HIGH PIT WILMA

Hi Folks! Fresh oot o' me hospital bed,after a nasty chest infection and pneumonia at the base of me lung![as weel as an acute kidney injury!!] Tired and very weak,but fighting it,and mighty chuffed ti find that Eggy has posted the report from the northern coalfield. A had the dvd for a loan of from a friend a lang time ago,and have since googled it with nae success! A worked with aal three of these lads,but especially John and Alan,real gud Marra's ti hae! Aav nivvor seen a pump like this personally,but just past experience wi loads of different types of pump tells me that this is a single-stage centrifugal pump,definitely not a submersible one,cos the base of the pump has the suction and delivery pipe flanges clearly shown. The suction pipe was always flexible to allow the " Strum-End" [pipe-end with a filter attached],to be lifted out of the water to be cleaned of sludge periodically. The lifting eyes shouldn't need any explanation,given the size of the thing!,but it would have been suspended above the high water mark,on block-and-tackles,to assist maintenance,below the Sump-boards at the shaft bottom. It's marked No 2,cos usually there would be two pumps in the sump. Submersible pumps are self-contained sealed units,with a built-in grill inlet at the bottom of the pump body. Check out my pit pic above,and note the small " upside-doon pail-like thingy",wi the red fire-hose coming oot the side,next ti the strata,noo that's wat we caaled a "Dalek" pump,[for obvious reasons!]. Noo when ye set that little submersible pump away,it pumped full-bore under so much pressure,that a fifteen stone bloke standing on the hose,cudn't even begin ti squash it,the hose was hard as a rock! The waata in the pic is owa a foot deep for aboot sixty or more yards ootbye from the face,and that Dalek pump wud hae the waata doon in aboot an hoor. Of course when we started drilling,the pump had mair work ti dae cos the windy drillers teemed waata oot like a tap running full bore. Modern shaft bottom pumps were massive things,cos they had ti pump water vertically up a thousand-foot deep shaft,[deeper in some pits],through pipes upto a foot diameter!.......that's a hell of a lot of waata!! Eggy,if ye cud put aal me pit pics on here,tha's one taken just as the cage disappeared doon the shaft,from bank,[surface],and ye can get an idea of the size of the pipes coming up the shaft. Hope aav been a bit o' help,although lang-winded.....as usual!!

Thanks Eggy! I just caught up wi things noo,and hevn't seen these great pics, showing the air-raid shelters,where we played "Lops"! Thanks also ti Simon and Foxy for posting them. Brings back many happy memories of my childhood!

Thanks everybody for some interesting information about our history! Pleased Mr Joice took the patent out. I lost out on two inventions of mine underground,wi my big gob!....I was daft enough to tell the Overman about one,and a Deputy on a different face,at a different pit,about the other.....within months,co-incidentally,both devices appeared in the mines,being designed..[supposedly],at S.M.R.E.[Safety in Mines Research Establishment down south..Bretby,I think,but not sure!]. I was only in my early twenties,at the time,and just pleased at least they contributed to the safety of all my pit marra's everywhere in the coalfields! Just thinking,did Mr Joice ever live,or have relatives,living in a small-holding down the "Black Path",which leads to the Furnace Bank,from Beattie Road? As kids we used to raid "Joicie's Pear tree"!

Heh heh! Pilgrim,me oldest sister lives in the bungalows at Woodside,be strange,and not the first time,if an old pit marra lived next door to her! One of the Bates pit lads looked after her for a long time,as a good neighbour,and noo one of the lads from Bedlington A pit,[the "Auld pit"],looks to her in times of need..!! A wud luv ti catch up wi Jackie again,after 50 years oot of touch! A recently bumped into a "stranger",aroond Woodhorn lake,got taaking,wi wor dogs,etc,as ye dae like,recognised summick aboot him,[he's eyes!],then realised he was an aad [young] fitter from Bedlington auld pit,last saw him in 1971 when the pit closed! Caught up aboot thi aad days as quick as a flash! That's pitmen!!

Sym,the only Jack Dixon that aa knew,was a Guitar/Banjo/Mandolin-Banjo....player,but a divvent knaa if he was an Electrician mind,a only knew him as a musician,another great character....a think we discussed him on another thread a while ago.

