HIGH PIT WILMA

Maggie,a shudder to think about that![predictive text etc!!] Probably make D.H.Lawrence look like a Mills and B. writer!! Thanks for your kind words also,very much appreciated! Sym,sorry aboot digressing,a like ti keep the entertainment light sometimes!

Heh heh! Nice one Eggy! Neorly theor noo,wivafewmissinwards! Howw,this is a bit of a hobby thing wi me,this isn't new,yi naa!! A few years ago,me gorgeous young Neice was in the Para's,and stationed in the Falklands..[i think] For a laugh,a sent her a hand-written letter,a few pages lang,on A4,just ti keep in touch,and mek her feel at yem,reading Northumbrian text. Noo!...aboot fower pages were nowt else but unpunctuated pitmatic text,which,at first glance,resembled Egyptian heiroglyphics! Aam not taakin aboot Northumbrian,here noo,..aam taakin aboot true pitmatic,using loads of old ancient pit terminology which pitmen's Wives adopted in their everyday vocabulary![such as some which Eggy didn't twig on in his decoding post......"anaamnoreddaroondyitcosaam....".."I haven't got any housework done yet..."etc. ANYWHEH!,me lovely Neice spent a few neets in,trying ti work it aal oot,which kept her oot o' mischief! THEN,she discreetly posted it up in the mess,on thi notice board. Next thing she knew,was a superior officer holdin' it up in front of ivry bugga,waantin ti knaa who was responsible,and what did it aal mean!! So!,they could decipher enemy signals,send in tornado's heavily armed,blast thi bugga's ti bits,but they cudn't read aad Wilma's twang! [Wilma isn't a pseudo,by thi way,it is so well-knaan a nickname,daft as it is,but will be in archived N.C,B,reports,from High Pit,Choppington,if any still exist,cos even thi Manager didn't knaa me real nyem....in thi late 1950's -60's-70's and on ti thi present day by aad marra's who are still alive!!] ..."Wilma....fined five shillings....throwing bait papers down in the roadway causing the spread of mice......" ...."Wilma....fined two shillings and sixpence for riding thi pit ponies underground"........ Heh heh! Happy days!! P.S.......watwarwitaakinabootaforetheornooathinkaavstrayedawehaweebitagain.......!

Luvly bit o' workmanship, Maggie! ...but you got me beat.....[hope I shouldn't be ashamed for saying that!......].....where is it from?

Fascinating stuff ivrybody! When a was at school prior to leaving at 15 yrs old,I hated history and geography[and P.E.!] I didn't see the point of it all!...I was home-studying electricity and electronics,radio and tv theory and principles,Faraday,Ohm's law etc etc etc! I could read theoretical circuits ["schematics" we call them now],at the age of 14 yrs,and was building circuits using high-voltages with Valves. I now wish I had put a bit more effort into studying History!! Fortunately I can learn from all on this forum,better than I could from my teacher!!,even though I had the best-liked greatest funniest fella for a teacher at Westridge....Mr Abrahart!![We usually couldn't write down his dictation,cos we were laughing so much,he was very theatrical in his dictation,and used to assume the characters such as Napoleon,Disraeli,Gladstone,etc.] Keep it up Canny Lass and all the rest of you! Sorry,apart from Pitwark,a canna contribute ti this one!!.....howld on theor....a just thowt on...... Weren't the Monks actively busy digging smaal bell pits aal owa Northumberland,and a lot in Bedlingtonshire,ti get coal for tha caad drafty abodes?!!

Thanks Keith. If I can find the pic I will try and post it.

Whey,as aan pitman who knaas nowt,except pitwark,aal yi bugga's are leaving me bemused here! A gotta agree wi aad Sym....an' as far as passwards are , nea bugga came on an' deciphired me little love letter ti the forum a while back....[aav forgotten where it is noo...a think it was in thi UKIP thread], but just as a reminder,di yi think even thi Enigma wud get this one........ ......aadbliddywilmasabootnakkaadnooanisgaantibliddykipcositslateanaamnoreddaroondyitsothibuggarillhaetibidetheortithimornnoocosaamowaknaakaadtidaeanymairsoaalsaygudneet, andhappyborthditiyungAdamHogg! Gudneetfowlks!

