THE HAYDON NEWS ON LINE
Pre-cast concrete beams being lifted into position during construction of the Gee’s Wood Bridge over the Langley Burn
(see page 9)
Photographs by kind per- mission of the bypass contractors CVC Highway Solutions
INSIDE THIS ISSUE PAGE
Editorial 2 Parish Council Notes 3/16 Historical Notes 4/5/6/7 Issue 6 Correspondence 7/8 Bypass Update 9 Local Artists’ Exhibition 9 W.I. 11 July Dr. Steve Ford 10/11 Church Pages 12/13 2008 Road Link Annual Report 14 Housing Needs Survey 15 www.haydon-news.co.uk ‘Top of the Pots’ 15 Notices 16 e mail: [email protected] Crossword 20 HAYDONPublished NEWS by The Friends Of Haydon Bridge Page 1 THE HAYDON NEWS ON LINE EDITORIAL COMMENT
So the planners have once again ignored the views of local The Haydon News was Established in 1979 and preceded people and given the go ahead to another large housing development in Haydon Bridge, this time 40 houses on the on and off for over forty five years by a church Parish Showfield. On this occasion not only did they receive letters of Magazine, The Haydon News is published by the Friends objection from residents and the Parish Council but also of Haydon Bridge and is written, printed, collated and listened to, but perhaps did not hear, the objections raised by delivered by volunteers. residents and a local councillor at their planning meeting. The Tynedale Planning Department also have a copy of the results Around 1,000 copies of The Haydon News are distributed of the recent Local Housing Needs Survey, commissioned by free of charge, ten months of the year, throughout the the Parish Council, and a draft copy of the Haydon Parish Plan parish of Haydon in Tynedale, Northumberland. and Village Design Statement. Both these documents stress the need for small developments to meet local housing needs in The Haydon News on line doesn’t replace this traditional line with the findings of the Haydon Bridge Housing Survey. It would seem, from the outcome of the Planning Meeting, that publication but allows those living outside our delivery local knowledge and local need account for very little. It area, who have a connection with or an interest in the would also appear that their own Local Development parish, to keep in touch. Framework for the Tynedale District doesn’t mean a lot when it comes to decision making. Welcome then to The Haydon News On Line, a web site Looking ahead to the end of the current Local Development that will build throughout the coming months and already Framework in 2021 Tynedale Council’s ‘vision’ for the includes an archive of earlier editions. District states; ‘ In 2021 Tynedale will have retained the many positive Contributions to The Haydon News in the form of characteristics that make it such an attractive place to live, articles or letters are welcome, especially from those visit and work. The scale of development will have been modest and there will not have been significant physical with a family connection within the parish. change. The character of the built environment will have been Please email us: maintained and in some cases enhanced. New development email: [email protected] will have been sensitively located and designed. The amount of green field land taken up by development will Dennis Telford. (Chairman) have been minimised and best use will have been made of Friends of Haydon Bridge. existing buildings and previously developed land.’ Except in Haydon Bridge? MP
WELCOME TO THE PARISH OF HAYDON, NORTHUMBERLAND ENGLAND
THE HAYDON BRIDGE BYPASS BEING CONSTRUCTED THROUGH GEE’S WOOD AND OVER THE LANGLEY BURN
See also front cover and page 9
The Friends of Haydon Bridge is a voluntary organisation and is responsible for the publication of The Haydon News. Some of the revenue costs of publishing around 1,000 copies of The Haydon News, ten times each year, are met by advertising fees. To support the revenue costs and provide capital expenditure for new equipment etc., The Friends of Haydon Bridge rely on donations If you have enjoyed our on line magazine and would like to make a donation, please email the editors in the first instance
Thank you
THE HAYDON NEWS Editors: Mike Parkin. Dennis Telford. www.Haydon-News.co.uk Site construction by Henry Swaddle. Page 2 HAYDON NEWS PARISH COUNCIL NOTES from the meetings in June 2008