Heh heh! Thanks Vic for the info on the Pyrotenax!,ye canna whack a bit o' rambling on man!,ye tuk me back a bit there,a can vividly remember working with the Sparky's deaing H.T. cable extensions,as faces advanced,from age 16 yrs on.....winding the dynamo Meggar handle for them as they they did the insulation [pin to earth,and pin to pin...three-phase] tests,and also continuity tests,even stripping back the armouring wires etc ready for putting the new ends on!Sometimes pitwark was a little bit interesting! Pilgrim,When me Wife hurt her back at work,and Paracetomols didn't have any effect,[20 years ago],Dr Carr did private treatment by "cracking"her back! He had her arm behind her back,one leg bent up,lying on the couch,his arm behind and through the space between her arm and her back,and forced her spine to twist,mekking the most horrible cracking sounds....a thought he would break her back altogether,whey,he didn't,and it didn't work,over a 4-weekly session period,it cost £200 then,[20 yrs ago!!],which was paid for from the one and only lottery win she had before she realised [upon my advice],that gambling is a mug's game..... When a worked for Ray Carlisle,mekking sliding mirror door bedroom furniture,kitchens etc,a made the business plaque for his Solicitor Son,which I fitted on the outside of the business premises,in Blyth,was that Son the one you mentioned above? Jack White,[who we at the High pit called "Bet" or "Beth" after his Dad,who also worked at the pit],was a great friendly character,very well-liked by everybody,he was just one of them sort of characters who naebody could dislike.I got on very well with him. If he has a memory like me,then he will remember young Wilma who was on transport with John Dickinson,and John Wardlow,before being face-trained and going on coal-filling.[cos everybody in the pit knew Wilma,in them days,due ti the nature of my job....I went into every part of the pit,and knew all the men on every face.] I remember his bike,Walter Gobin also had a Triumph,[ T110],so did big Harvey Tilbury,we had some great characters at that pit! Give Jack my regards please! Ye fill me up taaking aboot Cathy Secker,we listened to her on Sundays for years,and she used ti answer the phone during playback,ti tek dedications,if Michael wasn't aroond ti tek calls,and she was the most likeable natured lass ti taak ti,nae rush,and would read oot exactly what ye requested,cos a did a few requests for me Wife's Birthdays,wor Anniversary etc.We were shocked when she died.R.I.P. Cathy.

Heh heh!....LBJ,when she looks at me wi them soft brown gorgeous eyes....i'm her slave!! Noo,where was I?....right!,considering that aam just a youngin,this tool might have been afore my time,cos every cable used doon thi pits,were armoured...that right Vic? The abbreviation..."P.I.L.S.D.W.A" ,comes ti mind from my Deputy's training course,[Electrical Engineering ],which stood for .."Paper-insulated,lead-sheathed,double-wire-armoured..",and is a fitting description of the main feed power cables,which used to be covered with pitch-impregnated braided fibre's,loosely referred to as "tarry-toot".[owt wi pitch in was called tarry-toot!This covering was a sod ti peel off,then it was a hacksaw job ti cut through the two layers of wire armour,which was tough stuff!....hacksaw again,ti cut through the lead sheath,then the knife ti cut back the waxed paper insulation which covered each of the three phase conductors. It was more than a two-hour job,underground,for the electrician to cut a Pummel-end,[plug] off the H.T. cable,and put a new one on,inluding the cold-pour pitch which had to be poured into the plug itself,to provide waterproofing capabilities. A can still see aal this,clear as a bell,the sparky,mebbe Eddie Hagerty,or ? Cadwallendar..,or Jimmy Haley,peeling aal thi wire armouring back,aal neatly spaced apart,ti put the gland washers and nuts on,before putting the copper pins in,and boxing the job up....and aam harking back ti when aa was 16 yrs aad![1960] Obviously,the smaller the cable,the armour was appropriately chosen for that cable. The first time a ever heard of Pyrotenax cable,was maybe in the early 1970's,[maybe a bit earlier],when my Brother was helping his good friend,Jimmy Nicholson,who ran the telly/radio shop in the Market place,alang from Carricks,when Jimmy got the contract to re-wire St. Cuthbert's Church,in Bedlington. Me Brother brought a small piece doon ti my hoose ti show me,cos he had nivvor seen any either,and he is three years aulder than me,and worked at the auld pit in Bedlington. A somehoo divvent think it would have complied with the Mines and Quarries act 1954,for underground use,in the presence of a potentially explosive gaseous atmosphere,but that's checkable. Aal aam saying is,in a pit like Choppington High Pit,where they still had machines,conveyor belts,haulers,which were so ancient,they were there in 1929 when my Father was a 14 year old kid!,aal the aad cabling was still in place,including huge variable resistors,to start the big overhead main and tail hauler,and which used to glow red hot,inside the cage they were enclosed in!This was at the shaft-bottom area,and in freezing cold conditions,so the shaft lads and onsetters used to put pies on top of the resistor pack,keep the brakes on the hauler,and switch the hauler onto low start speed..the motor used to hum like hell,and everybody stood aroond the resistor pack ti feel a bit of heat!!!...nea overload safety interlock!![the pack stood aboot 3feet high,and aboot four feet lang,each resistor being aboot as thick as an average thermos flask.] Aam really intrigued aboot the Joystripper,cos it was obviously used for thi job it was invented for,but a can honestly say,never in the four pits that aa worked at,ti my knowledge,mind,that's my disclaimer for being an ignorant aad sod........!...not to my knowledge.! Somebody please enlighten me,maybe they were used in the workshops,at the pit on bank? I used ti trail 100 yard lengths of H.T. cable through rough,wet conditions,using two ponies hung on in front of one another,by hanging their tracing chain hooks into the spaces where the gland bolts secured the pummel-end plug onto the cable,and trailing the cable uphill,undulating,around right-angle bends from one roadway into another,and the armouring and tarry-toot covering used ti hold fast,and never pull the plug off the cable-end,they were so securely fitted in place. Noo flexible rubber armoured coalcutter cables had a different type of armour,which was flexible twisted thin steel wires,surrounding the cores. Aav got a pair of car jump-leads,which a made in 1972-ish[aroond that time...give a year or two!],from the cores of a buggered cutter cable,and mind...ye couldn't buy a set like them!!...Vic will remember how thick and strong they were!! In the latter years,from the '70's,at Bates,we had a main feed of 6'600 volts,knocked doon ti 1100 volts ti run thi shearers,and they used ti shear coal at 200 amps continuous! Noo,if ye saw the cables for the main feeds,we called them "the elephants trunk's",cos they were flexible pvc covered,and aboot six inches thick,and weighed an absoloute TON!! It was every man a yard apart when it came to carrying any of that cable in to the face,periodically,as the face advanced.