"....In future...doing nothing for the patient may be the best treatment for them....".....!!! Of course!,and also the best line of trade to be in will always,and more so....be that of those who take care of us after we depart.....!! What a load of politico buzz-words for an old pitman to try and digest at 1-0 am!! Sym,thanks for posting this,I think I fully agree with your fears,but you made a serious mistake by deleting the word "Evil" and B..............ds"!!!!!!!!!!! Freedom of speech is what made this a great country to live in,and I'm from an old ilk who does not have the word "Offended " in my vocabulary. My reasoning is,that if an adult person is going to be "offended",because of some remarks made,they would not have lasted 10 minutes working in an underground environment....grown-up children...still immature...in my mind. We had a saying underground......"Sticks and stones....blaa blaa",so you took any insults with a pinch of salt,and anyone showing just a hint of having a "Lip-on",might as well pick thier bait-bag up and go home! Why not joke about Islam??????...we joke about God,talk openly if we disagree with Christianity,the Royal Family,or Churchill...not to mention thatcher-the-hatcheter.........so what's the difference? Aye,aa say...."When in Rome....blaa blaa...."!!. Aye,Three-gee,in 1980, I had a bad roof-fall accident,while winning out a new coalface,down Bates pit. I was injured and taken to the old Ashington hospital,in the Coal-Board van,which was quicker than waiting for an ambulance,in those days! It was common for injured miners to be taken straight out of the pit,"Black as a craa",meaning "black as a crow",unwashed from being down the mine,in other words. I was lying in a side room,bleeding through bandages put on by my own marra's,as there were no doctor's to be found 180 yards up a three-feet high wet,rough coal-face,at 5-0 0'clock in the morning!![when the roof came down over my head and shoulder's...] A black doctor came to see to me,around nine o clock,and asked me how this had happened,and what time. When I said "5-0 o'clock this morning,doctor..",he was very gruff,and spat out his words as if he had a lip-on..! "Why did you not come to Hospital sooner....."...[like a red rag to a bull!!] I was in a lot of pain,not having had any treatment for so long,since being injured 4 hours beforehand,and tried to explain that there are no doctors and ambulances down a coalmine..........it took over two hours to come off the face,get first-aid,travel outbye,wait for a cage to the surface...etc,then I lay over two hours in the hospital waiting on this bad-mannered man to come and see to me!! THEN he started talking about our proposed pay rise,quoting press reports about us getting 10,000 pounds a year,[in 1980!],which was engineered miner-hating sensationalism!! THEN he said,"You will get more pay than me..." THAT did it!!...I said doctor,di ye not think a deserve as much pay as ye?....hoo many doctors come here haaf-deed through thi middle of thi neet,like me?.....eh?......" He stormed out of the room and left me still bleeding,only with no bandages on. I lay for about ten minutes in agony,when a young doctor came by the room and saw me. When I told him what happened,he quickly saw to my injuries,and told me that that other doctor had a chip on his shoulder,for some reason,and had been nasty with other patients. My own family G.P. was Dr Abbey,an Indian doctor,who was really pleasant and friendly,and who was,I later found out,a brilliant surgeon. Just the opposite,but that was in the days when immigration was not on the scale as it is now,and nobody made a fuss. Ashington Hospital was founded and built,originally,by the Miners of Ashington,who saw the need for a local hospital,in the days when Ashington pit employed 5000 men,and was the biggest single employer in the country. We would have been badly on without it,for all the odd horror stories that surrounded it sometimes!!

Hopefully for them,a gud move,cos they are two hardworking lads who I knew a lot of years,and have dealt with them frequently for spares,as well as washing machine etc. In reality,they may find the local trade loss a disadvantage to business. Pleased I checked out the forum here,cos I didn't know they had moved,it seemed I was only phoning John yesterday!![for parts] Can anybody remember old Tommy,who stripped down all the trade-in machines of all descriptions? He was a real friendly canny fella,always willing to help you out with advice,[when the shop was the old original Forrester's..] Tommy was a pipe-fitter down Choppington High Pit,in the early-mid 1960's,and I used to work with him when I was just a 17-year old skittering young ched wi'a snotty nose!!![he was exactly the same natured fella then,as he was in the shop,many years later!] I wish Forresters aal thi best in the future for their business.

