BERWICK JOURNAL, 1ST OCTOBER 1925

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BERWICK’S MAYORALITY

ALD. ALEX. DARLING

In connection with Berwick’s Mayorality for 1925-26, we understand that Ald. Alex. Darling has been approached to accept office.

Ald. Darling is a native of Berwick, and a prominent member and office bearer of Wallace Green English Presbyterian Church. He has been and is conspicuously identified with Border Sports and Pastimes. As President of Berwick Rangers Football Club, he has rendered valuable service in support of one of the most popular pastimes. He is an official of the North-eastern Amateur Athletic Association he holds high rank in the Masonic world. He has been Worshipful master of St. Daid’s Lodge of Freemmasons, W. M. of St. Cuthbert’s mark Master Lodge of Freemasons and is a member of other branches of Freemasonary. He is an ex-official of Berwick St. Andrew’s Club, Berwick Athletic Society, Ravensdowne Bowling Club, Berwick Amateur Rowing Club, Berwick and District Motor Club, and is connected with almost every sporting institution in the town. He is a Vice-President of Edinburgh Borderers’ Rugby Club. He has been Chairman of Berwick Salmon Company and is a Director of Berwick Gas Company and other companies.

He has an extensive experience of Council work, having presented the Middle Ward on two different occasions; he held the office of Sheriff, 1908-09; and is a Justice of the peace. He was elevated to the Aldermanic Bench in Nov. 1922, to fill the vacancy created by the retiral of the late Ald. Richardson.

Ald. Darling belongs to a family who has a fine record of municipal service. His father, the late Adam Darling, was Councillor, Sheriff, thrice Mayor, Alderman and County Alderman; has brother, County-Alderman Thomas Darling, J. P., has been Sheriff; and another brother, Mr Adam Darling, Bondington, is an Ex-Councillor.

REPORT ON BERWICK MUSEUM

BY MRS W. B. DICKINSON

The following is the report on Berwick Museum by Mrs W. B. Dickinson, prseneted to Berwick Town Council:-

The Museum is in a very neglected condition. This is not the fault of the caretaker, who does his work conscientiously and well. It is in departments not pertaining to his duties that much work and care is required to make the Museum a place that the town may be proud of. The co-operation of the public is also much needed. Perhaps the best way to gain this would be to make a list of the exhibits required, which, with the consent of the Committee, I would be pleased to do after the work of cleaning, re-grouping and re-classifying is finished. For instance, we have no specimens of locally found prehistoric implements. The local historic objects could almost be counted on one hand. We have scarcely half of the British wild animals, and many of the very component birds such as blackbird and robin are needed in the case of British birds. There are no specimens of needlework and only one or two literary exhibits. There is only one exhibit in connection with the Border marriages at Lamberton: none in connection with the Battle of Halidon. There are no exhibits in connection with the Great war, nor anything to remind future generations that the German Zeppelins visited Berwick. These are only a few examples to show what lines the list of requirements might be compiled. On the other hand, we have too many cases of stuffed pheasants, and examples of such monstrosities as two-headed lambs are out of place in a local museum.

In the meantime, the primary work to be done, and which is now proceeding, is as follows:- When the workmen left, the cases were full of dust that had sifted in, covering everything with a thick layer of dirt. The caretaker has scrubbed out the cases and polished the glass, but careful cleaning of all the exhibits is required.

Many of the exhibits have got mixed and require re-grouping and re-classifying.

Some objects are damaged or broken and require careful; mending.

Labels are lost in many cases, also there are labels with no exhibits to correspond, and groups of unlabelled objects with groups of labels beside them that have to be sorted out and re-attached.

As most of the labels are too dirty to read clearly, practically the whole of the exhibits need re-labelling.

Spoiled and unsuitable exhibits need weeding out.

DAVID ATKINSON

The photograph here reproduced is a known face in Berwick, at least to the football fraternity. Davie Atkinson, Berwick Rangers’ captain, is one who has done his bit to help the club along. The backbone of the team, he has many a time carried them through on his own broad shoulders. Davie is an earnest worker, and though he may, at times, be rather robust in his methods, it is but an excess of zeal. Glasgow born, Davie first showed his paces with Jordanhill, a juvenile team. Clyde F. C. spotted the lad, and right away he was transported from the juvenile ranks into senior league football. The Second Division of the Scottish League was formed at the end of the season, and Armadale, who were on the look-out for a good half-back, spotted Atkinson. At the end of the season Davie transferred his services to Dunfermline Athletic, and in May 1923 came to Berwick Rangers as player manager. This season the Club decided not to have a player-manager, but Davie is captain. Atkinson scored the goal which secured his side’s entry int o the Scottish Cup in the qualifying tie against Gala Fairydean.