Er.....a mistakenly posted this,not realising I was on the previous page,and the topic was about the Doctor's at Choppington! Nivvor mind,as regards the Joystripper,I never heard of it,and can't see how it would have been used on cables underground. All the electricians and fitters I knew,used to carry a heavy duty knife made from a power-hacksaw blade,which WAS heavy-duty! ............ah .....aah,LBJ biting me leg,will continue later!

When my family lived in Storey's Buildings,next to the Willow Bridge,Doctor Hickey's surgery was hardly a hundred yards away up the bank towards Scotland Gate,and all three of the Doctor's,[ie Hickey, Robertson, and Ivory..],would call in noo and again ti see me Parents,and ask if the kids were all right,and we aalwis got a sweetie!! [only sweeties we ever got cos me Mother used ti swap her sweet rations for tea and sugar and bread,etc..]. Even when we moved ti Hollymount Square,they still called in if they were in the vicinity on their rounds. In those days,all these Doctors had to get their caplamps and pit byeuts on and go doon thi pit,ti attend accidents where a doctor was called for,usually an amputation,or a morphia injection,[until the pit Deputies and Overman were trained and authorised in the administration of Morphia,when requested by an accident victim.] Dr Carr,at Blyth,was one of the most respected Docs,being a Miners Compensation Advisor,in disputes between the Coal authority's and the Miner's Union..and also a member of the Blyth Lifeboat crew.[I stand to be corrected on the use of the word "member",at least he frequently went out on rescue missions with the crews]. I forget which Doc it was who had to go down the Bedlingon A pit shaft,to treat a shaftsman who was trapped between the cage and the shaft side,[halfway down the shaft!...a heroic effort...if ye have ever been in a cage half way doon a shaft,at a standstill,ye wud understand,bad enough hanging there,but ti be on TOP of thi cage.....shiver me timbers!!] Aye,thi Docs in them days browt many a bairn inti thi world!

Heh heh ! Hi Orloff!Gud Aad - School craftsman! Whey that's wat aa like ti heor,a divvent mind being wrang sumtimes when a cum across a craftsman like yase'll'! Thi next line gaans summik like....... "...O.k. wat did thi Romans dae for us......."!......[poor joke!] Ye must get me point on average though,Orloff,when a was young,and United double-decker buses went by, full ti standing only,and "duplicates" were put on to cope with the masses,tha wudn't be many folk carrying their log tables yem in tha bait-bags...wud tha?!! Yor trade was a specialised one,and in the last 30 years,aav worked with toolmakers,and aal the other engineering trades,both in heavy engineering,at the Blyth Shipyard buildings,[now the turbine blade test facility],and in the furniture trade,where tools had to be made for CNC machines,but still never saw any such thing as Logs,maybe cos the guys upstairs did the Blueprints....there's a thing noo,wat's fascinated me for years....why "Blueprints"?...a aalwis admired anybody who cud read and work ti them!!....why not simple black and white documents? Aav seen complete blueprints of the last two Warships to be built on the Tyne,deck-plans,the lot,and it just gob-smacked me,hoo Man cud create something so awesome,from a set of drawings like them!! A bit different from blasting oot the strata and shoving girders in ti create a tunnel!! Wud luv ti meet yi for a natter aboot aal things technical,Orloff!! Thanks for ya interesting comments!

