to make a statement at the footpath enquiry.
What statement could I have made at a quasi-judicial hearing that would have carried any legal clout? You might have thought wrongly that I had presided over a Council that was the initial applicant. I hope I have clarified this. All I could have done was express an opinion and far too many without any legal know how have
already been expressed in this matter.

T.A. Bates. Nilston Rigg
27th November 1997

Thomas (If I may be so bold)

The evidence given to the Public Local Inquiry held on 14th October 1997 section 4.1 of the Proof of Evidence states:

‘In March 1981, the Parish Clerk on behalf of Haydon Bridge Parish Council applied for the addition to the definitive map and statement of a footpath from the A69 County road at Low Hall along Temple Houses Lane to join FP36 at the entrance to the sports field.’

The Parish Council made a second application in January 1985. Both applications are contained in the comprehensive ‘Proof of Evidence’ document.

At the PC meeting on 25th September 1997 there was initially only tepid support for the 1981 application however following debate the present council agreed to follow the line adopted by their predecessors. The Inspector’s report was issued on 14th January 1998 and also confirms that the Parish Council applied in 1981 and 1985 for the footpathpath to be added to the definitive map.

Mitch

Thoughts on leaving Haydon Bridge

By the time you read this I will have left Haydon Bridge where I have lived for 31 of my 74 years and where I have worked for almost half my working life, very happy and satisfying years they were.

Much of the credit for the work at the Health Centre is due to the high quality of service given by the reception and other ancillary staff which makes it so much easier for the doctors to do their jobs with a minimum of distraction and I would like to thank them all for the cheerful and efficient support they all gave me.

When I came here in 1966 I was to take on the work load being carried by two doctors, Dr Richard Bell in Radcliffe Road and Dr Ferguson in Tyneholme but to take on the combined work load of those two good doctors would have meant a list of about 2,800 patients which was too much for a rural practice so I drew a circle around the village and asked patients who lived outside that circle to find themselves doctors elsewhere, in Hexham or Haltwhistle. This created a smaller but concentrated list of about 2200 which I though was manageable.

The next innovation was to introduce an appointment system, the first in Tynedale, but an appointment system that insured that everyone who asked for an appointment should be offered one on that day and if the receptionist couldn’t find an ‘official’ space vacant they must refer the patient to me to resolve. Thus the system was to determine the speed at which I had to work and it seemed to work pretty fairly most of the time.

The third thing that I did was to send a letter to every patient explaining these changes and asking for their understanding and co-operation in their introduction. This I got in full measure and this laid the foundation of what has become a happy relationship.

I was getting into my car outside my house the other day when a young girl coming out of the school stopped, asked how I was and said she heard I was going to leave the village. I explained why and she said: “Well doctor, I hope you will be happy. We will never forget you!”

I couldn’t restrain my tears.

Thank you all, I feel to have been very privileged.

Dr High

Our former doctor supervised the removal mens loading of his furniture on Thursday 8th January. En-route to Yorkshire he decided to stay overnight in an Hotel where sadly he unexpectedly died.

We couldn’t restrain our tears

Thank you for all your care for so many people in the Haydon Bridge area during your years as our doctor, and for all your campaigning for better health care for all.

Index

HAYDON BRIDGE BOWL OVER ALLENDALE

Haydon Bridge Carpet Bowls Club clinched their second win of the season when they beat Allendale at Haydon Bridge Community Centre on Thursday 15th January.

Before I start describing the match I will briefly write about how the game is played.
Each team is split into four teams and four players. The teams are lettered A,B,C and D, and each team plays four games. There are two carpet numbered one and two. Every team plays two games on each carpet, consisting of four games. Haydon Bridge were as such.

The first name on every team is known as the skip. Allendale made the brightest start when their A team beat the Haydon Bridge A Team 7-5 on carpet one. When the two B teams met on carpet two, Haydon Bridge had a big lead after three ends, but could not stop the visitors 6 on the last win.
The best team of the night was Haydon Bridge C team, who won all four games, 8-1 5-3 5-3 & 6-0.
The D team made a good start by winning their first two games, but crumbled and lost the third game 4-1. A further defeat followed in their last game, when they were 8-0 down after victory was not enough for Allendale.

