Friday 12 February 2010

1389 Francis Durbridge and Paul Temple, A bus ride via Washington to Chester Le Street for cricket

A leisurely and practical morning where I worked until ten before coffee and toast and attended to a number of household chores before turning on the radio before noon to discover the serialization of a Paul Temple mystery.

Paul Temple was an amateur sleuth created my Francis Durbridge 1912- 1998. The books fact followed the radio series creation which commenced in 1938 and continued until the later 1960's and were then recreated commencing in 2006. My memory is of the post war series with Kim Peacock playing the lead, 1946 to 1953 and I may have also listened to some of those with Peter Coke until I left school and who was alive aged 93 in 2006 when he was interviewed about his involvement with the programme. Marjorie Westbury played the wife of Paul Temple Steve.

I was immediately taken back to those days by the programme signature tune which has remained the Coronation Scot, a musical train journey written by Vivian Ellis. In a world where everything appeared to have changed within my lifetime it is was splendid to discover something that had not.

I only heard about half of this episode of Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, one of eight parts first heard with Kim Peacock in 1949 and then remade with Peter Coke in 1955, and commenced again on 16th May 2008. Among those appearing in the 1949 and 1955 versions were Andrew Faulds who became a Member of Parliament and Richard Waring, then an actor who became an established sitcom writer. It is evident that this a very different version from the original published story.

There were four made for the cinema movies and in 1964 the BBC commenced 64 television episodes with Francis Matthews and Ros Drinkwater. The radio series was also an even bigger hit in Germany where 12 novels were serialised in the German language with actors of national renown and are available as CD audio books to this day. The British Television series was made in collaboration with German TV. The latest radio series commenced with using vintage microphones and vintage sound effects. It was not the programme which affected plans for the rest of the planned day as I received a small package through the post which did, together with the ten black printer cartridges but not the radio controlled model cars.

I will have to make a list of things sent for an outstanding. But the small package, You must now sing the tune of the Coronation Scot to get the flavour of a serial that always ended with a question or a broad hint of what was to come, but then had to wait a whole week before the next part.

The success of Durham Cricket Club in reaching the quarter final stage of the Friends Provident Trophy 1 day 50 over competition prompted me to take out membership again as I discovered I could also buy tickets for the 20 20 series at half price. Although I missed the five free home ties and two four day games involving my boyhood team Surrey and Yorkshire, the nearest in cricket to a derby match, the £90 membership remained of great value for money with six up to four day games and for 4 40 40 games making a total of 28 days.
Whereas the pressure is on in to make reduction for elders as well as children and students, in cricket the need to improve the financial position of players, to encourage schools and youngsters to take up the game means that without membership there are no longer concessions for individual games. However in order to gain immediate concessions and ensure that I gained a seat in an area of the ground behind the bowlers arm a visit to the ground before 5pm Monday was required unless I was certain he post would arrived beforehand, The cost of the entrance fees is about half the cost of attending a cricket match because of petrol costs and car parking charges and a tendency to buy refreshments as well as score card programmes. There is a tradition among avid cricket fans to keep a record every ball and run scored, the details of when each wick fell and the bowling figures for each innings as well as various highlight figures such as rum and bowling rates, highest and lowest scores and such like and these are published in the media and collated annual in the cricketers annual bible Wisden's a monster book where collector will pay a fortune to own a complete set. The present price is £40 but as a club member there is a significant discount, presently £12, and which reminds that I must also collect my free copy of the Durham year book which normally costs £7.50. I have never been into Wisden, but I did follow the game more close at one point winning £250 or it may have been £500 in a Newspaper competition for picking the best composite team over a season and where I achieve a minor prize and overall highly placed with the certificate somewhere. This is along introduction to mentioning the decision to use my all England bus pass for the first time travelling outside the Tyne Wear area.

More Coronation Scot music while I make coffee and toast and which was good. Now to part three.
I knew that there were two ways of reaching the cricket ground from my home. I could take a bus from South Shields to Sunderland where there was a choice of three buses each taking a different route but all going along part of the coast road and from the Sunderland Interchange there were two buses which stopped at the Riverside Ground. I had also recently investigated that there was one bus from South Shields which went to the Bolden Asda and Cineworld Cinema, the to Washington, yes Washington the ancestral home of the first President of the United States, George and then to Chester Le Street where the Riverside ground is located, but I did not know how close to the ground and I had worked out that the bus journey alone took about an hour journey took an hour whereas I could travel by car from home and reach my seat within half an hour. The bus journey along the coast to Sunderland was about three quarters of an hour and a similar period to reach the ground from the what has become the bigger than Newcastle local authority but still second city, although within the region it is third with Durham a more popular destination. So which route did I chose? More Coronation Scot music as we move on to part four.