Hi Norman,that wud be a gud'n ti see! I didn't go inti thi Remove in the first year,but it wasn't lang after that when a did.[canna mind the exact time,but it was in the middle of a term,,cos a volunteered ti gaan in,and Mr Freeman,took me around all the other classes ,and Mr Hemming's office,ti see if the general opinion was that I was competent enough as a candidate!] Worst thing that I ever did....I was bogged doon wi homework every night,absoloutely terrified of logarithms.....coudn't see the point.....duz anybody on here knaa anybody who ever used Logs,and Antilogs,in their careers?![my Nephew started from school at the bank,and ended up as head of Personell for the whole of the area between Berwick,and Leeds.....thi only logs he used was on he's fire!!]..... Anywheh! Dae ya best Norman,try and get it posted for wi aal! Cheers,Marra!

Eggy,Bob Redpath,[Brian's cousin] lived doon the bottom end of Hollymount Square,beside the "Cut" that led ti Cornwall Crescent,and the roads Beattie,and Haig. Vic,Bob was just three or four doors alang from Maureen,[Doreen's Friend].[probably aroond number 51-ish,as Eggy said..] Brian passed away a few years ago,and I never knew till recently,he was a big lad at five years aad![stands above everybody on the infants pic.] His Dad had the first Radiogram I ever saw,and it was when "All Shook Up" by Elvis,was in the charts,and Brian's Dad had just bought it. Brian took me in to hear it,and I was hooked on Elvis from that day![aroond 1956-7 ish?]...I was 12 or 13 years old. I can still picture the radiogram,like dark walnut veneered,and aboot twenty feet lang.....ti me,as a kid!![aboot 5feet in reality!] I think,[think....mind!!],he probably worked at the Doctor Pit,Vic,can Doreen not mind?,cos her Dad worked there as did most of our side of the square,and the other side of the square were mostly from Netherton pit village. Both Brian,and Bob's Dad's were nice quiet fellas.

A should mention that this pic was taken when we were driving the main roadway into a virgin seam that no pit in the country had ever worked,and was waiting to be opened up at the other side of a 36-foot thick Blue Whinstone Dyke,which we would have been driving through within a few days of this pic been taken. This roadway was 14-feet wide x 10 feet high arched 3-piece girders. 50-odd holes were drilled across the whole of the place ,using a Holman Compressed-air,[windy] driller and a 9 foot long straight [not helix]drillrod,with a "Star" bit on the end of the rod. Sheer brute force of impact,and rotation,drilled the holes,with a deafening noise from the driller,all shift long,for sometimes 12 hours at a time.[with water/oil being thrown all over you constantly] It took 50-60 lbs of "Polar-Ajax" explosives,[33% Nitro-Glycerine],to blast this roadway out,to give a 9' "Pull" [advance],in the roadway. Noo,when ye saw this one after firing,ye had a virtual mountain of shot-down stones to ridd onto a conveyor belt,so in this case we had a small mechanical shovel to shift most of it,but still had to handfill the rest,in order to get the girders in,and prepare the place for bringing the cutter in to cut,and drill again.

Thanks Eggy! Noo,THAT was pitwark..the most depressing place on earth when you get inbye,aboot 1-0am,after riding [cage down] at 12-0midneet,and tek ye claas off,have a five minute snack oot ya bait,while looking inbye at this place from aboot 20yards oot,and keeping one hand owa ya flask cup,ti stop droppers of seawatter from getting amangst it.[just the eerie soond of the droppers splashing in the ground water,in the deathly dark and quietness,was depressing on it's own!] The waata was taken ti the Labs to be analysed,as it was corroding everything in sight in days,which took six months at other pits,and was found to be 6 times saltier than seawaata,and three times more corrosive,and that is a fact!! Electricians and fitters,as well as us mere miners,had ti work every weekend all the way through,running every machine and conveyor belt in the three-quarter seam,to prevent seize-ups on the first Monday shift start.[apart from repairing aal the damage on the face as weel!] A wished a had had the foresight ti tek me camera doon onto the faces what a described above,it would have been better than trying ti describe it,but it was bad enough working in a hell-hole,withoot thinking of tekking photos of it! At thi time,we were just pleased ti gaan yem and get some sleep and forget aboot it,till thi next neet! Just before the pit closed, a was taaking ti aan aad-timer,like me noo,[but 30-odd years ago remember?!],and he said,"Aye,the miners have got it easy nooadays,the machines dae aal thi wark noo!".... Like a red rag ti a bull! A telt him [speaking only for mesell' and me Marras doon thi 3/4 drift],that WE had it WORSE than some of the aad-timers who worked in dry conditions,wi a coalcutter wi a 4'-6" or a 6'-0" jib on,and hand-filling wi a big pan shuul!,back in thi aad days! The usual way ti win a face oot was ti arc oot wi a 6 foot jib,giving 14 feet wide workings,then take a side cut along the newly - won-oot face,with the same size jib on the cutter,ti give 18 feet wide coalface x the length,usually 200 yards long. Wor Undermanager wanted ti save time and money wi aal this double- cutting,so he sent a coalcutter in with a NINE foot long jib,[which is clearly seen on me photo's],which gave a TWENTY-FEET wide arc, so after we cut the place,we had ti drill and blast 2 feet each side of the arc,straight off the solid,ti give a 24-feet wide coalface,ready to install the face installation. The sheer physical effort of cutting,hand-drilling,and hand-filling,an arc off,onto a conveyor belt which was sometimes 20 feet away from you,as you advanced the workings,and you had to "fling" each shovel-ful in one go,onto the belt,and not "double-cast" the coal,was immensly draining to body and soul. It wasn't just coal we had to fill,there was about a foot of "Rammel",[broken-up crushed loose roof-stone],which used to come away with the coal,and which weighed a ton,even small pieces,as it was waterlogged. That's the darker grey part of the strata you can see in my pic above,which was very undulating,and could be six inches in one cut,then two feet thick in the next cut,but averaged aboot a foot overall. The seam shown here is about 4-feet high,but more than a foot is under water! Eh,lad,not a very pleasant place ti spend an evening!

