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Anne,I was so engrossed in my thoughts ,trying to help Steven,and didn't think to say how sorry a was to read about your Dad's accident. Life down the mines was really rough,and in an accident scenario,miles inbye,in roadways roughly blasted out from solid stone strata,and swalleys..[dips],in the roadways sometimes flooded up to the waist..with oily black stinking water which was freezing..it was really stressful,sheer physically demanding hard work,to carry wor Marra's outbye on a stretcher.[we often used to wonder who would be the next one we would be carrying out..maybe it would be one of us..and it often was...] Conditions like that never existed in any other industry,no Doctor's,no Ambulances..no nothing..not even toilets or washbasins..I mean really barbaric.. We fought in 1984 to keep the pits open,but in my old age,and looking back,we knew nowt else..it was wor heritage..with a hefty legacy of injuries and suffering ill-health,maybe it was a blessing that they were closed. Anne,you should always be proud to tell anyone that your Dad was a Coalminer,Salt of the earth,and the Industrial Revolution would never have got us to where we are now ,without the sacrifices made by the Coalminers of the past..a rare breed! Kindest regards,Bill.

Hi Anne,and Steven,welcome to the forum! Steven,I worked at the A pit at Bedlington,[the "Auld Pit"],from being transferred there from Choppington B pit..[the "HighPit"],in 1965. I worked at the auld pit from 1965 until it closed in 1971,and knew LOTS of the workforce,in all the different shifts..and obviously,through time,I have forgotten some. However,as my friends on this forum all know,my memory overall of my mining years is still pretty vivid,and I remember well,the fella who trained me on the coalcutters [the old AB15 Cutters!],as well as my other face training operations. His name was Billy Miller,and he lived at Grange Park in Bedlington,in his later years. AAHH!..a thought just came to me as a was thinking Billy was the only Miller at the Aad Pit,then it suddenly came to me,it cud have been aroond 1966-7-8-ish,when a Shearer Operator,[the Shearer-Man],called Dusty Miller,was buried under a roof fall when he was at the face side of the shearer machine. The stone was aboot 10 feet lang and two feet thick..and was partly lying on the machine,and partly crushing the life out of poor Dusty.[a never knew his first name..we all had nicknames like my silly nickname on here.] His Marras were standing in the roof cavity where the stone had fallen from,using big Mel's ["Mallets"!],swinging the lang shafted mel's above their heads to hit the stone to break it so they could free Dusty. I wasn't in that shift,but came in onto the face in the following shift,and we were still breaking up the stones and timbering the roof to make it safe lang after Dusty was carried outbye on the stretcher..half dead. Well,we met the rest of the marra's of Dusty's shift,as they were travelling outbye,and we were coming inbye to start our shift,and they told us that Dusty was screaming for the lads to "Get them dogs off me back"..he was obviously delirious with pain and shock. As time had gone by,with the lads constantly pounding away at this massive stone frantically ,Dusty had started screaming at them to leave him alone,which,of course they couldn't..and no way could Dusty move a stone weighing a few tons which completely covered him as he was pinned down on his chest. Now we all know about false and misleading reports by Journalists who havent the faintest idea what they are reporting about,and it is quite possible that Dusty was your Relative,Steven,cos in those years I quoted,I was about 22-3-4 yrs old,and Dusty was one of the "Old- timers"..although he may only have been in his fifties,BUT!..to a lad in his twenties...fifty yrs old....was old!! [now,at 78 yrs old in July,fifty is just a skittering young ched!..as we used to say! As Dusty was recovering at home,his close Marras brought reports back to us lads in the team,about his progress,and said he was healing champion,but his Back was so bad,he had to go down the stairs on his backside..he couldn't walk up or down normally. Now I was transferred to Bates Pit in 1971,just a few weeks before the Aad pit closed for good,so lost touch with a lot of me aad Marras. Now the first person I worked with at Bates Pit,was a Seam Overman underground called Jack Miller,he had served in the second world war,and was a real canny likeable fella,a Bricklayer by trade originally,before joining the pits. His Brother was Seargant Miller at Bedlington Police Station in the 1950's. Another fella I worked with at Bates Pit was a well-known local gardener and nurseryman,called....Stevie Clark..!! Then there was Ernie Clark,wor Pit Electrician,another smashing fella ..me cog wheels are running dry noo,and starting ti slaa doon,if a can mind of any mair Millers,aal let ye knaa Steven. Gud luck wi ya search,Steven,hope aav been a wee bit o' help,if only ti eliminate the fellas from ya search. Cheers folks! Bill.

Thanks so much for that information, Bill. It takes someone who was there to tell it how it really was. I never knew at the time how hard and dangerous it was for the miners. I'll always be proud of what my dad was. I hope your accounts help Steven find out what he is looking for.

Anne,just another thought,out of interest,if you haven't already,you may be interested to see the photo's which I took underground down Bates' Pit in 1986,just before the pit was shut down for good. They are in the gallery under the heading Bates Pit Photographs. Cheers, Bill.

I've got a couple of newspaper cuttings about my dad's death on 19th December 1972. Not sure which paper. I think we mostly got the Evening Chronicle.