I decided to try the route which combined two virgin experiences and armed with a rucksack, haversack, backpack containing a note book, umbrella and a booklet of information on the big change to the occupational pension scheme which had also arrived in the morning post I walked to the bus interchange station in time for the 2.50 pm route 50 service to Chester Le Street, arriving five minutes beforehand to find long queue, the majority bus pass owning elders, a small proportion of whom were still on the bus as it left Chester Le Street for Durham and who I therefore presumed had made the trip to Shields on Market day and were returning home for their tea. I was also surprised that several alighted as we made our way out of the town via Bolden Lane where at the of which is located the residential Home where my mother live for the last four years of her life, and a route which I had travelled twice a day for over two years but had never done so by bus. The onward journey to Bolden Asda and Cineworld was also familiar territory as again I have made this trip at least once a month. After Bolden I was in unfamiliar land. Which way would we go? Coronation Scot music leads to part five.

First we took the Sunderland Newcastle Road to the junction with the A19 and then went south taking the first exit leading to Washington, Sunderland, which previously was Washington New Town, County Durham and before that Washington County Durham.

The new Town was created in 1964 modelled on the U S A experience of creating new communities for the car owning democracy. Before then Washington was a collection of communities between Sunderland and Chester Le Street much of it land owned by the family of Lord Lambton, with at least one important coalfield and chemical works, The vision was to create a series of separate but enlarged communities, known as districts with a range housing and local facilities, a number of industrial and business enterprise estates, a new purpose designed shopping centre and central bus station, linked by a major road net work. To the East of Washington there is the dual carriage motorway linking Tyneside with Teesside and on to York the A 19 which becomes the former A 1 to London and to the West of Washington linking South Shields one spur, and Newcastle the main spur to the M1 Motorway is the AIM motorway. Going through Washington from the north to the south and close to the town centre is a third dual carriage way route, and going through Washington are also two East West- West East routes on either side of the Town centre. There is no train centre. Although designed o be so there is in fact no sense of it being a town and soon after the administration of the town was moved from its development corporation to Sunderland the numbered only district approach was abandoned and reverted to named place communities of which there are now some 17 associated with the two each with an average population of three to four thousand with a total of sixty thousand at the 2001 census. Such a significant increase in population has been sustained by the development of seven industrial, manufacturing and business centre and most of all the decision of Nissan to create a car assembly plant in the area, and which is now the only such centre in the England, the pride of Nissan employing 5000, working three production shifts a day and where the wage of trainee is twenty thousand pounds more than a teacher, police or service man. Although Washington Old Hall is the home of the George Washington ancestors, his grandfather John was living in Essex when he first went to America.

In addition to the ancestor's of George, Washington is famed for Bryan Ferry former lead singer of Roxy Music and Heather Mills, former wife of Sir Paul (Beatle). Despite these associations and stopping near the headquarters of the Child Benefit agency, a giant office block from where all the client information of many millions was put on disk and lost in transit to the Government Audit office, the half hour tour of the towns districts is not something I wish to repeat. I will look to see if there is a more direct route between South Shields and Washington Bus Station and then join the 50 service because it was only a quick journey, leaving the Town centre along one north south route, joining one east west route and hen the A1m before taking the slip road to Chester Le Street, just after the Washington area service station. However as I suspected the bus did not continue along the main road to Durham and the Riverside ground but took the first turning at the first roundabout off to the Town Centre where before lighting from the bus I asked the driver, who was also leaving at this point if this was the closest stop to the Cricket ground. Coronation Scot music before part six.

He advised that I should stay on the bus for two more stops and then turn left down the hill. The replacement driver suggested that I should go to the next stand for a 78 which would take me directly to the ground but on reaching the stand I saw that I had to wait 29 minutes so I had just missed the connection. I decided to get back on and was allowed to do so jumping the queue of people buying tickets or showing their passes. As I turned the down the road there ahead of me was the sign Chester Le Street Cricket ground and for half a second I said oh no, I have been sent to the wrong ground.