Risk Assessment Meeting. June 5th. The sign for Haydon Bridge at the Old A letter was received from NCC about 5 councillors attended. Repeater Station junction is to be the temporary closure of Land Ends The meeting was held to discuss risk replaced. The present sign is faded. Road from June11th for 21 days to assessment regarding items owned by A snagging list is to be presented to stabilise a landslip. the Parish Council, activities undertaken the bypass construction company as An invitation to a consultation meeting by the Council and its employees and the the work nears completion. on proposed Post Office closures was adequacy of the Council’s insurance. The council was informed that Land received from Tynedale Council. A review was carried out of the previous Ends Road is to be resurfaced when Parish Projects. year and then consideration given to work on the bypass is completed. Parish Plan future activities. A councillor is to make enquiries The council was told that responses have It was agreed that the Parish Council about brown signs being placed on the been received from some of the would carry out a risk assessment of A69 at the junctions into the village. ‘partners’ in the Parish Plan each of the Parish Plan Projects as they Concern was expressed about the implementation. progressed. The clerk is to investigate hidden dip, beneath the bypass bridge, At a meeting held with the Hadrian’s adding the newly acquired Brown Signs on the Langley road. It presents a Wall Project Team, one of the ‘partners’, to the insurance policy. hazard to cars as they move off after development time was offered to the parking outside Shaftoe First School Extraordinary Meeting of the Council Parish Plan Group and PC as Haydon and to vehicles overtaking parked cars. to discuss the Showfield Housing Bridge is considered one of the NCC Highways Dept is to be Development. June 16th. development areas close to the Hadrian’s contacted about creating a lay-by 6 councillors attended with 10 members Wall World Heritage site outside the school. of the public and 2 representatives from The next stage in the Parish Plan Members of the council agreed that it Bellway, the developers. process is the setting up of a Parish Plan was a priority to find out what work is Development Group. This will liaise A councillor told the meeting that he to be done to improve the appearance with the Community Trust over sources would attend the Tynedale Planning of Ratcliffe Road following the of finance for some of the Parish Plan Meeting on June 18th, when the completion of the bypass, and who is projects. Showfield Development will be responsible for carrying out The Parish Council will be consulted, considered, and give the views improvements. NCC Highways to be regarding long term expenditure expressed by the council. contacted. commitments, once feasibility studies There are no changes to the layout of the NCC are also to be contacted about the have been undertaken and costs are development. The only change made is lighting of the Church clock. known. to the proportion of the homes for sale Planning Applications Library and for rent (See page 15 for details). Several councillors complained about The lease on the library building expires Several objections were raised by the Tynedale Council Planning this month. As the PC has not yet agreed members of the public and councillors. Department’s decision to give a long term commitment to the They included: flooding issues; access permission for the proposed community run library scheme, and will and safety; privacy of the houses development at the Showfield. Many not do until all costs are known, NCC overlooked by the development; the felt that the process had been rushed, Library Services are to be requested to siting of the play area next to the that there had been a lack of renew the lease. This can then be bungalows and substation; services and consideration given to the local transferred to the PC when/if the PC drainage problems; the scale of the objections raised and that the decide to go ahead with the scheme. development. development is far too large to meet Parish Council Meeting held on June local needs. The council is to write to Continued on page 16 26th. the planning ombudsman explaining its concerns. Public Participation. A request was made for information The council was informed that a large PARISH COUNCILLORS from the Planning Dept. on the puddle is forming during heavy rain at external finish to the buildings in the Esmond Faulks (chairman) the south end of the old bridge. Drain Showfield development. Mr. D Charlton 684505 cleaning to be requested. The council raised no objections to the Mrs. E Charlton 684505 A complaint was made about the application by the Environment Mrs. V Fletcher 688872 wheelie bins left on the verge of Land Agency for a Certificate of lawfulness Mr. M R Parkin 684340 Ends Road. Mr. D Smith* 684480 for the proposed construction of new Council Meeting flood defence at Brigwood/Innerhaugh Mr. R Snowdon 688871 9 councillors present. Mews. Mr. E Brown*. 