G4JNw - Yorkshire, Montreal, Isle of lewis, CumbriA.
now Lynemouth, NORTHUMBERLAND
let's stop awhile!
I have moved around quite a bit in my life and as I was approaching retirement it was a question of where we would finally settle, several things were on our minds, number one was to move nearer Ruth's dad and to get rid of the mill stone we call mortgage.
I was looking for a similar area with a community feel similar to Birkenshaw, where i was brought up.
Birkenshaw is a small village that was firmly in the Yorkshire coal fields UNTIL the dreaded happened when loads of pits were closed.
I was also looking for somewhere near the sea so i could go fishing.
We were very lucky to find all of that in Lynemouth as we are only 15 minutes from Ruth's dad and a walk to the sea, we have lovely neighbours who look out for each other, something I missed in some places i have lived in.
As many know I'm Northern and proud of it so its nice to be among people who think like me.
Ruth is 10 years younger than me so it was important she was able to find work and also have the freedom so we could travel at the drop of a hat. She was able to do that by joining a nursing bank for Northumbria Health and she likes the idea, its a challenge of course as she doesn't know where she is going to be from one day to the next but to date she is happy with her choice.
For me well, down now to 1 car but I've now got my bus pass so come the summer I'm sure i'll be using it!
The house we bought looks smaller than our previous house in Anthorn as its a mid terrace but its like a tardis, the garden is quite long and I have spent hours and hours in it and its looking nice now.
One bonus is it does not take much heating being mid terrace and another big one is we are mortgage free.
The houses in my opinion are not as well built as our Isle of Lewis house where the walls were 3ft thick and of local stone plus the roofs were covering in sarking (wooden sheets then felt then flat slates)
Our aim was to replace the roof, which we have done, renew the gas heating and full insuation - all done now!
I feel like this may be my last stop, having moved from Birkenshaw where i was born to Scarborough then London ( I hated London) then Montreal in Canada, then Dewsbury and then back to Scarborough, North Skelton in Cleveland, Port of Ness on the Isle of Lewis, Anthorn in Cumbria and now Lynemouth. Time I stayed for a while!!
Being now retired i am careful with money and all online purchases are checked out at Topcashback, , its well worth signing up if your not aware of them, its saved me lots of money. Here is the link. Topcashback
A little background of who I am:
I was brought up in a place called Birkenshaw near Bradford, where I lived on Bradford road on the corner of Town St opposite the lovely Arthur Hampshire's fish and chip shop, yet to find a better fish and chips, I worked at Lion Stores on Town Street when i left school.
My whole world was Birkenshaw. My grandparents lived on Croft Street, my Aunty lived on Town Street.
I then moved to Scarborough in North Yorkshire to do my Nurse training in 1969, after I qualified in 1972, Moved to take up a District Nursing post in London then in a desperation to free myself from London I applied for a Job in Canada.
I moved to Montreal in Canada to work for a year as a nurse. Male nurses were a bit rare in 1972!
I returned after a years contract to join the Ambulance service, initially for West Yorkshire Met, working at Gildersome and Dewsbury, then moving to North Yorkshire and working at Scarborough which i was in for 20 years (and loved every minute and miss it very much)
After an injury I had to retire from the Ambulance service and took up a post as a Sub Postmaster, not for me but still enjoyed the job, and it was a home for our 2 children in North Skelton.
We then moved to the Isle of Lewis where we lived for 13 years, were i had 3 jobs at once (mostly the norm on the Islands as most survive on part time jobs) my 3 jobs were, Nursing, working for the Ambulance service and after training at Lewes Castle College - Weaving Harris Tweed.
The boys grew up and we followed them back to England.
Now retired I live in Lynemouth, Northumberland.
We did consider retiring abroad - see retiring page for more details!! but with the uncertainty of Brexit and the unstable world we decided to stay in England and travel when we could.
I firmly believe that we have made the right decision.
We have 2 grown up boys one living in Australia and one living in various parts of the world as a dive instructor, soon to be course director, presently working in Bali. He has just qualified as a Course Director and is employed at www.baliocean.com
I was looking for a similar area with a community feel similar to Birkenshaw, where i was brought up.
Birkenshaw is a small village that was firmly in the Yorkshire coal fields UNTIL the dreaded happened when loads of pits were closed.
I was also looking for somewhere near the sea so i could go fishing.
We were very lucky to find all of that in Lynemouth as we are only 15 minutes from Ruth's dad and a walk to the sea, we have lovely neighbours who look out for each other, something I missed in some places i have lived in.
As many know I'm Northern and proud of it so its nice to be among people who think like me.
Ruth is 10 years younger than me so it was important she was able to find work and also have the freedom so we could travel at the drop of a hat. She was able to do that by joining a nursing bank for Northumbria Health and she likes the idea, its a challenge of course as she doesn't know where she is going to be from one day to the next but to date she is happy with her choice.
For me well, down now to 1 car but I've now got my bus pass so come the summer I'm sure i'll be using it!
