Kenton Bar Estate - A Blast from the Past

A little anecdote. My Daddy used to take snuff – in fact he was a snuff advocate espousing it’s virtues whenever he could. He would get his snuff, via my sister, from a snuff shop in London on Old Bond Street. Snuff had a nice smell – and it made your nose itch. Daddy used to share this with me when I was about 13 years old AND also Mensforth too. A little factoid about snuff:-   My Uncle Don who worked for Parsons foo many many years told me this tale. When he was an apprentice at Parsons the shop foreman used to give every apprentice a pinch of snuff on a Friday afternoon. Uncle Don worked out that if you pinched a sixpence between finger and thumb for a few minutes that it would leave a dimple in your fingertips – hence before he went for his Friday afternoon pinch he would grip the coin, make the dimples and therefore get an extra large pinch of snuff!! – Now that is innovation! If you recognise ANY of these two anecdotes then you may be able to deduce the identity of El Pa...

I was re reading the post 'space invaders'....I suddenly remembered at that time as we rode our bikes on the way to Whitley Bay we were obsessed with 'The Beat' song 'Best Friend' I distinctly remember it being in my head as we cycled on the way to play space invaders at Whitley Bay... here it is...does it still stand the test of the sands of time?...I think so...but what doth thou, oh reader think?...

Kind readers – anyone who feels like they might want to be a guest blogger on http://kentonbar.blogspot.com please contact me, El Patron, using the “Contact El Patron” link in the sidebar of the blog.Preferably someone living on the estate now who has lived there for a long time ie 10 years or preferably more. An interest in the estate, not just the people is required. How is "happened", Memories, characters etc. etc.

OK – who had a slug gun? I did. I was the proud owner of a Diana SP50 as pictured here. This weapon was a breech loading air pistol and was very simple indeed – the only drawback being that the breech plug (part number LT057) could be lost easily after unscrewing – indeed I remember buying at least three replacements during the time I had this weapon. The main spring was also not really up to the mark and after a while would get weaker and weaker eventually rendering the weapon little better than a pop gun. We would use it for various purposes…………. shooting at caravans, cats, birds (but never dogs - why?) I can honestly say that I never managed to kill anything or anyone – even though I did fire it at John Wright on one occasion hitting his hand and he yelped like a stuck piggy. I did hear that some used to fire at the CU Phosco P178 light shades on Kenton Bar Estate……. not me guv’nor……

On my recent holiday to Tirana, Albania , I happened to stop off in Newcastle for a brief five minute transit. The only flights to Tirana as it happens are from Newcastle International Airport – Newcastle being Tirana’s twin city. I took the time to stop by on Kenton Bar Estate and took the following photos….. Now –  an important detail missed by all but me. If you notice that the pyramids are modular in nature, that is made up of regular and identical sections all joined together somehow to form the pyramid. I speculate that pyramids of almost any size, material strength aside, could have been constructed. I wanted to find out how these modules were joined, so taking my trusty rock hammer proceeded to chip away at one of the joints. Lo and behold I came across this:- Clearly showing how the parts are bolted together. GOM – now that you know the nature of the building blocks I demand that you construct a mould in your garden and replicate a stepped pyramid in all it’s glory....

Need I say more:-

After extensive research and years of toil I can now list all the teams who played in the league in 1975/76 - 16 in total, so 32 games played in a season: Kenton Bar Wyndham West Jesmond St Charles Gosforth East St Cuthberts Westgate Hill Snow Street Cragside Sandyford Montagu Denton Park Cowgate Mountfield North Fawdon Walling

The blog received the following email from some anonymous riff raff no doubt concerning the appropriation of woodpecker cider from Goldfinch Wines...how dreadful: 'hyea man,....it was spud who worked oot that all yu needed tu de wos tu get tuw peecis uv wood aboot a meeta long ind put them thru the leeta box, wich was massive man,then yu cud just leek clamp the cida ind pull it tuw the massive leta box man.then all you had tu de was put yu hand in ind grab doon ind choir/tax/hoist the cida ha ha ha if yuz wuntid mor wy yu just did it aal owa again ha ha ha'

I chanced upon some tar and a tar making machine somewhere(though not on Kenton Bar), which brought the memories flooding back...as you know ruffians and bounders from down the bottom used the solid blocks of this on the soles of their filthy sabogs to help them climb to the apex of the pyramid and also to make tar paths up her 4 beautiful faces Bog blast them, but we've been here this before haven't we?...the ubiquitous von of tar permeated all zones of the estate as the flat roofs were constantly being repaired...

Evening Chronicle, June 16th 2006: Could this be about our beloved pyramid?...I know but shalt not tell...yet...for a Kenton Bar pyramid badge thou will have to seek out the article in the archives section of Newcastle Central Library...