LOCAL NEWS

Spittal-by-the-Sea grows in popularity on Borderland and far beyond. This noted health and holiday resort was the objective of 70 pupils, who filled 3 char-a-bancs drawn up at Denholm School gate last Friday at 9.30am. Route was by Jedfoot,[sic] Heiton, [sic] Sprouston, Cornhill, Tweedmouth to Berwick. After dinner the company motored to Spittal Beach. There they had Promenade and beach at their disposal. To half of the children this was their first sight of the sea.

One wonders what their thoughts were. Unfortunately, visibility was poor, and the water was sufficiently stormy that no fishing was in progress. In a trice over 100 bare feet were in the brine, and nearly 2 hours the wave and the sand arrested the attention of every boy and girl. Later the rocks, Spa Well, spade works etc attracted attention. Returning to Berwick at 4pm, harbour, town walls and pier were explored. Tea was served at 5pm Some time remained to wander about the town before starting for home at 6.15pm Returning, the route was Coldstream, Birgham and Kelso. By 9 o’clock they had returned safely to Denholm. The desire to have this outing originated with the pupils a year ago, and since September, the teachers have been receiving from them” offerings” for the trip. Each scholar made up his own fare, besides contribution towards cost of dinner and tea.

Driver T. Douglas, and Fireman John Waite, both of Tweedmouth Loco Sheds, N.E.R., have each received from the directors of the company, a bronze medallion for service rendered by them, as the oldest driver and fireman of Tweedmouth, during the recent commemoration of the centenary of British Railways at Stockton and Darlington. The souvenir, for such it is, is a fine piece of work and well worth its place amongst whatever other relics of the past they may have preserved in their possession. Fitted into a neat little case with a cavity for its reception, the medallion bears the following on the obverse side: “Portraits of Edward Pease, Chairman and guiding influence in the management of the first public railway, and of George Stephenson, who built the first engine on the railway, and actually drove it on its historic journey on Sept.27, 1825.”

TWEEDMOUTH RAILWAY STATION, 1936. Ref no: BRO 2482-001

There are also shown the coats of arms of Stockton and Darlington, the two towns between which ran the world’s first passenger train, the arms of Stockton being on the left hand, and those of Darlington on the right. On the reverse side is a figure of Vulcan holding in his hand Locomotive No.1, the first engine to be employed on public railway, with in the background, one of the London and North Eastern Railway Company’s famous 1925 type, “Pacific” express locomotive. A letter has also been received by the two men mentioned, which is as follows;- “Divisional General manager, North Eastern Area, L. and N. E. Railway, York, 24th Sept. 1925. Dear Sir, – On behalf of the Directors of the Company, I have great pleasure in sending you herewith a medallion struck by-in connection with the recent commemoration of the Centenary of British Railways at Stockton and Darlington, which I hope you will accept as a souvenir of the events- Yours faithfully, George Davidson.” Needless to say, both gentlemen are quite proud of the distinguished honour conferred upon them by being presented with so unique and interesting a souvenir, for services rendered ion such an occasion

Ashington Collieries Magazine: A.R.P. Wardens

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This blog was written by a young student named Kaila Karino.

Who are these men wearing gas masks? And what are they doing?

While I was looking through the Ashington Collieries Magazine Vols. 14 and 15, I repeatedly came across articles from Ashington Coal Co. Limited with the subheading “A.R.P.” – the A.R.P stands for air raid precautions, an organisation that protects civilians from air raids when they occur.

It is apparent throughout the article how dedicated the men were to their jobs the articles stating that the men “Pledged themselves to turn out for the siren and buzzer for air raid warning” and that they would come out to protect whether they were at “work or at home”

In many of the articles there are pictures of the men in the A.R.P training relentlessly with stretchers on their backs and going in and out of shelters fully dressed with gasmasks on, truly illustrating their dedication to their work.

Another interesting article from the collection is one published in January 1940, which is a very detailed account on how the A.R.P. were to treat a casualty that had been gas contaminated.

The article outlines the positions of the nine men working at Ashington Colliery: one superintendent and clerk, one air lock attendant, two undressers, two washers, two first aid operators, and one dresser.

Here are a team of first aid servicemen from the A.R.P.

These magazines have been very interesting to look at, many of the other articles also reflect the lives that people lived throughout the war period, and if this post has interested you, you should definitely check out the Ashington collieries magazine articles and volumes as well.

Mitford Welcome Home Fund, 1944-1946 

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This blog has been researched and written as part of Northumberland Archives Heritage Lottery funded ‘At War and In Peace …’ project. The project allows us to explore sources relating to the Second World War Home Front in Northumberland and societal reconstruction in the county in the period immediately after the War. The research undertaken within the project will inform a programme of related exhibitions, outreach and schools education activity that will be hosted at venues across Northumberland. 