684084 Alan Sharpe, the newly elected NCC Mr H Oliver 688856 Correspondence councillor for Haydon and Hadrian, Ms J Males The council was informed that the attended the meeting. Mrs J Thompson. 684376 work on the old bridge, postponed (* also a Tynedale Councillor) Highways from last year, is to begin on June The brown signs for tourists are now in 30th. A site compound is to be set up Parish Clerk place at the Esp Hill junction. near the riverside picnic area. Mrs. C McGivern 688020(after 6pm) HAYDON NEWS Page 3 HISTORICAL NOTES OF HAYDON BRIDGE - Dennis Telford
This month I continue my history of stone. John Heslop stated that there It takes some imagination and prior coal mining in the parish by visiting were plenty of support timbers but the knowledge to picture today’s quiet Whitechapel Colliery and Whinnetley stone came down between two props setting as a hive of industry, but Drift. and head trees and he thought that certainly that is what it was until 1935. death was practically instantaneous. To reach the coal sidings and screens It is interesting that Whitechapel The working place was twenty six from the colliery legitimately must have Colliery started life as a lead mine, the inches high and the Pit Deputy, John been quite a journey for the 20c drift being dug in a northerly direction Wardle, suggested that Robinson may Whitechapel miners. The only metalled from just above the Newcastle to have been scraping ‘scabby coal off road was via Ridley Hall, crossing the Carlisle road, east of Whitechapel Farm. the stone but it was very difficult to get river Allen, and the railway over the Unexpectedly, a coal seam was struck off’. Morralee Bridge, and even then a good after a few hundred yards and as a half mile further past Morralee Farms to consequence the miners applied to It was agreed at the inquest that the the coal sidings. change the contract from lead mining to deceased had been, ‘the victim of an coal mining. Perhaps the landowners unfortunate accident which it was Ordnance Survey Maps show a ‘ford’ saw the production process associated impossible to foresee’. crossing the Tyne, immediately south of with coal as an easier option than that of Whitechapel, and a path through East lead, because they are known to have By 1928 the South Tyne Colliery Morralee Farm to the sidings. I wonder; cancelled the original contract and set up Company from Haltwhistle had did the miners use this river crossing? obtained a controlling interest, Sir their own coal mining operation from What we do know from stories handed the same drift. Arthur Wood was elected chairman of the reconstructed board of directors down is that the most direct route, if Owned by the Haydon Bridge Coal and Cathedral Buildings, Dean Street, unofficial and somewhat precarious, was Company from 1917 with offices at 15 Newcastle had replaced 15 Church to take a trip in a tub or skip on the aerial Church Street, Haydon Bridge, 6,000 Street as the company address, tramway. There were two particular acres of land were purchased by the although offices were retained on problems for the miners using this colliery. 4,000 acres belonging to Chuch Street. method of transport. Firstly, the timber Greenwich Hospital, 1,200 acres to the supports of the aerial flight were unsafe Hon. F. Bowes-Lyon and the remaining Whitechapel was unusual in that the during windy conditions, having been 800 acres were purchased from the coal from the colliery was carried by known to have blown over on occasions. Duke of Northumberland. Whitechapel an aerial flight of steel ropes on timber And secondly, if the weather turned Farm, after which the colliery was supports across the A69 road, farm unkind it was likely that the occupants of named, was formerly part of the fields, and the River Tyne to a siding the skips would get a good soaking. Greenwich Hospital estate. on the Newcastle to Carlisle railway line; a short distance east of the The early prosperity of the Whitechapel Whitechapel Colliery was a major Morralee Farms. It was here that the Colliery, when employment rose from source of employment locally in the coal was screened and graded before forty two miners in 1921 to one hundred 1920’s and early 30’s and many families being moved to Haydon Bridge station and eighty three in 1925, was not in Haydon Bridge and the wider parish goods yard. continued into the 1930s. Even though depended upon the pit for their To pave the way for the construction 40,000 tons of coal was mined