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  #1  
Old 09-09-2012, 03:42 PM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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Default Broomhill Christian Mission

In 1891 my great grandfather was a trustee of the hall and was hauled in front of Alnwick magistrates for allowing the hall to be occupied before the sanitary authority had issued a license confirming that the property had a good and wholesome water supply. The authority had refused a certificate on the basis that there was no supply nearby. The ground floor was a dwelling and first floor was the hall, situated at the north end of Togston Terrace. It turned into a bit of a joke because it had no worse access to water than anywhere else in the village. The hall was a methodist establishment and by 1902 there was a church and foundation stones laid for an extension for a hall and class rooms. This seems to be where the Church of Christ is now, built to replace the original when it was destroyed in 1939 when a bomber crashed into it. I don't know whether anyone has more info? Photo below shows the extended church in I think 1908 when the then Prince of Wales visited Northumberland.
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Old 09-09-2012, 03:49 PM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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The story of the crash which destroyed the church on 21 December 1939 appears in Brian Pears NE War Diary but basically a Hampden bomber was shot down mistakenly by Spitfires as it was making its way to Acklington, short of fuel. I haven't been able to find a newspaper report (yet) but 2 crew members were killed, Sgt SH Potts (Chevington cemetery) and AC1 E Humphrey. It seems that one local was also killed and one injured. There is another thread on Rootsweb which suggests that local men rescued some of the crew and one received the George Medal.
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Old 09-09-2012, 06:23 PM
Alan J. Alan J. is offline
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Default Crash into the Church of Christ.

This incident is refered to in J H Hardy's " In this quiet lane". As stated the plane ran out of fuel whilst attempting to land at Acklington and two of the crew were killed. 100 children were having a christmas party in the nearby school and two of the Longstaff brothers, the bus people, were among those who helped to rescue the crew members. Robert Longstaff was awarded MBE for his part in the rescue, live ammunition was exploding during the rescue. It was reported in the Morpeth Herald but there is no mention of spitfires shooting it down. ( Pages 9 and 10 of the book.)
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Old 09-09-2012, 06:48 PM
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Brave men. I would be heading in the opposite direction.

(MBE) from the London Gazette:

17th May, 1940.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the following Award: —
The Medal of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for Meritorious Service: —
Robert Longstaff, Proprietor of the Togston Garage, North Broomhill.
On December 27th, 1939, a Hampden bomber of the Royal Air Force was returning from an operation over enemy territory. On preparing to land, the aircraft crashed within 500 yards of the boundary of the aerodrome and burst into flames. The pilot of the aircraft was seriously injured and the other two members of the crew were killed.
Mr. Robert and Mr. George Longstaff, who are proprietors of a garage in the vicinity of the aerodrome, heard the noise of the crash and immediately went to the scene with fire extinguishers. On arrival they found the aircraft on fire, but Mr. Robert Longstaff managed to get the pilot clear of the machine by cutting some of the rigging with which he had became entangled. He then, with Mr. George Longstaff, made attempts to rescue the other two airmen who were trapped in the fuselage. They were warned that there might be bombs on the aircraft, but they continued to use their utmost efforts, in spite of the fact that machine-gun ammunition was exploding and the flames increasing in severity. It was only when the heat became altogether too intense that they gave up their efforts to free the airmen.
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Old 09-09-2012, 06:52 PM
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I've heard the friendly fire story before but don't know what the source of that is. If it was true nothing would be published at the time; it would have to come later from the MoD or Squadron records I think.
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:33 AM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Alan, The Quiet Lane should have been my first port of call, sorry John Hardy The photograph of the crash site is a useful comparison with my 1908 photo.

As far as the friendly fire issue is concerned, there is a write up on 49 Squadron's Roll of Honour for Sgt Potts, see http://www.49squadron.co.uk/Roll%20o.../Potts_SH.html It is not clear from that whether this particular bomber crashed from lack of fuel or whether it had also been hit by a Spitfire, probably the former.

Last edited by Coquet; 10-09-2012 at 03:03 PM. Reason: repair link
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Old 10-09-2012, 10:51 AM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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I mentioned in my first post that my gt grandfather (Thomas Beverley) was one of the original trustees of the Mission. He and his family (but not my grandmother and her sister) emigrated to Australia in May 1913. The family memory is that they went with a significant number of the Mission families to take up a land grant in Western Australia. We certainly have a large group photo taken in the outback. The sons were soon felling timber for the building of the railroad but by 1917 they had moved to NSW (Weston) and back into the pits. My grandmother received a letter in 1944 about the funeral of another sister in Weston: "Lots of the old Broomhill folks were at the funeral....Alexander Sanderson, Will Slater, Jimmie Richardson, Lizzie Charlton, the Forster family (related to Beverleys), Will Beverley, Gil Percy, Mrs Cloud, Mrs Liddle, Mrs George Bell's daughter and others.."
I wonder if anybody has family memories about this group of people?
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Old 10-09-2012, 11:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by janwhin View Post
I mentioned in my first post that my gt grandfather (Thomas Beverley) was one of the original trustees of the Mission. He and his family (but not my grandmother and her sister) emigrated to Australia in May 1913. The family memory is that they went with a significant number of the Mission families to take up a land grant in Western Australia. We certainly have a large group photo taken in the outback. The sons were soon felling timber for the building of the railroad but by 1917 they had moved to NSW (Weston) and back into the pits. My grandmother received a letter in 1944 about the funeral of another sister in Weston: "Lots of the old Broomhill folks were at the funeral....Alexander Sanderson, Will Slater, Jimmie Richardson, Lizzie Charlton, the Forster family (related to Beverleys), Will Beverley, Gil Percy, Mrs Cloud, Mrs Liddle, Mrs George Bell's daughter and others.."
I wonder if anybody has family memories about this group of people?