The final score was Haydon Bridge 63 Allendale 62.
All Haydon Bridge players played very well and deserved to win, although it was close.

Everybody had a lovely supper and a very enjoyable evening.
If anyone would like to take up carpet bowls, just come along to the Community Centre on Tuesday nights. It starts at 7.30 and costs 50p. All will be made most welcome.

Joseph Tulip

HAYDON BRIDGE NATURE CLUB

The club meets on alternate Thursday evenings, from 7.15 to 9.15 in the Community Centre and has seventy members. During the winter months there is a programme of speakers on topics of local, general and travel interest. From April through the summer months there is a programme of evening walks and daytime excursions. During this winter we have had, for example, a talk on falconry and conservation of birds of prey with live exhibits of a kestrel and two buzzards, a speaker from the Environment Agency on river fish protection, a talk on gardening at Wallington Hall and landscapes of the American West. The February programme is as follows:

Thursday 5th February
The Great Whinsill in the National Park (Derek Proudlock)

Thursday 19th February
Local Mines and Quarries (Billy Nichol)

All are welcome to come along.
Sue Harley

February Garden

This time of year our garden wildlife often needs a bit of help to survive. You probably have a bird-box and put food out for the birds but with a little extra effort now you can ensure a rich variety of wildlife in the summer garden. Here are a few suggestions.

Water is essential to all life so it is important to provide fresh water during freezing conditions. A pond, even a small one is a magnet to wildlife. Now is a good time to move some shrub or plants to make space for a garden pond.
Plant a tree, shrub, climber or conifer which will provide shelter, nesting site andlor food for birds. Small birds like the wren will huddle together inside nest-boxes and others will find shelter in thick climbers like ivy and cotoneaster. Berry-bearing bushes such as pyracantha and hawthorn will attract winter visitors.

Goldfinches and greenfinches love sunflowers, teasel and thistle seed heads.
Include late flowering species in your flowerbeds so that butterflies can stock up on nectar before hibernation.

The commonest butterflies in my garden, small tortoiseshells, red admirals and peacocks, lay eggs only on nettles, and their caterpillars feed on nettles so if you want these butterflies in your garden you have to have nettles. These species hibernate in sheds and outhouses. Small tortoiseshells try to overwinter in my house, which it is too warm for full hibernation, and sunny days find them fluttering at closed windows, wasting precious energy. I scoop them up in a glass to transport them and release them on a shelf in a cool outhouse.

Ladybirds often hibernate in clusters on old herbaceous plant stems, in bundles of twigs or in low evergreen shrubs like lavender so tidy up the winter garden with care.. Ladybirds are our most effective alternative to spraying because both adults and larvae consume vast quantities of aphids from early spring onwards.

This month - Plenty to do when the ground isn't frozen, tidying border and clearing weeds. Top dress herbaceous borders with a general fertiliser , such as Growmore.

Move shrubs that are in the wrong place while they are dormant. Plant bare-rooted trees and shrubs.

Due to incredibly mild weather my snowdrops have been flowering from mid-Jan. To increase bulbs, lift and divide after flowering.

Wisteria must be pruned in summer and winter to encourage flowering spurs. All sideshoots pruned last summer should now be cut back to just two buds.

Prune late-flowering clematis. Cut down all top growth to about 6" above soil level.

James Thin

A DIFFERENT WORLD

As the dusk of evening began to mantle the village a partridge’s rasping call was the only sound heard, coming from the fields along Land Ends road. Thin clouds scudded across a pale moon as a warm glow of gaslight sprang up and gleamed through the lace curtained windows reflecting in the river at the Tanyard.

A small boy stood on the pavement in Church Street waiting for the lamp-lighter to come around “Granny Irwins” corner shouldering the pole which would bring life to gas lamps along the street. The great white face of the church clock struck six from its place of prominence far up amongst the inky blackness of night - or so it seemed to a small boy. Presently he arrived, expertly guiding the pole through the opening of the lanterns, freeing the pilot lights and leaving yellow pools of brightness before disappearing across the railway gates and on toward the lamps up the North bank.

