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Monthly Archives: January 2019

Read more about the article Bill put ships in bottles

Bill put ships in bottles

BILL Weaver’s great-grandfather owned and operated four coastal trading ships, back in Great Britain’s days of sail. Bill’s grandfather – a skipper on his father’s little fleet – won a British Empire Medal in World War I for spotting a German submarine prowling around in Solway Firth. His sharp eyes saved a troopship from destruction. He was also coxswain in the local lifeboat. He drowned in a regatta accident in 1933. Ran away to sea Bill’s father (also named Bill) ran away to sea at 16, signing on as a deck boy with the Blue Funnel…

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Another thing coming, I think . . .

I was at work at the newspaper doing what journalists do - minding everybody else’s business - when this question came up: If you think somebody thinks a thing and you think the thing they are thinking is wrong, do you think you should say something? More particularly, if you did think of saying something about the thing you think they are thinking, which of the following things do you think you would choose? A: “If you think that, then you have another think coming?” or B: “If you think that, then you have another thing…

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Read more about the article How many hopes lie buried here? Plague in Newcastle 1905

How many hopes lie buried here? Plague in Newcastle 1905

There is (or was?) an unofficial car park at the eastern boundary of the Stockton Centre where fishermen would leave their cars before walking to the beach. Beside the wooden barriers that marked the car park's edge stood a lonely tombstone. The inscription told of a teenager's untimely death on April 2, 1905, just one day before his 17th birthday. At the foot of the white marble monument is a century-old question that asks passers-by to reflect on the long-forgotten heartbreak of a Newcastle family: "How many hopes lie buried here?" The name on the tombstone…

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