Coquet and Coast Forum
Don't forget to check out our sister site: Amble and District

Go Back   Coquet and Coast Forum > Intro Zone and General topics > General topics

 We no longer use activation emails. Please allow 24h after sign up and your account should work
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 11-06-2015, 02:13 PM
leslie leslie is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 224
Default Purvis & Hedley

Their shop on Queen st til not that long ago was an off licence Newspapers etc?? originally they were Chemists & Druggists in * Queen St. reference found of this in existence in 1925 !
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-06-2015, 03:26 PM
hollydog's Avatar
hollydog hollydog is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Amble
Posts: 528
Default

Leslie, I take it you know of Bob Purvis DFC ?
and his "trip" to Bordeaux resulting in him managing to get the Lancaster and crew back with an unscheduled landing at Bolt Head?

http://www.550squadronassociation.or...ews/FORPurvis/
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-06-2015, 06:36 PM
leslie leslie is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 224
Default

Yes he was a very good friend of my dad! A very brave man . stood with him at Memorial a few times! my dad served in RAF through and after war then started work as Civvi cook at Acklington til it closed 30 years total RAF service !

Last edited by leslie; 11-06-2015 at 06:40 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-06-2015, 08:05 PM
hollydog's Avatar
hollydog hollydog is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Amble
Posts: 528
Default

Around 1980 Bob and my father went off for a special visit to the Battle of Britain Flight at Scampton. They obviously made an impression as about 1 week later the Lancaster on its way back from an airshow did a very low level circuit of Amble centred on Oswald St!! I will never forget the sound of those 4 merlins as I had a grandstand view from my parents loft room.

Last edited by hollydog; 11-06-2015 at 08:10 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 12-06-2015, 08:19 AM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default

He's wearing his medal ribbon in that photo.
All the aircrew are also wearing their ditching whistles. Now widely copied. (they copy everything now )
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 13-06-2015, 09:33 AM
leslie leslie is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 224
Default

Lancaster Bomber Poem 001.jpgWhen dad died in 1995 in his wallet we found an old folded piece of paper, on opening it we discovered this . he had carried it since his time in WW2 with RAF. there is no known author ! we Checked with war museum they did not have a copy (Original with them now) plus RAF Battle of britain flight and museum given copies!

Last edited by leslie; 13-06-2015 at 09:48 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 14-06-2015, 12:36 PM
george gray george gray is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 26
Default Purvis and Hedley

Although i didnt know Bob Purvis, apart from visiting the shop all through my childhood, and remember him behind the counter, as a pleasant , polite man.
Later in life, when i had moved to Newcastle and worked at J.G Windows the music store, he used to visit now and then to collect printed music, which may have been for customers in Amble?, or prehaps for his own use.
I was thrilled to read his story and see the photo, its thanks to forums like this that the bravery of men like Bob Purvis DFC are brought to light,
Well done.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 14-06-2015, 01:52 PM
hollydog's Avatar
hollydog hollydog is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Amble
Posts: 528
Default

Great to get feedback like that George, now dig out some old Amble photos for us please!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 14-06-2015, 02:53 PM
george gray george gray is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 26
Default Purvis and Hedley

Thanks for that Hollydog!,
I will do some photos, at the risk of duplicating those that have already been seen
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 14-06-2015, 03:28 PM
leslie leslie is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 224
Default

Geordie! One other gentleman we knew as kids who was decorated. I never knew til his death! Was Mr Morton who had the Cafe beside east cemetery He held The Military Medal earned in WW2!