in 1933 a livelihood. The colliery produced an of this aerial flight, the company receiver had to be called in; he took annual output of over 30,000 tons of purchased Low Morralee from the charge of the business in 1934 and coal and by 1925 employed over one Hon. Francis Bowes-Lyon in 1922. although ninety seven miners were hundred and eighty men and boys. employed in that year, the colliery and It is unlikely that many of our readers Low Morralee were offered for sale. One of the Whitechapel employees from will have visited the site of the Whitechapel Colliery closed for good on Haydon Bridge, Alexander Robinson of Whitechapel Colliery coal sidings, at 22nd June 1935 and as the underground the Oddfellows Hall, Shaftoe Street, was the west end of the Lipwood railway and on bank plant was removed, killed by a fall of stone at the colliery on bridge and running alongside and to management and miners accepted that the morning of Saturday 8th December the north of the Newcastle to Carlisle there was no prospect of it re-opening 1928. This was the second fatality at the line. And in truth there is little point in although it was estimated that a very colliery, Jonty Pattinson of Melkridge a visit unless, like me, it is your large quantity of coal suitable for gas, having previously been killed there by a pleasure to trace the gradually coking, household, manufacturing and fall of stones. disappearing tracks of our parish’s steam was still workable. Alexander Robinson was just thirty one industrial history. years of age and had lived in the village There are few significant remains to Managers at Whitechapel Colliery from for two years, he left a widow and four speak of, other than the raised the 1920s included John Cummings, children. embankments, long ago grassed over W. Renshaw, C.L. Waddel and At the inquest held in the Haydon Bridge and planted with silver birch, on which C. Hopper, but it is today’s Haydon Town Hall, John Heslop of Haydon the four private sidings ran into the Bridge connections with John Wardle, a Bridge said he was working alongside coal depot. There are also the almost colliery official, Deputy and Under the deceased when he heard a stone fall. unrecognisable traces of the stone Manager, that allows us to dwell a little When he went to investigate, he found built, No.12 Railway Cottages. longer on the history of the colliery at his work mate pinned underneath the (More of that story at a later date.) Whitechapel and the Haydon Bridge Page 4 HAYDON NEWS Haydon Bridge Colliery Sidings 13th May 1921
Lipwood Bridge
Private Sidings
1: length 51 yds 2: length 55 yds 3: length 47 yds 4: length 25 yds
The sketch above shows the Haydon Bridge Colliery Sidings at Morralee as represented by North Eastern Railways on an agreement reached with the colliery in May 1921. My thanks to John Irving for a copy of this agreement
To the left a 2008 view Haydon Bridge’s best known haulage of the site of Haydon business, when he encouraged Robbie Bridge Coal Company Tait to buy a lorry instead of a horse and sidings alongside the cart and signed an agreement giving him Newcastle to Carlisle the authority to lead coal from railway at Morralee. Whitechapel Pit. The early days of My photograph R.G.Tait & Son and Taits’ Transport showing the raised Services! siding embankment is taken from the 14’6’’ John Wardle’s important position as gate shown on the Under Manager/Manager at Whitechapel sketch above. Colliery doesn’t appear to have curtailed his strong sense of community spirit. Coal Company at 15 Church Street. wife of Jack Leathard and mother to He was a parish councillor and Vice John Wardle was thirty five years old John, Ann and Vivienne. Jack and Vi Chairman for a while, an ardent worker when he came to Whitechapel lived on Shaftoe Street before moving for the Methodist Church, and the Colliery in 1917, as an official for the as the first occupants into ‘Duorf’ on Co-operative movement, and an official Haydon Bridge Coal Company. Born in John Martin Street. of the local branch of the Order of 1882, John had been in coal mining all Oscar Wardle and his wife Winnie Buffaloes. John was a tenor in the his life and had graduated from pits at lived in ‘Donisthorpe’ on John Martin Haydon Bridge Male Voice Choir and a Low Fell and Gateshead, Fatfield, Pity Street, but sadly Oscar was killed member of various village concert Me and Staindrop before moving into during the second world war. parties where his singing and clog the offices of the Haydon Bridge Coal dancing was heard and seen to great Company at 15 Church Street, Haydon Vi and Oscar’s introduction