Hi Orlof! Thanks for that info. I will post the pic if I come across it in my albums. What puzzled me was why anyone would want to throw out old family photographs!

Forgot to say thanks Maggie,for your kind comments,I love sharing my experiences,as much as I enjoy hearing about other people's. Talking about Whin,["Blue-Whin..i.e.],when our Sons were just little bairns,we were on a touring caravan weekend,just over at Bellingham. One day we walked along the embankment of the old railway track,[then a lovely grassy walkway]. As usual,I was talking about how we blasted out through solid Whinstone Dykes,after picking pieces of Whin ballast up. My oldest Son [who was about 11years old..around 1979..]],was always interested in my stories. I explained to him about the smells of gases released from the stone after it was fired down,and we proceeded to try and break smaller bits of the Whin ballast,by hitting them with larger pieces. We succeeded a few times,probably because the small bits were fractured to start with. The interesting thing was,even after lying out on a rail track,in the fresh air,for God know many years,the same pungent rotten-egg smell could be detected!! [H2s-Hydrogen Sulphide..a deadly gas...but safe in the open air.!] Next time you are out walking,bring a small bit of road ballast home and crack it with a hammer..[with safety goggles and totally wrapped up around the face and neck...fine pieces fly off like red hot bullets!!],and see if you find the same thing. That gas was trapped in the stone,about 200 million years ago,when the Whin was molten Lava from an erupting volcano!! Fascinating stuff man!!

Maggie,I never thought of that! You are probably spot-on about what families throw out after a bereavement has subsided. When Ashington pit closed in 1987,I became a re-trained furniture/cabinet/maker. As workshops closed I didn't sit on the dole,long,[days...never mind weeks!!] I got on at the Wansbeck Council Depot,for a few weeks here and there,relief work. One time I was on one of the litter-picking teams for a few weeks,and this day we were at the tip,over at Ashington,just past the old Workshops,to tip our wagon. While we were waiting our turn to tip,I was standing not far from the bulldozer,watching it flatten out all the refuse from the other lorries. It was a breezy day,and out of one of the lorries,came a load of old photographs and newspapers. Well,they were blowing about,and this great big dozer was practically running my toes over as I tried to rescue some of the pics. I only managed to get one pic,and it was an old black-and-white one,of a Lorry,with the occupants barely in view,it was so old.On the side of the lorry was the company name.......? and? DODDS,BEDLINGTON! They were in Bedlington for donkey's years,and I remember the lorries as a child. Wonder if any of the family are still with us? This pic might have been taken in the late 1940's early '50's

Hi Big Geordie!...saw yor aad chep t'otha day!...canny crack!! Canny Lass,thanks for your kind remarks,as to everyone else also!!

