West Sleekburn Colliery Photos 1950s?

[Eddie Yarrow]

Hi Folks,

Im a virgin on here so gan canny with your comments!

Ive found about 19 photos like this, I think from West Sleekburn Colliery in about the early 1950s?

They were taken by my dad, Grundy Watson Yarrow who is pictured below, 1st from left, (Left to Right).

I would like to put names to as many miners in the photos as possible and then hopefully send them all to Ashington Archives.

Do you know any of the miners in the photos?   Please name them Left to right, 

Although the photos are free to copy for personal use,

They are copyright for use for profit making

No1

No 2

 

[Canny lass]

I just love these photos from underground! Always appalling conditions yet always a smile on their faces. I've yet to see a miserable face underground. Thanks for posting.

[Eddie Yarrow]

Thanks, just hope I can get some names to faces.

another 17 photos to fo;;ow

[Eddie Yarrow]

Thanks, just hope I can get some names to faces.

another 17 photos to fo;;ow

[Eddie Yarrow]

[Eddie Yarrow]

[Eddie Yarrow]

[Eddie Yarrow]

[Eddie Yarrow]

The last two.

If you can name anyone;

count from the first photo No1 to the last No 19.

and Use Left to Right to name the

 ie.  Photo 4, Front Row, first on left Joe Blogs

Thanks for your help. 

[Eddie Yarrow]

I think any miner would tell you, your imagination can play tricks on you when you are underground.

Look at photo 17.

Probably a Deputy sitting on his KIst.

Can you see the face near his left shoulder wearing a flat cap?

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

19 minutes ago, Eddie Yarrow said:

I think any miner would tell you, your imagination can play tricks on you when you are underground.

Look at photo 17.

Probably a Deputy sitting on his KIst.

Can you see the face near his left shoulder wearing a flat cap?

@Eddie Yarrow - would you like me to add any names that anyone comes up with to your photos?

I could also post your photos, with numbers and text, on the Cambois Facebook group  as there are relatives of the miners from Camboois, Sleekburn and West & East Sleekburn in that group. 

@HIGH PIT WILMA - might be able to give you some good info on the photos.

This is an example of  what I would do. 

[Eddie Yarrow]

Oh I like that, all of it!

That would be great.

I haven't asked yet but I think Woodhorn Museum would like them, especially if we can put names to them.  I just don't want them lost forever, its great history to save.

High Pit Wilma and  I were good mates, worked together as well at the High Pit.

appreciate your help.

 

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aye, and wa STILL GUD MARRA'S,ownly wi nivvor see each otha these days!

A wish a had ye for a Nybor Eddie,wadn't it be great....pit taak,jam sessions when Cath's health permitted..bike taak......theor a gaan!

Noo!Wheor dae a start?!!

Tha's that many points a wud like ti discuss on these great pics by Aad Grundy,a divvent knaa wat ti taak aboot forst!

Ed,forst of aal,welcome ti this great forum,ye winna find any muppets on here,like otha places,just aal canny helpful folk.

Wor aad Chep's Family members worked at the Winning Pit,which was the nickname for West Sleekburn ,shown here,but aa was too young ti knaa any of them .Noo if anybody cums up wi nyems,aal knaa them,just as nyems,not fyesses.

Eddie,No 4 pic,luk like tha waiting on ye and me tekking a new fyess motor cyebble inbye for them....!!

Nice conditions,like a palace,as we used ti say undagrund,nowt like where me and Eddie used ti be wading through up past the knees,sometimes at waist height,the waata level,in 100 yard lang swalleys..!!

Edie,aav telt aal me stories aboot thi High Pit,if ye get a chance ti read some of the topics,ye might kindly add some more wat a might have forgotten aboot,and confirm also that a haven't got a vivid imagination!!..it's aal as true as if we were still there amang it!

The seam is aboot three feet high,on a few pics,nice hard clean coal,could be the Yard Seam,and the others are in aboot four feet high coal,cud be any other seam,cos seams varied in height and geological conditions from pit to pit.

Where Eddie and me worked,at the High Pit,we were up in the Beaumont Seam,where it went from ten feet high ,filthy coal,full of bands,on one face,and reet doon ti 18 inches high,and full of water on the faces and roadways..in the other side of the districts.

