Time To Say Goodbye…..But
Well it’s the end of July and this is my final piece. It has been a pleasure. I hope my articles during the period April 2006 to date have been of interest. It is sad for me knowing that it’s ending, but it has to be; if you wish to gauge the level of my sadness Google into – Time to say goodbye: Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman do a good job for me.
So what is the ‘But’ in the article heading? Well I can tell you there is a major hope of a big boost to the site’s collection of photographs; in a bedroom in Brandon there are potentially hundreds of photographs of Ushaw Moor, from the 50s, taken by my uncle Norman. If that is the case, and it may well be so, I will make an effort to get anything appropriate onto the site – even if it takes years rather than months to achieve it.
WB
Phantom Leaks – Missing Graves – And Do Not Talk About The War
Here are the last of my holiday reflections, in no particular order:
I was amazed upon receiving my ticket for the Durham v Derbyshire 20/20 cricket match to find that Durham were playing what they called the ‘Derbyshire Falcons’. Everyone knows that the away side were the Derbyshire Phantoms [much more threatening and mysterious]. No – everyone got it right but me: seemingly I was the only one not to be aware that Derbyshire had changed their name yet again. Falcons? Where did they get that name from? This episode is so embarrassing; I even told a women on a big red bus that ‘Durham have got it wrong you know’. I even said to the man that inspected my ticket ”Derbyshire will not like this”. He asked for an explanation, which I gave, and he looked puzzled. It got worse – they even put up Durham v Derbyshire Falcons on the big screen at the ground – do they never learn? No it was me, bigoted know all me, behind the times yet again.
I was in Ushaw Moor Cemetery, with a family friend, looking for John Thomas Hope [number 2 in the all-time Magnificant 7 list of great Ushaw Moorites] and duly found him. But we could not find my grandparents; this failure has happened twice now – where on earth are they buried? Talk about weird happenings down at the cemetery.Upturned coffin, graves that move, eight empty plastic milk bottles strewn around the area just inside the cemetery entrance etc. Most disheartening. Then a strange thing happened, but it is nothing to get frightened about, just a case of wild co-incidence. We got talking to two women that were also doing some family history work and in passing I discovered that a relative of one of them lives about one hundred yards from me in Surrey! And they are linked to me by way of the Hodgsons – if you remember Arthur Hodgson married my aunty Ethel! Blow me away I thought.
I enjoyed a ‘proper’ cup of coffee at the little cafe, on the left hand side of the cathedral green, but I was too early for one of their delicious scones; they were still at the dough stage. Anyway, I then went to the loo nearby for a wee and found a water leak [not mine]. It was leaking at the rate of one drop per three seconds. You might say that is nothing to worry about but I say that cathedral has been there for a very long time; if that leak continues for the next thousand years, at one drop per three seconds, that is a lot of water. Have a look for yourself when you next visit. If necessary report it, if you have any remaining time after spending so much of it estimating the total water loss after a thousand years.
On the way back home I was on the escalator going up to Kings Cross railway station when a man, he was strongly built and must have been 6 feet 2 inches in height, passed me on my left on a parallel escalator that was going in the same direction. He was noisy and seemingly troubled – speaking a very loud [to no one in particular] mixture of nonsensical English and what seemed like aggressive German. A women in front of me was looking over at him with an amused look on her face and at the time I did not think that was appropriate; afterall I could see that they were going to meet at the top and then what? It is an incident that has stuck in my memory.
WB
Norman ‘Soccer’ Gleghorn – The Interview
Norman greeted me cheerfully on my arrival at his neat and tidy flat. The twinkle in his blue eyes and his love of life remain undiminished despite his considerable years; it showed in his readiness to chat away about himself and life in general. He is not a self absorbed man rather he takes a keen interest in news and sport [by way of his radio and television] but not necessarily in that order!
Norman was born to George and Francis Gleghorn in Eshwood Street, New Brancepeth in 1926. He was one of ten children, but as he pointed out, such a large family was not so unusual at that time.
Norman attended New Brancepeth School and although he recalls that gardening was a prominent part of the school’s curriculum he was not interested in Mr Turnbull’s gardening lessons, or for that matter George Hill’s woodwork; his love was sport and more sport. He represented the school at football and cricket and enjoyed the experience so much.
Having left school at 14 he then spent the next 10 years working at New Brancepeth Coke Ovens as a mechanical fitter. It operated a three shift system; 6am to 2 pm – 2pm to 10pm and 10pm to 6am. During his time there the cokeworks never closed, not even on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, and Norman finds that fact remarkable to this day.