to Haydon Bridge and their father’s place of effect. Bridge. John was accompanied to Haydon Bridge by his wife Mary (nee work, while a source of amusement It was a shock and a great loss to the Davison) and their two children, Vi and now, was probably more than a little parish community and to Whitechapel Oscar. On 18th July 1920, when the worrying at the time. Colliery when John Wardle died on family lived at Haydon Bridge, another When John took his two children Tuesday 6th May 1930, aged 48 years. son, Jack Wardle, was born. underground at Whitechapel, he was He had been responsible for opening up called away to oversee an unexpected a new winning at Whitechapel when he It is to Jean Wardle, the wife of John’s situation in another part of the mine drove into an old working that was filled youngest son, the late Jack Wardle, and and left the two youngsters sitting on a with contaminated stagnant water. As a two of their six children, Barbara and box to await his return. John returned result he developed Typhoid Fever and Eileen, to whom I am most grateful for to his home and office on Church passed away after a short illness. helping me put together this pen picture Street to be greeted by Mary his wife. John Wardle’s obituary stressed his; and photographs of an important “Where are the bairns?” ‘Loyalty in all his work’ and during his official at Whitechapel Colliery during Imagine her response when John had residency in our parish; ‘He rendered its most productive years. to admit that he had forgotten them valuable help in those matters which and had left them in the pit! In the early years after John Wardle’s made for the betterment and welfare of Fortunately, Vi and Oscar were both the village’. arrival as an official, forty six miners returned safe and sound and were able were employed at Whitechapel and by to laugh about their experience and the It is particularly interesting that John the time of his death in 1930, one tale has evermore been shared with Wardle was credited with inaugurating a hundred and sixty one men were their family and descendants. And now social club for working men, during his employed. The peak of one hundred and the world! (www.haydon-news.co.uk) working life in Durham. eighty three having been reached in Almost fifty years later his son Jackie 1925. At Whitechapel, John Wardle was Wardle was responsible for providing a Older residents will remember Vi as the influential in the development of Working Men’s Club at Haydon Bridge. HAYDON NEWS Page 5
After John Wardle died, his wife Mary was allowed to stay in the flat above the Haydon Bridge Coal Company’s office at 15 Church Street, providing that she continued her work for the company. Mary’s task was to co-ordinate the distribution of the company’s coal, by producing destination labels and sticking them onto the coal filled railway goods wagons, when they arrived in the goods yard at Haydon Bridge from the sidings at Morralee. Mary moved to Shaftoe Street in 1939 and she survived her husband by thirty two years, during which time she was a strong supporter of the Methodist John Wardle an official at John Wardle and his wife Mary Church in Haydon Bridge. Whitechapel Colliery prior to John’s untimely death in 1930 ______
So Whitechapel Colliery closed on 22nd Whinnetley Drift are first-hand; it Haydon Bridge was such that they June 1935, but it will be remembered by having ceased production as recently continued to shop at the Haydon Bridge locals that for many years the remnants as 1964. Co-op and their provisions were delivered to their home at Haltwhistle. of a colliery that had breathed its last Coal from the Little Limestone Seam dust laden air, remained as a pit heap to at Whinnetley Drift was first mined In 1945 six miners were employed at the east of William Creer’s sawmill and by Thomas Bewick and Partners Whinnetley and these employment alongside the A69; until the re-alignment between 1871 and 1893 for their lead figures appear to have been static until of the road between Lipwood Hall and mines at Honeycrook. the 1950’s when the drift was taken over Whitechapel Farm in the late 1980s. Abandoned after the closure of the by P.W. Sharp Ltd., coal merchants of
