MONDAY 7 JANUARY 2008

THE SALTWELL DUCK
This picture was sent in by Sid from Gateshead, who says the duck proudly emerged from the water of Saltwell Park’s lake to be photographed - and perhaps to show Sid the unusual place he wore his tag!

Remember that if you have a digital photograph you’d like to see on the blog, all you need to do is send it to me at my BBC email address - see below. Make sure it’s a lot less than 1Mb in size - pictures as small as 20 or 30 Kb are perfectly OK. How about sending in a picture of you, for a start? Or is that tempting fate?

OUR NEW PRESIDENT
Thankyou for all the messages of support you’ve been sending me about the appointment of Bob Williams as the President of the Honourable Company of Truckshunters - mostly on the basis that he seems to be the only member of the Company who has ever actually shunted any trucks. I am delighted to report that Bob has gracefully accepted the position, and the onerous responsibilities that go with it. In his own words....
'....Thankyou for the honour you have bestowed on me.....’
What a nice bloke!

FURTHERMORE.....
The President’s inaugural address consists entirely of an explanation for the existence of pubs known unofficially as ‘The Trust’ in Horden, Blackhall and Easington.....
....The Trust had a brewery in Yorkshire and from the sinking of the three collieries they tried to build either a Hotel or a Public House in each of the villages.
At Blackhall Colliery they applied to build a hotel; the chapel and church members objected to this as Nimmo's had already built the Hardwick Hotel and there was also an Officials Club. Also, Nimmo's had a covenant that said no one else could build a Public House in Blackhall, but as far as I know no other Brewery could build a Public House within five miles of the Nimmo's Brewery at Castle Eden. I do know the Trust Hotel was built and opened in 1925 and that it was later called the Blackhall Hotel in East Street.
...now just a little ‘snippet’ - there wasn’t another pub on the Coast Road between the Chester Hotel in Hartlepool and the Kings Head at Easington village. In 1935, Blackhall Workmen's Club wrote to one of the Nimmo family to ask their permission to open the Workmen's Club in Cemetery Road at Blackhall, and they got permission. The Club is still open.
I have no Idea when they built the Trust Public Houses in Horden or Easington. And to this day there are no pubs on the Coast Road on the left side coming from Hartlepool. There’s Blackhall Club and Easington Miners Welfare Club and there are several pubs on the right hand side.
The depth of Bob’s knowledge is awesome. He’s going to make an excellent President!

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN

NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.