Coal Mining R.I.P.


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If any of the supply lads mistreated a pony, he'd get his ass kicked big time by the Ostler, then it was the Managers office where he'd get his ass kicked agian, dressing down and fined heavily. The stables were well lit and white washed, the Ostler cleaned them out daily, ponies had the best feed, shoed regularly and had pony nuts to keep them regular, as they didn't get fresh grass..

There was always a vet on call ready to come down and see to any that took ill.

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Typical shift, pack me snap, throw it in me snap bag, "see yer later Mam" Off out onto Kirke-White Street, get me a fag out of the packet, light it and cross Arkwright Street, ontowards Queens Drive,

I worked at Newstead and Annesley pits , 22 years in total. The job was hard and dangerous but it made you figure out any way to make it easier . The danger element taught you to be conscientious a

Strip away the sentiment and it was a wretched existence for men down the pit too. Pit closures were always going to happen. The way it happened was far too swift, it was far too brutal but it was in

It does seem a wretched existence for the ponies, Oztalgian.

Strip away the sentiment and it was a wretched existence for men down the pit too.

Pit closures were always going to happen. The way it happened was far too swift, it was far too brutal but it was inevitable. Labour could never have carried it off and they knew it all too well; and if it was so vital to the country's needs why didn't the Blair government re-open some pits, start new ones or at least re-nationalise the industry? Because it's over and done with, that's why; and it's high time people accepted that and moved on. We might be sitting on top of millions of tons of the stuff but it's getting it out of the ground in a cost effective way that matters. We can't in the UK; the future of coal (if it has one) is in open cast mining and this country's too small to make that a viable option.

Worth pointing out that many of the lefty intelligentsia who supported Scargill are the same ones who'd be up in arms if an open-cast mine was suggested within fifty miles of their nice barn conversion. See fracking for an example.

Most of you will remember what Hucknall smelt like on a foggy night with all those coal fires burning away. Do we really want to go back to that? And would any of you recommend a career as a miner to your children?

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That's the best response I've seen to this thread. I just look at places like Ollerton now and remember it 35-40 years ago when there was pits around. It was a filthy stinking place. Eastwood similar to a lesser degree. So, unfortunately some people lost jobs, but others found other employment that were much better jobs (health wise at least) than they had before. It was time to move on.

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Actually working down the mines wasn't a bad job at all. Forget pits of a hundred years ago, pits in my youth & posibly my dad's youth wasn't all grim, some hard graft yes but much, much better than pre- nationalised coal mines ever were.

Some of the finest training on offer was there for the asking, not a job down the mine but a trade to take you anywhere in the world if you so wished.

When I worked underground in the '60s, "How Green Was My Valley" was long gone by then. !

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I concur with Catfan, last mine I worked at was a "coal factory" 48,000 tonnes a week from just one face, cut three shifts a day with night shift being the maintenance shift, six miners to operate the face, myself who was the elec, one fitter and one Deputy.

Oddly enough, pneumoniconiosis was almost unknown in the Australian coal industry, but we did use dust masks when cutting coal, and the law forbid any person to work in the return air roads when a longwall face was in operation. Dust syppression was carried out like it was going out of fashion, the coal was saturated when it reached the surface.

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My father was a miner, working as a young lad in the wet pits in Fife in Scotland and also at Newstead Colliery. Like many, he didn't come through the experience unmaimed, having an ear all but completely ripped off in a fall down below.

I think that generation of men (dad was born in 1921) didn't concentrate on the hardships underground but rather were thankful of the living the work provided them and their families. It's true to say though, ask any miner's son like myself and they will practically all say that dad told them to 'never go down the pit', They all wanted better for their sons, in my experience.

I've come into contact with many ex-miners one way and another through my work and so on and nearly always, in line with Catfan's words above, they all speak well of their times working underground - particularly the great camaraderie and kinship they felt with the fellow miners. I guess when your very life can depend on a mate then that follows.

I won't get into the political angle of this discussion, save to say that cleaner air wasn't part of the recognised agenda for happenings in the 1980s, in my memory at least. I think it slightly revisionist to intimate that. If it were the case the country wouldn't have started buying cheap coal from elsewhere.

On a lighter note, with a grandparent at Hucknall and of course 'that' familiar smell in many Nottingham conurbations, I quite liked the aroma of coal smoke in the air! Obviously, it wasn't healthy and no one would wish to claim that.