Well known Haydonian, William lead mine in 1893, Whinnetley was Haltwhistle. The company was renamed Samuel Walton of ‘The Dene’, was a re-opened in the early 1940s, after the Whinnetley Coal Co. Ltd., and from Director of the Haydon Bridge Coal Whitechapel closed, by Frank Johnson 1955 until 1964 employed sixteen and Jack Routledge of Ratcliffe Road, miners. Company from 1923 to 1933 (see HN May 2001 for more on W.S. Walton) and Haydon Bridge. The drift at Whinnetley was directly John Cummings of ‘Glen Burn’ was Jack Routledge lived at 32 Ratcliffe north of Whinnetley Farm and Prior Colliery Manager until 1925. Road and had another important role in House and access was along a track W.S. Walton and John Cummings were our community; as the village bookie. running west below the Pit Cover’, off also Directors of the Langley Barony A job eventually passed on to his son the road between Standalone and Coal and Fireclay Company and, as I Ronnie of Church Street, by which Haresby Lonnin. The Whinnetley coal have recorded in previous ‘Notes, the time the business was legal (ish) ! mine appears to have been a successful fireclay company owned Stublick private enterprise and like Whitechapel Both Frank and Jack had worked at Colliery, from 1909 until 1926, and to the south west, the coal was of a high Whitechapel and it seems that other Harsondale Colliery, from 1902 until it quality. closed in 1952. Whitechapel miners, after the pit closed in 1935, were also offered a It is recorded that the main drift at It might be ‘The Tofts’ that overlooks share in the new Whinnetly company. Whinnetley went 800 yards underground Haydon Bridge from the northern Bill Foster recalls that his father, an and the coal was won from workings on horizon above our Catholic Church, but experienced miner who had worked at either side of the main track. In parts, in days gone by - ensconced with their the Blackett Pit at Melkridge, until it the seam was as low as twelve inches servants and maids in substantial closed in 1927 and then moved to but generally the miners worked in dwellings such as Haydon Lodge, The Whitechapel, was offered a partnership twenty four inches. Nook, Selwood House, Heaton Villa, in the new Whinnetley venture but Part way into the mine was the ‘dip’ in Bank House, Glen Burn, and The Dene turned it down. William (Snr.) did the main track to the north west, further - it was most definitely the toffs who move to Whinnetley from Whitechapel driving beyond this dip was eventually looked down from the North Bank on and worked there for a while, but as an abandoned and a new track was opened the artisans and their obedient wives, employee of F. Johnson & Partners. up in the direction of the old weshin’ and mendin’ pit claes, in the Whitechapel workings where it was Frank Johnson lived at 8 Ratcliffe terraced and back to back houses known that thousands of tons of coal Road and Haydonians of my clustered around the Haydon bridge. remained undisturbed. generation and older may remember Perhaps it still is ? Frank’s son Billy Johnson who was When nearby Morwood pit was closed secretary of the Haydon Bridge Flower in 1960 and the water that had been WHINNETLEY DRIFT MINE Show committee for many years. Billy previously pumped out of the workings Fewer families in our parish relied on worked on the railway and when he there began to find its way into and Whinnetley for their income than on the moved to Haltwhistle with his wife around the Whinnetley drift, it was a pit at Whitechapel, but memories of Lizzie (nee Bell), their commitment to blow from which this mine in our parish Page 6 HAYDON NEWS never recovered. CORRESPONDENCE Mrs Johnson of Haydon Bridge and Mrs Hunter the hind's wife, living in a tied Plans were put in place to ‘lose’ the Wallsend. cottage nearby. excess water into the old lower workings The dining room and drawing room from Whitechapel but unfortunately the Tyne & Wear. 20th May 2008. were out of bounds to me usually. driving towards the Whitechapel I helped feed the farm cats and the workings resulted in a further flood of Dear Editors, chickens which I enjoyed. water and the corroded water pipes and I remember Haydon Bridge with old fashioned rusting diesel pumps, one affection from the time being sent to Sometime in 1943, I returned to half way down and one at the bottom of Langley-on-Tyne as a war-time Wallsend and didn't encounter the the drift, were unable to cope and it was evacuee. I was billeted with a farming Dryden family again. decided to abandon the mine. family. Several years ago, on a visit to Haydon Whether a few months more driving, Bridge, I met someone who said towards the lower Whitechapel I cannot remember the exact dates but Christine was living in Jesmond, workings, would have successfully rid I entrained at Wallsend railway station Newcastle. Mrs Dryden had an aged Whinnetley of the underground water sometime during 1940 with other boy sister who visited West Deanraw on will never be known, however the plant and girl evacuees. The