Introduction.
Even though I have lived in Blyth for nearly ten years, I still have a great love for the town I was brought up in.
One of the major events of years gone by was the annual Bedlington Miners Picnic, which was held in June every year.
Whilst looking through my old photo albums the other day, I came across some old photos of the Bedlington Miners Picnic from around about 1978 ish. and I thought to myself, why not publish them on the internet ?
And this is the result.
I hope that you will enjoy looking through my blog, and that it rekindles some happy memories, and who knows, you might recognize yourselves on one of the pictures !
Picture 1 : The Red Lion Roundabout, Facing East.
The day would begin at around 8.30 am, when the roads into the town were closed off. To the West, it was at the Red Lion roundabout, to the East, the top of Front Street at Bebside, and to the North, Vulcan Place.
Picture 2 : Vulcan Place, Facing North.
If you look at the picture of Vulcan Place, you can see the in the background the old pit heap belonging to the " A " pit or Auld pit at Bedlington Station, which closed in the early seventies.
This has now been redeveloped, and is part of Gallagher Park plantation.
Also on the same photo down the right hand side, you can see a row of houses between the Coffin Chapel at the far end, and the Barrington Arms pub further up.
These houses were demolished many years ago, and the top of Brook Court now stands there.
Even though the streets were still quiet at this time, you could still nearly taste the atmosphere of what was to come.
Picture 3 : The old Market Place.
As time ticked on, literally hundreds of people would flock to the main street, and in particular, the old Market Place.
There, you could find sideshows, hot dog vans, candy floss sellers, stalls and in fact everything you need to start off a perfect day.
But it was around 11.00 am that the picnic really started, for it was at this time that the marching bands competition began.
Each band represented a colliery from the Northumberland and Durham coalfields.
Picture 4 : One of the many bands taking part in the competition.
One by one , the bands would assemble outside of the Blue Bell pub at the top of the street, and after final tuning up, started the journey to Atlee Park.
One band would set off every couple of minutes, so with upwards of 25 bands taking part, this took a while to complete.
Picture 5 : There were also juvenile marching bands, as well as the adult brass bands.
As they marched down the street, they would pass Bedlington Council Offices on the right hand side, where a podium was set up. Here stood the judges who would decide which bands would go home with winners trophies, and those who would not.
Picture 6 : This years Coal Queen and Miss Wansbeck.
Another important part of the annual picnic was the crowning of the Coal Queen for the coming year. Do you recognise this years winner, or maybe it was you ?
Picture 7 : The Market Place after the final band had passed.
After the final band marched off, they were followed down to Atlee Park by a small minority of the crowd, who went to listen to the annual speeches.
Picture 8 : The final band marching down Attlee Park Bank, on the final part of their journey to Attlee Park.
The rest of the crowds would go down to the "Picnic Field" , which was at the bottom of Church Lane, where a huge funfair was in operation.
Picture 9 : Jim Callaghan was the main speaker at this picnic.
Many prominent political figures attended the Miners Picnics over the years to make speeches, including the late Jim Callaghan, Arthur Scargill and Anthony Wedgwood Benn.
Picture 10 : One of the winning bands marching back up the street.
After sampling the the products in the local taverns during the day, the bands would reassemble at the bottom of the street around 4.00 pm, in order to march back up to the top of the street. If you look closely at this picture, behind the man in the grey suit, you can see someone carrying one of the winning trophies which the bands had been competing for.
After all the bands had marched back up and dispersed, the streets would start to quieten down somewhat, with most of the youngsters, after being at the fair all day, happy to go home with their goldfish in a bag, candy floss and toffee apples etc.
Shortly after, the roads would re-open around 7.00 pm
Picture 11 : Photo of the Picnic Field down Church Lane.
But wasn't quite the end of the day, as the funfair down Church Lane would still be going strong, and would be until midnight, or even later if it was a warm summers night.
Picture 12 : Another view of the funfair late at night.
Unfortunately, due to the decline of the mining industry in the North East in the 70's and 80's, the Bedlington Miners Picnic became defunct around 15 years ago.
It ended an era that had lasted for over a hundred years.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the Bedlington Miners Picnic.
For the older generation I hope that it has brought back happy memories for you, as it did me.
For the younger generation who never had the fortune to experience it, and perhaps had never even heard about it, I hope that this has giving you an insight as to what it was actually like to be there..
If anyone would like to leave a comment about my blog, please feel free to do so, and if anyone knows me, why not leave a message to say hello ?
I have other blogs in the planning stage, so if you liked this one, why not look back sometime in the future ?
If you would like to read more about Bedlington Town, and see more photos, please click on one of the links below :
Dedicated to Mam and Dad. May God Bless You Both.