Fascinating. I wonder if any of the boys joined the AIF during WW1? The Aussie War Memorial have all the service papers online:
http://www.awm.gov.au/

might have some unknown Broomhill Gallipoli vets!
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Old 10-09-2012, 11:55 AM
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correction: the service papers are here:

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Searc...sicSearch.aspx
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Old 10-09-2012, 12:14 PM
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Quote:
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correction: the service papers are here:

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Searc...sicSearch.aspx


Some interesting stuff in there, found a Thomas Common, born Amble Northumberland, served in a WW1 Australian Tunnelling Company. (survived the war and returned to Australia.)


Also a John Edgar Stewart, born Amble, served in the Vietnam War. (file still closed)
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Old 10-09-2012, 01:27 PM
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This is the type of MBE issued during the WW2 period. Longstaff's would look just like this but the grey stripe in the centre of the ribbon would be missing (grey stripe = military, no stripe = civil)

I generally have one or two MBEs or OBEs around as it's (medals) supposed to be my day job


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Old 10-09-2012, 01:43 PM
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Originally Posted by janwhin View Post
I mentioned in my first post that my gt grandfather (Thomas Beverley) was one of the original trustees of the Mission.

There was a Beverley accidentally killed walking on the rail tracks, I think between Amble and Radcliffe, would he be from the same family?
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Old 10-09-2012, 02:25 PM
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Quote:
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There was a Beverley accidentally killed walking on the rail tracks, I think between Amble and Radcliffe, would he be from the same family?
Yes, Charles Burn Shipley Beverley was the son of my great grandfather's uncle, Wilson Heslop Beverley. Charles' mother, nee Shipley, came from the family of Mormon converts in Radcliffe who went to Utah. Wilson was a strong Methodist, along with most of the Beverleys, so plenty of lively arguments there!

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Old 10-09-2012, 03:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by janwhin View Post
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Alan, The Quiet Lane should have been my first port of call, sorry John Hardy The photograph of the crash site is a useful comparison with my 1908 photo.

As far as the friendly fire issue is concerned, there is a write up on 49 Squadron's Roll of Honour for Sgt Potts, see http://www.49squadron.co.uk/Roll%20o.../Potts_SH.html It is not clear from that whether this particular bomber crashed from lack of fuel or whether it had also been hit by a Spitfire, probably the former.


Janwhin, that page you link to explains that other returning aircraft from 44 squadron (on the same mission) actually were shot down, but this occurred at Dunbar. Someone has confused the 49 Squadron aircraft that crashed at Broomhill, out of fuel, with them I think.
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Old 10-09-2012, 03:17 PM
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I wonder how the plane managed to avoid the houses at the other side of the road if it was coming in from the east?
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Old 10-09-2012, 04:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coquet View Post
I wonder how the plane managed to avoid the houses at the other side of the road if it was coming in from the east?
The Gazette photo used in John Hardy's book shows the houses standing unscathed. Even if he'd come in a bit north of east he would have needed to miss the ones standing to the north as well. It's a miracle really everything was missed, including the school's christmas party.
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Old 10-09-2012, 04:23 PM
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You've started me off on another line of research now by mentioning Thomas Common and the Australian website
My maternal grandmother was a Warkworth Common and I now realise that this Thomas would be her first cousin.
Why did I ever join this forum
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Old 29-01-2013, 06:06 PM
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Does Macca670 have a splendid picture of the Church that was hit by the plane in his album?
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Old 31-01-2013, 10:28 PM
janwhin janwhin is offline
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Quote:
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Does Macca670 have a splendid picture of the Church that was hit by the plane in his album?
Macca670 does have a splendid picture of the Church.

There is also a photo of the Amble Carnival Queen on the float. The lady sitting on the right with the flowers looks awfully like Mrs Bowey?

Last edited by janwhin; 31-01-2013 at 10:32 PM.
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Old 07-02-2013, 06:40 PM
Derilda Derilda is offline
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Default Re. Hampden crash at Broomhill

When the aircraft crashed I was still in the womb therefore cannot claim eye witness!!
My Mother did relate to me that the aircraft suffered damage during operations and was running out of fuel. Whether the pilot missed or aborted landing I don.t know but he was trying to "Cut the corner for an attempt at getting to Acklington". His track took him north flying just over the junior school and Broughs' store. That store is only some 5 hundred yards from the crash site. Had he got a little more height he may have cleared Togston Crescent and may have been able to belly-flop into the fields behind. Sadly that wasn't to be and the aircraft crashed onto the chapel. The cleaning lady, Mrs Kitchen, was in the building at the time. She walked out with not a scratch. She lived for years after on Acklington Road and may have survived to see the rebuilt chapel which re-opened about 1953.
The bravery of the Longstaff brothers is well known.
I surmise that a short cut on the circuit would be because of either/or damage to the controls or fuel shortage.
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