Northumberland. North Tyne Haulage. Thompson's transport

By Dr Clive Dalton

Thompson's North Tyne Haulage
Thompson's haulage wagons were icons in the North Tyne, and the following article which Bill Charlton found in a newspaper cutting (probably the Hexham Courant) in ??? when the late Tommy Thompson retired gives a good account of the company's history. There is no name of the journalist on the piece.

'End of road for haulier
'A successful Bellingham business has reached the end of the road after 75 years.
When James “Pimmer” Irving parked up his articulated lorry after his daily drive to the Iggesund factory at Workington last Thursday, he jumped down from the cab into retirement. And with his retirement came the announcement that his boss Tommy Thompson was also calling it a day.

'The name of Thompson has been synonymous with haulage in the North Tyne for most of this century, starting when Mr Thompson’s grandfather, Tom Thompson, carried goods form his Greenhaugh home by horse and cart.

'The haulage business proper was started by his son Hugh, who used a Model T Ford to carry goods around the North Tyne and beyond, gradually bringing in more modern Ford A wagons and early Bedfords.

'The business was doing well, but in 1941, tragedy struck when Hugh died at the early age of 42. His widow Elizabeth somehow managed to keep the business going during the war years, when the Army had requestioned most roadway lorries, and hauliers had to bring back into service vehicles which had been destined for the scrap yard.

'Tommy Thompson recalled: “I was 13 when my father died and I never got to sit my exams at school because I had to leave to help my mother run the business.”

'He was then called up for his National Service, so it wasn’t until he was 21 that he was able to take full part in the running of the business.

'Although he concentrated on the technical side of the business, Tommy often used to take wagons out himself, occasionally with unusual loads such as a party of prisoners of war from Raylees at Otterburn to Netherwitton.

'The Forestry Commission has been Thompson’s customer of over 50 years, starting when they used to take up men to drain the moors and plant trees, going on through the making of the roads within the Kielder forest, and continuing with the leading of timber all over the country. Thompson’s had the first hydraulic timber crane in England to load their wagons.

'The Commission was by no means the only customer, however, with much work done for British Gypsum, the Cement Marketing Board, British Ropes, Northumberland County Council, and local farmers.

'The business blossomed so that by the late 1960s and 70s, Thompson’s had 14 wagons on the road and they engendered great loyalty among the drivers.

'When Pimmer Irving retired, he had been with Thompson’s for 35 years and another driver Walter Nevin had done 41 years.

'Away from the cut and thrust of the business world, Tommy Thompson has always taken a full role in community life, serving on the former Bellingham Rural District Council and the Parish Council, as well as a 12-year stint as the only Independent candidate on Tynedale Council. He was also secretary of Bellingham Golf Club for 20 years and special constable for 25.

'A major heart attack four years ago persuaded him to take life a little easier, and he now enjoys making working model steam engine in the workshop at his home.

'There’s also a 1914 Matchless motor cycle he has been intending to restore for some time, and although he has bowed out of the haulage business at the age of 60, he still has property and farming interests to keep him occupied.

'There were mixed feelings for Tommy when he and Pimmer were invited along to Iggesund factory last week for a meal with the directors, and a special presentation for they had been going there ever since the factory opened.

'He said “I have been running the business down for some time and Pimmer was the only driver I had left. It seemed sensible that when he went, I should go too.

“ It’s been a very interesting life, but I don’t think I would like to be starting in business again now.

“When we started, we were carrying loads of three to five tons, but now it’s 20-25 tonnes, and there is so much paperwork it’s unbelievable.

“I’m pleased to say that all the time I was involved with the firm, we covered hundreds of thousands of miles and none of our drivers was ever involved in a serious accident.”

'Pimmer Irving marked his retirement with a memorable celebration in the Rose and Crown in Bellingham on Saturday.

Photos

Bill Charlton has obtained the following photos from the family . Bill says that the wagons were mainly Bedfords. Some had petrol engines of about 115 HP while others had older type Perkins Diesel engines.

Thompson wagon fleet taken at Charlton in the late 1950s. The caption at the bottom names the drivers from left to right as:
Jake Cowan, Alan Waite, Walter Nevin, Billy Charlton, Tommy Smith, Alec Wood, Billy Scott, Jim Forster.
The wagons with the covers on are loaded with plaster sheets from Cocklakes in Cumbria heading to building sites on Tyneside.