This is our second blog about Mitford Welcome Home Fund 1944-1946. In our first blog northumberlandarchives.com/2025/09/05/mitford-welcome-home-fund-1944-1946/ we wrote about the establishment of the Fund, the fundraising efforts of the Committee and monies raised and distributed. Our research has been based largely on papers of the Fund found amongst the personal papers of Mitford resident George Brown (ref: NRO 02965/2) deposited with Northumberland Archives in 1983. As part of our project, we will catalogue the records of the Welcome Home Fund in more detail.

Within the Mitford Welcome Home Fund papers in this collection are 26 thank you letters written by recipients of the monies distributed by the Fund and their families. Letters were received from:

  • Mary Brewis (WAAF)
  • Mrs. Brewis of Whalton Mill (mother of Richard Brewis who lost his life)
  • R.W. Brewis,  T.S. Brewis of Benridge Hall
  • Margaret Clark of Heighley Wood Cottage
  • R.E. Clark of Ashington (Army)
  • Joan Dargie (ATS)
  • Mrs. Dodds of Abbey Mills, Morpeth, on behalf of her son, Leslie (Navy)
  • Dora Elliott of West Woodburn, possibly mother of George Elliott (killed)
  • John Elliott of Heighley (Army)
  • Desmond Ellis (RAF)
  • Norman Hood (Army)
  • Mag. Hornsby of Glororum Farm, writing on behalf of her sister, C. Hornsby (ATS)
  • C. Hornsby of Glororum Farm, (ATS)
  • Mr. & Mrs. Little of Mitford (parents of James Little who lost his life)
  • Thomas Lowthian of Fairmoor (Army)
  • Hester Speke of Aydon, (ATS)
  • Meriel Speke (British Red Cross Ambulance Driver)
  • Neil Speke (Army)
  • Thomas Taylor of Page Bank, Spennymoor (Army)
  • John Tweedle of Spital Hill, (Army)

Interestingly, the bundle of letters appears to include two from persons whose families do not appear to be referred to in the list of recipients listed in Morpeth Herald – H. Gray of Lough House Lodge and Franklin Murphy of Southern Wood, Morpeth.

The letters from those who lost loved ones are particularly poignant – Mrs. Brewis writes “… and the dearest wish of our own hearts today is that he had come back & received it himself …”  As would be expected the letters vary in length and content. Some are straightforward – for example, T.S. Brewis writes “I am very sorry I have been so long in writing to thank you for the very generous “Welcome Home” gift. Will you please thank the people of Mitford for me”. Others are more effusive. For example, Desmond Ellis writes “I thank you for the bottom of my heart, for the kindness you have shown, by including me in the “Welcome Home Fund” but I assure you, that any sacrifice that I may have made was simply repaid, by the knowledge, that Mitford would never experience the miseries that various of the occupied countries have had to undergo”.

The bundle includes thank you letter from three siblings – Hester (ATS), Meriel (Red Cross) and Neil Speke (Army). At the beginning of the War the family were living at Pigdon Hall. Their father, Herbert, was a stockbroker and a Special Constable. The 1939 Register records Hester Speke living at 20 The Grove, Gosforth, a property occupied by the Women’s Transport Service. Neil Speke was to have a distinguished military career reaching the rank of colonel. An article in The Morpeth Herald of April 1943 provides an account of (then) Major Speke’s involvement in an incident on the Gafsa road forty miles from Gabes in Tunisia. Major Speke, a member of the Royal Lancers, was commanding a squadron of scout cars when his car was hit by a shell from a German tank. The account records the meeting of British and American forces.

Hester Speke’s letter, dated 31 January 1946 and written from the family’s new home at Aydon, near Corbridge reads, “I feel rather unworthy, having spent the whole six years service in England and have been in no more peril than the civilian population but I am honoured to be included with all those others who have made the greater sacrifices”. The letter goes on to say that Neil Speke was at that time in the Middle East and Meriel serving in Belgium. Neil Speke’s letter thanks the people of Mitford for “the annual presents of the past …” suggesting that regular collections may have been held throughout the period of the war. Meriel Speke’s letter suggests that, “It is far more difficult to stay at home and wait, and worry, and struggle with the meagre rations so that everything will be the same when your families come home”.

The small bundle of thank you letters demonstrate the spirit and resolve shown by the people of Mitford parish and their appreciation for the efforts of the Mitford parishioners to provide a modest thank you for their war effort.

NRO 2695/8/12

Letter from Norman Hood thanking the people of Mitford for their Welcome Home Fund gift, 8 Dec, 1945.

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