Amble Welfare
 

The welfare is hardly recognisable today from its former glory, a pavilion with changing rooms, mini golf, tennis, an immaculate bowling green, rose garden, public WC, football pitches x 2, cricket pitch, planted well tended borders and a kiosk to pay entry in to football matches!

Much better then than it is now.

Originally, like the other local welfares, it was the Miners Welfare maintained from deductions from the miners wages. These were throughout the North East, unfortunately no one to make contributions now and apparently we mustn't pay enough council tax for this!!

I hadn't realised that it was a 'Miners Welfare' supported by subscription! I do remember that there was a full / part time employee who looked after the place in the late 60's and standing at the fence around the football pitch watching the 'Vikings' play often successfully. Maybe some of the £millions of unused miners pension funds could go to reinstating some of it?
In the early 70's I used to have a Saturdays and holiday job at the wood yard where the High School is now filling bags of logs and delivering them from the back of flat bed truck. There was a pigeon loft on the same field and we had to stop the diesel driven circular saw (no H&S guards) when the pigeons were due back from their race, which fitted in nicely for me with the watching the match!

Apart from being able to say I knew where I was when England won the World Cup (cricket teas in the pavilion at the welfare, when my dad captained the Amble second team), I can recall walking up in a crocodile from Edwin Street Junior school to play shinty in the field just above the welfare. There was an open field entrance off to the top side of the cricket field.
I think Mr Pyle used to take us for that back in the 1950s. (Only Miss Fettis and Miss Purvis were the scary teachers!)

Amble Welfare
 

The Welfare was the heart of Amble for us kids in summertime in the late 60s and early 70s :
Casual tennis competitions on the courts .
Chasing each other round the old pavilion, or forking out a few pennies for mini golf .
Welfare wide games of hide and seek , with everybody keeping away from the “haunted” toolshed ,( it had a skull and crossbones on the door , probably because of weed killer etc within, but it kept away curious kids ).
Watching the Amble Cricket team play . Beautifully kept cricket square , I think by Ned McQuillen - all roped off when there wasn’t a game on.
Scrounging left over teas, sandwiches and cakes from the, then, new, cricket pavilion - someone’s Mam or Auntie was always in the kitchen .
Trying to get a kids’ game of cricket or football going on the north end of the field - subject to how many turned up and whether we could muster the necessary equipment between us , ( mention must go to Tom Byres and Dougie Forrester).
Retreat to the area by the swings at the south end by the end of the day , as that’s where the girls would congregate .....
Walk on home as sun setting , probably after 9pm , absolutely weary .
Rinse and repeat !

I'd completely forgotten about that tool shed! It was found to be unlocked on one occasion and no one dared enter, I think we had a different 'fear' (or maybe respect) ethic back then? Someone decided to put a stick in the hasp to keep it closed although we all stood and stared, wondering, discussing, pushing each other forward to have a look. Drinking water from the tap at the pavilion negated the need ever to leave the welfare, dinner (lunch) was a rare event as it meant going home and the possibility of missing something or not being allowed to go back because of some family event - best to stay out as long as possible! The roped off 'cricket square' was completely out of bounds even to a non cricketer like me!