Thompson wagon fleet taken at Charlton in the late 1950s. The load of timber for
pit props from Kielder forest to go to pits in Ashington and county Durham.

The one cattle wagon in the Thompson fleet. The body on this R series Bedford was built by Bob Charlton at the Croft in Bellingham with help from his son Bill in 1948. Apart from carrying cattle and sheep, this wagon had the other key role of moving farm workers' furniture and personal effects each May when they changed jobs.

Photo of the cattle wagon crate under construction in 1945.
Lilian Charlton (left) and Alma Young.

Driver Alec (Hec) Wood beside his Austin petrol wagon
at Thompson's garage in Bellingham.

Jim Bell (left) and Walter Nevin, posing by a car in Thompson's yard that
has come to grief - details unknown!

Walter Niven (left) and Tommy Smith working on a Volvo articulate rig used to haul timber from Kielder to Whitehaven paper mills.
Photo taken by Bill Charlton in 1992.

Hugh Thompson – Bellingham haulage contractor
Memories from Eileen Walton (nee Thompson)

Hugh Thompson worked at a small coal pit at Shilburnhaugh in 1926, while at that time living in part of a rented farmhouse with Nan and Will Waite, (my aunt and uncle) and their three sons Alan, Victor, and Thompson. I was just a few month’s old then. Then in 1927 a fall in the pit meant it had to be closed down. Our family then moved back to Bellingham and rented the Bridge-End cottage from Hesleyside estate.

My father, Hugh Thompson was now driving his own wagon, and we nearly moved to Scotland as dad was awarded a contract for his wagon, making a road between Fort William and Fort Augustus, but it was all canceled due probably to the 1926/27 crash.

In 1928, my brother Tom was born at the Bridge-End cottage. However, my father went on with his work and by the 1930s had a couple of wagons, and he employed his brothers Harry and Bill for a new contract working on the road improvement scheme at Starward. They lived in a caravan during the week and on weekends came home, leaving a local chap to look after the caravan.

By 1932/33 my father had developed TB which was a killer in those days. When the first Council houses were built in Bellingham along Reedsmouth Road, we moved from the Bridge End cottage to one of the new houses. We also had a baby brother called Kenneth by then, but he died at 18m months of age in July 1934 of tubercular meningitis.

In 1936, dad went into Wooley Sanatorium but was their for only 3 months before returning home to look after the business, as November and May were very busy times as farm hands and their belongings moved from farm to farm. The cattle wagon was used to do all the moving of the farm hands’ furniture and personal effects, while the other wagons were working out of quarries and on local council work.

The business was going quite well by then, and my father had five wagons employing his two brothers along with Jake Cowan, Tommy Smith, and Noel Scott. Later on when Noel left to become an engine driver on the railways, his brother Cyril took his place, They all worked for Dad for quite a number of years before retiring.

The year 1939 saw the beginning of the war and the military took over our only new wagon and the next best one that we had, so we were once again left with older type wagons. The best one we had was converted into the cattle wagon, but it was involved in an accident at the Knot-of-the-Gate in Scotland and was written off. It had been transporting sheep from Catcleugh Farm to Carlisle when it ran off the road and down a steep embankment. No one was hurt as the two occupants bailed out.

By then my father was pretty ill and he died in May 1941 aged 42. My Mother kept the business going right up into her eighties.

In 1948 my brother Tom was demobilised from his National Service and became part of the business where he had a few idea’s of his own such as going to army surplus sales to acquire one or two wagons. By then Alan Waitt a cousin was a new driver, and a guiding hand too where he helped to arrange new contracts with a cement marketing company and British Gypsum at Cocklakes Carlisle. He also got work for the Forestry Commission transporting timber and did quite well right up into the late 1980s.

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories of the 1940s

Northumberland, Bellingham, history, dialect, humour, childhood memories

By Bill Charlton


I was born in July 1927 and my father, Robert Lowther Charlton ( known as Bob) and mother Lilian ( known as Lily) named me Anthony William Charlton (to be known as Bill). I had a brother Cliff and a sister Joan. The family lived at the Croft on the outskirts of the Bellingham village on the road to Wark and Hexham.

The Croft, Bellingham

I went to the Church of England Reed’s School in Bellingham where the school teachers were Miss Turnbull in the infants, Jean Milburn in the Juniors, and Mr Greener in the seniors, later to be followed by Joe Lumley.

