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Shipping

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 9 JANUARY 1920

by

NORHAM

The Old Year’s Night was spent in a very happy fashion at the Primitive Methodist Church. At 7 o’clock the Rev. C. L. Stowe (accompanied by the Rev. J. Crawford, Presbyterian minister) took charge of a delightful programme of vocal and instrumental music; which had been arranged in the interests of Home and Foreign Missions. The programme was sustained by Mr M. Mason (Scremerston) organist, Misses Mason, Davidson, Nelson, and Mrs Pardoe, soloists; Mr R. Smart, elocutionist. The concert was followed by a supper daintily set out by the Norham lady-workers, and generously provided by the villagers. Missionary services were continued on Sunday, January 4th, when the Rev. R. Banham, Deputation form West Africa, preached at 2.30, while Mr Pringle, of Longdyke, occupied the pulpit in the evening. Miss Nelson was the soloist on Sunday. The total proceeds of the Missionary effort amounted to about £12.

The children attending the Church Sunday School were entertained to tea on New Year’s Day in the Old School, when a most sumptuous repast was enjoyed by the youngsters. The good things for the festive board were kindly provided by the Hon. Mrs Askew Robertson, Mrs Roberson, Mrs Herriot, Miss Embleton, and Mrs Ritson. Miss Head, formerly of Norham, and at one time a Sunday School teacher, sent two lovely iced Christmas cakes for the occasion. After tea, games were indulged in, and in this way a very pleasant evening was spent, the children’s smiling faces and loud shouts of laughter showing how thoroughly they were enjoying themselves. On the call of the Vicar, three hearty cheers were given for all those ladies who had so kindly provided the tea, and for those who kindly given their assistance to make the evening an enjoyable one.

BERWICK AND DISTRICT

BACHELOR’S BALL

After a lapse of five years due to war conditions, Berwick and District Bachelors’ annual ball was held in the Corn Exchange on Tuesday evening. This Ball has for many years been always regarded as one of the most notable of social functions in Berwick. Of the original list of bachelors responsible for getting up the first ball held on January 15th, 1879, very few now survive, those being Messers A. L. Miller, T. Thompson, D. K. Gregson, T. Darling, and Sir F. D. Blake. Of these Mr Thos. Thompson is the sole survivor of the Committee of five.

Image from the Berwick Advertiser 4 December 1858, opening of the newly erected Corn Exchange, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Thanks to the artistic taste of Messrs John Crow and Son, decorators, the Corn Exchange, losing its everyday, business-like appearance, was transformed into a beautiful ball-room, the walls of which were panelled in pale blue and white. Special doorways leading to various ante-rooms were done in white and pink mouldings, with the Berwick coat of arms and the figures 1920 painted in pink.

Allan’s band was accommodated on a raised platform, tastefully decorated with pot plants, at the top end of the room. The whole effect of the ballroom was greatly enhanced by the electric light decorations, put up under the direction of Mr Barlow, Resident Engineer, Urban Electric Light Works. Intermingled with evergreens, strings of coloured lights were suspended from the roof girders, prettily coloured Chinese lanterns also appearing in the decorations round the room. A special staircase, draped in white and trails of ivy, was erected by Messrs J. Cockbburn and Son, from the floor of the ballroom to the gallery and thence to the supper room, which was tastefully laid out. The gallery, used as sitting out accommodation, was ornamented by fir trees. The two side-rooms downstairs were set out as refreshment rooms, the front entrance being transformed into a sitting-out rom, shade with soft crimson lights.

GLENDALE

COMRADES’ BALL

A very successful ball was held in the Drill Hall, Wooler, on Friday evening last, under the auspices of the Comrades of the Great War. Despite the numerous attractions in Wooler and District during the holiday season, over a hundred were present. The spacious hall was beautifully decorated for the occasion. High-class music was supplied by Allan’s Band, Berwick, and many encores were clamoured for. Comrades W. Dixon and T. Curle acted as M.C.’s. The supper was catered by Comrade J. Shilan, Temperance Hotel, Wooler, and as on previous occasions, to the satisfaction of all present. In addition to the supper oranges, apples and grapes were served out. Dancing was kept up with great vigour until 3.15 a.m., when reluctantly one and all wended their way homewards after a most pleasant evening.

