South Shields Sanddancers Forum

Thank you Global. We aim to please, as Blackadder's firing squad joked. Betty, my site is mostly devoted to the NE heritage, so this is my territory. The night of the bomber incident, the Germans also had a go at Brodrick Street, where I think Baldy, or Little Baldy as he was known, lived at the tim...

The Boy Scout centenary is upon us and we are being told over and over again that the first Scout camp was on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. It wasn't. That was just a trial camp with a few local boys and some public school chaps. The first Boy Scout camp was on the Tyne . LISTEN UP! BECAUSE THE ...

There are two versions of the bomber incident. The second is by the great South Shields local historian Amy Flagg of Westoe Village. The night of Feb 21 1941 was one of heavy raids in the North East of England. So far as I know this aircraft was the only one brought down in South Shields itself. Man...

Smashing photo, Jimmy. I remember those boxes - they had a bit of style to them. But who's the chap in uniform standing outside? Is it a policeman? I haven't seen one of those for a long time.

Curly, India is one of the largest coal producers in the world. It has reserves of 255 billion tonnes. India derives twice as much energy from coal than it does from oil. Of course, we never see Indian coal-mines on TV any more than we see those in Australia - another large producing country. Histor...

Civets are omnivorous, supplementing a meat diet (both hunted and scavenged) with fruit, eggs, and possibly roots. One of the Common Palm Civet's favorite fruits is the coffee "berry." The coffee bean within often survives, and it is sometimes gathered and sold as caphe cut chon (fox-dung coffee) i...

What a load of whinging Poms! I believe the ten hottest English summers on record have all been since 1990! Stop complaining. I happened to see Australasian weather on my TV tonight. Alice Springs below zero for the last few nights. Christchurch NZ minus 5 at the weekend. Other S Australian spots ar...

'Even though everyone calls it 'cat crap coffee' Kopi Luwak is the world's most expensive bean,' cafe owner Michelle Sharpe told reporters in Townsville, Queensland. 'It's also the most expensive at US $1000 a kilo.' 'Asian palm civet (cats) are only found on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java ...

As far as I can make out it says: FOUL AREA PASSAGE PROHIBITED NTH CARDINAL BUOY AND THIS LIGHTHOUSE

(First two pics) The tower on the hill-top, next to the church, to the right of the viewer is the Roman lighthouse (pharos) built in the 1st century AD. This is one of the most remarkable buildings in Roman Britain. There's a Western pharos too but little to see now. These towers, together with the ...

Full independence for Scotland would have other consequences. Scots would point to the Scottish oil revenues at present going to the Westminster government. Alex Salmond has given as his aim a nuclear-free Scotland. So there is the problem with the nuclear subs etc. and other delicate matters of def...

They don't have independence. They only have powers devolved to them by the Westminster parliament. Pete is quite right about the Barnet formula, That certainly makes a difference. A historical note. In 1435 the future pope Pius II travelled in Scotland incognito and reported later that the favourit...

These people are only being released up to 18 days early. And its not at their request. You can't turn folk out penniless, with nothing for food or lodging. That's asking for trouble! Consider changing your newspaper, lads. Your blood pressure is in danger. If you had ever lived in a country which d...

It's funny why people harp on about the Scots new parliament building going over budget. The Houses of Parliament in London took 14 years to open in 1848 (and still weren't finished). It was 700% over budget. Odd why this is never mentioned. The Scots don't have independence. They have certain devol...

ROWLF



Just who I wanted to be. I love the way his ears fly.

The stained glass isn't from the Priory. I imagine it's from Holy Saviour Church in Tynemouth (c 1840). It's good quality, some of it by William Wailes of Gateshead (who built Saltwell Towers). Edward I (the baddie in Braveheart) considered Tynemouth one of the strongest castles in the Northern Marc...

Lovely, CJ.

The 13th century East wall of Tynemouth Priory (Photos 1 and 5) is in Nikolaus Pevsner's 'Best Buildings of England'.

Kate Adie and Martin O'Neill are Sunderland supporters and so of course is Sir Tim Rice, multi-millionaire. He started supporting them when he was at school in Lancing Sussex because he liked the name. He said he would support them even if they were in the Rothmans' Isthmian League. You'd have thoug...

Baldy, thanks for the birth date. I had him on my site (Famous People) as 1908?

It's Burnup Field on the declassified documents I find, but I thought that was an official mistake for Burnopfield.

In recent times I may have given the impression that Harriet Harman was some kind of feather-headed nincompoop, the only runner in the Labour deputy race not worth risking a penny on. I now realise that she enjoys solid grassroots support and was clearly the only contender in with a serious chance. ...