Working at age 14

I reached the magic leaving age of 14 in the middle of the war in 1941 and started working as an apprentice joiner to Bob & Jim Milburn in Bellingham. Rather than finish my time I left, planning to be called up for military service , as I was keen to join the Navy but was too young.

I got a job cutting timber in 1943 around the Bellingham Show field and on Hesleyside estate with a contractor Jimmy Dixon from Wolsingham. My boss was Alexander Grigor from Aberdeen and after finishing around Bellingham we moved out to Highgreen, living in a van which was a converted old bus.

We cut the timber at a place called Gimmerston - all Scotts Pine and Norway Spruce. Then off we went to a place called Etherley near Bishop Auckland, and after a few weeks there we were moved to Fir Tree near Crook in Country Durham.

Then on to South Moor, near Stanley, with a temporary move to Helmsley in Yorkshire to cut out some dangerous Beech trees in Duncombe Park. One had blown down and killed a Canadian soldier as they were billeted in Nissin huts in the Park.

German prisoners
We were in Lodgings in Sproxton, a small village near by, and after a couple weeks we returned to South Moor and had quite a few acres of trees to deal with, so my boss engaged six German Prisoners from a near by camp to help with the task.

They were all good workers and caused no trouble. They used to walk about half a mile each way to come to work, and return to catch the prison bus back to camp in the afternoon. That’s where I had my 18th birthday, and the prisoners gave me a big bunch of Foxgloves which they picked coming through the plantation to work that morning! They were all good hands at using an axe to dress the trees out after they had been felled and must have preferred that to being in the front line.

The Royal Navy calls
A couple of weeks later in 1945 I achieved my ambition and was called up for the Royal Navy where I trained to be a Air Mechanic with the Fleet Air Arm. I was posted to a squadron of Sea Fires and Sea Hurricanes to be sent out to Trincomalee in Ceylon. After having embarkation leave, on our return to Lee on Solent, we were told it had all been cancelled, so there we stayed until our demob when I walked away in a brand new ‘utility’ suit and hat.

Bill Charlton

Back to trees
Returning home I managed to get work cutting timber again with H.D. Ward of Wolsingham who happened to be working at Lee Hall near Wark in the North Tyne. But when the job finished I started on the Forestry Commission and spent a few years with the roving team from Bellingham working at Pundershaw, Chirdon, Highfield, Byrness, and out as far as Edges Green, up the Military Road, which was the far out post of the Wark Forest.

During the years with the Commission I married in 1951 to Mary Patricia (nee Haldane) and we setup house at Brookside Place in Bellingham for a while before moving to a council house in Westlands. We stayed there for a few years before moving to our own house at No 8, The Croft.

I was sick of trees so changed my job again driving for Hugh Thompson, Haulage Contractors in Bellingham where I stayed until we all emigrated to Australia in 1965.

Bill's passing
Bill died in Australia at Coff's Harbour in New South Wales where he lived with his wife and near his family  A seat was made and rests beside the Bellingham cemetery near the Croft where Bill was brought up.
The plaque reads - ' In Loving Memory of A W (Bill) 1927-2014. A Geordie Lad for Ever."

Bill Charlton; Bellingham memories: Crashed planes

Northumberland, history, WWII, crashed planes

By Bill Charlton

Crashed Mustang on Hareshaw
During the war years we kids used to go out to view the crashed planes and collect souvenirs if we could. We'd push bike out to Hareshaw Head late in the afternoon then walk over the moors to get a glimpse of a plane which was about a mile from the road and over some quite boggy ground.

We came across the aircraft only the tail was visible above ground as it had gone into a very boggy part of the moor and we were told it was a Mustang. Returning to our bikes after a bit of a hike over the moors, it was good ride home again as it was all down hill to the Village.

Crashed Wellington on Dunterley fell
The next aircraft we visited was a Wellington bomber which had come down over on the Mesling. So off we went on our bikes over Dunterley fell to the quarry, where we left our bikes and started hiking westward and after 2 or 3 miles we came across the wrecked plane down by the stream. You could see where the plane had first hit the ground, and then bounced over the stone wall which had never been touched before diving into the side of the stream.