EDUCATION COMMITTEE

EVENING CLASSES FOR SOLDIERS

The Clerk read the recommendation of the General Purposes Committee, which, after having been in communication with the Scottish Command, the Registrar of Evening Classes, and the County Director, agreed to recommend that evening class instruction in Woodworking, etc., be given to soldiers, the cost of which would be defrayed by the Military, and that the classes be arranged for with the teachers

The Chairman moved the adoption of the report, saying this was going to be no expense for the Committee. Anything required would just be intended for. Agreed to.

The Clerk reported that, including arrears, the amount to be distributed to teachers under the County Scheme of Augmentation of Salaries was ÂŁ1325 15s 5d, and this augmentation would be paid out with the December salaries.

LOCAL NEWS

In the past history of Berwick as a shipping centre one of the most outstanding names was that of Gowan, at whose ship-building yard on the Quay below the eight-gun battery, numerous vessels were constructed. Ship-building is carried out no longer in Berwick, and there are now no representatives of the Gowan family in the town. Some members of the family are, however, still connected with the ship-building trade elsewhere. Mr Arthur Byam Gown, as is well-known, is Managing Director of Palmer’s famous works on the Tyne.

BRO 1636-5-22. Berwick Quay and Docks early 19th Century

Others, we learn, are doing well in the colonies, where Mr John Miller Gowan runs a station in the River Nia, Australia. He married his cousin Estelle, a daughter of the late John Gown, of Melbourne, and has five sons and one daughter. The eldest son went to the front with the 17th Battalion and was in the Great Push in France – arriving just in time. The next boy is in the Bank of Australia in Henty, the younger ones being still at school. Another member of the family, also in Australia, is Mr Henry Flockhart, who follows the profession of a journalist, and whose mother was Miss S.L. Gown. He never can forget, he says, the happy days he spent in Berwick and Spittal, with fly-fishing up the Whitadder and kettles up the Tweed.

During the week some of the local coal dealers have experienced difficulty in getting enough coal to meet the demands of their customers. Many householders have been without coal, a state of affairs, which at this time of the year, is far from pleasant. Every effort to adjust supplies has been made by Mr Turnbull, the local Fuel Overseer, who has made a point of at once supplying the needs of households where there was sickness.

An early 20th century image of the former Scremerston Pit. BRO 0515-209

The shortage, which is not regarded as serious, is attributed to the recent three days holidays at the pits at Scremerston, when supplies were allowed to get behind. It is poor comfort to say that other districts are, and have been, much worse off, but with a pit two miles away, there is little fear of a serious shortage in Berwick and district. To help out supplies in the meantime, recourse has been had in some instances to wood as fuel, and the Overseer has also exercised his rights and commandeered two waggons of coal off the railway.

This Week in World War One, 30 July 1915

by

Berwick Advertiser title 1915

 

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 30 JULY 1915

 

HARBOUR REVENUE AND THE WAR

INADVISABILITY OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION

 

The restriction on East Coast shipping are being more forcibly impressed upon the ratepayers of our own immediate district by the short discussion which occurred at the Berwick Town Council meeting on Tuesday evening. The inability of the local Harbour Commissioners to meet the interest on a by no means large bond is sufficient testimony to the decline in shipping during the past year at the port of Berwick. It was a state of matters which no one contemplated this time last year, and it is satisfactory to learn, despite the intense difficulties placed on shipping and fishing, the trade at the harbour shows a tendancy to revive these last few weeks. There is no doubt whatever that with the advent of normal times activities at the harbour will resume their natural condition, and that the interest, temporarily advanced by the Town Council as guarantors to the bond, will be duly refunded. In the unusual circumstances the Town Council had no alternative but to meet the payment of the interest, and there is no reason why there should be any feeling in the community over what is only a very small item emanating out of the war. The appeal made by Alderman Short to regard the discussion as private might very well have seriously occurred to the Council earlier. Had the Council been unanimous in Committee, as they were to all extents and purposes in public, the whole matter could have been quite easily adjusted. In these strenuous days when every encouraging little item is faithfully served up to the reading public of the enemy on the other side of the  North Sea, the less said about decadent sea ports on the east Coast the better. It is a line of action which would have undoubtedly met with the approval of the naval and military authorities who keep a very strict censor on items of such a nature. It may occur to the Council of Borough on the East Coast that there are other things quite as essential to safeguard as bright lights. A spoken word, and an admission on the part of a responsible body such as a Town Council that one of the ports is in a temporary insolvent condition is a grave enough concession indeed, and, garnished and magnified by Tuetonic ingenuity, it can be translated into language out of all proportion to the actual facts. But there is no use lamenting over spilt milk, though it may, and certainly ought to be, a warning to responsible authorities to exercise every degree of care and caution in these eventful days.

