Tuesday 24 September 2019

The real reasons why we moved from Ashington, Northumberland.

Way back at the beginning of May my Word of the Week was moving and I skimmed over why we were wanting to move and didn't mention where we were moving. As you all know we moved from Northumberland, over 150 miles away to Scunthorpe. Since then I've said more about why we moved but it's always been a censored version. I missed so much out of why we were not happy living here and why we wanted to move.


To be closer to family.
My dad is just over 70 years old. He's not getting any younger and I miss being close to him. Close as in distance not as in father/daughter relationship. We spoke on the phone most days before I moved. I have spent about 12 years only seeing him for a few hours once or twice a year, well apart from Christmas last year when we spent a few days together which made me want to be nearer to him. Stu and I have been talking about moving nearer him for the past few years but Christmas just made us even more sure we wanted to move. I wanted him to get to know the kids and them to get to know him too and make some memories. The whole reason we kept where we were moving secret was because of family drama which I'm not going to go into.

I was done with my girls school.
Both of my girls were not happy in their school. Thankfully Becky was at the age to leave after finishing her GCSE's. There were things which happened in Becky's school life which left a real sour taste in my mouth which I haven't blogged about regarding the school. Many a time I have been in tears over the stress and worry they caused, I've been furious but they were avid readers of my blog I had to keep quiet. It's all over now and I'm glad. Becky was out but Ellie was stuck there unless we moved or moved her from a not very good school to an awful one. At one point I was all set to home school my girl. Ellie had a great start to year 7 at the secondary school but it went downhill. She was bullied and it didn't really show any sign of stopping despite the school trying to help. The school really needs to take a harder stance on pupils who cause trouble and not try to reform them. My girls needed a fresh start and they've got it.

It was really rough where we lived and was getting worse.
I was scared to let my girls out. When they did go to the park I stressed. Majorly stressed!! My teen was bullied from reception class to year 8 by a girl. When I saw a video on Facebook of a gang attacking a random girl in our local park I wasn't surprised that one of the girls was that bully. It left me sickened but glad it wasn't my girls being attacked. It could have easily have happened. We had dealings with the girl. About 6 years ago she took a liking to trying to kick my back yard gate in, throwing things at the front window, she once climbed onto my back yard wall and told Becky that she was going to get someone to rape her! Becky didn't even know what rape was at the time thankfully. I don't think 10/11 year old's should know words like that! We rang the police and when we mentioned the family name they said are you sure that you want to take it further? The family are the type of family that if you report one, ten of them will come and smash your windows! We took it no further but the girl saw the police coming to our door then had the cheek to knock at the door and say she didn't mean any harm. Really! The stress it caused was unbelievable. I still stressed until the day we moved in case the girl and her friends caught Becky alone!

We were sick of the house.
There was nothing majorly wrong with the house we rented but lots of little things which were never fixed or addressed by the landlord. We didn't have a cold bathroom tap that worked for about 3 years. If we needed to add cold water to the bath we had to use the shower, the electrics were ancient. We couldn't use normal light bulbs, they would blow so had to use the LED one's which stayed put. The boiler was a back boiler under the fire. Every gas man who came to do the safety check said it needed replacing but luckily it always passed the tests. The windows were not air tight and in the winter we may as well have had them open for all the use they were. Our landlord wasn't a bad one, all the major repairs were done and we can't complain because the whole time we were living here she was undercharging us with the rent. When we handed our notice in she thought it was a two bedroomed house. It was a 3. Oops.

My neighbours were utter nightmares!
Now I can freely say this! We had Mr Antenna to the right who had to be told by the council to take his radio antennas down. They were effecting our internet. He had the warning and then put them back up. I am assuming they got back in touch because they were taken down and weren't seen again. The family were creepy. If they heard me in the back yard they would go into their back yard, every time! There was also the "feral kids" who used to come to our street to play. I lost count of the times I had to shout at them to get our of my garden, off the wall or out of the old fella's garden over the road. They were a nuisance and vandals too. The mother didn't care. If they weren't under her feet she wasn't bothered what they were doing or where they were. I often saw the toddler wandering off, crossing busy roads and yes I reported her to Children's services! I don't think anything was done. Then there was our neighbour to the left who must have loved the sound of her own voice! I swear she never stopped shouting. Even when she was home alone she would be on the phone shouting about something.

When we moved to Ashington it was a lovely little town but it has really gone downhill which is such a shame. Where we are living now is so peaceful, friendly and I feel at ease here.

5 comments :

  1. Oh Kim, what a nightmare. It's hard to talk about where you are living when you are there, just in case people do read your blog. We moved from a nice area to a worse one, but we needed a bigger house and after trying to get a move for 10 years I'd given up hope. We knew nothing about this area apart from that it was still being built. We were told it was going to be a family area, great I thought, friends for my little ones. I don't let them out, apart from Boo, who goes to her best friend's house up the road and even then they stay in. We had to move our Little Man from his school because of bullies. But so far the girls have been okay. Anyway, I'm so glad you are happier now and being near to your Dad in his later years is going to be lovely for all of you. I'd love to live somewhere more rural, and to have family around. I hope your happiness in your new home continues for many years to come xx

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  2. Oh goodness, I'm glad you moved! It sounds horrific, but then, I had a feeling it was pretty awful by what you had said, on your blogs. I'm so glad you've found a better school, I know the horrors of a bad school, and the joy of a good one.
    I hope you settle now, and your girls can grow up safe, badly and loved xx

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  3. With us having our catch ups, I knew a lot of this already and I'm so relieved that you have finally found your forever home where you can all be happy. xx

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  4. It's lovely you are near your dad and all much happier now. I know Ashington always had a bad reputation but I haven't been for years (except for taking my mum to hospital). Didn't realise it was as bad as this tho, you are well out of it!

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  5. Just resigned up to follow your new blog - suddenly realised that I've been missing out on all your news ! Catching up now and so sad to read this. Glad you've made the move - definitely sounds like you made the right choice, for the girls and for you all as a family. Big hugs ! xx

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