We saw plenty of 303 ammunition in belts scattered about, also a small bomb which we later learned was a marker bomb used to mark the position of enemy submarines, and gave off a stream of orange smoke if one was sighted on the surface while they were on their way home.

A timer was set to release the smoke plume at the required time of arrival of our torpedo Bombers to do their job. Souvenirs were collected bits of perspex etc, then off we’d head for home until the next afternoon and off we went again, This went on for a few afternoons and was fun - except for the poor pilots who ended their young lives on these boggy Northumberland moors.

The Home Guard firing range
Every Sunday we kids used to visit the target range as it was called, while the Home Guard were doing target practice. They used to run a shooting competition with the .22 rifle over 25 yards with the prize being 'winner take all'. It cost a tanner (6 pence) to enter and brother Cliff and I used to hope they would ask us to enter. One day they did, and we were over joyed and happily paid our tanner entry fee.

The end of the competition saw Sergent Major Jackie Johnston and me left in the final. After shooting it out 3 times, I won it on a ½” group and collected my prize.

Invited to join the Home Guard
Later they asked if we would like to join the home Guard as we could once we became 16 years old. I was to become a radio operator and had to learn the Morse Code etc in the upstairs rooms of the Railway Hotel on Tuesday nights where Harry Glass (the publican) was our Captain.

We were issued uniforms and a .303 rifle plus a clip of 5 rounds of ammunition. Every Sunday was our Parade Day and we were very proud of ourselves now we could shoot the bigger rifles on the range. We were well prepared to defend Bellingham and the North Tyne from any advancing German hordes.

Further reading
Air Crash Northumberland (2009).
By Russell Gray, Jim Corbett, Jonathan Shipley, Neil Anderson
Countryside books. Email (info@countrysidebooks.co.uk)

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories: Smoking experiments

Northumberland, history, humour, childhood memories, wartime 1939-45

By Bill Charlton

Smoking experiments
In our junior years in 1940/41 Cliff and I experimented in smoking by collecting dog ends off the road, looking in empty cigarette packets for a cigarette or cards which we used to save for a collection and swap with other lads in the village. The cards were printed in sets or different subjects such as famous footballers, famous cricketers, famous trains and so on.

At odd times we’d buy a clay pipe for a halfpenny each, and fill them up with ‘baccy’ we’d saved for a few puffs with the pipe each, Alas, one day we were caught by the local bobby Dick Oliver who was a Special Constable. He lodged at the croft and was on his way to start his duty shift in the village. He told us not to smoke that rubbish as it would make us sick,

He told us he’d show us how to fill a pipe properly with real tobacco when he finished his shift that afternoon, as he lodged with the Wright family two doors from us at the Croft. Well true to his word, we met him at the seat at the Show field entrance where he then showed us how to cut the ‘Warhorse’ tobacco with a knife, how to rub it in the palms of our hands to break it up before filling the clay pipes which he’d also brought with him.

The ‘Warhorse’ tobacco was strong black stuff ; he didn’t tell us this but we learned it later! Never mind, he got us all lit up and going full steam, and off we went up the Dunterly road puffing away like old hands. When we reached the farm, the Muscovy Ducks which were often out the front eating the grass did’nt look the same to us.

Instead of white, they looked green and by this time we were starting to feel a bit dizzy and sickly. That brought us down to earth a bit about smoking for a while. But a week or so later he caught us out again smoking fags, so he just took us into his digs (Mrs Wright’s house), put his hand up the chimney and blackened our faces with soot. Then he kicked our backsides out the door.

We didn’t dare go home so we set off down to the Tyne to wash it off but that just made it worse. Unknown to us he had told Mother what he’d done, so we got in trouble again. Dad was away in the war and perhaps Dick was trying to keep us in line - which he did.

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories. Wartime diet

Northumberland, history, humour, wartime 1939-45

By Bill Charlton

The bridge over the North Tyne at Bellingham
The tiny cottage at the end of the bridge, (which at one time must have been a toll house) was nicknamed 'the rabbit hutch' and the nice lady who occupied it (who nobody knew much about) was inevitably called 'The Rabbit' (but not to her face!)

Rabbit pie
Often in the war years things were a bit tight in the food and money department, and Mother would at times ask us lads what we’d like for our dinner tomorrow night. Without hesitation Cliff and I would both blurt out ‘Rabbit Pie please’.

