Happy Times

A Memory of Shilbottle.

I was born the day my parents moved to Sshilbottle. We lived at 16 Farne View but this was later changed to 16 St James Road. Nearly everyone's dad worked at the pit. Shilbottle seemed to be split in two - we had our own Church of England School, the headteacher was Mrs Vera Maclean. The pub, the Farriers Arms where my dad spent many happy weekends. There was the church, then a small green wooden shop which sold most things, a chip shop and further on a post office. That road took you to what we called the 'bottom' of Shilbottle, they had their own primary school and Mr Maclean who once taught with his wife went there as their headteacher - he was known as 'Mac' and was a well known painter. The Co-op shop was at the bottom end too. We all new every family by name. We loved it when Slaters fun fair came every year. Also a lone scottish piper would walk up and down playing tunes ouside the Farriers Arms to start the leek show in the hall next to the pub. As children, my two brothers and I ran free playing in the black wood getting sweets from Grenvils van (he sold groceries and called once a week). One cold winter the snow was so high the older children built a big snow tunnel that we could run through. Shilbottle C of E school is now closed, it had only three classrooms. We left there in 1965 with many families whose fathers worked in the pits, I was eleven years old. I passed the Farriers Arm every day on the way to school, we were never allowed in, but if i close my eye's I can hear my voice asking the landlord "Is Bill in?" And my dad would come out and bring us a bottle of pop and a packet of Tudor crisps. Happy memories...