Hi Vic and Eggy,many thanks for taking the time to advise me. I have spent hours googling the specs on the Zafira,Mondeo estate,Skoda Estate,etc,but the hundreds of bad reviews and horror stories have almost changed my mind about the Zafira,which was to be my final choice,for practicality,and a canny performance,cos aam also one who doesn't want be straggling lights and junctions in general.[a wee bit of zip comes in handy sometimes!] I strip my Wife's scooters easily enough,but I carry one small one for shops which easily manouvres in supermarkets hospital corridors etc,and a bigger one [not a road scooter!]..just a bit bigger,with four-wheel sprung suspension,for riverside walks on tarmac etc. So boot space is a necessity,two scooters and a dog in the back!!....my Vauxhall Signum copes,but it's a diesel,and I don't like diesels![hadn't any choice but ti get this one after my last petrol Signum was written off nearly two years ago in the bad hit and run crash we had.] Jonathan ,at Alex Scott's,guidepost has been in touch again,with vehicles being released from Motobility,but none suitable up ti noo. Will keep looking and will check out Davidson's,a long time since I looked in there! Thanks again Lads! P.S. ......."Escape"!....wat a hoot Vic!!

Thanks Canny Lass! Mind,a wasn't ranting at thi lads,they just did their job,it's senior management,and governmental levels my rant was aimed at. Something DID make me smile ti mesel',it was the bit where the guy pointed ti a now defunct and buried-forever £100 million coalface shearer,whey,aam saying £100 million,that's wat a coalface installation cost in the 1970-80's,probably cost that much just for the shearer alone,being that it was a massive monster!.......thi machine had a notice on it saying summik like"Dave's Shearer...bye bye"...[or words to that effect!]. On my Bates pics,I scrawled the words on a plank of wood,which was supporting the "face-caunch"[not strictly correct but pitmen knaa wat we mean]......... ...."10's Tailgate..Abandoned Forever..February 26th 1986"[ it was 30 years ago,and I could check me pics,but a think that was the exact words I wrote,that day...seems like yesterday!] They were probably running six or more faces like this one,but they only needed ti show one,ti press thi point. All this massively expensive machinery lying rusting underground,never to be seen again...in scores of pits all over the country. Like I keep repeating,so the point is never forgotten....probably the equivalent of the Chancellor's purse lying underground. Now that you saw that coal-face,Canny Lass,and how the miner's were strolling around as if it was a Saturday neet on their way to the club,try to picture a coalface in a seam only three feet high,or less,from floor to roof,in which the face supports' canopies,[the part which keeps the roof up over your head],takes away about six inches at least,from the height down the travelling road,which is where those guys are walking about. You had to pull yourself along like a snake,and squeeze your body between falls of roof stone in between each face chock,cos they weren't armour-plated "Chock-shield " supports like in the programme,they were old-fashioned six-legged Dowty chocks,with great gaps between each one,which allowed the roof to break up and cause accidents on piece. In the 3/4 Seam at Bates,sheer roof pressure used to twist and push the whole face chock around until they sometimes turned over onto their sides,which was a mammoth task,and very dangerous,with no cranes underground,to rectify and replace damaged parts.it was all sheer brute force and muscle-power. These conditions were bad enough,but when you have "runners",that is,not droppers!,of freezing cold seawater pouring in over you constantly,you are blinded if you look up into the spray,with the salt from the water,it pours into your ears,runs down your clothes next to your bare skin,carrying fine "curvings"of wet slimy stone and coal,which cuts the skin to ribbons.....and you are lying on your side with a heavy "stone-shovel" desperately trying to "redd" enough of the fall of stone to clear a way through all this mess,so you can let other miners on the face pass through,as well as try to repair the damaged supports. Let me put this all into context. On the programme,I think it was the shift Manager,or another official,who said,"Every minute the face shearer stands,it costs £400....each minute!" So they were worried cos the face stood broken down for about six or seven hours....reckon it up....£400 x 60 [mins] x 6 hours.........! Down the 3/4 Seam at Bates,in 1973-4....ish,the coalfaces used to suffer massive roof -falls which were so severe,that they used to completely flatten the inferior face supports in use at the time,for distances up to 70 yards at a time,sometimes more.[on a 200 yard-long coalface] The devastation caused by this total mismanagement at Area level,used to take up to a MONTH.. of 24-hour, 3-shift working, continuously,to transport new face chocks into thi pit,blast through huge stones on the face,with explosives,to break them up so they could be cleared away to allow face-teams of men like myself to get in there and dismantle the absoloutely -wrecked chocks,,in areas of the face which was now over fifteen feet high,due to the roof falls,and which had to be re-timbered up,a hugely dangerous task,then the new chocks,each weighing over a ton,and costing a million pounds each,[yes!-in the 1970-80's!],had to be man-handled onto the face using hand-operated blocks and tackles,pulled into place and built up in situ,hydraulic hoses all connected up,ready for coalwork again. If you reckon up that seventy of these supports had to replaced at a time,[£70million pounds just for the parts-plus extensive labour charges,overtime payments etc],plus a lot of injuries and accidents associated with the whole affair,and you also consider that for a few years,this fiasco continued on several coalfaces,until bosses took OUR advice,and abandoned the faces and won out new ones further inbye,clear of the faulted strata,then you begin to understand that all the propaganda about Bates being "uneconomical",was totally untrue,cos the pit would have paid for itself many times over,if Archibold,the area director at Teems Valley Headquarters,had authorised "Rev-Lem"face supports,or even "Chock-shield" supports like those in the programme about Kellingley pit. Instead,he kept persevering with inferior cheaper unsuitable face supports which risked all the lives of the lads working on those faces,more than the risks which would normally be part of the job....,and doomed the pit to it's death. The pit Manager told my marra's and myself personally,before it's closure,that Archibold had "a personal vendetta against Bates Colliery". Now I have my own opinions why that would be,and I think it is blatantly obvious![I cannot fathom out how he explained the losses on the books at senior meetings in London]. Canny Lass,I know you are interested in mining,so that's why I have tried to help you picture the scene,and compare a six-hour breakdown,with umpteen face closures lasting months before they were back onto coalwork again! Wish some of the Bates lads would see this subject and come on with their stories!![there's some to tell beleive me!!] Cheers Lass! HPW

