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Farne Island memories

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Memories of Northumberland

Boat Names.

The Harbour c1965
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Boat BK103 was named the 'Xmas Star'. I was skipper for 8 years between December 1957 and November 1965. The family had two new boats afterwards called Radiant Way BK210 and Radiant Way LH147.

A Holiday in South Street, Seahouses - March 2004

The Harbour & Fishing Fleet c1965
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A friend let me stay in her wee fisherman's cottage in Seahouses for an early holiday in March 2004. My wife Elizabeth and I drove up from our home in Watford through the unseasonal snow and we were quite worried about getting there at all!

We had brought our elderly cat, Socks, with us as well and she loved the cottage as she curled up on the rug in front of the solid fuel fire in the living room each evening. She was happy enough to stay indoors during the day while we explored Seahouses town and harbour and made trips to nearby Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick. I even managed to take in a football game at Berwick so it was a lovely holiday! It snowed on and off so it was a strange experience walking along the beach through snow instead of sand! The seaweed popped as we trod on it but the ice made it slippery! Late every afternoon I would slip a collar and lead... Read more

Falling Off The Harbour Wall Onto The Deck of A Fishing-Boat

The Harbour c1965
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A favourite family story is how my father took charge of us children for the morning and brought us to Seahouses from our cottage in Beadnell. On this occasion, age 5 or so, while walking/running along this very harbour wall. on those wooden sleepers by the edge of the harbour, I fell off landing on the deck of one of these boats. There were a number of such incidences - falling off walls, banks and rocky promontories on the Northumberland coast. I don't believe my late father ever got his head around how mischeivous young children could be, while I developed a habit of falling off things with skill, eventually doing so down gulleys and couloirs of the high French Alps on 2m long skis or a mono-board.

Grace Darling's Tomb

Visiting the Grace Darling Musuem, then her grave in the churchyard opposite, was an annual event while on holiday on the Northumberland coast. Peering through the bars around the tomb I was often reminded of how my grandmother had pulled herself up, slipped and put a metal spike through the base of her chin. As I could never spot a scar between the wrinkles I doubted the veracity of this tale. It was however confirmed, with admonitions, by her older sister and my other great aunties. Whenever I visit today (about once a decade sadly) I still wonder on which spike it was that my granny had hooked herself. I visualise an elderly Gran spatchcocked on the iron railings even though I have since been told that she was 12 years old at the time of this mishap.

First Home After The War

When dad got out of Royal Navy at the end of the Second World War he took a job as a coastguard and was stationed at Bamburgh. The coastguard lookout was on the east side of the castle and a great deal of his duties in those days was to keep us kids away from washed up mines and great globs of crude oil that used to wash up on the beach. We were one of the few families that had a phone because of his job. It was a monster of a box with a grate handle generator built in. I attended Bamburgh village school under a teacher called Miss Ford who taught one of the 2 classes there. I had a very interesting young life, climbing the ivy-walled castle and the rocks by the golf course. A big day out was a trip to Seahouses and care had to be taken not to miss the return bus as they only ran twice a day. I spent many an... Read more

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