Mother’s response was then you’d better get out and catch some! So off down the byre we’d go to collect some snares, and take off around the wood side of the show field fence looking for runs to set our snares.

After a while and half a dozen snares later we would wander out into the open field and off the rabbits would go for cover where the snares were set. Then we’d retrace our tracks to collect our next dinner, but first we would have to gut and skin them. This along with the offal went down an old rabbit hole and stomped in with our hob nail boots.

Mother would then prepare the meat by putting it in a white vitreous enamel dish of salt and water to soak over night. What we didn’t need the dog would get. The next night at dinner Cliff and I would scuffle over the kidneys so mother had to share them out between us to keep us both happy.

Trout & ducks
Brother Cliff would often go fishing in the Tyne for trout, and on his way down to the Riding stone area where he would fish, his Aylesbury & Khaki Campbell Ducks would follow him to the river for a swim around while he fished. After he’d caught a couple of trout, he’d make his way back home with the ducks following him.

Bees
Cliff and I used to keep bees and we had a couple of hives. We’d collect the honey when required and keep a check on the Queens to see how many new Queen cells were developing.

During the war years we used to be allowed 10 lb of sugar per hive to make candy to keep them alive during a hard winter, When the bees swarmed we would go out and collect them in a cardboard box to start a new hive. It was great fun keeping bees and interesting.

Bill Charlton. Bellingham memories. Cairnglastenhope

Norhumberland, history, childhood memories, 1940s

By Bill Charlton

Cairnglastenhope Lake

Cairnglastenhope – a great kids' adventure
Going back a couple of years before the 1939-1945 war started, my Dad (Bob Charlton) planned a great adventure for us kids (me and brother Cliff and our cousin Tom Thompson). It was to cross over the fells and visit Cairnglastenhope Lake being 5 to 6 miles distant from the Croft.

So one Sunday spring morning we all set off over Dunterley Fell with our packed lunches heading west towards the Mesling Crags, crossing over the moors covered in Bent grass. We all chatted away to each other enjoying our hike toward the Lake,

Then coming across lots of depressions in the ground, Dad explained that years ago people dug these holes to extract coal from quite shallow seams, and worked them out to a radius of about 6 to 8 feet. They then moved on another 20 ft or so and started another new shaft. Over the years all these shafts eventually caved in to form a crater-like depression, all covered in Bent grass good cover for foxes to hide.

After a while we needed a bit of a rest, so sitting down on a bit of a ridge to have a drink, Tom asked Dad what the bones were he saw. Dad very coyly said that someone had stopped for a rest once, and that was all that was left of him (or her).

Needless to say we kept plodding on over the fells past Watson’s Walls and on towards the Lake called ‘Cairnglastenhope’ where we had lunch and a good rest, feeding the hundreds of seagulls which were nesting on the very tufted boggy ground at one end of the lake covered in rushes,

We managed to collect a couple of eggs and blew them to add to my collection, which my Uncle had given me to treasure. We got great delight in feeding the gulls with bread crusts by throwing them in the air for them to catch in flight.

The older lads from the Chirdon side used to collect the eggs by having a long cane rod with a spoon tied on the end as the area was very spongy and soft. I believe the eggs were used to keep the fox hounds in good fettle for hunting. Our return journey was a great sense of achievement and lots to tell our Mother once we were home again. We often went for long walks over the fells on Sunday mornings with Dad while our Mother baked scones, cakes, and Gooseberry and Rhubarb tarts in the oven before preparing Sunday dinner for all of us. We were a much loved and well fed lot of kids.

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories. 1940s

Northumberland, history, humour, childhood memories, 1940s
By Bill Charlton

Swimming & skating on the Tyne
During the school summer holidays we'd go swimming in the river Tyne which is where I learned to swim. On our way down from The Croft we used to pop the tar bubbles on the road with our sandals, which we wore a lot in the summer months. We used to get long Indian summers in those days.

In the winter, we'd go ice-skating on the Tyne and our mother used to skate too. I learned to skate around the diving board holding on to it for confidence. The two local stars were Jean Milburn and Jack Telford and they used to help us young folk improve our skills.

In the evenings and after dark we used to stack steel barrels which had been cut in half and placed one on top of each other with the open end upper filled with branches and logs, which gave a nice fireplace in the middle of the river on the ice for night skating. The fires would melt the surface ice a little which made for good smooth ice next night.