Whey,aav just aboot seen ivrythin noo!! A divvent waatch telly,like other people,cos aam busy mornin ti neet,till a cum on heor after midneet usually!! Me Wife "taped" [!] a programme aboot the closure of Kellingly Colliery,the last deep mine ti close,so thi neet a sat and waatched it from 11-0pm -12-0 midneet. A wanted ti switch it off after five minutes into the programme,for a few reasons. A] A rubbish production wi so little content aboot actual mining,i.e.seeing the owamen and shift managers in their offices bantering on,[ "acting"], on camera. B] Absoloute proof of a North/South divide in the mining industry...i.e regard to investment. C] Seething at the thought of the atrocious conditions me and my Marra's worked in,and were blatantly ROBBED of what we had honestly earned,due to a Deputy Manager at Bates Pit scratching out "delays out of our control" as recorded in our Deputy's reports [ Productivity bonus scheme....wat a laugh..]. Kellingly pit had 6-feet [maybe more],high,coal faces,where thi miners didn't need ti wear knee-pads cos they walked up and doon the face! Fluorescent lighting aal thi way doon thi face,water fed dust suppression that worked,on the shearers, massive "Chock-shield" [Reg.T.M.!] face supports,where the whole of the extracted area was totally enclosed in an armour-plated cocoon,so nil chance of anyone being remotely hit by a roof fall of stone,not even a walnut-sized piece wud come doon between these chocks!![and a wudn't any ti either for thi lads' sakes!] Nae waata ti be seen except in the lad's waata bottles,mind,they needed it cos the one thing we didn't hev up here was equatorial temperatures doon theor! Doon the 3/4 Seam at Bates,it was the opposite,the north sea teeming in,frozzen caad,sowked ti thi skin,wat shud have been a 42-inch high seam,was owa 15 feet high on some faces,and that wasn't a pleasant height through choice,it was cos the bliddy roof had so much pressure it used ti flatten the flimsy face chocks ti thi floor and cause roof falls up ti 70 yards lang,and more,reet doon the coal face,absoloutely treacherous. We had ti stand on TOP of the face chocks,[which were supposed to be protecting us!]and build "butts" on top of the chock canopies,till we couldn't reach any higher,so had ti build another platform to stand on,so we cud continue building the butts up thi roof![a "butt" consisted of two 2' x 6" x 6" hardwood beech chocks side by side,with another two on top at 90 degrees with respect,then two more,and two more...etc,tillyou reached the roof!] See my Bates pit pics on Flickr,there's a pic of a high wood butt,aal squashed with roof pressure. Aal thi time we were working like this,it was in completely bare exposed roof conditions,totally against Manager's support rules for the mine,and against Mines and Quarries act 1956.......but with NO alternative,if we wanted to preserve our own lives,we had to take the risks. These lads doon sooth,[mind the lads at the Plessey at Bates,and the lads at Ellington also],didn't knaa haaf of it.and half of the lads I worked with on those faces are long gone noo. Sadly,some died at a very young age,late 30's,early forties,don't suppose the Coal Board wud have an inquiry as to why they all had thing like Leukaemia and cancer-related diseases after working on a Prototype Shearer with a nuclear isotope device mounted on the top of the machine,which was supposed to be "Ultra-Safe!],others became victims ti roof falls and girders being knocked oot,etc.R.I.P aal thi lads that aren't here ti bear me oot. 2-0 am,so will have to close me rant!![till another day!]