Last edited by leslie; 08-07-2020 at 12:17 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 14-06-2015, 08:32 PM
Linkslad Linkslad is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Moved down to just outside of Morpeth after I married in 1972.
Posts: 19
Default

Between the mid 1950’s and mid 1960’s we lived in one of the grey pebbledash semi’s that looked onto the Links Road church yard so were regular customers at Mr Morton’s shop. Friday’s were especially good during school holidays as we bought our “Pie and Pea” dinner at the shop. Customers took their own jug for the peas. I have a vague memory of commenting on one hot day that Mr Morton looked as if he was having a bad day and being told by the lady who served (? Mr Morton’s sister). His prosthetic leg and it’s strapping being a great source of pain in hot weather and that he’d lost his leg as a result of wounds sustained whilst fighting in the desert. Like so many men of his generation I can never remember a single word of complaint. A special generation!
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 16-06-2015, 11:46 AM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default

What was Mr Morton's christian name? Was he a Tommy? did he live in Signal Cottage at one time? I'm sure it was Mr Morton that gave my uncle permission to use the underground ammo bunkers at the Battery (surface building later the cafe) next to the cottage.

Anyway - if we know his first name his citation for the Military Medal should be easy to find.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 16-06-2015, 12:08 PM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default

I found out the other day my great-aunt, Lal Reid/nee Young, Amble postwoman for many years, met her husband George during the war, when he came to Amble with the Army to operate the Saltpans Searchlight for the Battery!

[I'm sure there will be a few more marriages related to the wartime Army arrivals!]
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 16-06-2015, 12:49 PM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default Re Amble Morton Award WW2

Here's the 'Morton' list, all awards (except MID) for WW2, whole Commonwealth.
He has to be in there somewhere.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Morton.jpg (122.6 KB, 21 views)
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 16-06-2015, 12:50 PM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default

WW2 award recommendations are on the National Archives website.
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 16-06-2015, 01:13 PM
Linkslad Linkslad is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Moved down to just outside of Morpeth after I married in 1972.
Posts: 19
Default

Ah yes. Mr Morton’s first name was Duncan and I’m sure we all referred to the shop as Duncan’s. He lived in Signal Cottage with his ? sister for all of the time my family live in Links Road. There were some shuggie boats and a couple of fair ground stalls and a caravan next to the Links Farm Cottages. I’m sure my dad once said that that was Mr Morton’s family and that pre war he’d been a professional boxer in the boxing booths. The café in the old gun emplacement- The Sea View Café and local body builders used some of the underground room at the old battery.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 16-06-2015, 01:40 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Amble
Posts: 344
Default

Correct Linkslad, it was Duncan and apparently he had been a boxer in the fairground booths pre war. The old couple with the "shuggy boats" were his mother and father.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 16-06-2015, 03:28 PM
janwhin janwhin is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Nr Eglingham
Posts: 1,377
Default

This is a sad one about his brother then from the Berwick Advertiser of 8 August 1940:
"A 23 year old boxer, who was well known in Northumberland and Durham as a member of his father's boxing booth, has died in a Cornwall hospital, as a result of gunshot wounds accidentally received. He is Pte. David Morton, the youngest son of Mr and Mrs Duncan Morton, and has resided for some time at Seahouses with his wife. For a considerable period he was with his father and brother at Amble, when they staged many thrilling bouts with local enthusiasts. He was an accomplished boxer, and very popular in the ring. He took part in the historic evacuation of the B.E.F. from Dunkirk. Before joining up he was employed at Stobswood Brick Works."
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 16-06-2015, 03:40 PM
janwhin janwhin is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Nr Eglingham
Posts: 1,377
Default

London Gazette, 18 November 1943:

"No. 3322841, Sergeant Duncan Edward Morton, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) (Seahouses, Northumberland)."

Military Medal, Sicily.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 16-06-2015, 04:08 PM
Coquet's Avatar
Coquet Coquet is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Amble
Posts: 3,253
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by janwhin View Post
London Gazette, 18 November 1943:

"No. 3322841, Sergeant Duncan Edward Morton, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) (Seahouses, Northumberland)."

Military Medal, Sicily.
Indeed. And here's the citation. It's a stonker.

Signed by Alexander, I'm sure Monty's signature in on the document as well.(not shown)
Attached Images
File Type: jpg morton_citation.jpg (79.8 KB, 37 views)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 12:53 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.