General

Northumberland Archives is a heritage partner to a National Lottery Funded project, the ‘Northumberland Village Halls Heritage Project’. The project aims to celebrate the history of some of Northumberland’s Village Halls and ensure that records and memories are preserved for future generations. The project was developed by and is managed by Community Action Northumberland (CAN) whose mission is to benefit and help sustain rural communities in Northumberland. 

Alison Cowen of Jubilee Hall, Newton on the Moor, has kindly written the following article after going through the old minute books before she deposited them at Northumberland Archives.  

The first recorded minutes of the Trustees of the hall are dated 16 March 1961 when a new committee was formed by local residents. They make very interesting reading and give snapshot into village life and how much has altered, although the hall itself remains a constant feature. 
 
In October 1961 as the world listened to Aker Bilks ‘Stranger on the shore’ there was a charge of one and six to view flower arrangements and to buy from a cake stall.  Coffee and biscuits were included.   In today’s money that would be £1.59p. 
 
As the world mourned the death of JFK in November 1963 in Newton on the Moor you could have won some spectacular raffle prizes to cheer you up. How about a knitted baby jacket, a cuddly toy, chocolates or maybe 50 cigarettes? March 1964 saw the hall redecorated by Aln Painters. Perhaps they were listening to the new Radio Caroline. The ceiling was painted a fetching shade of blue at the cost of £48. After much debate Zephyr pink was chosen for the walls with the wood work being flake grey. The total bill for the work came in at £122 eight shillings and tuppence. This would be just short of £3,000 today. 
 
To celebrate the end of the Harvest in October 1965 a Kirn Supper was held. A ten shilling ticket gave you a meal of ham, lettuce, egg and tomato, a bread bun with butter all washed down with a nice cup of tea. The sweet was a fruit mousse with the very new Birds Dream Topping, which had only come onto the market the previous year. A feast for only 50p. 
 
Christmas was a very popular time in the village. In 1966 as the grown-ups sang along to Tom Jones and the ‘Green Green Grass of Home’, and Action Man made his debut in the toy shops local babies received a squeaky toy. If you were between two and five years old you were lucky enough to be given a large ball. Older children were given a named diary and pen. Everyone received an apple, orange and a bar of chocolate.  
 
By 1979 a decision had been made that only children up to the age of seven would receive a present, although what that was to be isn’t recorded. The older children were to be given an apple and orange together with a 50p piece and a mixed bag of sweets. Perhaps they could have bought the latest Christmas single, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’! 
 
I’m not sure what our local youngsters would make of such delights these days! 
Of course in the next fifty years I’m sure our current monthly coffee mornings, regular Wine Tasting and Pipers events will raise a few eyebrows as the committee continues to look after the hall for many generations to come.

I can still remember my first day working at the Melton Park Record Office in Gosforth. It was exciting to think that I would be working in a building that was once an Anti-Aircraft Plotting Station – I guess that not everybody can say that! I was given a plan of the building and was told that it would probably take some time before I got used to the layout underground & became familiar with where different classes of records were stored. All I could think was “I am working in a bunker!”

[Click on images to enlarge]

It felt like a bit of a rabbit warren the first time I was left alone underground, but I enjoyed the peace & quiet of it as it was a sharp contrast to the busy room of researchers above. It felt like another world down there and I loved the smell of the archive boxes & old ledgers. Out of all the storage rooms, number six was my favourite as the words Wireless Room were still clearly visible on the door. 

Some people found it creepy being underground and didn’t like being alone as there were lots of small rooms & dark corners. I was told that books had flown off shelves and that an airman had been spotted walking around both inside and outside the building. There was also a haunted helmet! I am certainly not a fan of ‘spooky’ things, but I never once felt afraid being on my own. 

Within minutes of being in the building I was told to be careful on the stairs. I was in for a bit of a surprise as they were very steep and not very welcoming. I sensed that it was going to be quite difficult carrying heavy boxes and large maps up and down. My mind flashed back to the part of the Job Description that said ‘ability to work with large & unwieldy records…’ 

It was always a challenge carrying heavy items up the stairs, but I quickly got used to it and my fitness certainly improved. I only worked with the public at Melton Park for a short time before it closed but I was there for the whole of the closure period when we prepared all the records ready for relocation to the new site. By the time we opened at Woodhorn in 2006, I was probably the fittest I had ever been in my life. 

