Gardeners Delght seedlngs sown on the 23-02-18 seed bought from Wilkos
Image of the aluminium greenhouse where I grow my tomato’s the greenhouse is very old and I have been using it for about fifteen years
I was preparing the tomato’s for the coming season and you can see I have got about half of the greenhouse planted out the seedling are in the background amongst the chaos I have created
The tomato’s in this image have been planted in their grow pots for about two weeks
Notice the grape vine growing on the right hand side
Close up of the tomato’s which have been planted in their grow pots for about two weeks
The tomato variety shown in this image are my favourite Gardeners Delight which to grow very well and are not suspetable to many growing problems or diseases
The tomatos look happy enough and seem to be growing well in their grow pots I always use grow bags as the base component for gowing them in
Notice the grape vine which is a strawbery tasting type in the back ground its looking really healthy and the main thing it tastes great and there are no pips
It normally takes about a week to get all the tomato plants into their grow pots and the other containers I use
Notice the new houses on the right of the Blue Bell these where built in the 1970s and are privately owned
The roof of The Blue Bell was once a beautiful tiled structure but over many years of neglect sadly it is now nothing like it was in its hey day notice the attic window and the chimney pots and the TV mast
The Blue Bell was situated in Zion Street Hendon Sunderland which was a street in the Jewish quarter of Hendon
The Blue Bell looks very sad in its derelict condition and was pulled down shortly after I took these images
My white Berlingo van can be seen on the left of the image
Holy Trinity church can be seen in the background the church was opened in 1719 for the growing population of Sunderland as the ship building industry grew
The attic window of The Blue Bell I wonder what history it can tell us about the pub
Close up of the Blue Bells attic window now sadly looking very delapitdated after the pub closed shortly after the Blue Bell was pulled down and made into a car park
Notice the broken windows the drain pipes and the Sky antenna on the wall
Close up of the broken windows and the drain pipes and the size of the bricks these were the old style a lot smaller than the ones used for building these days
This was the main door of The Blue Bell the windows are now sadly boarded up with chip board
Grass and weeds are now growing freely around The Blue Bells main door and on the pavement
The licence sign of The Blue Bell sadly now looking rather tired and old
The front of The Blue Bell you can see Holy Trinity Church clock tower on the right of the image
Notice the broken windows and the curtains hanging out they look vey old
There is even an original Sky mast next to the drain pipe
Me and my father Billy Bell often had a drink in The Blue Bell on an afternoon
The windows of the attic and the first floor are all broken now and the pub now looks a shadow of its former self
The Zion Street sign looks tattered and weary now is as if to say I have had enough
In this image you can see nearly all of the boarded up front of The Blue Bell
The chimney and the attic window can be seen clearly in this image and notice the seagull perched on the attic window
This image shows The Blue Bells rear extension in Moor Street not quite sure what the function of the extension was but it has been suggested that it could have been the pubs kitchen
The roots of the asparagus plantlets can be seen just before I repotted them into larger plant pots
I use different size pots when transplanting the asparagus seedlings and always mix perlite with the compost I use for transplanting the asparagus
These images of are of asparagus UC 157 F2 the one of the most popular varieties grown in the world and was developed in the early eighties
More images of the asparagus plantlets after they had been repotted by me in the conservatory on the allotment
Image of the ferns of asparagus Sweet Purple planlets which are about seven months old I grew the plantlets from seed in my unheated conservatory
This image is of the front room of 33 Gray Road in the image you can see a photograph of my late mam and dad celebrating their wedding anniversary also an image of my oldest daughter Lisa
The fire side in the front room of 33 Gray Road when we were children this was a coal fire but in my mam and dads later life was replaced by an electric fire
The famous green phone which all of my family hated but my dad loved
The bay window was a typical type used in the mid seventies on property in Hendon and Sunderland
Billy Bell my father better known as Hendons historian because of his slide shows and his knowledge of Hendon and Sunderlands history
David Bell outside 33 Gray Road visiting his father Billy Bell at 33 Gray Road this was just after my Mam had died
Notice my Berlingo van parked on Gray Road the new buildings on the left was once an old vicarage
These houses were buitl in the late eighties and were typical of the houses built in Hendon and Sunderland at that time they where well built and looked good
Image show the repairing of the gable end of the house after wind damage on a house in Gray Road Hendon
The Sportsmans Arms Silksworth was once one of the most important buildings in Silksworth
Images taken by Dave Bell
I took these images from the bottom of High Newport Allotments in May 2010 when the Sportsman’s Arms sadly closed and ended one of the last places that was used and built for the miners and their families of Silksworth very little remains of the miners heritage in Silksworth nowadays
The once proud sign of the Sportsman’s Arms now looks tired and weary
Notice the boarded up windows and The Sportsmans Arms sign still swinging as if everything was ok image taken on a wet and windy very cold day
Close up of the sign on the rear wall of The Sportsmans Arms which closed in May 2010 because of lost revenue caused by very few local people using the public house
The Sportsmans Arms puplic house built for the miners of Silksworth in 1871 as Silksworth Colliery grew new houses were built for the miners and their families and not forgetting why The Sportsmans Arms built for the miners when they had finished their shifts and to socialise when not working
Silksworth Colliery shaft was sunk in 1869 In 1871, according to the Census there were approx 800 people living in the Silksworth and Tunstall areas, the local area was mainly farmland and where most people worked on the land.
I now only grow F1 Parsnips as they seem to be less prone to disease and also seem to taste better the one shown in the images below are of the seeds I have just set away in the alloment conservatory
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