BERWICK ADVERTISER, 1ST OCTOBER 1920

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MEMORIAL TO GRAMMAR SCHOOL F.P’s

Who fell in the War

Beautiful Tablet Erected By Sir Francis Blake

In the history of Berwick Grammar School, the ceremony performed within its walls when Dr Maclagan, Chairman of Governors, unveiled a Memorial tablet, presented by Sir Francis Blake, to the memory of the 32 former pupils who fell in the war, is perhaps the most sad. Still, in the glorious example of self-sacrifice left by the men who laid down their lives, there was a feeling of pride and an inspiration to emulation given to the pupils who now occupy the benches.

Some time ago, Sir Francis, who is an old pupil of the school, made an offer to the Governors to perpetuate the memory of the fallen by the erection of a fitting memorial. This offer was accepted and the tablet which is now placed over the fire-place in the south wall of the school is indeed a work of art. The memorial, which is framed in walnut with panels of laurel leaf design in enamel, is flanked on either side with figures symbolic of Victory and fame and on the top scroll are the County Shields. The central pane is a beautiful shade of cobalt blue and in relief silver letters the names of the fallen, with dedicatory inscription are set out in artistic fashion.

LOCAL NEWS

The temporary bridge over the railway at Berwick Railway Station is now nearing completion. On Sunday last the large steam crane from St. Margaret’s, Edinburgh, arrived and swung the heavy iron girder spans on to the wooden pile piers which had been erected on cement bases two weeks ago.

Berwick Railway Station early 1900s. The arches of the old road bridge which carried the main road traffic over the railway can just be seen in the background. © Berwick Record Office – BRO 1636-10-013

Large crowds watched the operations, and again on Monday workmen were busy fixing the staying girders and fitting the planking for the road bed. A considerable amount of work is yet to be done and it is not likely that the bridge will be open for traffic for a fortnight or three weeks yet.

BERWICK AND DISTRICT HARRIERS

Resuscitation of Club Fully Justified

The annual general meeting of Berwick and District Harriers took place in the White Horse Inn, Castlegate, on Friday evening, when Councillor W. J. Dixon, the President, presided over a large attendance. An apology for absence was intimated from Mr E. H. Crow.

The Hony. secretary, Mr W. McA. Urquhart, read the annual report, which was in the following terms: —

Your Committee has much pleasure in reporting that, in the first season of the revival of the Club since the Great War, the enthusiasm displayed by the younger and active members fully warranted the re-starting of the Club, which thereby has permitted athletes to participate and enjoy the undoubted benefits to be derived from cross-country running. The Committee only hope that the membership may be increased this season, and that once having joined, members will maintain their enthusiasm throughout the season.

Notwithstanding the fact that the night chosen for training runs, namely, Wednesday, were not favoured with the best of weather, the attendance at these weekly events showed an average of nine for the season, the largest number to turn out being 22. The attendance medal was won by J. S. Beveridge.

SCREMERSTON

The fancy dress carnival arranged for Friday and Saturday last in aid of the Scremerston and Ord Nursing Association was cancelled at the last minute, mainly owing to the threatened coal strike. The news of the postponement of the strike reached Scremerston late on Friday afternoon, but by then all arrangements for the carnival had been declared off. The dance arranged for Friday evening was, however, held in the Workmen’s Institute. The attendance was good, excellent music being supplied by Mr Whitfield’s orchestra. The committee desire to express their thanks to all who assisted in making the event a success and hope the Nursing Association will benefit by over £10.

Scremerston Station (1847-1951), described in September 1920, as one of the prettiest stations on the NER line.  The station then was adorned with various plants adding a wealth of colour for passengers awaiting their train.  Shown in the photograph above is all that remains today is the station house, now a private residence.  © Copyright Nigel Thompson, (CC BY-SA-02).

One of the prettiest stations on the N.E.R. line this year is Scremerston. The borders on the up and down platforms are gay with flowers of all hues. There is an unusual good selection. Tall hollyhocks form a background for beautiful Cosmos of all shades, snap-dragons, and there is a specially fine show of Love-lies-Bleeding, a plant rarely grown in gardens now-a-days. The edging of lovely blue Nemesias or gay Schizanthus adds to the wealth of colour.

“…..And we’re back!”

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Just over six months ago businesses, schools and other places of work shut their doors. None of us knew what to expect. At Northumberland Archives we spent the week before lockdown doing our best to make sure that we could carry on working. We took laptops home, divided up responsibility for tasks and updated our website and social media. 

Although the archives at Woodhorn and Berwick were closed to the public, staff were busy at home. Between March and September archive assistants worked on preparing catalogues that were only available in paper format, so that they could be included on our digital catalogue. Members of the reprographics team had the opportunity to develop our digital preservation system (basically an archive for digital files of all sorts) and to add digital images of parish registers to our Reading Room computers.  We’ve also been working on an education project which will provide archival resources and activities on a specially designed section of our website. 