Maggie,back on topic!!,believe me,museums do a good job,and we hope they never close,but without a coalface working,and you experiencing the conditions which my photographs show,and without crawling,and working,in a low seam when the roof is starting to " Lay-on",seeing wood pit-props being pushed into the ground before your eyes,seeing the roof lowering above you,bit by bit,hearing the grinding,crunching,thunderous noise,of the strata breaking up,and thinking the place is going to close any minute,crawling frantically off a coalface,which may be a hundred yards ,or more,and which is mighty hard work in a very low seam,down to eighteen inches high........or even in a three-feet high seam,where there are falls of stone every few yards,....................you cannot envisage it!! We were used to all of this,cos it was our job,day after day,year after year,...you get de-sensitised to all this,but are always aware of the dangers,and your senses become tuned to the limit. My photos are showing the conditions of the Main roadways,I was working in the development of a new district,and too far away to get onto a working coalface properly,[it was a long travel-and the Deputy would have wondered where I was!],but I am pleased I got these pics,for posterity. The pic labelled.."20's Tailgate " ,was showing the conditions which prevailed right down the whole of the face. It was totally unsafe,dangerous beyond description,using inferior ancient basic six-legged small face chocks,hydraulically-operated. These chocks just could not withstand the tremendous pressure put upon them,and the hydraulic legs used to burst open in front of your face,constantly,spraying you all over,and soaking you with the hydraulic fluid mixture of "Aquacent",and water. The Aquacent was a soluble oil,which,when mixed with water in the "Gullick"tank,[Gullick was the manufacturer],provided protection against corrosion inside the whole system,which comprised a reservoir,[the "Tank"],a high pressure pump,[ 2200psi],and flow-and-return flexible armoured hoses, which carried the fluid down the 200-yard coalface,feeding 200 hydraulic face supports,each with six legs,holding up a re-inforced steel "canopy". The Chock-fitter used to be changing the damaged chock legs all of his shift,not an easy task,in rough wet conditions,and might have changed more than thirty in any one shift....absoloutely ludicrous. These same legs would last maybe six months or more,in pits which had good dry stable roof conditions...they lasted a few days on R 20's face. The seam was about three feet-six inches high,severely undulating,interrupted with several slip-faults,pouring in with water through-out the face, and constantly suffering from massive roof falls of sometimes 70 or 80 yards long all at once,taking the roof height up to fifteen feet high. We had to STAND on the tops of the very canopies of the chocks which were supposed to be protecting us from roof falls,build up small "steps" with wood 6" x 6" x 24" chocks,to be able to timber up to the roof,using 12 feet long x 9" x 3" hardwood "baulks" ["baaks"],as vertical prop supports, and criss-cross built up "butts" on the top of the face chock canopies. Now,seeing as the Manager's Support Rules,[the law!],states that no man shall work in an area which is not adequately supported,HOW did Government Mines Inspectors think that all the forests of timber he had difficulty crawling,walking at full stretch,and squeezing past,got there,fifteen feet above his head,in a previously un-supported area......????????????? They turned a blind eye,and said nowt! Many a time,when the "thunder" started,and the roof started to literally crush hydraulic legs,capable of withstanding 100 tons on each leg,[six legs to each support=600 tons per face support],and the whole face started moving around like an earthquake,it was a miracle that we were able to abandone ship and get off the face as fast as we could. These face supports were adjacent to each other with approximately 36"centres,or..."a yard apart..",so you can imagine how much roof pressure was there to completely flatten these armoured face chocks. In terms of economy,it took an hour for a shearer to shear a strip of coal along the 200 yard long coalface. After the face collapsed for half of it's length,flattening the chock-legs through-out,i.e 6 legs x 80 chocks,for instance=480 legs to replace,plus all the Hydraulic valve-packs,[£1200 each in 1975-ish],plus all the labour,and lost coaling time,plus all the weekend shifts,it used to take more than three months before the next shear could be taken off again,then all of this was repeated. The men kept demanding that Management abandone the face,win out new roads ,and win out a new face altogether.... after a year or two,the Management,[from area TeemsValley...Mr Archbold..Area Director...],succumbed,and agreed to the plan. Over a period of the next few years,this pattern emerged on about six different coal faces,losing the Coal Board millions of pounds,totally unecessary. The one simple answer to prevent all the loss,and risk to men's lives,lay in a new design of face chock,called.."Rev-Lems". These chocks had cantilever "grass-hopper-leg" shields at each side of the chock,and fastened between the chock base,and the chock canopy. They were extremely stable,well-armoured,with extra heavy-duty legs capable of withstanding much more pressure than the "toy" ones on R 20's" The first installation was on a face which me and my Marra's had won out,called "R50B's",which was the second attempt at running the face,after abandoning the first attempt,due to the reasons previously described. From the start,this face broke all records for coal-getting,the chocks held the roof,and controlled the yield better,i.e. allowing the legs to yield down in very small amounts ,well-controlled,thus protecting the men and the face installation..by reducing the roof pressure gradually. When thatcher-the hatcheter closed Bates Pit,this one face was keeping the pit in profit,in denial of statements made by her cronies,and Archbold,the area director included. I personally asked Mr Hindmarsh,our General Manager,why we couldn't get Rev-Lems on all the other faces,as they proved their worth,for the pit,and his reply was....and I quote...word for word...no lies or disrespect..."I know that Billy,and you know that,Billy,but Mr Archbold is my Paymaster,and if he says no,it's no....we can't get Rev-Lems....." He also made a statement which,if I was in court on a slander charge[!]I wouldn't hesitate to repeat,but in respect for Mr Hindmarsh,I will refrain at the moment !! Mr Hindmarsh was a gentleman,knew how to talk to a man,could reprimand a man,without shouting like other's used to,and was still well-liked. Eeeeeehhh!! ..theor a gaan again!! P.S.I forgot to mention that a normal coalface,with good dry conditions,should average about five shears a shift x 2 + maybe one in the night shift!= 11! R20's was getting one every few weeks!....does that make sense?!!