Having watched once again the evening ritual in silence and solemnity befitting an event as important to him as when the Graf Zepplin flew over Haydon Bridge with the roar of its great engines and a pervading smell of oil, the boy released his fists from the pockets of his grey shorts where rough scarred knees were prominent. Straightening out his holed pullover covering his grey flannel shirt, that was a size over big, he carried on with his game, making believe he was driving the local train from Newcastle to Carlisle as it steamed its way along the edges of the curb chugging with tackity boots clicking on the pavement as engine wheels over rail expansion joints ------“Klickety Klick - Klickety Klick - Klickety Klick”, “Shush, shush, shush,shush, shush,"
his little arms and elbows going twenty to the dozen like connecting rods between huge wheels as he rattled past some girls playing hop-scotch on the chalk marked pavement in front of Vickers's the Bakers while others, chanting some Magic incantation skipped expertly in and out of the rope swung by two contemporaries. Thanks to the wonderful invention of coal gas we kids in Haydon Bridge had a ready lit stage on the pavement where we could play a little longer in the dusk of an Autumn evening until we were called tired, weary but happy to bed.

Haydon Bridge was first lighted by gas on February 2nd 1860, just three years before the Methodist and Congregational chapels were built in 1863. In the same year the great discovery of the Spa-Well was made with all its magical healing and curative health restoring powers for the benefit of mankind whether he be the humble peasant or the landed gentry.

As news spread to the towns and cities of Tyneside and the coast about the Spa a great influx of strangers would arrive in Haydon Bridge during the summer months to partake of the healing waters taking up residence for a week or more with Mrs Wigham, proprieteress of the Belmont “Temperance Hotel”, or Mrs Weatherald, “Haydon Hotel”—1 sitting room and 2 bedrooms also furnished cottage, 2 rooms, or other apartments to let at Haydon Bridge.

After chapel or church on a pleasant summer evening it was the done thing to be seen taking a sedately stroll towards the Spa-Well. The ladies of quality in all their finery and the well heeled gentlemen, composed, calm, unruffled in bowler hat, charcoal grey suit, spats and black fine leather boots, as they made their way breathing in the purity of air towards the beautifully situated Spa-Well overlooked by the Valley of the Tyne.

There they would partake of the medicinal waters before strolling back the mile long road with bottles of Spa water collected in pockets or beaver skin handbags, the gentlemen raising his bowler to the next party of young ladies met on the way, and with a twinkle in his eye and a sly smile on his lips would greet them - “A most pleasant evening ladies.” Really, what was in his mind was the newly discovered fact that tea brewed with Spa-Well water restored a man to his youthful vigour, recaptured that which was lost and, with the knowledge that Haydon Bridge had only recently got its own new gas supply, had brought his own gas ring with him so that he could brew up in secret amidst the stillness of his hotel room in The Belmont Temperance Hotel. The Gas Works at Haydon Bridge was situated down river from the bridge in a location known as the “Ealand”,
A typical Victorian building of stone and brick and quite pleasing to the eye with graceful curves. A large chimney at the rear emitted fumes and smoke created by the great red hot fires in the retort-house attended by Albert Paxton and Anderson Robinson. The gas storage tank, or Ometer was situated on the other side of the railway lines in a field next to the Elmfield tennis courts and a Mr Mitchinson was the manager in the 1930s and a Mr Brooks in the 1940s until the company failed. A detachment of the Essex regiment billeted in the Old Church hall were nearly gassed one winter’s night when a gas pipe fractured and soldiers in army vests and long johns tumbled out into Church Street spluttering and gasping for air.