train took us occasions and she lived in Jesmond. and machinery, grown old in a regime of west in the direction of Carlisle. It was Despite being practically blind, a more make do and mend rather than any the first train journey in my eleven gracious and kindly person would be programme of planned maintenance, was year old life, and I was in a group hard to find whereas her sister, long past its expected life span and the destined for Langley-on-Tyne. Henrietta, had a quick temper at times, mine closed in February 1964. Other groups went on to places further like her son James. down the line. My group was under The old pit yard at Whinnetley is still the care of Mrs. Fenwick of Wallsend. I'm Wallsend born and bred but spent fenced off, but other than the putrid my entire working life in London. I We alighted at Haydon Bridge and water that has risen to the surface, there cannot recall any particulars of fellow went on to Langley-on-Tyne for is little of this piece of our industrial evacuees apart from one called Wilfred selection by local inhabitants who had heritage remaining in 2008. Memories Patterson from Wallsend. He lived in volunteered to take in an evacuee or of the Whinnetley Drift are still clear in Langley village. two. I was last to be chosen, with Miss the minds of those who worked there One evacuee at Langley school was a 14 Christine Dryden taking me to her however! year old from Gosport, Hants. He was parents’ home at West Deanraw Farm. the school bully and a Heslop Miss Christine was a beautiful young And of course there is no better way favourite. A local farmer's boy, Dodds, girl in every way. was another annoyance I remember. of recording our history than listening to those who were part of it. The Dryden family consisted of Mr & I liked Haydon Bridge but it has changed Mrs Dryden, Christine and her brother since the early 1940s. Next month I am sure you will enjoy James, both in their twenties. visiting Whinnetley Drift in the The Congregational Chapel has been put Christine I liked most of all. I always to secular use, a new bridge replaces the company of Haydonians who were thought she would marry the local employed there. old bridge and a large estate on its doctor Richard Bell, but never did fringes resembles an ugly looking apparently. carbuncle. THE MAN ON THE MONUMENT Sundays, I accompanied the family Dr. Richard Bell, the Rev. Sinclair and I cannot escape the notion that our to Haydon Bridge Congregational national politicians, directed from the old Mrs. Johnson who helped out on Church and the occasional shopping wash days at the isolated farmhouse are wings by the Brussels bureaucrats, are and cinema expedition to either making this country I love, a laughing remembered with affection. Mr. Heslop, Hexham or Carlisle. They did their headmaster at Langley-on-Tyne, is best stock. And then I read in May’s Parish best for me but school was a Council Notes it has been suggested that forgotten. I see the old school is put to problem. Heslop, the elderly male residential use. the broken bayonet on the war memorial teacher made my life a misery. He be replaced with a piece of wood!!! I think of my fellow evacuees who, if lived in the adjacent school house. still alive, must be well into their Until last month, it could be argued that West Deanraw is an isolated farm and our local politicians represented an seventies like myself. I found it lonely, also it was a long I found it a lonely life and returned element of sanity in the Whitehall farce walk to and from school. where acts of idiocy appear to be home well before the end of the war. On Saturdays, I accompanied Miss common place. Now I’m not so sure! Christine to Haydon Bridge (It always Yours sincerely,
Surely those who have had to be 'Miss Christine' or 'Master Norman Wall. made the ultimate James'), a class thing. sacrifice for our country I didn't receive pocket money but deserve the very best in Thank you so much Norman for never went short. My mother never remembrance. recalling, for our readers, your time failed to send comics, sweets, then a at Langley as an evacuee. The Haydon Bridge bicycle. On one occasion she and an We are so grateful to those prepared memorial was originally Aunt came to visit and were given tea to share their memories of our parish, unveiled on September in the farm kitchen where I usually through the columns of The Haydon 25th 1921. took my meals with domestic help like News. HAYDON NEWS Page 7 And now! Thank you again and I look forward to HAYDON BRIDGE NATURE CLUB A message from an ex Haydonian who my regular delivery of The Haydon 2008 Summer Walks Programme will be remembered by older members News. Walks start at 6.45pm from the of our community and indeed, Yours sincerely, meeting point given. still has relatives living among us. Joe Morton. If in doubt about the walk taking ______place due to bad weather, please Halifax, confirm with the leader. 