Noo at Bates Pit,the Beaumont was aboot 3feet 6inches high,clean coal,nae bands,straight and level,and bone dry..just the opposite,and it was miles oot under the sea!!..[thi High Pit was way oot west,heading owa Hepscott way..and rising quickly ti the surface.]..[it was 25 feet from the surface when they stopped the 2nd West Face....remember that one Eddie?!!...turnips and rabbits running aboot...they used to tell strangers ti thi pit!!]

Notice the corrugated steel "Straps"..or "Planks",keeping the roof up?...aa carried one of them from owa the fields aback of me hoose,it was part of the farmer's rickety fencework,it came from the Bomarsund ["Thi Bomar"] Pit heaps,when the Cooncil landscaped the heaps and forrested it,god knaas hoo it ended up in the fence,many years ago,but noo it's at thi bottom of my garden as a curio..bent ti 90degrees wi roof pressure underground on the coalface,and probably came oot on a pit tub and was ditched.

They didn't ditch them at the High Pit,they had a portable hand-operated hydraulic-ram straightener.

It was a monotonous job,working a handle back and forward aal day lang..tekkin and hoor ti stryten one steel plank!

Notice the Driller has stood he's Carbine lamp up on the left side,on the stone strata,facing away from the camera,so as not ti spoil the exposure?

Taaking aboot the camera,Eddie,if my memory is correct,Grundy had  a Rollieflex [twin-lens reflex ] camera,when we were Marra's..[and just for the record..off-topic like..but dae ye still have the Oris wristwatch ye used ti hae on yor wrist!!?]

A still have the Halina 35X [35mm film] camera wat a tuk aal your Photo's wi,in thi 1960's!...which are still in my albums!!..[ye knaa thi ones!] and that is the camera a used ti tek pics doon Bates Pit in 1986!![Check the Bates Pit Gallery oot Ed,tha's sum great pics on there!..including big Bill Etheridge]

Cheers folks!

Hungry and tired..!

Stay safe and alert!

Bill.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

15 hours ago, Eddie Yarrow said:

Oh I like that, all of it!

That would be great.

I haven't asked yet but I think Woodhorn Museum would like them, especially if we can put names to them.  I just don't want them lost forever, its great history to save.

High Pit Wilma and  I were good mates, worked together as well at the High Pit.

appreciate your help.

 

 

@Eddie Yarrow - I'll work my way through your photos, adding numbers & text, and see if the Facebook members on the Bygone Bedlington Facebook group; Cambois Facebook group & Friends of Bates Colliery group can identify anyone. 

As there are a lot of photos it might be better to create an album in the Gallery under Historic Bedlington as it would make it easier viewing of all the photos.

[Eddie Yarrow]

Yes I tried originally to make an album directly downloading from photos iOS.
Most wouldn’t load.

So I’ll see if I can load them from here or drop them onto my desktop first and try again unless you know an easier way.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, Eddie Yarrow said:

Yes I tried originally to make an album directly downloading from photos iOS.
Most wouldn’t load.

So I’ll see if I can load them from here or drop them onto my desktop first and try again unless you know an easier way.

Unfortunately no easier way Eddie. The majority of cases where I have created an album I have only had one photo to start it off then adding additional ones one at time.The system that this group runs on was upgraded a couple of years ago and I don't think I have attempted to create a new album, with multiple photos, since the upgrade. What I think might be the case is that after you have created an album you can then go into the 'Add Images' option and I think when you select Add Images it gives you a second screen  with a black circle and a white cross in the middle. Select that circle and the system directs the procedure to your 'Download' folder on your PC/Tablet etc. and you can the select one, or multiple photos, and and the system will upload them into the album. If you don't have the photos in the Download photo you can still direct the procedure to the area, ie Desktop, where you have the photos. I'm expecting that the system will upload multiple photos so go it a go. If you need any help or would like me to upload them all into the album you create I will do that.