 

Berwick Advertiser 30 July 1915. J Smith Advert
Berwick Advertiser 30 July 1915. J Smith Advert

 

 

LOCAL NEWS

 

Belford Church – the church has been enriched by the placing of two finely executed stained glass windows. They are, what is known in architecture, as the early English period, and are lancet in shape. In one window is an illustration of “Charity,” which is depicted by a large figure under richly-coloured canopy work, and standing on an ornamental base, with the following inscription: – “Erected

Belford Church © Copyright Peter Taylor - Creative Commons Licence.
Belford Church © Copyright Peter Taylor – Creative Commons Licence.

 

by her brother-in-law, the Vicar of Belford, in loving memory of Racheal Smale McLeish, a devoted church worker, who died on December 14th, 1914; aged 58 years.” In the other window is a figure of St. Cecilia in the act of playing an organ, being patron of music, with the following inscription:-“Erected by her father, the Vicar of Belford, in loving memory of his beloved daughter Helen Katharine Ogilvie Robertson, who died on January 11th, 1914, aged 37 years.” The windows were designed and executed by Messrs G. J. Bagnley and Son, artists in stained glass, Newcastle.

 

 

CROSS-COUNTRY

Splendid Military Run at Berwick

Thirty-Three Regiments Represented

 

The military cross-country race at Berwick on Saturday proved an eminently successful gathering, and the commontion and stir it occasioned in the ancient Borough will be an event to be remembered as an outstanding incident in the annals of the Great War. The weather was showery, and, though the ground was heavy underfoot, a more ideal summer afternoon could not have been desired. The thousands of spectators who lined the fine vantage ground on the overlooking Walls, as well as on the more expansive meadow where the race started and finished, were enabled to witness the ceremony under most comfortable atmospheric conditions. A sharp shower fell at the conclusion of the subsequent recruiting meeting, but it was short in duration, and it did not interfere with the pleasure of the spectators in witnessing the completion of a most interesting and finely contested race. No one could but be impressed with the sight of so many hundreds of fine specimens of young

WW1 Gymanastics at Aldershot.
WW1 Gymnastics wearing their competitors costume at Aldershot.

fellows in the perfect bloom of physical strength and manhood, all too, trained in the use of arms, and ready and willing to do their bit whenever the opportunity came. As they marched in gymnastic costume, in perfect swing and unison of step to the captivating strains of the pipe music to take up their allotted positions at the starting point it was a singularly charming spectacle. Not a few of the competitors felt the inspiration of the familiar Highland reels, and gave vent to their itch of foot by indulging in brief spells of a dance. To the thinking spectator there came a pang of intense regret to know of a certainty that so many splendid specimens of athletic manhood would ere many weeks were over have to face the terrible scenes of havoc and bloodshed which are being enacted on the plains of Flanders. The arrangements of the committee in charge were admirable. There was ample convenience for so many competitors dressing and preparing for the race, several large tents having been erected, while the course was well mapped out with flags. The start was given by Colonel Peterkin, and though at the finish there was great excitement and some crushing ample room was allowed to the runners to reach the goal.

The presentation of prizes by Colonel Peterkin in the evening in the Corn Exchange along with tea to the competitors was a scene of much enthusiasm and good hearted fellowship. The memory of the great race, and the stir and bustle it created in the streets will be pleasantly remembered by all the citizens, and the only feeling of regret is that so poor a response was made to the recruiting efforts at so imposing a military display.