One year when the ice broke up, we found a salmon frozen into the ice with a piece bitten out of its neck probably by an otter. The local Catholic priest measured the ice thickness one year while we were there, and it was 18 inches thick. During that particular winter, Kit and Joe Maughan used to cart sand from the island in the river with horse and cart over the ice into the opening, and stockpile it for building work.

The Northern Farmers meal store
During the autumn we laddies would go down to the Northern Farmers into the meal Store and help load bags of feed for the local farms, and ride on the back of the wagon around these farms, sitting on the bags of feed and cake slabs. It was great fun eating a few of the smaller dog biscuits and locust beans etc. Approaching the farms, there were often apple trees around, so we'd collect one or two on our way in or out as the case may be. It was a fun day for us.

From gas to electricity
We used to have gas at the Croft in those days which came from the Bellingham gas works. But up at the Croft we had problems with water in the pipes as the gas would come through in surges as pressure built up to force its way along the pipes. Water lay in the low points along the pipe track down near the end of the Tyne bridge. So we always had to have candles at the ready just in case we were blacked out.

But in about 1935 progress arrived and we were fitted out with electricity all along the Croft. We even had a street light too. In the house we gradually changed over to all things electric with the kettle and the iron being some of the first things bought. The old Bellingham gas works was no longer needed and became redundant, later being cut up for scrap. You could smell the gas around the old place for years afterwards.

Honey, fruit and nuts
For more entertainment, we would dig up Bumblebee nests and eat the honey which was in marble-sized sacks by sucking them out. Then there were hazel nuts, beechnuts, buttercup bulbs, wild strawberries, wild rasps and bilberries to supplement our diets. Then in autumn we would collect the uneatable chestnuts to play “konkers” at school which could get very competitive.

We all used to have fun in those days gone by. No mobile phones, TV, computers, or ipods. We made our own entertainment and remember that we all left school at age 14 to start earning a living.

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories. Dad's call up

Northumberland, history, humour, memories, wartime 1939-45


By Bill Charlton

Sgt. R. L. (Bob) Charlton (1939-46)

Dad’s call up
I can remember when 12 years old coming home from school and having to go into Hesleyside woods to collect my father’s gear and bait bag, as he had had an urgent phone call to report for duty to Wylam along with a few other men from Bellingham as they were all in the local Territorial Army.

This happened about a month before the war started, and their first task was to board the Polish cruise liner M.S. Pilsudski to take charge as the crew had mutinied. Next they were sent to France with motor bikes and sidecars to face the German tanks, ending up in the evacuation of Dunkirk.

After the Dunkirk evacuation
Returning home on leave after Dunkirk, Dad and quite a few other chaps from Bellingham were once again with their families. When they returned for duty, they got split up into different units and Dad was transferred into the Reconnaissance Corps, along with other chaps from the Village.

Their hat badge was also changed to an arrow flanked by streaks of lightning on either side, indicating it was a strike force. After a couple of moves around, they ended up at Langholm just over the Border, so Dad and one of the other chaps from the village would come home for the weekend every fortnight. So I used to pushbike down to the Fairshaw road end and leave the bike at the farm house on a Friday night, then I would catch Fosters Bus back home arriving 7.45pm.

Home by sharing the bike
Dad and his mate caught the train from Langholm to Carlisle, then the Newcastle train getting off at Fourstones and walking over to the Fairshaw road end farm to collect the bike. They would then take turns on the bike riding 4 telephone poles, and leave the bike so then his mate would then do likewise until he passed the walker. Then it was 4 poles and start walking again until they got to the Croft.

Preparing for D-day
This arrangement went on for while until they were moved down South as they were then attached to the Guards 3rd Armoured Division and preparing for landing back on to the Continent. They then moved up to Banff in Northern Scotland to practice landings with air support from Lossiemouth.

Then back they went down south again waiting for D-Day Once over the Channel they moved through France, Belgium , Holland, and finally Germany, ending up in the Krupps factories where Dad fitted his drivers with new tool kits. He did tell me that going through Holland, he saw the cows in the fields were drunk after eating apples from the orchards, as all the fences had been knocked down. Was was over and it was demob time for him and his mates.

Back to the Hesleyside estate
Dad was an ‘estate worker’ on the Hesleyside estate where the main work was in the woods and running the estate sawmill which sold timber in the district. After the war he went back to Hesleyside as the Forman on the estate. In later life he left Hesleyside and went to work for the Weightmans (Willie & John) at Lane Head who were joiners and undertakers.