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When I went to Hucknall pit in 1968 I was only 15 so couldn't work underground until I was 16, but they took me down a couple of time for a look around. Both times they took me to the Main Bright seam where two ponies were kept & they shown me them. I got a bit upset as I didn't think it was fair to keep them underground as it's so un-natural. Older blokes told me they used to take apples, carrots etc for them to improve their lot. They had ponies down Moorgreen but can't remember having owt to do with them..

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I remember seeing pit ponies at Radford pit in the late 50's . My mates dad worked there, and the ponies always got well looked after and continually had little treats brought for them.

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Scriv (#54), your comment, 'Strip away the sentiment and it was a wretched existence for men down the pit too.' was quite correct but the difference being that the miners had a choice whereas the ponies didn't.

It was good to learn that the miners treated them well, though.

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There's a lot of info there now Steve, lots of stories, poems, photos and links and in our 12th year. One of these days I'll sift through everything, download it and organise it onto CD's.

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As a lover of industrial heritage, coal mining was very interesting to me from the primitive bell pits from 2 to 3 centuries ago to the modern pits we ended with. However............

We have to live with the times. Coal mining is a dirty and dangerous occupation. Who would really want their sons (or even daughters) working down there. I certainly wouldn't. Also...... As children we nearly all had coal fired homes but although it was warm, romantic (!?) and good for roasting chestnuts, it was also a chore. Gas and electric fires will nearly always win hands down. So now we have activists who want to stop all mining and coal burning (and even other underground fuels), but also activists who want the coal mines back. In an increasingly populated world every human being needs warmth and shelter. Somehow I don't think wind farms are ever going to provide this. What about water mills. The River Leen (yes that tiny river) sustained several water mills with old fashioned wheels with some success. The modern turbines would be so much more efficient (and less of a blot on the landscape). There seems to be plenty of water about these days. Maybe there is not enough money to be made. And I think that is where the answer lies. At the end of the day, the powers that be give not a toss about the environment, or the poor buggers who can't afford the high power bills. It's all about the money. KERRRCHINGGGGG!!

As for coal. Maybe it is out of date. You wouldn't send a modern soldier into battle with a heavy suit of armour, a lance and a head basher would you. Modern life is not always the best but it is unstoppable.

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I was on the diesel loco's: A phone was ringing, I answered it, it was the pit bottom deputy, he said "have you seen that little so-and-so Colly?" I said "no I haven't!" (did some quick thinking there you see) He said "tell him I'm going to wring his neck when you see him!" I said "OK!" I kept out of his way for the rest of the shift, I never did find out why he wanted to wring my neck!

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I worked at Newstead and Annesley pits , 22 years in total. The job was hard and dangerous but it made you figure out any way to make it easier . The danger element taught you to be conscientious and caring for your workmates. It was a Brotherhood I will take to my grave. We had some great laughs as well eve if the work was at times soul destroying. It produced great community spirit which has gone forever, glad I was part of it.

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Pit memories..... The funny feeling in your tum as you went down the shaft. The coldness of riding down the downcast shaft & the cold wind in the pit bottom. (Only down Hucknall, at Moorgreen you rode the upcast shaft & it was warm & humid in that pit bottom) Ears popping when you went through air doors. Hissing noise of air doors. The sudden change from cold to warm & humid as you went from main intake to main return. The smell of the main return. The weird smell of scrubbed diesel loco exhaust. How well lit some parts were. How utterly dark other parts were. How crushed & distorted from weight some roadways were. Humming transformers. Squealing slipping conveyor belt drives. (Shudder) The funny feeling going over the rollers when riding a belt... If I think of anymore I'll post...

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Colly0410 #40 -

Was Hucknall no1 the bottom pit or top pit - I know one was on Portland Road, (back of the Welfare) and the other at Westville, I had family and friends at both - My dad and brother worked at Linby Pit..... they were both called Pat Housley......

I was bought up on Station Terrace when I was a child, I can remember being very ill with yellow jaundice when I was 8 years old, all the way through the school summer holidays and laying in bed feeling sorry for myself listening to the other children playing on the Terrace and watching the buckets on the wires at the Bottom Pit going back and forth emptying the coal muck onto the pit tips near Oakenhall Avenue, seems like only yesterday, that was back in 1953...........

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Top pit was number 1, bottom pit number 2.

I did my surface and underground training at the old "top pit" plus all my advanced apprentice training and practical courses there.

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Ayeupmeducks #74 - Maybe I knew you, I was born in 1945 and spent over 20 years in Hucknall until 1969.............

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