Example of adding images to an existing album :- 

This is a link to the album - Bates Pit by High Pit Wilma - that I created for @HIGH PIT WILMA   :-

 

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Symptoms]

Stunning photos!  What strikes me is the apparent ranshackle nature of of the scenes, nothing plumb or level, and stuff lying all over.  I realise that the guys would have installed the supports, etc. correctly and after a while the ground would have shifted and 'twisted' everything.  I wonder if this environment would have been acceptable in our H&S culture?

[Eddie Yarrow]

I doubt if anything like that would be remotely acceptable, if you could get anyone to go back underground these days.  Funnily enough in High Pit Wilmas reply, I can confirm it was just as bad early 1960s at the High Pit Choppington.  In fact they were a HELL of a lot worse. Look at those conditions in the photos above, almost a palace compared to the High Pit, then add lots of water underfoot, we wore wellingtons, and constant dripping of water. I swear we were under the River Wansbeck!

Happy days!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

On 23/07/2020 at 12:29, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@Eddie Yarrow - I'll work my way through your photos, adding numbers & text, and see if the Facebook members on the Bygone Bedlington Facebook group; Cambois Facebook group & Friends of Bates Colliery group can identify anyone. 

As there are a lot of photos it might be better to create an album in the Gallery under Historic Bedlington as it would make it easier viewing of all the photos.

@Eddie Yarrow - unfortunately only one member on the Cambois Facebook group has come up with a possible name. - Florence Henderson thinks one of the men might be her dad - Tom Anderton.

Added your dad's name to this one :- 

 

Would you like me to create an album and post all the photos into it? We could create it under 'Historic Bedlington' or 'Places Gallery' where we have HPW's Bates album.

Edited July 28, 2020 by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

5 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

@Eddie Yarrow - unfortunately only one member on the Cambois Facebook group has come up with a possible name. - Florence Henderson thinks one of the men might be her dad - Tom Anderton.

Added your dad's name to this one :- 

 

Would you like me to create an album and post all the photos into it? We could create it under 'Historic Bedlington' or 'Places Gallery' where we have HPW's Bates album.

Another name - Bill Smith, a  Deputy at West Sleekburn. His daughter, Joan Cummings, commented :-  '

 

Joan Cummings My dad again no 10
Remember faces but not names look so different down pit

Joan Cummings Now dad again. It’s the same group of men, dad worked with Grundy, came to the house
Took pictures of family

Joan Cummings Good remember when they moved, dad always worked night shift at the winning but when he moved to bates he didn’t, and fretted because he couldn’t get his garden done, missed the sunlight too.

[Eddie Yarrow]

Thanks Allan. Ive had several shots at doing an album but keep running Into problems, could be because I use Apple iMac.

One face is great its a start.

 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

14 minutes ago, Eddie Yarrow said:

Thanks Allan. Ive had several shots at doing an album but keep running Into problems, could be because I use Apple iMac.

One face is great its a start.

 

Sometimes when you take a photo of a photo, using an Iphone or iMac the settings within the device are set so create a large image = approximately 35" x 42". When you try and upload theses large images onto this system, into an album, they appear to get timed out. I remember John fox having a similar problem.

Your photos do seem strange though. I checked the sizes and the average is around 6" x 4" but when I 'copy and paste' one of the photos into a blank sheet (about 10" x 10")  tour photos paste a size more than double that and iI have to shrink it down before I start adding the text. 

If you like I could create an album and I will add in your original photo + a one with text and numbers on.

[Eddie Yarrow]

That would be great if you don't mind.

I changed completely to Apple several years ago and regretted it ever since.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

7 minutes ago, Eddie Yarrow said:

That would be great if you don't mind.

I changed completely to Apple several years ago and regretted it ever since.

Will do Eddie, probably tomorrow - time to close down this old Windows Vista Desktop PC, it's been on all day. Let you know when I have done it - hopefully

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

@Eddie Yarrow - album created, within the Historic Bedlington section, from your original  19 photos . I have added an extract image - one from a 1938 map showing  West Sleekburn Colliery and village.

@Andy Millne - when I created the West Sleekburn I think I selected the Copyright feature ( as shown on the Albums @Carole created) but there is nothing displayed when the photos are viewed.

The system didn't ask (that I can remember) for a any info. Is it the system or will it have been the way I created the album?  The album is the last one ( Page 2) within Historic Bedlington.