27th May 2008. NORDA MILBURN Dear Editors, Thursday 10th July: Elrington, You may recall that Ann Elliott, a Threepwood and Woodhall Mill Farm. Please find enclosed my subscription for correspondent last month, sought 4 miles. The Haydon News and a donation to information on Norda Milburn who Meet: Woodhall Mill Farm, Lowgate your funds. I find the magazine most lived in the Settlingstones area. Road. interesting as a former resident for 30 Alan Howard. years, born and bred at Haydon Bridge. We have been able to help Ann in her search, thanks to our Haydon News 24th July: Fell above Acomb and I lived with my parents at ‘Rose Lea’ on reader Mrs. Margaret Hawkins of East Codlaw Dene. 3 miles. Brigwood and my mother used to tell me Land Ends, who lived beside Norda at Meet: The Pant, Acomb. North of that years ago, my late father was a Greystoke. Miners’ Arms. GR 935665 chauffeur/gardener for a Mr. Campbell Pauline Nichols. Tel. 681634 who used to live at ‘The Rambler’ on Thank you Margaret. Brigwood. I remember my mother All are welcome on the Haydon Bridge ______Nature Club’s Summer walks. telling me that my father used to take Mr. Campbell to the Spa at Harrogate BALSAM BASHING ALONG THE RIVER for his health. One thing I remember is that his son Leslie, who was a solicitor at Approximately 23 people turned up for this year’s annual ‘Balsam bashing’ event on Sunderland, used to send my father a Monday 16th June. The results of last year’s labour can be seen along the river bank whole ham every Christmas, in near the picnic area where large areas, previously infested, are now clear of the weed appreciation of his kindness to his father. and native species of flora and fauna can re-establish. The ham used to arrive by rail and the porter used to bring it to our house on It is proposed that another ‘bashing’ session be held on the 23 July and volunteers the sack barrow. Every year he would are welcome, to rid our riverside of the intrusive pests. say, “Here it is again!” BALSAM When I married I moved next door to Laurie and Kitty Thompson at number Himalayan Balsam. 20 Strother Close. I was interested to Scientific Name: Impatiens glandulifera see their son’s name, Alan Thompson, in Other names: Policeman's Helmet, Indian Touch-Me-Not, the February copy of The Haydon News Ornamental Jewelweed, Pink Peril, Poor Man's Orchid. which a cousin kindly sent me. I used to work as a bus conductor on the A large succulent annual, introduced in 1839 to Kew ‘United’ in those days and had many a Gardens as a greenhouse plant, Balsam escaped to the wild laugh with the passengers. and is now naturalised in the British Isles. Balsam is very invasive and should be removed when I am surprised to hear that the owners of found. It is in the same genera as the colourful, bedding ‘Rose Lea’ have changed the name. It Impatiens or Busy-lizzies, but grows much taller - up to 2 was a very appropriate name, as my late metres high. father used to grow rambling roses on a Preferred sites are moist areas, usually along river banks, rustic fence halfway down the garden, but it colonises many other areas. Dense stands suffocate and also on a stone wall which divided it other plants so when it dies away in the winter, river banks are left bare and more from the next door house. liable to erosion. ‘Rose Lea’, as it was called, is divided A single plant can set about 800 seeds, The black, spherical seeds are about 2mm to off, or should I say semi detached, from 3mm across and remain viable for about 2 years, they are buoyant and can travel ‘Sunny Lea’. ‘Rose Lea’ and ‘Sunny along waterways to infest new areas, even germinating under water. Lea’ must have been one big house at one time, as in the hall a doorway has been blocked up. TYNE RIVERS TRUST CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN HAYDON BRIDGE
As I said, I find The Haydon News most Wednesday 23rd July. 6pm 8pm: Meet at picnic area (the Eiland) for Balsam bash and clean up, hopefully to cover some new ground. interesting. I read it and then pass it on to my daughter. She says she will never Monday 4th August. 6pm 8pm: Meet at picnic area (the Eiland) to learn about call Halifax her home. and start river sampling for invertebrates and chemicals.
I arrived here to work at Rowntree Sunday 10th August. 10.30am 1.30pm &