This photograph shows the original Edwardian drinking fountain in Ridley Park. After a thorough assessment the water fountain was deemed not fit for purpose and could not be repaired.

Pictured below is the new water dispenser which was installed on the 28^th May 2019. Friends of Ridley Park Community Group worked with MIW water cooler experts and came up with this idea, for a water bottle filler. It’s weather-proof, vandal resistant, durable and easy to use, and the locals love it.

In 2013 a piece of public art which honoured three important Northumberland figures was unveiled. The three figures are of comedian Stan Laurel, who started his acting career on the stage at Blyth Theatre Royal.  PC David Rathband, who was shot and blinded by Raoul Moat. David then went onto set up the Blue Light Foundation.  However, sadly took his own life in 2012. Finally, guardsman Michael Sweeney who attended college in Blyth. He was deployed in Afghanistan and killed in 2010.

The artwork was part of a national art collection, and received monies from the  new lottery-funded Sustrans’ National Cycle Network in communities across the UK. The new walking and cycling routes are part of a national project creating new links within our communities across the UK and joins the popular Coast and Castle Route. The scheme received £50m from the Big Lottery Fund, and the Blyth scheme also received funding from Northumberland County Council.

The legend of a dragon stalking the countryside of Northumberland is first recorded by William Hutchinson in 1778. Hutchinson was given the ballad by the Reverend Robert Lambe of Norham who was almost certainly involved in its composition. Despite Lambe’s claims of transcribing an ancient manuscript it seems he took inspiration from local songs and stories which themselves may have been localised version of ballads found in Scotland and Iceland.

A lengthier prose version was published in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend in May 1890, further removed from the original source but adding plenty of narrative detail to the ballad.

The story tells of the old king of Bamburgh whose much-loved wife passes away, leaving the kingdom in mourning. With the king’s son, Childe Wynd, unheard from since his departure in search of fame and fortune the duty of comforting the old king falls upon his daughter, the kind Princess Margaret. 

Many women attempt to attract the king’s attention but his sorrow blinds him until the appearance of a beautiful but evil witch at the castle who uses her power to beguile the king and marry him, becoming the new queen.

When the lords and chieftains visit to give the new couple their blessing the knights are enraptured by Princess Margaret and the jealous queen whispers a curse which can only be undone by the return of Childe Wynd, presumed dead.

Princess Margaret awakes the next day to find herself transformed into a dragon, only able to crawl and shriek. The princess flees from her terrified courtiers and finds a nearby cave, emerging only when she becomes so hungry she cannot stand it. The dragon feeds on the livestock of farmers for miles around until the kingdom decide to appease the beast with daily offerings.

Childe Wynd, fighting with the Franks, hears of the misfortune at home and builds a ship of rowan wood for his return voyage. Approaching the castle at night he sees the evil queen’s eyes shining from a tower, bright but cold. The queen dispatches imps to attack the ship and raise a storm but they return unsuccessful, having been unable to break the protection of the sacred rowan wood. Wynd is able to navigate into Budle bay where the dragon waits for him on the beach.

Rushing toward the dragon, sword in hand, Childe Wynd hears a gentle voice from within his adversary and is compelled to act with love. He bows and kisses the dragon who retreats to its cave and emerges as Princess Margaret in her original form.

The evil queen escapes, her spell undone, the heir returned, and the princess’s true beauty eclipsing her own. When the evil queen is captured Childe Wynd has her transformed into a toad-like-creature, her outer state now reflecting her true nature and only her bright, shining eyes remaining the same. The creature roamed the land and hissed and spat at any passing beautiful ladies.

While we lack an accurate history of our local variant of the tale, many wild and fantastic beasts are depicted in Anglo Saxon and early medieval artwork from the area. The most famous of these is the “Bamburgh beast” depicted on a small gold plaque which can be seen in Bamburgh Castle’s archaeology museum. The location of the “laidley” (most likely a corruption of “loathly or loathsome”) worm’s hole is marked on early OS maps and, although the cave itself was destroyed by quarrying by the nineteenth century, it is fascinating to see the landscape influencing the story and the details incorporated into maps.

In 2020 we are experiencing reduced services on the buses, underground, trains and no planes are flying. Back in 1918, an anonymous Gosforth resident wrote to the Newcastle Journal: “Complaining about the conditions on the trams, they were overcrowded and not ventilated. We are told not to use these cars, but to many this is an impossibility!” (6 November 1918)

A medical man wrote to the Newcastle Journal (25 November 1918) signing his letter ‘A Sufferer’, He states that he had 40 cases in his country district all which were traced back to the village dances and that “…something ought to be done to stop these.”

Dr Eustace Hill, Medical Officer of Health for Durham, wrote in the same newspaper that to prevent the spread of infection it was important that at funerals the coffin should not be taken into the building, but left outside in the open air during the service. This practice was observed when the deceased had smallpox, scarlet fever and diphtheria and should be done for influenza cases.

Outside the North East one statistic that was frightening was that on the 31 October 1918 the Registrar General reported the deaths in the last week were 4482. For the London area only! 2225 in Greater London; 1256 in the County of London and 969 in the outer ring!