In addition, there have been video meetings, contributions to this blog (including a really fascinating series about folklore in Northumberland) and lots of posts on social media. All in all, we used lockdown as an opportunity to get the sort of things done that have always been on our wishlist, but which often take a necessary second place to running a busy public service. 

Six months later and we are about to open our doors once again. It is an exciting time for us, but has taken a massive amount of planning. Risk assessments have been done for each member of staff and for the buildings. Staff have all had an induction so that they are all familiar with the new COVID restrictions at work. Social distancing means that offices and the searchrooms have been rearranged. Rooms each have a maximum capacity so the number of researchers that can visit us each day is limited, as is the number of staff that can be on hand. 

Across the County Council, the staff who are being allowed back into workspaces are being arranged into “Bubbles” (a small group that works together). At Woodhorn we’ve divided the archives staff into two Bubbles (there’s fewer at Berwick, so they make up one Bubble).  Each Bubble works for half the week in the office; the staff on duty on a Wednesday will be different from the staff working on a Thursday. Unfortunately, this does mean that some of our services take a little longer than they used to, but we hope that users will understand that this has been introduced to help protect staff and researchers once we open. 

Woodhorn staff
Berwick staff

As well as reorganizing buildings, furniture and staff, we’ve had to rethink the way that we do things at the archives. We decided that we should limit the items that are passed between staff to researchers – when you start thinking about a “normal” visit to the archives you realise how often that happens!   

The first thing that most people do when they come to visit us is fill in a registration card and the visitors’ book. That will be done online now at https://archivescard.com/ . We also won’t be lending paper, pencils or magnifying glasses. In the past, we’ve also lent out tokens to lock bags and coats away. We will still be asking researcher to use the lockers, but the tokens will be in the lockers at the beginning of each research session. If you want a copy of a document after your visit, we’ll be asking you to fill in a form as usual, but to leave it in a plastic wallet on your desk, which we can wipe down. 

Study Centre

We also have to quarantine the documents before and after they are used in the searchroom for 72 hours. That might sound simple, but actually involves a lot of work behind the scenes. Documents have to be retrieved well in advance and boxes marked up to show that they are not to be opened again until quarantine is over. We also have to talk to researchers before they visit about what they need to see so that we can make sure that we get it right and so that the researchers can make the most of their visit. 

A visit to the archives at Woodhorn or Berwick might not be quite like it was before lockdown, but we are very much looking forward to welcoming the public back and safely sharing the documentary heritage of Northumberland with them.   

Berwick reopening

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 26 AUGUST 1920

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FORD WAR MEMORIAL

IMPRESSIVE DEDICATION SERVICE

The old grey stone church at Ford, with its appearance of serene antiquity, must, in past associations with the historic castle, have witnessed many a solemn scene through the long centuries, but surely none so solemn as that on Sunday evening last, when the magnificent war memorial to the sons of the parish who fell in the Great War was unveiled and dedicated.  Nineteen made the supreme sacrifice, a son of the Castle, as well as lads from the farms and villages, and on Sunday the relatives and friends of the men met to commemorate their loved ones, and in doing so to draw inspiration from their heroic example. 

Ford Church, where in August 1920, a dedication service took place for the “magnificent war memorial” dedicated to the sons from the Ford area who fell in WW1. © Mollie, Wikimedia Commons. 

It was a glorious summer evening, and in the brilliant sunshine from far and near, came motorists, cyclists, and those afoot, in such numbers that seating accommodation was quite insufficient, and many had to stand at the back of the church and in the entrance porch, throughout the service.  As the waiting crowd filed slowly into the church, there floated through the building the soft tones of the Largo Appassionata movement, with its solemn staccato accompaniment from Beethoven’s second Sonata, played on the fine organ by Mr. J. H. Binks.  Seats were reserved for the relatives, and the pews in the south aisle, neath the memorial were occupied most fittingly by the Comrades of the dead heroes who were fortunate enough to return from the war, and who paraded under Comrade T. Henry, Crookham.  The beautiful service, specially drafted for the occasion, was conducted by Bishop Neligan, Rector of Ford, printed copies having being distributed amongst those present.  The lessons were read by Lord Joicey, Ford Castle, and the sermon preached by Professor Albert A. Cock, University College, Southampton, who took the place of Bishop Welldon, Dean of Durham, who was unable to fulfil his promise to assist.    

