Bellingham Memories

By Bill Charlton as relayed to Clive Dalton

Before the 1939-1945 war, we Bellingham kids used to play football on most afternoon's after school on Brown Rigg, but we played mostly on weekends with from 5 up to about 14 laddies a side.

The goal posts were our pullovers, jackets or jerseys, and we played all day, having a sit down now and then to regain our wind. We Charlton lads lived at the Croft just across from Brown Rigg, and my mother had to use a bell to call us for lunch, and would get annoyed if we didn’t respond to the bell.

Our football marathons used to be played before Brown Rigg school was built by “The National Schools Co-operation” to house approximately 700 girl evacuee's from the cities of Northumberland & Durham.

So the area became quite a busy place and with their parents visiting at weekends, Bellingham became a popular visiting place on weekends. Also, in the village families took evacuees into their homes, but these were mostly boys as I remember. We had a cousin called Jimmy Simmonds from London who came to stay with us during the war years.

During our early years while at school, we often would go on to Dunterly fell up to the Target when not in use during weekdays. My brother Cliff and I would collect spent bullets from the backdrop behind the target area which we knew were quite harmless.

Once I remember, wandering off up the fell to the water tank which provided the Croft water supply where we found the railing fence around it broken, and the timber decking had caved in revealing a dead sheep in the tank which had drowned and had been there a few days.

We told our parents of our find and the situation was attended to as this was our water supply which we used for 6 months of the year. With the water being hard we used to get 6 months or a year from the 9 well eyes at Hareshaw (?????) as their water was soft and gave a better lather for washing.

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.

During the autumn we laddies would go down to the Northern Garage into the Farm Section 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.

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.

CairnglastenhopeE Experience and Adventure for Three Kids

Going back a couple of years before the 1939-1945 war started Bob Charlton, our dad, planned a great adventure for us kids, being Bill & Cliff Charlton, accompanied by our cousin Tom Thompson to cross over the moors and visit Cairnglastenhope Lake being 5 to 6 miles distant. 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 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, 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 sitting down on a bit of a ridge to have a drink, then Tom asked dad what the bones were from, dad very coyly said that someone had stopped for a rest once and that was all that was left, needless to say we kept plodding on over the fells past Watsons Walls and on to 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 delight in feeding the gulls with bread crusts by throwing them in the air for them to catch in flight. So 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 spongey and soft. I believe the eggs were used to keep the fox hounds in good fettle for hunting. Our return journey was a 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 did some baking of scones, cake, and gooseberry and rhubarb tarts in the oven before preparing Sunday dinner for all of us.

Country Life North Tyne Style

Often in the war years things were a bit tight food and money wise and our mother would at times ask us boys what we’d like for our dinner tomorrow night and without hesitation we’d both blurt out Rabbit Pie please. Mother’s response was then you’d better get out and catch some then. 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 half a dozen snares later we would wander out into the open field and off the rabbits would go for cover then we’d retrace our tracks to collect our next dinner but first we would gut and skin them down an old rabbit hole and stomp it in with our hob nail boots to bury the offal. Mother would then prepare them for over night keeping what we didn’t need the dog would get, The prepared meat was put in a white vitreous enamel dish of salt and water to soak over night. 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 happy.

My brother Cliff would often go fishing in the river 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 and made his way back home they’d just follow him home too. Cliff & I used to keep Bee’s we had a couple of hives and we’d collect the honey when required and keep a check on the Queens. During the war years we used to be allowed 10 lbs of sugar per hive to make candy for the bees 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.

Our fathers fist car was an Austin 7 which dad bought just before the war but once the war started and dad came on leave one weekend he put the car up on wooden blocks to keep the tyres off the ground in the garage, Cliff & I would spend quite a bit of time in the garage with this new fangled machine dad had and we often sat in it and pretended to be driving using all the gears and double de clutching and steering as the wheels were off the ground, After a year or two dad was on leave and he registered the car for a quarter to give it a run around and he asked me if I”d like to learn to drive. Yes, I blurted out, so he took me for a spin around the bridges, Settling into the driving seat off we went up the Hesleyside road all the way around the bridges and back home. Before we got out of the car Dad said to me you haven’t driven before? No I said. Well Dad said to me theirs not much else he could teach me, when I was old enough I got my Provisional Licence to drive on the 3rd April 1945 which I still have today, in my archives.

Feedback from Bill on Clives' note

Hi Clive, We have read though your draft notes and they are fine, The Hareshaw head water which supplied Bellingham in those days came from the 9 well eyes up on the moors between Hareshaw head and the top of the Hareshaw Linn that's what I was led to believe, but where it comes from now goodness knows. But for 6 months of the year the Croft used the target water from Dunterly Fells. They built a new tank on Dunterly Fell to supply Brownrigg when it was built.

