Kenton Bar Estate - A Blast from the Past

These are what we used to call detonators. Now that I am a grown up malchick I know that they are in fact Hilti cartridges used in Hilti power tools to hammer nails into concrete and so on. In those dark distant days these were, from time to time, to be found on the estate. Someone figured out that they were not bullets – good. And then some other clever fellow figured out that if you placed them on a flat surface and hit them with a hammer that they would explode with an almighty bang, louder than any firework. They also made quite a bang if you popped them into a fire…… Seeing this picture makes me want to go out RIGHT NOW and buy a box of detonators and set them off in my bathroom

Slug guns, bow and arrow and birds egg collecting

Need I say more?

A dark blue Jaguar, 4 tyres, 1 small child and some six inch nails……………..

Well there was no such provision for this on the estate..but whilst walking the desolate ramparts of castle Kenton Bar on mein lonely vigil I happened to notice through the gap in a fence at Hartburn facing the school a most wonderful allotment in the south facing bungalow complete with greenhouse...this got me thinking how I could recall other Ryder & Yates gardens which had been transformed into allotments...maybe this was a legacy from the war, and a most wonderful hobby......If you look on Google Earth you might be able to see the allotment I am wittering on about...I wonder what percentage of gardens on Kenton Bar Estate are now allotments?... OOOOOARRRRRRGHHH!!!...GET OFF MY LAND!!!

R.I.P Roy Skelton(voice of George & Zippy)...I used to go home for dinners every Tuesday and Friday from Kenton Bar School just to watch Rainbow(it was on at 12:10 so I had to run like the clappers...)...I still remember I always had oxtail soup for dinner, not realising that oxtail soup was made from the tail of an ox(nothing to do with Les the ox)...once the penny dropped I never had it again, nor have I ever(had it again)...I can imitate George very well after years of practice...One glorious day I will perform this at the Kenton Bar Blog reunion do at the ruins... More on Rainbow here

I was wittering on about these re the cube flats at one point...so I went to investigate all 13 cube flats...the only one that has a washing line post still standing is this one, cube 9(going down from the top of estate)...a beautiful piece of glorious metal ...did those geniuses Peter & Gordon design this do you think?...or was this the responsibility of a lesser mortal...

Denea Wilde - The STAR of Get Carter. As a follow up to http://kentonbar.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-celebrities-pre-1988.html Hi  - whilst searching online for some Get Carter stuff I came across the following interview:- Denea Wilde Pub Singer: Deana Wilde aged 40, singing 'How about you' in the Vick & Comet pub, now O'neils, in Get Carter.        

Another Stalag abomination,same as Lamppost 1, this time along Harburn Walk bungalow alley...once again anti hooligan spikes making it even more aesthetically ghastly...

This one is a different type of Stalag lamppost. They have built a winding path across the grassed hill area where the beautiful step pyramid is at Hartburn Walk which leads to the public footpath that still runs up to Kenton Lane past St Cuthberts and new build Kenton School...these lampposts serve to illuminate the said path...there are 3/4 of these, very tall with seemingly a myriad of bulbs in each lamp(zoom in x2 to viddy)-wonder what the glow is like on a night?...no doubt harsh and horrible...the winding path is visible on Google Earth, but the photo must of been taken when the path was just being built as there are no streetlights. Maybe El can insert a link to this post as it is beyond my intellectual capacity...

Does anyone know if Dandelion and Burdock can still be purchased?

Here's one of the horrible new stalag type ones, this one's in the green(good) zone...note the pathetic anti hooligan climbing spikes half way up...as if this will stop them...

After following up a lead I got from Shades I now have the following good stuff concerning a tiny detail that many of us will not remember until prompted, but has always ben in my memory. The street lights on Kenton Bar were of a specific type that is sadly all now gone. The perimeter road, Hazeldene Avenue used “standard” road lighting but the internal areas of the estate used a cool white light with a very distinctive black and white disc shaped shade. It seems likely that the original lighting on the pedestrian areas of Kenton Bar Estate were of the type made by CU Phosco Model number P178. Here, for your delectation I have some lovely photos courtesy of Mike Barford, who collects street lighting! ( Mike's Site Is HERE ) and was kind enough to send me some high quality photos as well as allow me to take some other stuff from his site like the CU Phosco catalogue.  The light cast that beautiful milky white light because of the opaque white shade and the fact that a mercury vapour...

Oh for The Cold War – what memories. I think that Newcastle International Airport was a diversion airport for Vulcan bombers when they went “technical”. From time to time there would be a roar of jet engines over the estate that literally shook the ground heralding the arrival of a Vulcan. The Vulcan would be flying low and slow into Newcastle Airport and would, be clearly visible from the ground. All the kids on the estate would be looking up oohing and aghhhhing. To my eyes it was truly a massive aircraft with that distinctive delta wings and snubbed nose. My estimation was that it was flying at about 500 feet altitude. The site of a Vulcan at this range and the sound it made has stuck in my memory ever since I first saw it all those years ago. I think I maybe saw the Vulcan fly over the estate 5 maybe 6 times in my life but each occasion was memorable, one time it flew over whilst I was in my back garden and I swear you could see the bomb doors clearly and the wheels etc. There is...

Comrades I am following a lead after a link given by Shades in my post HERE . I will soon (hopefully) have some pictures – yes actual pictures of the disc street lighting – VERY close up in all it’s glory and also showing the internals. So close you can see individual hairs. Watch this space!! Also coming son - Vulcan Bombers Related articles Brothers did we miss this or am I going senile? (kentonbar.blogspot.com)

Hi Fellow KBEABFTP Droogs. I got an email the other day from a certain “D”. The mail is reproduced below – anyone know if this is/was true?:-   “Hello, I was told that the English Heritage wanted to buy the entire estate at some point in the past. Do you know whether it is true? I was quite surprised by this when one of the residents told me. Thank you for the blog! D”

Kenton Bar Photo Story The music is the by the glorious Ludwig Van himself.

In our excitement at seeing the apex of The Pyramid in this picture did we forget to look at the rest of it? As you can see there is a full-blooded picture of the map too. And – take note Mr. Jolyon Yates – a very tiny picture of the disc shaped black and white street light I mentioned in my email to you!!! I hope I am not going senile…… Related articles Is It True That Vegetarian Diets Lead to Senile? (golagola.wordpress.com)

GOM – name them.

View all Get your own   You can also find the full album HERE   There is even an RSS feed for the web album so you get any updates too https://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/102170488683081676426/albumid/5615365305607591393?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_GB

The names of the streets on Kenton Bar are according to my sources as named follows – my research shows the origin of the names in the right hand column. Does anyone care to fill in the missing ones? Incidentally, and I think it has been mentioned here before. Some jolly wag took a black marker pen and changed the street signs for Studdon Walk to “Stubbon Walk” – obviously the errant youth was an illiterate and hoped that it said “Stubborn”. It made me laugh every time I passed nonetheless. Look at all the options for the name “Kenton” http://www.explorebritain.info/search?q=kenton Fawlee Green Probably named after Fawlee Sike a small water feature in Northumberland http://www.explorebritain.info/water-northumberland-fawlee-sike-ny8176 Ryal Walk Probably names after Ryal - a small hamlet in Northumberland http://www.explorebritain.info/locality-northumberland-ryal-nz0174 Apperley Avenue Most likely named after Apperley Dene, a small village OR Apperley Burn - small riv...