Hi Moe! [Whistle test fan eh?!! great!] The tyre shop's a blast from the more recent past,but which I totally forgot aboot! In my hard-up days,I bought two "Colway" tyres from the guy, [a really pleasant bloke],and they were wobbling and "wowwing" ,so I went back and told him,within ten minutes he had changed both tyres and shook me hand and thanked me for just gaanin back,and not slagging him off ti anybody. A canna mind hoo lang he lasted on the bank wi his shop. The surgery was there since the world began a think!! Aad Doctor Hickey,Robertson,and Ivory were there for donkey's years!

Hi Vic!...just caught up on this one...a bit late in the day,ye'll hae been sorted a few times since,but aam noo in thi syem dilemma! Aam thinking aboot getting a Vauxhall Zafira,for practicality,cargo space..[two mobility scooters and a dog,and me Wife...oh! and me!],and thi choices of engine and trim levels are mind-numbing! Has anybody driven one,or sat as a passenger in one,just wondering wat the ride is like,acceleration etc...... Jonathan Scott [Alex Scott's garage in Guide Post] is being very helpful,trying ti source one for me wi low mileage etc,[it's a great garage],but a wud like ti sit in one and suss things oot before buying one.

Whey,nowt for me ti boycott...aav nivvor had owt ti dae wi any of thi above list!..nivvor been abroad in me life....nivvor been on a virgin train...mind,a did shake hands wi Mr Branson a few years back,in Heathrow airport,when my family were seeing my Son's Italian Wife's Family off ti Italy,after the Wedding between my Son and thier Daughter. It was straight after Richard Branson's Balloon had crashed in the desert,and HE looked absoloutely shattered and worn oot,raggy-looking,but as warm and affectionate natured as hell! A just congratulated him,said will ye be trying again....and he spent thi time of day wi me for a few minutes,even though he was desperate ti get back home..smashing bloke....nowt ti dae wi any of he's business projects like![he might be a reet sod aroond thi bizniz tyeble!]

Heh heh! THEM were thi days when players WANTED ti play for the Passion of thi game,and loyalty ti thi fans....my opinion,and a knaa NOWT aboot fitba' except thi players get owa much money,obscenely , for kicking a baal aboot! A bet wor Bobbie and Jackie,cringe when they think back on life what they had ti dae..as ye say ,like Wor Jackie Milburn also.

One of the first ever bookings my group had,in 1962-3 ish,was in the Market-place club,and was a Freemasons annual dinner-dance. We had to go earlier in the afternoon to set our gear up,so we had a walk around the dinner tables ti see if we knew anybody!! The Grandmaster was "Worshipful Brother" .......time - keeper/tally clerk at Bedlington A pit! [a reet canny fella!] Another "Worshipful Brother was the raggiest,tattiest,rough unshaven,dislikeable bloke at Choppington High Pit,who lowered the coal wagons down the line under the screens to be filled....known as a shunter.[raised my eyebrows,and HIS, when we started to play....he was as dapper as a new teaspoon!,and HE couldn't beleive it was ME entertaining Him! We never got on at the pit before that,cos he wasn't the luvly Brotherly-love worshipping a supreme being sort of bloke at aal!!,he was a bit of a sod!! But mind,AFTER THAT DAY,he was nice as nympince,like he didn't want me ti say owt ti anybody.......whey hoo cud a not? a had a gob like Tynemooth! Mind,a was just a young whippersnapper,ave got a bit mair respect for an individuals needs and motives,and hobbies or interests etc. There were a few other fellas who a was surprised ti see as well. In aboot 1985-ish,a Deputy at Bates invited me to join,several times,but a was adamant not be involved,didn't hae time anyway,fully involved with my Wife and two young Kids.Nae regrets!

