Bellingham Heritage Centre - User contributions [en-gb]

Hall, Catherine Hixon (nee Todd)

2023-11-28T10:49:31Z

0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1: Category spelling correction

Catherine Todd was the youngest child of [[Todd, William|William Todd]] and [[Todd, Mary (Nee Hixon)|Mary Todd]] and lived in [[Cruddas Terrace]], Bellingham, as an infant aged eight months in 1881 ([[1 Cruddas Terrace]]) and a ten-year-old scholar in 1891. Her birth was registered in Bellingham in the third quarter of 1880. She married Henry Hall on 27 August 1900. They emigrated not long after their marriage and settled in America. Unfortunately, the next one hears of Catherine is of her death. The Death Certificate issued in Lewistown, Fergus, Montana reads: June 20 1907. Age 27 years, 11 months, 15 days, Married. Father [[Todd, William|William Todd]]. Mother [[Todd, Mary (Nee Hixon)|Mary Hixon]]. Occupation - ranching. Lived in Montana for six years. Certificate signed by Henry Hall. Died from an infected wound in the foot causing gangrene.

[[Category: People]]

Hynes, Annette - Obituary

2021-08-28T12:09:55Z

0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1: Initial page created from the Newsletter of July 2019

Origins<ref>From the Newsletter for Friends of the Heritage Centre July 2019</ref>

It was on 25th November 1993 that Annette Hynes found that she was on the original committee of nine charged with forming a Heritage Centre to preserve the history and culture of the North Tyne Valley and Redesdale. The other members were Dorothy Bell, Ken Gaskin, Aynsley Glass, Diane Helliwell, John Bacon, Jane Coulson, Joe Hedley and Sadie Robson.

The talents of the committee were varied but their commitment to the task united them all. Two months later, the former garage at Shellcroft, next to the Cheviot Hotel, had been secured for the use of the Heritage Centre, thanks to a small grant from Bellingham Parish Council and a peppercorn rent charged by owners Mr. and Mrs. Miller.

Annette was a proudly independent, somewhat private person and encouraging her to submit a pen portrait would not have been easy. She went along, however, with the other members of the committee, describing herself as a retired architect, businesswoman and aircraft pilot, with past experience in the voluntary housing sector in Newcastle. These qualifications were enough to get her elected secretary of the new committee.

Her architectural skills were immediately in demand. Shellcroft had been acquired for the Heritage Centre but it took the vision of Annette as a former architect to turn a deserted garage into a welcoming venue. Annette worked quickly to draw up plans and barely seven months later, on 18th June 1994, Edie Lyons, who had worked for W. P. Collier, opened the new Heritage Centre in front of a group of inquisitive visitors, who had come from as far afield as Essex, Northamptonshire, Burnley and York.

Over the next couple of years, Annette was secretary of the Heritage Centre. She combined this with being editor of the Newsletter, an office to which she returned between 2006 and 2010. Not that she was absent from the Heritage Centre; she was a willing volunteer, always working away quietly in the background, always modestly understating her skills, as she had described in the 1996 Newsletter: "I filled in Dorothy's questionnaire to show that I could draw a plan and type with two fingers ... Little did I know that this would lead to making so many new friends."

For past three years, Annette was membership secretary. She also took the minutes of the committee meetings, a task requiring incredible attention to detail and delicate judgement in deciding what to include and what to omit.

Conversation with Annette was refreshingly clear and concise. She said what she thought. No half-baked ideas or weasel words. More recently, however, Annette was troubled by the march of Old Father Time and the frustration of not being able to do what she demanded of herself. So she has journeyed to her architectural resting place in the sky, whence, no doubt, she will continue to cast a critical yet benevolent eye on the Heritage Centre. We would have enjoyed her presence at the 25th anniversary opening on 7th June but she was with us, undoubtedly, in spirit. R.I.P. Annette.

Many thanks to Stan Owen for this tribute to Annette

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Percy Street

2021-08-28T12:04:36Z

0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1: Initial page created from the Newsletter of July 2019

Origins<ref>From a Newsletter article for Friends of the Heritage Centre July 2019</ref>

I might not stay long but what I would give to be able to stroll along Percy Street in Bellingham in 1871. The mean cottages, long demolished, were home to a remarkably cosmopolitan community. The 1871 Census recorded their names, relationships, occupations, ages, marital status and where they were born. Some like the family of Margaret Telford were Bellingham through and through but others like those lodging with Bridget Docherty were here for a limited time. Characters like Hugh McGinley and Francis McDonald were in Bellingham on that April night either because they were passing through and in need of a bed for the night or were in town on a specific job. Even today there isn’t regular work in Bellingham for bell-hangers and cork cutters! There were people whose home might normally be in Percy St. but who were missed by the Census – almost certainly because they were working away from home. Their existence is known from their spouses being shown as ‘married’ and recorded as labourer’s wife or tailor’s wife.

There were sixty eight residents in 12 dwellings on the night of the Census. The minimum age for marriage was sixteen and using this as the division between childhood and adulthood (Mrs Ann Conley was sixteen) one can say that there were 39 adults in the street. Surprisingly, only five adults had been born in the North Tyne Valley or Redesdale. There were five who claimed Scottish birth but the predominant group was the Irish with fifteen adults (38.5%). Even if one records children born in Bellingham to Irish parents as being Bellingham natives the total population (68) has nearly as many Irish born (21) as North Tyne and Redesdale (23).

Of the adults another seven came from other parts of Northumberland whilst the birthplaces of the others were as far afield as Gainsborough, Yorkshire and London – and Prussia.

Thirty one individuals were recorded as having occupations and even without Mrs Docherty and Messrs McGinley and McDonald they worked in an impressive range of jobs. Curiously only two occupations were represented by more than one individual. There was a stonemason, dressmaker, engraver, wire worker, groom, gardener and miner – all what we might call skilled jobs. There were eight labourers but the most common occupation was hawker/pedlar or traveller. A natural reaction might be to assume that this was because of the large proportion of Irish in the street. Such a conclusion would result in one being branded ‘racist’. Only two of the hawkers originated in Ireland, seven of the labourers were Irish, but so were the engraver and gardener.

The largest family of hawkers were the Wilsons. The head of the household was Henry who was 56 yrs old, was born in Warkworth and was married to 48 yr old Jane who was from Morpeth. Jane is also listed as a hawker. It seems that they were fairly settled because their three oldest children, aged 13, 17 and 20 (Thomas, Mary and Alex) were all born in Corbridge whilst the youngest, Robert (10) and William (8) had been born in Bellingham. One can assume that the Wilsons changed their operating base at some point between1858 and 1861. The Corbridge born children were all hawkers. Robert and William did not attend school although some of their neighbours did.

==References==
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The Heritage Centre Bellingham

2021-08-28T10:02:38Z

0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1: Change to most recent number of pages shown

<strong>Welcome to the Heritage Centre Bellingham's Wiki pages.</strong>

Here we present stories and memories from the present and past describing the heritage and history of the area.

If you have any additions or corrections please [mailto:info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk info@bellingham-heritage.org.uk], thank you.

==Most Recent Five Pages==
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