When the Weightman’s retired, Dad just started off on his own until he retired a few years later. However, folk kept on coming to him with jobs. He started the ‘Pensioner’s Task Force’ in the village on projects like making the walk way from the Tyne bridge down to the river side to opening to the village.

The GINGALL gun
He also restored the old Gingall gun outside the Town Hall. Two of the ‘old retainers’ of the village in those days were Geordie Dagg and Bob Robson (called Bugga Bob but not to his face!)

The refurbished gun 17 April 1975. Left to right, Rev Geoffrey Charles, Bob Charlton, Cnr Angela Allen and Cnr Margaret Murray at the opening of the restored gun

The plaque shows that the old gun had an interesting history. It had come a long way from Fort Taku in China to outside the Bellingham Town Hall. It's interesting that a Charlton was involved in its history, and his family ties with North Tyne must have influenced his presentation of the gun to the village.

Footnote:
Many generations of village laddies helped each other to climb over the iron railings and up on to the gun to imagine firing it. But you had to be on watch, not just for the enemy, but for Sergeant Geordie Fell the village bobby, whose deterrent to juvenile crime was a boot up the backside.

Bill Charlton: Bellingham memories. Australia bound

Northumberland, history, memories, Bill Charlton, immigration, travel

By Bill Charlton

Australia bound
With our emigration application approved, and after the medicals etc, we were given six weeks to prepare to go. It was a very big decision time for us. Do we or don’t we go, was the question. We decided to go, and after two years (which we had to stay in any case as immigrants to claim the assisted passage) we’d either stay or return to the UK. We argued that if we didn’t go, we may have regretted it for the rest of our lives.

So I spent the time making packing cases in the back yard at the Croft over the Easter holidays in 80°F temperatures. The year before over the Easter Holidays we’d had 12 inches of snow – a big contrast.

We left with about half a Ton of cases which went ahead of us leaving for Tilbury Docks where we had to board the P.& O. Liner S.S. ORSOVA. We left on the 1st of May 1965, we stopped at Gibraltar, Naples, Port Said, Aden, Ceylon, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.

The Charlton clan on the S.S. Orsova, 1 May, 1965 bound for Van Dieman's Land

Sydney Immigrant's Camp
We went straight into the ‘National Camps Corporation Hostel’ for immigrants called ‘Bunnerong Hostel’ in Matraville Sydney. I Named this edifice Stalag Luft 3. We spent 2 years there and made lots of friends while we lived in Camp before moving out to our own house in Caringbah which a southern suburb of Sydney.

Both my parents came out to visit us in 1969-70 and also to see their new granddaughter Susan. While they were with us they both said that we had made the right decision to stay in Australia.

Work
My first job was with the I.C.I. Chemical Plant which was near the Camp and paid good money for shift work, which I did for one year. Having saved a bit we bought a Morris Oxford car to get around a bit and to look at getting a different job away from Chemicals.

I started a new job with Thiess Bros as a fitter on earth moving equipment and spent the next 20 years of my working life there, progressing to ‘Charge Hand Fitter’ having 17 fitters and apprentices to look after. It certainly kept me quite busy plus ordering all parts required to carry out repairs.

Everything was big in Australia!

While on Holiday in 1986, the Company was taken over by a Consortium and we were all made redundant and paid off. I got other work driving a truck for a year, then leaving to work and maintain forklift trucks for a couple of years before selling our house and moving up north to Coffs Harbour and going into retirement

No regrets

Bill & Pat Charlton. From Bellingham
to Coff's Harbour with no regrets

We have never regretted making the move from UK to Australia, and are very happy in the house we have in Coffs, I now play lawn bowls as a recreational sport. I used to play golf but with a gammy knee I’m a bit restricted now. Once I did a good bit of fishing but I ended up selling the 15ft boat we had as every time I wanted to go out fishing the seas were too rough. Gardening, cutting grass and home maintenance keep me busy now.

Photo archive

Part of my retirement is discovering old photos.
Here's one I found recently of Cyril Scott (left) and me having a pint at the Rose & Crown in Bellingham about 1953 - judging by the style of the jackets!

Looks by the glasses that it's nigh time 'te git them in again'!