During our meeting Norman’s daughter Ingrid, and his grand-daughter Sarah, popped in and out. It was obvious that they love and care for Norman in a very positive way.
Norman went on to say that the poor working conditions at the cokeworks persuaded him to find a healthier occupation and it arrived in the form of window cleaning. Norman is good with people and that, together with his need to keep fit for sport, made window cleaning such an attractive proposition. He spent many a year cleaning windows and he became a familiar sight on his rounds.
I felt it was time to challenge Norman: did he clean upstairs windows? I asked because a well respected contributor to the site had suggested that Norman had no head for heights. Norman looked at me and declared that he did ups as well as downs! I duly accepted his solemn declaration with a chuckle from me and a smile from him.
We moved on to football. Norman informed me that he had been given a trial by Derby County in 1947, as had Ronnie Peart from Bearpark. Derby booked them into the local Railway hotel on a bed and breakfast basis. The trial itself was played behind closed doors to prevent the possibility of spies from rival clubs having a look at promising players and possibly nicking them. Before the game the trialists were introduced to Horatio ‘Raich’ Carter and Peter Doherty, both of whom were two of the finest inside forwards to play in English football. I listened to this, having being a Derby follower since 1954, and felt envious to say the least! At one point during the day of the trial some Derby fans asked Soccer for his autograph and he still enjoys that memory!
As for the trial itself sadly it did not go well enough. The full back was good and Norman was young and nervous: those factors caused Derby to reject him. How dare they!
At 10.39am, some fifteen minutes into our discussion, Norman offered me a whisky. I declined with thanks but now regret the lost opportunity. He then pointed to a picture of himself taken with the England Test cricketer Paul Collingwood. He was rightly proud, as well he should be, because Collingwood is a test cricketer that fights hard for the English cause. He then showed me a photograph of himself taken with Cheryl Crowe. Have I got the name right? I get the Crowe’s and Coles mixed up. Soccer described her as being a beautiful lady. He gets around….
On with his football career. He played for several teams and Ushaw Moor, Spennymoor United, Consett and York City Reserves spring to my mind.
‘The ball was hard in those days and the lace could hurt. The modern ball is like a swerving balloon’. It is hard to disagree with Norman. He reminisced about some local players: it was Billy Findlay [Finlay?} at inside right that had opened the scoring with a header in the 3-1 defeat suffered at the hands of the great Bishop Auckland team. Soccer felt that Ushaw Moor had played well but towards the end Bishop Auckland were playing effective keep ball. Tommy Sharp was a very good full back and worked as a draughtsman at Mackays factory – at one point he ran a pub in Durham. Soccer said that Tommy could head a ball further than he could kick it. Tot Smith was an ex Blackpool player and played well in local football [at one time he had a pub in Crook]. Alan Lockey was not a world beater but always put on a good show. George Jameson, at centre forward, lacked height but was pacey and effective. Norman recalled fellow winger Harry Richmond and I asked him an ‘innocent’ question: ‘was he as good as you Soccer?’ You can imagine the answer. Actually he laughed and was surprisingly polite, given the question!
Norman married Peggy Harper and then Nancy Whitfield. Although a widower, with fond memories, he has been able to carry on in a positive vein – an example to us all.
Norman is number seven in the all time magnificent seven of Ushaw Moor [earlier article see archive] and deservedly so. I felt privileged to interview him and will never forget the experience.
WB
Paul Has Made A Timely Comment
It is true that my previous post is off subject – not about memories of the village – and I must admit that I winced at and wondered about its likely reception when editing it. My mind was full of mild turmoil; do we let the memories side of it lapse into occasional but relevant articles or do we throw current affairs in amongst memories of the village with a view to creating more regular articles and hopefully maintain interest? Do we rely on Facebook as the mainstay?
Paul has the absolute right to govern and edit his facility and as a matter of fact I can fully understand his point of view. I intimated recently that my writing was coming to an end in July so that fixes the problem in any case.It had to come to an end because I have virtually exhausted my contributions to the village history at a time when several other things of a permanent nature are pressing.
It has been a privilege to write on this site and I thank Paul for giving me the opportunity. I do hope that our tour around the village, the upturned coffin incident, the debate about the ‘magnificent seven’, vicar’s Welby’s family history etc etc has been of interest.
There is one last point to make: if one or two of you can make 17/7 [1pm] at Ushaw Moor cricket club for a pint so well and good. If that is inconvenient never mind!
WB