THE ‘GREAT DAFT LADDIES’ WAAL By Donald CleggThere is a little cottage standin’ on a windy Highland brae,The bonniest Butt and Ben inventeed, definitely, Aa wad say.Way, way up a hillside in an Aberdeenshor glen,It belangs to school-day friends, that stay theor noo and then. It hes a country garden, tended both by Tom and … Read more
What’s a cracket? In Victorian times and into the 1950s, houses in the North East of England used to be littered with stools called crackets! Every house would have at least one, and many would have two (a large one for grownups and a small one for the bairns). During the second world war, furniture … Read more
By Donald Clegg and Clive Dalton Victorian engineersThis wonderful example of Victorian engineering fortunately survived two major threats – the closure of the Riccarton-Newcastle railway line, and the the flooding of the upper Tyne valley to form the Kielder resevoir. The viaduct was designed by John Furness Tone to get the railway across the Deadwater … Read more
North Tyne Agricultural Shows The Agricultural Show has been a highlight of Northumberland village life for well over 100 years, and two of the best examples of these events in the county are the Bellingham Show and the Falstone Border Shepherd’s Show. Village folk used to plan and record events as happening before or after … Read more