It was only half a second because for two, may be three or four years I was familiar with the town's cricket ground as it was one of those used by the new county before the purpose design ground at the riverside was created, and I therefore knew that the Riverside was just 100 yards further down the hill and with only the busy and fast dual carriage way road to Durham to cross over. At Chester Le Street I watched an Australian batsman playing for Durham against the West Indies touring side hit 100, in a team which also included Ian Botham, Those were the days.
At Riverside I noted that I could have driven my car into the ground for the box office and the journey from door to door had taken over one and a half hours, three times that of using my car. I obtained my tickets and decided to take the other route home route home. There are two buses which stop at the ground, the 71 service from Chester Le Street to Sunderland Interchange which goes into Houghton Le Spring a journey of 55 minutes and the 78 which commences at the former steel town of Consett in County Durham some 56 minutes further on from Chester Le Street and which then takes a more direct route into Sunderland passing the landmark Penshaw Monument, a journey of 39 minutes to Sunderland Interchange. I was fortunate that this was the first bus to reach my stop and I arrived at Sunderland about thirteen minutes to five. I was even more fortunate as I had just worked out where the stand was for South Shields at the prize winning designed bus and metro train station when the quickest of the services to South Shields arrived, the 40 minute E1 service which took me to a stop at the bottom of my hill. And I was in the house just before twenty to six. The E 6 takes 47 minutes and the E 2, 49 and all three travel along part of the South Shields to Sunderland coast Road so that overall this route can be quicker, more scenic and does not involve walking but does involve a change in buses.

As we any good mystery, just when you believe you know the answers to the questions and solution to the main mystery there are one or two other twists in the story and I have also completed six of the eight parts of a Paul Temple series, so more Coronation Scot music.

The mini adventure and successful completion of my mission was celebrated with a pint of lager, a bream fish with vegetables and a piece of Apple Strudel and Ice Cream followed by coffee, and later night snack of a chunky salami pieces sandwich and the discovery of an on line list of every bus journey with latest on line time table of every bus route within and from Tyne and Wear, some 400 individual time tables. I need to take a detailed look, especially as many of the time tables appear out of date. My interest was routes which take one into Northumberland and Durham:- Newcastle to Durham and Bishop Auckland, Newcastle to Cramlington and Blyth. Durham to Seaham Harbour. Sunderland to Darlington, Sunderland to Middlesbrough Sunderland to Hartlepool Newcastle to Hexham, Newcastle to Carlisle Metro Centre-Bamburgh, Newcastle to Otterburn and Newcastle to Roman Wall.

However my eyes lit up at a service from Newcastle via the Heworth Interchange all the way to Whitby and Scarborough in North Yorkshire operating on Sundays and Bank Holiday in the summer which means that on can use the pass to get Newcastle for the start at 9.15 arriving in Scarborough at 12.15, return at 10 to six arriving back in Newcastle at eight forty five although I would get off at Heworth at 20.29 The question is this a free service or a regarded as a coach? More Coronation Scot Music
The final part starts with a red herring. Have train journeys to London from Sunderland commenced? They have but because of technical problems on the liner between Sunderland and York which take nearly twice the time than from York to Newcastle there appears to be only direct route on some of the journeys passengers are being switched to other services which all sounds a mess. Finding out tickets prices on line was also something of a problem so I can imagine that those living in the Sunderland area will still find it easier to get to Newcastle or Durham that Sunderland which was always going to be the problem especially a as the number of trains a day is also limited.

The main question? Who is going to win Britain's Got Talent. My impression that the public are being steered was significantly reinforced last night. As the order of appearance and comments of the judges was skewed against the singers in favour of others so that the four girls playing classical electronic and contemporary looking instruments a la Bond were set up to go through as the last act on the night and the penultimate act of five young dancers, three black, all with day jobs, were voted through by the judges at the expense of the long time serving comedian. Simon appeared to be pushing the girl musicians at contest winners and in the later programme it appears that Faryl has been persuaded to switch from singing Amazing Grace which would have been ideal to something more contemporary which may not show off the range of her voice. It may have been decided that the twelve year old should be encouraged to continue with her education and enter formal singing training at a specialist school rather than be thrust into the limelight Charlotte Church style. She and her family may not just be ready.

The final question trailed at the beginning of today's writing is what has happened to my occupational pension in relation to those presently in work? However this prompts a second series. Final playing of the Coronation Scot.

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