When gas came to Haydon Bridge in 1860 it was soon found to have another use, the complete do it yourself Suicide Kit, safe, clean and sure - that is until things go wrong as was found by a Mr Murdo Cameron from Ballachulish in Scotland, an itinerant Quarry man living in the Tanyard who had fallen on hard times. He decided to gas himself by attaching a rubber tube to a gas tap and into a hessian sack that he put over his head where upon he sat down at the table with head in hands awaiting glorious oblivion. As he turned in the gas tap it hissed for a couple of seconds then . . . . ‘click ‘ the penny ran out in the meter No Gas ! so he decided it would be a sinful waste of another penny in the meter, for he would be dead within seconds and he wouldn’t be around to make use of all that gas going to waste.

The small boy suddenly remembered that it was Friday evening as he sped along “Clanking and Chugging”, ---- ”Clanking and Chugging”, towards Tom Clemitson’s Shop, Saddler - Harness Maker and General Ironmonger, where he had to call for a gas mantle before he closed at 6.30. As the little boy began to slow down the wide trouser bottoms of his shorts flapped less as his arms and elbows ground to a halt with a great “Sheeeeeeeee” as the engine let steam off.

There was a soft “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle”, sounding of the bell on the door as the little boy entered the shop. Once inside his imagination ran riot! The shop smelled of dust, leather and saddle soap. Zinc buckets hung from the ceiling with a couple of Zinc bath tubs in the corner where shovels, spades, axes and stiff bristled brooms were all leaning at erratic angles. To one side stood a large black drum, containing paraffin oil, the pervading aroma from this constantly dripping drum was delightful. Walking sticks, fancy baskets, drinking horns lined the walls and shelves and ironmongery of every description cluttered the floor.

As the little boy eased nearer the counter the waxy smell of candles were predominant. There were boxes of Mouse traps, sticky little bags of fly-catchers, blocks of Donkey sandstone for scrubbing the doorstep and black lead for the grate, bags of “bluing” for a whiter wash and oh so many other things. Away at the back of the counter out of reach of little boys, were the jewels of the shop --- the Gas Mantles! Packed with care, in white boxes, these gossamer knitted little domes rested on two ledges to protect them from bruises. They were so fragile that a delicate touch of the hand might make them disintegrate and you would have to spend another 2½d to replace the broken one.

Today as I stand and look along church street, the gas lamps are gone. Tom Clemitsons ironmomgers is gone and even the butchers that followed in the same shop many years later has gone. But………..I wonder what M Armstrong, Grocer of 13 Church Street would think if he saw an old pensioner in his 70s flash past his shop window along the edge of the pavement curb, boots clicking as if going over rail expansion joints, old arms and elbows going ten to the dozen like connecting rods between the great green wheels of the ‘Flying Scotsman’ - puffing, spluttering, slavering and quietly breaking wind with the sheer effort of it all --- “hush,,hush,shhhhhhhh,
hush, hush, shhhhhhhhhh”

But of course that was a long time ago, long “before the War”. But I still get the urge……….. I may have to try it one night after dark.

OWLD TAWNY

Some more letters

It is with some sadness that I pen this letter but I feel so sorry when I read the criticisms of the Haydon News and the Editor’s ‘style’.

First let me say I have been involved with the ‘news’ for many many years, both as a distributor, some time committee man and sometimes have taken time out to write articles to help keep it going. I have turned out in the snow and rain to deliver as few as three pages, one and a half of those adverts and oft times barely readable.

Successive editors have stuck to their task and we now have a very clear and well sponsored ‘News’. Let us give the loyal advertisers the extra pages and should ‘SBM’ or ‘Mitch’ appear too often then perhaps the critics could attend the various events etc. and report in their own inimitable style.

Magna

Three young ladies write

We are responding to the recent criticism of Mitch’s editorial style. We feel that his original style and sense of humour positively enhance the Haydon News, making it not only informative but also an entertaining read.

We personally would not have the courage, still time and dedication to edit this publication, whereas Mitch has given Haydon Bridge an international status on the Internet.

Perhaps more appreciation than criticism should be given.

Well done Mitch!

Ed’s note: The editorial page of the Haydon News is now automatically translated into German, French, Portuguese, Italian and Spanish by one of the major Internet ‘search engines’.

So on behalf of all of us present at the bus stop may I say a big Thank You - we all appreciated your kindness very much.

J.E.S.

Index