Hi Maggie,this is the first time in 67 years that I have seen the demolished structures at the far end of the pic,adjacent to the blue skip!! Brings back loads of very happy memories as a 5 year old child..! This building was the WW2 air-raid shelter in the far corner of the schoolyard,for the school staff and pupils,and by 1949,was a great illegal place for devilish kids to play in![during play-time]. The blackout curtains still hung,but were raggy and tatty by then,and a favourite game of ours was to rip a chunk from the curtain,[all wet and stinking!],and chuck it at your playmate/s while shouting out...."Alli's [or Wilkie's...etc],got thi lops.....!![wat a game!] Ye did some running aroond the yard,aa can tell ye,and we even used ti fetch thi lops oot at yem-time,ti play after schyuul!! Teacher didn't knaa cos in them days,ye had ti haad a lassie's hand,and cross owa ti the church pathway,and waak,in lines,two by two's,reet aroond ti where Carr's paper shop was,and cross the road there. Nae adults there ti meet ye,ye just med ya way doon yem,and when yi luk at the Class2 photo,wat Eggy posted on the History hollow forum,42..[a think !] pupils in each class,......that was a canny few young kids gaan doon them streets![nae pedestrian crossing in them days!] But "Lops"!!,.....wat a subject for a game.....musta been a common thing ti hae lops....heh heh![thi fine-toothed comb and a sheet of newspaper on thi floor comes ti mind.....NITS!!!]...[ye daresint let ya Motha see ye scratch ya heed,even when just idly thinking aboot summik!!...it was "cum here ye little bugga....let's see yor heed!"] Aaaaah!...happy days!...sad ti see wat's happening in Bedltn noo! A agree wi ye Maggie,god knaas wat lies under aal that rubble,and also where else the stone might previously have been used.[tha might have been mason's markings on some of them,similar to those found on other buildings,mebbe telling where each mason worked in the town...does that soond daft? In West Terrace,Stakeford,where a lived for 32 years,[number three..on the front terrace,opposite the council depot..],high up at gutter level,is a brick with the most elegant, English forward-slant,handwriting,with the inscription..."Mary Richardson".[ scored into the brick while still about to go into the kiln to be fired,probably] I often wondered if Mary's family ever knew of it's existence.The terraces were built around 1911-ish.[Mary wud have been a firer in the brickyard at Bedltn Station,or Barnton,maybe.] If I could put MY mark,[as I did],on every piece of hand made furniture which I made,[hidden inside dovetails on drawers before assembly,etc],even for customers such as Duncan Davidson,of Lilburn Castle and Towers,near Wooler,[the Landowner/Millionaire!],I'm sure Mason's of old would have taken the same pride in thier work!! A used ti gie me blood in the school hall,in the 1970's-80's,and a used ti lie on the bed,during the transfusion,and luk up at the ceiling rafters,and think how they hadn't changed from my schooldays there,and could picture Mrs Nicholson giving us bonny-coloured "Coonters"[shiny cardboard discs the size of a ha-apenny],ti learn hoo ti coont...."2 add 2....= 3...!..er!] People will move in ti the new properties,and not hae a clue of the history under tha feet!!

Forgive me igrrriince,but wat aboot thi Dun Coo? It's thi MILLFIELD noo,isn't it? When we were kids,thi crack was......"If ye mated the Black Bull,wi the Red Lion,wat wud ye get?..............the Dun Coo"....!!!![cum bak Tony Blackborn!]

Heh heh! Thanks folks for your kind comments! Regarding the tablecloths,a knaa when a was a kid,it didn't matter if ye were eating Roasted rabbit pie,or roast beef......the oilcloth on the tyble stunk wi a characteristic odour,not dirty,cos Mother was spick and span,and used ti tell us kids there's nea excuse for being dorty,cos soap's cheap and wetta cost nowt!! The tarry-toot on the flair was great fo' mekking flaming skimmers!! Ye tore bits off the floor oilcloth,aboot six inches aroond,lit it on a bonfire,and "skimmed"it inti thi air!! The melted bits used ti flea off in aal directions,like sparklers,still hoying little flames off!!...a think that's wat the red Indians musta used ti set the wagon trains on fire wi tha burning arrows!![they obviously had been owa heor fo' a holiday and seen HPW and friends acting thasel's!] Ye knaa,wi did aal these laddie-like things,fires,sheath-knives,catapults,and a nivvor knew of anybody ivvor gettin' born't,stabbed, or eyes put oot! Aa got born't under me armpit,and me wooly jarsey aal singed wi a hole in it,wen a was aboot nine ya' aad , but it wasn't wi playin' wi fire,it was a bloody duff "Aeroplane" type of firework,which was placed on the garden waal,[Hollymoont Square cooncil low waal..],by a friend's Dad,who was the adult supervisor of his Son's fireworks display in thi street. Insteed o' the firework tekkin' off and flee'ing up in thi air,the bugga tuk off for aboot six feet,horizontally,and like a maddened Bee,torned on a thruppeny bit,and headed stryght inti my body,as a sed,lodging itsel under me armpit,and flames rushing oot like a rocket gone mad!! Still didn't frighten me from clarting on wi fires mind!! .......digress.......!!