The house we bought looks smaller than our previous house in Anthorn as its a mid terrace but its like a tardis, the garden is quite long and I have spent hours and hours in it and its looking nice now.
One bonus is it does not take much heating being mid terrace and another big one is we are mortgage free.
The houses in my opinion are not as well built as our Isle of Lewis house where the walls were 3ft thick and of local stone plus the roofs were covering in sarking (wooden sheets then felt then flat slates)
Our aim was to replace the roof, which we have done, renew the gas heating and full insuation - all done now!
I feel like this may be my last stop, having moved from Birkenshaw where i was born to Scarborough then London ( I hated London) then Montreal in Canada, then Dewsbury and then back to Scarborough, North Skelton in Cleveland, Port of Ness on the Isle of Lewis, Anthorn in Cumbria and now Lynemouth. Time I stayed for a while!!
Being now retired i am careful with money and all online purchases are checked out at Topcashback, , its well worth signing up if your not aware of them, its saved me lots of money. Here is the link. Topcashback
A little background of who I am:
I was brought up in a place called Birkenshaw near Bradford, where I lived on Bradford road on the corner of Town St opposite the lovely Arthur Hampshire's fish and chip shop, yet to find a better fish and chips, I worked at Lion Stores on Town Street when i left school.
My whole world was Birkenshaw. My grandparents lived on Croft Street, my Aunty lived on Town Street.
I then moved to Scarborough in North Yorkshire to do my Nurse training in 1969, after I qualified in 1972, Moved to take up a District Nursing post in London then in a desperation to free myself from London I applied for a Job in Canada.
I moved to Montreal in Canada to work for a year as a nurse. Male nurses were a bit rare in 1972!
I returned after a years contract to join the Ambulance service, initially for West Yorkshire Met, working at Gildersome and Dewsbury, then moving to North Yorkshire and working at Scarborough which i was in for 20 years (and loved every minute and miss it very much)
After an injury I had to retire from the Ambulance service and took up a post as a Sub Postmaster, not for me but still enjoyed the job, and it was a home for our 2 children in North Skelton.
We then moved to the Isle of Lewis where we lived for 13 years, were i had 3 jobs at once (mostly the norm on the Islands as most survive on part time jobs) my 3 jobs were, Nursing, working for the Ambulance service and after training at Lewes Castle College - Weaving Harris Tweed.
The boys grew up and we followed them back to England.
Now retired I live in Lynemouth, Northumberland.
We did consider retiring abroad - see retiring page for more details!! but with the uncertainty of Brexit and the unstable world we decided to stay in England and travel when we could.
I firmly believe that we have made the right decision.
We have 2 grown up boys one living in Australia and one living in various parts of the world as a dive instructor, soon to be course director, presently working in Bali. He has just qualified as a Course Director and is employed at www.baliocean.com
The main hobby is sea fishing, I have 3 beachcasters, tripod, lug pump and all the other gear, I try to get out when I can.
I am not the best fisherman in the world but do enjoy the fresh air and the company of my mates where we have a good laugh - If my family depended on me for fish we would all starve! BUT its a great relaxing hobby.
We absolutely adore travelling and I try to take a travel rod with me if I can, have fished in many places the best and most exciting place we in Queensland, Australia where i saw schools of tuna being chased by shark plus being me I met a great local fisherman who took me to his local fishing place and heard many tales - great - just what i like.
I am always keen to meet local fishermen, wherever it maybe and see how they fish and what bait they use etc, I'm NEVER too old to learn.
My other hobby is that Iam a radioham (G4JNW) have been a radioham for many years, my QTH is pretty poor compared to our old QTH on the isle of lewis but still I try, I mainly transmit on the Shortwave bands.
I have a page on here called Ham Radio which tells you more.
Since moving to Lynemouth I haven't been on the air much at all but do find myself having an interest in air traffic, tracking and listening, were quite near to Newcastle airport (about 30 minutes by car - another advantage to living in this area)
Here is my aircraft stat page, its on 24/7 here
Im almost full circle with Ham Radio as i started as a shortwave listener before doing my City & Guilds to become a Radio Ham.
Use our contact page to get in touch (contact page closed due to spam)
I have a youtube video channel which i update from time to time, please subscribe if your interested, it covers aspects of my hobby and videos of the Isle of Lewis, including videos of my weaving career.
A friend of ours has made a drone video of the island (he is a professional) please take a look vimeo.com/286036688?ref=fb-share&1
other pages of interest on my site are:
Memories a page that i should really call my working timeline
RAF museum about a day we donated my dads tools to the museum and info on my dads time in the RAF
Birkenshaw some old photos of where i was brought up as a child.
Some details about Lynemouth and history of the place can be found here.
You can also email me direct on gm4jnw@gmail.com but no spam please, i have not included a link to click as it takes a human to copy and paste a link so done on purpose.
A few links people might like Free post code lottery - Yes its free, just register and start playing, I do freepostcodelottery.com/?ref=1404748
Cashback sites, use one or both of these to get cashback.
www.quidco.com/user/7857754/2517843/ (Quidco)
www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/g4jnw1 (Top Cash Back)
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