Playing football on Brownrigg in those days we all used hobnail boots as with the ball being made of leather and it got wet it felt like you were kicking a lump of lead even if we had given it a good coating of dubbin which we could buy from Willie Murrays shop back then.

The school teachers when I went to school were Miss Turnbull infants, Jean Milburn Junior's, & Mr Greener Seniors, to be followed by Joe Lumley.

We used to have gas at the Croft in those days too, 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 Bridge end. So we all had to have the old candles at the ready just in case.

In about 1935 we were fitted out with Electricity all along the Croft and even had a street light too, we gradely changed over to all things electric, the old gas works was no longer needed and became redundant later being cut up for scrap.

Hi Clive, There seems to be a bit of confusion here regarding the 9 springs, Bellingham water supply came from them and they provided a good supply all year round, The reason the Croft got a change over to the Hareshaw water was because the Target water was hard water which kept furring up the kettles, So for 6 months of the year we were put onto the soft water from Hareshaw to keep the pipes and Kettles from furring up. But these days we think its all Newcastle and Gateshead water supply from  ?????.

Clive, The 9 well eyes were 9 springs were the water came from. Bill

In our junior years 1940/41 myself and my brother Cliff we’d experiment in smoking by collecting dog ends, looking in cigarette packets for a cigarette or cards which we used to save in a collection, odd times we’d buy a clay pipe for a ½ penny 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 who 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. Well true to his word we met him at the seat at the show field entrance, He then showed us how to cut the Warhorse tobacco with a knife how to rub it in the palm’s of our hands to break it up before filling the clay pipe’s he’d also brought with him, The Warhorse Tobacco was strong black stuff we learnt later. Never mind he got us all lit up and going full steam and off we went up the Dunterly road puffing away, when we reached the farm the Muscovy Ducks which were often out the front eating the grass didn't look the same, to us they looked green and 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 Dick Oliver 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 and kicked our backsides out the door, We didn't dare go home so we set off down to the river to wash it off but just made it worse.

Unknown to us he had told our 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.

Here is a little bit more for you Clive, I can well remember when we were kids complaining about what we got for Xmas one year, And dad said to us 2 lads, "Your lucky Tommy & Billy Foster got shoe brushes and a tin of polish each for their xmas". So yes we were lucky. Regards Bill.

Left so that I’d be called up, I Started to cut timber 1943 around the Show field and Hesleyside with a contractor Jimmy Dixon from Wolsingham, The guy I worked with Alexander Grigor from Aberdeen Scotland my boss, After finishing around Bellingham we moved out to Highgreen Living in a van a converted old bus, We cut the timber at a place called Gimmerston all Scotts Pine & Norway Spruce. Then off we went to a place called Etherley Nr Bishop Auckland after a few weeks their we were moved to Fir tree Nr Crook, Then on to South Moor, Nr Stanley, But we had a temporary move to Helmsley in Yorkshire to cut out some dangerous Beech trees in Duncombe Park as one had blown down and killed a Canadian soldier they were billeted in Nissen huts in the Park, We were in Lodgings in Sproxton a small village near by, After a couple weeks we returned to South Moor and we 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 we had they were all good workers and no trouble they used to walk about ½ mile each way to come to work & 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, A couple of weeks later I was called up for the Navy.

Being trained to become an air mechanic I was posted to a squadron of Sea fires & 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. Their we stayed until our demob and issued with a utility suit.

Returning home I managed to get work cutting timber again with H.D. Ward of wolsingham who happened to be working at Lee Hall, But when the job was finished I just 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, a far out post of the Wark Forest.

During the years with the Commission I got myself married To Mary Patricia, Nee Haldane in 1951. We setup house at Brookside Place in Bellingham for a while before moving to a council house in Westlands where we stayed for a few years before moving to our own house at The Croft, No 8.

By then I’d changed my job again driving for Hugh Thompson Haulage Contractors Bellingham, where I stayed until we all emigrated to Australia in 1965.

Children:

1. Anne Lowther Charlton 1951
2. Lilian Patricia Charlton 1953.
3. Shirley Elizabeth Charlton 1954
4. Robert Anthony Charlton 1957
5. And of course, Susan Mary Charlton who was born in Sydney N.S.W. 1967

We have 10 Grand Children And 7 Great Grand Children

Anthony William Charlton. Better known as Bill Born July 1927 Son of Robert Lowther Charlton Better Known as Bob Charlton. Brother, Clifford Robert Charlton Better Known as Cliff Sister Joan Lowther Horton (Nee Charlton)

Left Reeds School 1941. started work Apprentice Joiner to Bob & Jim Milburn. Later left, so that I would be called up as I fancied the Navy. Called up into R.N. in 1945. Trained to become a Mechanic with the Fleet Air Arm.