Mr Robert Clark was a member of a family who had been farmers on the Morpeth Castle estate of the Earle of Carlisle for 300 years.
His father, grandfather and great grandfather were tenants of Park House Farm, which formed part of what was known as the Great East Park of the Barons of Morpeth.
They were not only farmers, but also did a large business as timber merchants when wood was in great demand for ship building at Blyth, and on the banks of the Tyne.
They purchased extensively in oak and other timbers whose bark was in demand for tanning, a trade that was of great extent and importance in Morpeth for centuries.
They also did a big business in brushwood or undergrowth of plantations and copses, as the dressed rods of hazel and others were in great demand at the collieries and wharves for the making of "corves", in which coal was raised from the pits and lowered into the ships.
Mr Clark left the Park House in 1872, and settled in Bullers Green, Morpeth, where for some time he continued to buy and sell timber.
Clark's wood wagons were a well-known feature in the trade of Morpeth, and a wide district lying north, south and east of the town.
He prided himself on the quality of his horses and on the steadiness of the wagoner's he employed. Though their work in woods and along rough ways was often highly dangerous, no serious accident ever happened to them.
For more than 30 years he farmed a considerable acreage in what was formerly the West Park of Morpeth Castle, in connection with which he had a dairy of fine shorthorns. That he gave up, but only relinquished his holding on February 12, 1907, and at the end of February, 1907, his horses, wagons and farm implements were sold by Messrs Robert Donkin and Son.
Mr Clark was in poor health then, and sadly passed away at his home in Bullers Green at the age of 77. His wife eventually died too, in 1915.
William Carr was without doubt the most remarkable man in the history of Blyth.
Willie "Samson of England," was in his prime reputed to be the strongest man in the world.
Strongman William Carr
He was born on April 3, 1756, at Hartley Old Engine, half a mile from Old Hartley. Willie was the son of a blacksmith, who soon afterwards moved his family to Blyth to live.
One question I am often asked and indeed surprised by is 'What exactly is a proggie mat then?'.
I am surprised because I assume that everyone already knows what a proggie mat is. Then I realise that it is just one of those items or expressions that you grew up with totally unaware that there is another world beyond the borders of County Durham and Northumberland where people don't speak Geordie.
If you are a Geordie then you already know and no doubt your mother made them or had them made for her by a female relative, and it probably was the thing you wiped your feet on when you came in from the back yard or garden when your byeuts [boots] were aal covered in clarts.
Today the world is changing rapidly, with the last of Northumberland's deep mines, Ellington Colliery, closing back in 2005. We thought we would recall a forgotten moment in the heritage of Cambois.
Go down to Cambois today and you see the North Sea beyond the dunes. In the summer, dandelions, buttercups and daisies occupy this land. Where Cambois Colliery once stood, it has changed dramatically.
During the 1984-85 Miners' Strike the pit ponies were brought to the surface, never to go into the bowels of the earth again in the Northumberland Coal Field. March 1968, and the newspapers reported that 733 men working at Cambois Colliery were to lose their jobs - 428 were offered transfers to other pits, with 200 being made redundant and 90 being retained for salvage work.
In the second part of our look at the fire on the Empress of Scotland in Blyth, we look at an eyewitness's account of the fateful day in 1930.
James Bruce joined Hughes Bolckow in 1924. He was successively oxygen plant engineer, works engineer and works manager. Since 1953 he was director and general manager. This was his account.
Five o'clock on a bitter morning in December is not the most inviting of times to be called from one's bed. So it was with reluctance that I stumbled downstairs to answer a frantic knocking at the front door. A figure hardly recognisable in the darkness confronted me: "The ship's on fire," it said. "Get to the yard right away."
At 4am on Wednesday, December 10, 1930, the last public viewing day, the skeleton crew on the Empress of Scotland were awakened by a cry of "fire".
Almost at the same moment, a ferryman on the High Ferry saw a tongue of flame from the rear of the ship. He sounded the ferry buzzer as an alarm and a startled Blyth rubbed the sleep out of its eyes and sprang into life.
The Empress of Scotland arriving at Blyth in 1930
Within minutes, a cloud of smoke began to roll out to sea; in the houses across the river, bedroom windows reflected the glare of flames which were soon 20ft high.
I thought it would be interesting to read some remarkable historic records in connection with our local area.
Strongman William Carr
June 1, 1819: There were 67 vessels in Blyth. "A dinner was given by the owners of Cowpen Colliery at Mr Bowers to all the captains in the harbour, and the afternoon was spent in the most agreeable manner."
It was Thursday, November 23, 1905, when a serious accident happened at Cambois Colliery. Although it caused massive damage, by incredible luck no one was killed or even injured.
It happened at 7.30am at Cambois Pit, which was owned by the Cowpen Coal Company. Two seams of coal were being worked at the time, the yard seam and the low main seam.
A cage with four full coal tubs in it had almost reached the top when the rope either parted in two or left the socket and the cage went down the shaft at great speed. The cage with the empty tubs was near the bottom of the shaft when the other crashed into it with great force.
This week, we bring our readers an interesting article concerning the history of Cambois. It is only a brief history, but very informative.
According to a map dated 1760, the ruins of a church were to be found to the east of the old Parish Church. The existence of this church is confirmed by a record which states that a chapel at CAMMUS, ie Cambois, which is a recent spelling, was built by the Bishop of Durham and given in 1204 to the monks of Westminster Abbey, near Morpeth.
Cambois pit in 1968, the year it closed after 200 years
The earliest mention of coal is found in connection with Cambois when permission was given to the monks to carry it from the seashore.
Recalling players and events making up close links in local sporting history make interesting reading, and this month we thought we would look at that gallant Ashington sportsman, Dicky McFadden.
Although born in Scotland in February, 1891, Dicky McFadden was still very young when he moved to Ashington. He began working at Ashington Colliery at an early age and, as a junior footballer, he played for Ashington Black Watch and Hirst St John's.
His first professional engagement was with Newburn, but as Blyth Spartans meant more convenient travelling for him he signed for them at the start of the 1910-11 season.
Blyth Links
Wildlife - With Conservation Officer Kevin O'Hara
Ronnie Campbell - MP for Blyth Valley
Blyth Valley Scouts - Stu Bennett
Alan Hoyle - Basketball and local news
Blyth All-Weather Lifeboat - Barry Elliott
Jo Edwards - Local issues and news
John Dawson - History tales
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