This Week in World War One, 24 September 1915

Berwick Advertiser title 1915

 

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 24 SEPTEMBER 1915

 

HINTS FOR THE HOME

 

Here is a good recipe for potted meat. Stew 1lb of stewing beef until tender. Pass this through a mincing machine. Season with salt and pepper, and work in also about 2oz of butter. Press the mixture into potted meat jars, and cover with melted butter.

Above a WW1 advert for potted meat and fish paste, both are still popular today!
Above a WW1 advert for potted meat and fish paste, both are still popular today!

 

When putting on kid gloves, always begin by buttoning the second button, then, when buttoned to the top, you can easily fasten the first button without tearing the kid. Never remove the glove by pulling the fingers, but by drawing the part covering the wrist over the hand.

When the hands are very dirty, use potato instead of soap. This will remove the dirt more quickly, and soften the skin at the same time.

When cut bread and butter is left over from meals, place it with a serviette which has been dipped in cold water. Place the food in a cool place and it will keep quite fresh and moist.

To prevent the juice from boiling over in a fruit tart, sprinkle the fruit with cornflower.

Never throw away your candle ends. Place these in a bag, and you will find them useful for ironing day. If the iron is occasionally passed over the bag, it will give the article a beautiful gloss.

 

THE PLAYHOUSE

 

 Good programmes still continue to be submitted at the “Playhouse.” This week an excellent vaudeville turn is seen in “Stowe Brothers,” who present a novel acrobatic act. “Ashes” was the bioscopic feature during the first part of the week, while, commencing on Thursday, the feature will be “A Woman’s Triumph.” The latter is a fine film with a beautiful and impassioned story from the works of Sir Walter Scott. The feature films for next week’s programme are particularly good. At the beginning of the week the star film will be “The Link in the Chain,” a tense drama in three parts. The story is woven round the theft of a necklace. The charge is laid on an innocent man, who suffers imprisonment while his friends toil incessantly to prove his innocence, and they eventually do so to the undoing of the unscrupulous and the righting of the innocent. Commencing on Thursday next the feature will be “Temptation.” an intensely dramatic photo-play in three parts. The synopsis, which is a lengthy one, could not receive justice here owing to lack of space, but suffice it to say that it is a story of strong passions, full of sensations and thrills. Interest is held throughout because of its realism. “Harmon,” the dancing musician is the turn for next week. For further particulars see advertisement on front page.

 

RABBITS AS FOOD

 

Attention has been called to the value of the rabbit as an article of food during the present high prices of meat. Land owners and farmers, who have a sufficiency of hands left, should see to it and keep the adjacent towns as liberally supplied as possible, and meet the needs of the poorer inhabitants. The cutting of the harvest has tended to make the supply more liberal, but in Berwick on Saturday it was not equal to the demand, prices ranging from 1s 4d to 1s 10d per pair.

The above photograph is of Halliwells Butchers, Selkirk, Scotland, with a string of rabbits hanging outside, a rare sight these days! © William Stafford – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
The above photograph is of Halliwells Butchers, Selkirk, Scotland, with a string of rabbits hanging outside, a rare sight these days! © William Stafford – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.

 

RECRUITING MEETING AT WOOLER

 

Northumberland Fusiliers Cap Badge WW1.
Northumberland Fusiliers Cap Badge WW1.

 

About a 100 of the 6th Northumberland Fusiliers including the Band arrived at Wooler on Monday afternoon on their recruiting tour. They were encamped on Turvelaws haugh for the night. In the evening a meeting was held in the Archbold Hall at which Mr Noel Villiers of Weetwood presided. Addresses were delivered by the Chairman, Sergt.-Major Walsh, Rev. Lothian Gray of Sprott, Dunbar, and colonel Napier. As a number of meetings have already been held here, both Wooler and district having responded well to the call, recruits were invited to come forward, but apparently without result. A dance took place after the meeting to music supplied by the band. An officer’s wife expressed her disgust at seeing so many young men in civilian clothes dancing saying she felt ashamed of them.

BABAO Conference

On Friday 18th September 2015 Northumberland Archives attended the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) conference hosted by the University of Sheffield. Here we presented a poster presentation about Stannington Sanatorium with specific emphasis on the cases of tuberculosis of the Bones and Joints. This was to further promote the fantastic resource that has recently been launched by Northumberland Archives.

BABAO Poster

It was fantastic to see the number of people interested and to hear the positive comments regarding the outcomes of the project, not least of all its accessibility through our online catalogue. It was also a great opportunity to listen to some fantastic presentations and view other posters, all from a similar field. We hope our fellow attendees enjoyed the rest of the conference, it was lovely chatting with you all and as promised here is a copy of our poster for those who wish to take a closer look or for those who didn’t have a chance to attend this year’s BABAO conference.

For any enquiries regarding the Stannington Collection please contact the archives at archives@northumberland.gov.uk

MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY – 2ND VISCOUNT RIDLEY [1874-1916]

As part of our Northumberland at War project one of our volunteers was given the task to list the contents of an old volume [Ref – ZRI 58] which on the front in red letters were the words ‘The Great War’ with three stars underneath writing and three canons above. To our surprise when we opened this volume it was not relating to the war, but was a lovely and interesting collection of letters and newspapers cuttings relating to the sad death of 2nd Viscount Ridley.
Viscount Ridley was born 6th December 1874. The eldest son of Viscount Ridley & Mary Georgina Marjoribanks the daughter of the First Lord Tweedmouth. He was Conservative and Unionist Member of Parliament for Stalybridge & Duckinfield, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Northumberland and Chairman of the Tariff Reform League.
At the outbreak of war he was the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Northumberland Yeomanry Hussars and he was bitterly disappointed when his health prevented of him from joining his Regiment in France when they left for the front in October 1914. However, he remained in close contact with them and visited them at the Front.
He was also Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. In 1899, he married the Hon. Rosamund Cornelia Gwladys Guest the youngest daughter of the First Baron Wimborne and a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill. During their marriage they had a son & and two daughters.
He died on 14th February 1916, after years of severe pain due to an intestinal problem for which he had a number of operations, ‘The last one left him in a condition of great prostration from which he never rallied.’
He was well respected nationally and locally as can be seen by the collection of newspaper cuttings in the album following his death. The volume contains many letters of condolence including a telegram from King George V and Queen Mary, letters from prominent Politian’s, including Rt. Hon. A. Bonar-Law, Rt. Hon. A. Chamberlain and his wife Mary, Rt. Hon. Thomas Burt. There is also a very poignant letter from his Constituency Agent J. Greenwood which is personal rather than the formal letters of condolence which were sent at the time. There are also personal letters to Lady Ridley from family and friends.
Many of the letters in the volume came from local people who knew him through his good works, including a pencilled note from W. Ferguson an old miner with whom he played cricket.
The newspaper obituaries were extracted from local and national newspapers and include photographs and reports of his funeral at St Mary the Virgin, Stannington and a Memorial Service at St. Margaret’s Westminster, both on the 19 February 1916.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Maggie Neary & Paul Ternent [Project Volunteer Manager] for supplying this article for our Northumberland At War Project.