South Shields Sanddancers Forum

Hermitage Castle dominated 'the bloodiest valley in Britain' (Liddesdale) It was here that in late 1566 Mary, Queen of Scots did the long journey from Jedburgh for a fleeting visit to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell who lay wounded after a skirmish with a Border Reiver, Jack of the Park. Mary, w...

Bell’s flour business was in Bath Lane, Newcastle. Two of his best-selling products were baking soda and self-raising flour, marketed as ‘Bell’s Royal’, at the turn of the century. As it was illegal to use the word ‘royal’ commercially in the reign of Edward VII, Bell changed the product’s name to ‘...

Yes it is, Pete. I mention it on page 2 of The Way We Were thread, and there have been other posts about it. The sites quoted give the fuller picture.

Well Global, you may be right. Anyway it's up to Jimmy.

I have read your replies Global. Ta very much.

Jimmy, call me picky but stuff here is spreading like Japanes knot-weed from other more appropriate boards.

E-verse surely should be elsewhere. 'Classics' also. Does a controversy about two great rock stars really belong on a Tyneside Old Codger History Room?


Time for a purge!

Yes I remember the broken ice-cream wafers. The name Maxwells comes to mind - were they the firm nearby that made them? There was also a bowl of beetroot juice (?) in that shop. You could dip a slice of bread in. Simple but lasting pleasures. I only saw one film at the Pavilion (The Pivvy) - Cat Peo...

When the Tyne was in flood in the 19th century, vessels would be swept down river and ended up on the Herd Sands. Pilot, have you the figures for wrecks on the North East coast? I read somewhere that there were 250,000 which is ridiculos. Perhasp that's for the whole country? Was the North East more...

Why not bombard the council with requests for a plaque in the Market Place (perhaps on the Old Town Hall) to honour the victims? North Shields has one. And perhaps one behind the Town Hall where the only German bomber brought down in Shields fell? Successive generations need a reminder of the sacrif...

Copyright on the net is a grey and complex area. Various bits of my site have been snitched and put on others' sites with no acknowledgment or permission. I don't give a monkey's because I actually want people to steal the stuff and spread the word about NE heritage. If it isn't done for gain, and c...

I can't remember Treetop, nor can my sister who knows about these things.

Thanks all for your comments on Evans superlative pop. After a hundred tries, we've got me Mam a substitute - Barr's - which can be found in local small shops in the NE. She thinks it's 'all right'.

The Captain Kettle sea adventure novels were as popular as Sherlock Holmes in their time c 1900. The pugnacious captain lived in Shields (no details) when (rarely) in the country. He used to frequent a place called Hallet's - some sort of sailors' club? I was wondering if your reference works had an...

Don't you lot ever watch the Simpsons? Hugh Jass is one of the fictitious people that the young rip Bart enquires about on the phone to Mo's Tavern. Mo is always taken in and calls out for the ficititious person: 'Hugh Jass?' (shouts): 'Have I got a Hugh Jass?' 'Is there an Al Coholic in here?' 'Ama...

Yes, Axeman. Cornwall, Devon, Wales are the main spots where the Atlantic rollers come in. And of course the west coast of Ireland. The west gets the biggest winter waves too. UK winds are mainly W or SW. There are centres on the east coast of Scotland though - Thurso, Aberdeen, and just north of Be...

What are you taklking about Baldy? Sam Lamiroy the British surfing champion came to Tynemouth at the age of nine (his Belgian dad had a job in Newcastle) and learned to surf between the Black Middens and the piers. The Britsh Surfing Championships have been held twice I think at Tynemouth/Cullercoa...

I know chook, or chooky (chucky hen) from rural Northumberland. Also the sound for calling them. Here's what Google says, under Chook. Fifteen seconds: CHOOK [Q] From Mark Hansen: “I have found a term that appears to be completely Australian in usage, if not origin. The word is chook which is slang ...

Well said Sherri. Why are people so * keen to mortify themselves for tiny gains (relatively speaking)? Great advances have been made in human comfort. Enjoy them if you are in a position to do so. I'm not going to do without my store bags: they're very convenient - and I'm not going to tote loads of...

Peter Brough was a terrible ventriloquist. You could see his lips moving perfectly well. That's why he was on the radio. Archie, who dominated his 'master', had a saucy smart-aleck voice and came over as a real character. The show had 15 million listeneres in the '50s and the original Archie doll wa...

Yes, an endoscope is often defined as a metal tube with an a*sehole at each end. Why this sudden kerfuffle about colonic irrigation? Doesn't anyone remember the Ruby Wax car adverts years ago when her car took her swifty away from a lady with a hosepipe? It hit the headlines here when Sarah Ferguson...

You don't mention that Sam Bartram was born in (Simonside) South Shields, Jimmy.

No English monarch or heir has been in harm's way since Richard III in 1485. The last English king to lead his troops in battle was George II in 1740-odd. So I doubt if future kings will worry about it, Max. Royals don't go into the services (always as officers) to fight in the front line. They do i...