LOCAL NEWS

Capt. Alfred Goodson, who is to marry Miss Joan Leyland, is a Yeomanry officer, and is the eldest son of Sir Alfred and Lady Goodson, of Waddeton Court, Brixham, as well as Kilham, Mindrum.  Sir Alfred Goodson, who was knighted in 1915, says the “Daily Mail,” a Manchester and London merchant and manufacturer, and a director of Goodsons, Ltd.  He was at one time with Messrs Hitchcock, Williams and Co., of St Paul’s churchyard, and afterwards started business in the mantle trade., building up a huge business.  A member of the Council of the National Pony Society, he is specially interested in horse breeding and agriculture, and has taken many prises with his hackneys, including the hackney championship.  He owns a great deal of property in the Knutsford district of Cheshire.  Captain Graham Leventhorpe, D.S.O., of the Royal Field Artillery, who is to marry Mrs Geoffrey Lambton, Mr and Mrs Leyland’s other daughter, is a fine cricketer.  Mrs Lambton was first married in June 1914, and her husband was killed at the front early in September of the same year.  Their daughter, Monica, was born after his death.

Visitors on the Magdalene Fields Golf Course on Monday evening were greatly interested in witnessing a match between two ex-soldiers who had both lost an arm in the war.  One was minus the right arm and the other had had his left arm taken off at the shoulder.  Both men drove and approached the greens much better than several of the most experienced players of the club could do, and they very seldom pulled a ball into the rough.  A Berwick golfer, asked for his opinion on the men’s play, remarked he would not like to be giving a small handicap to either of them.  The peculiarity of the play of the man who lost his right arm, was that he played right handed with his wrist in front of the club.  Though his stroke was more of the nature of a “pull” than a “drive,” he got marvellous results.

NEW BRIDGE AT BERWICK STATION

THE WORK COMMENCED

Operations have been started by the North British Railway in the preliminary work connected with the erection of a new bridge carrying the Great North Road over the railway at Berwick Station.  A large number of workmen are now engaged shifting the tracks of water and gas mains and preparing the foundation for supporting the piers. 

Royal Border Bridge ealry 1990s. © Berwick Record Office – BRO 515 377

The new bridge which, it is understood, will be constructed of steal, will provide a sweeping approach to the North Road—an improvement which will be greatly appreciated by motorists.  It will be so constructed as to fit in with plans for the new station which the Company proposes to build when labour and material are more easily procured.

A portion of the parapet of the old stone bridge has been removed, and as work on the construction of the temporary bridge progresses other portions of walling will be taken down.  The work is attended with some difficulty as the continuous run of traffic north and south cannot be held up.  Workmen digging foundations and shifting the water mains are frequently stopped until the lines are clear.  Telephone and telegraph wires are also being reconnected to new poles. 

The present stone bridge, which is in a tumble down state, dates back to the time when the station was built.  Originally the road from the town led down by the bank to the coal and implement dock and up the sunken road between the present stone bridge and Tommy the Miller’s field.  The original stone of the retaining wall of this portion of the great north road is still visible from Tommy the Miller’s.

In those days the top of Castlegate was much different to what it is now.  The river side of Tweed Street and a part of the landward side were grassy banks known as the Windmill Hole.  It was no easy way of finding one’s way into the town in the dark and one such case occurred where a gentleman riding into the town on horseback fell over the banks at Windmill Hole and was seriously injured.

When the new Station at Berwick does come—it has been promised so long that some fear it will never materialise—considerable alteration will be made in the “lies” and ground near the old castle.  If excavations go on, antiquarians may find some interesting remains of olden days unearthed, as hereabouts the network of underground passages and chambers have never fully been traced.

NOTES FROM SPITTAL

The Admiralty Certificate of honourable mention in dispatches has been awarded to James Patterson, for having sighted an enemy submarine and assisted in its destruction while serving on one of H.M. mine sweepers.  The certificate was handed over by Lieut.-Commander James Toohey at the Customs House on Monday.

Once more the lifeboat has come back to Spittal, and now rests on the sands below Sandstell Road.  It is the intention of the lifeboatmen to erect a temporary shed over the boat and carriage to save it from the weather, and also from the attentions of the children, who in their curiosity have been climbing about it and doing minor damage. 

Image 8 – Lifeboat – RNLB Matthew Simpson – Left to Right – Not known, Not known, Not known, John Wood, Knot known, Jack Lough, George Lough, Bartholomew Lough, Thomas Martin (possible), Not known, Not Known, Alex Patterson Lough.

The permanent house for the new motor lifeboat has not yet been started, but we believe it will be erected near the east side of the ferry landing on the high ground.  A trolley line is proposed to be laid below the lifeboat house leading down to low water mark, and the motor boat will be lowered from the house by electrically driven winches and davits, with its carriage on to the trolley lines when launching.  Though the full particulars of the proposed lifeboat house are not available, it may be taken that it will be thoroughly up to date and fitted with the latest time and labour-saving devices.

An open race was to have been flown from Alnmouth on Saturday, but owing to the heavy rain the birds were returned by rail, the weather being so bad for liberation.  The race will be flown on Saturday first.  The club programme will be concluded on Saturday, when the Nottingham Y.B. race will be flown.  The birds will be liberated at 9.45 a.m., ringing today (Friday) 2 p.m.  The Vice-President (Mr Morton Boston) has kindly given the first prize.

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