The Melton Park building may have been run down and falling apart in places but that added to its charm. I feel very lucky that I got the chance to work there. What was also nice was that we had a lovely little garden area at the back of the office which backed onto the Gosforth racecourse. The tv cameras were often there & we would watch the racing during our breaks. Who knows, maybe each time the horses flew by, a lone airman may have been quietly enjoying the race. 

Warning – this blog focuses upon historic murder and suicide.

On 9 October 1907, Sarah Short drowned all five of her children in a water butt/poss-tub at her home in Red Row, Sleekburn. Afterwards, she walked to Cramlington station and committed suicide on the railway line.

George Potts 

Police Constable Potts was based at Bedlington Station. On 10 October about 1.30pm, George Short informed him that his wife and five children had been missing since the previous day. At around 9.30pm he arrived at the Short household and there in an upstairs room, saw five children lying dead in bed. Two at the top, two at the foot and one across the centre. They were fully clothed save their hats, and their clothes were all wet. PC Potts then searched a poss-tub which was three parts filled with water and was standing at the bottom of the stairs. He found two small mirrors (the type found in Lucky Packets), two penny pieces, two collar studs, a brick and a boot lace. He also stated that he saw female clothes that were all wet down the front. 

Charles William Menelaws Hope 

Dr Hope was a Medical Practitioner in Bedlington. By order of the Coroner, he made a post mortem examination on the bodies of the five children on 11 October 1907. On turning the bodies over a good deal of frothy watery mucus ran out of the mouth and nose which was evidently from the air passages. There was no evidence of poisoning. All the clothes were saturated with water. After stripping the bodies no marks of violence of any kind were to be found upon them. In no case were any marks found around the neck to suggest that death had been due to strangulation. In Doctor Hope’s opinion, the death of all five children was due to drowning. 

The inquest into the tragedy was held on 11 October 1907 by Coroner Henry Taylor Rutherford. It was later adjourned until 23 October. At the inquest, Dr Hope gave evidence and was asked about the mental state of Mrs Short. He said that he had been attending her since July and she suffered with her nerves and had pains in her head. Dr Hope had advised her to go away for a break and she had gone to Cumberland and seemed very much improved when she returned. When asked if childbearing had anything to do with her condition, Dr Hope said that he didn’t think so. 

The coroner considered the evidence and stated that Mrs Short appeared to have been suffering for some time and had developed a form of homicidal mania and from some sudden impulse, she had acted. Some strange feeling had come over her and she then deliberately planned the destruction of the children. After deliberation the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder. The inquest on Mrs Short’s death was then preceded with. The foreman of the jury asked the coroner to ask Mr Short if his wife had ever shown any signs of insanity. Mr Short claimed he had witnessed no signs. He was then asked if she had ever threatened to take her life and he replied “no.” The jury agreed to a verdict of suicide whilst in an unsound state of mind.  

Not surprisingly, the newspapers took a great interest in the case. The Morpeth Herald reported that Mrs Short was seen by several people on the night of the 9 October going towards Cramlington. She was walking through fields and appeared to be wearing her carpet slippers. It was noted that she had asked a young man how far the station was, and they walked along together for a while. She was quite excitable and said that she wished to catch a train. A Signalman at Cramlington named George Little was proceeding along the line on his way to work about 10.40pm that same night when he found a body [later indentified as Sarah Short] by the side of the line. The body was dreadfully mutilated and found around a hundred yards north of the station.

It was also reported that there were extraordinary scenes at the funerals of the mother and her children. Mr T. Dodds, Undertaker and friend of Mr Short, carried out the funeral arrangements. When the six coffins were brought out of the house there was the biggest crowd of people ever to be seen in Red Row. The coffin containing the remains of Sarah Short was placed in one hearse while the coffins of all five children were placed in another. All were covered in white flowers. The service and burials were at Choppington St. Paul and thousands of people flocked to the area. Trains were overcrowded as people were packed into carriages. The chief mourner was Mr Short along with his brother and the four brothers of Sarah. Blinds were shut in houses along the funeral route and the roadside was packed with people wanting to catch a glimpse of the coffins. The police had to control the crowds outside the church in order to make way for the funeral party. The service, which was choral, was conducted by the Rev. G.A. Brown. The choir chanted the 39th Psalm and sung the hymn Rock of Ages. During the service, Mr Short broke down in a violent fit of weeping. His whole family, Sarah, Eleanor, George, Thomas, Elizabeth Annie and Robert were all buried together in one grave.  

References 

COS/3/30/11 

Morpeth Herald, 19 October 1907 

Morpeth Herald, 26 October 1907