Eh,yi bugga man! Many thanks for your support,all of you! Sym,I'm not short of recording gear,I have my on home recording studio,complete with a choice of vintage 4-track multi-tracker analogue open-reel tape,Computer digital Logic Audio,Audacity audio,as well as the simplest and best,Minidisc Walkman,with lapel mike!! It's time that is beating me,apart from looking after my Wife,my little black Jess,comes next....[Labrador/cross],and lastly comes Percy,my disabled Herring Gull,who has lived with me and my family for nearly three years!! He has been on the Jonathan Miles Show,on Radio Newcastle in the morning,a couple of years ago,squawking for he's bait....on air!! He has a wing that cannot open fully,[not broken...deformed joint],and cannot fly,other than a couple of yards,about two feet from the ground. So he comes knocking on the glass door of the conservatory,or if the doors are open,just wanders in and out of the kitchen,telling you he wants he's bait! He came as a fledgling,big brown speckled ball of feathers,from John [of Blyth Wildlife Rescue],and is now going through his third year's moult,looking a fine young adult noo,aal grey and white,smart as a carrot. He chased the Sparrow-Hawk oot wor garden three times within a few weeks,when he first came,and the Neighbour's cat....and neither of them have been in our garden since..to my knowledge!! So I have to clean his bath out ,and his nest in his cage,which he only goes in after I have shut my laptop down each night,usually about 2-0am,just in case Mr Foxy decides to come in when he is asleep. He has the run of the garden all day from early morning,till early morning again! I have read that they have no predators at all,although their nests and eggs,and young,are predated,but I don't trust what I have read on that score!!! He goes into his large dog crate willingly every night/morning! You would all laugh if you saw him come running and half-flying to me,when I shout "Porcy,howway get ya bait..!" If I am not quick enough at getting lumps of dogmeat out of the tin for him,he goes behind me and yanks my jeans,and pecks at my ankles! Last week,I had thin shorts on,and was kneeling on a pad,just doing a bit of light weeding,around the borders,and cos I chased him away from my trowel,in case he got hurt,gettin in the way,he went behind me and started pecking my backside,and trying to pull my old worn gardening shoes off my foot! Him and Jess lie in the garden not far apart,and don't bother about each other,and sometimes I feed both of them together two feet apart! They are better entertainment than watching any telly programmes!![daft statement really,cos I don't watch telly,so aren't really qualified to criticise programmes!!]

Maggie,where the strata has lain undisturbed by folding,or volcanic action,the coal seams are generally,but not always,pretty level,or at least rising slightly to the west,and accordingly,dipping slightly to the east. This was the case in Bedlington A pit,and most of the seams at Bates,and Ashington ,that I knew of. So you usually have a good solid unbroken roof strata,which is [to an experienced miner!],relatively easy to timber up and support. Choppington High Pit,being near to the River Wansbeck valley,and being further Westerly,than the other pits,was sunk through soft broken shale,sandbanks,and porous sandstone. Water poured in from the roof,continually,and formed long "swalleys ",up to a hundred yards long,and sometimes up to your waist. Water also seeped in to the roadways from breaks in the floor stone. The seam,gradually rose to the west,so the water was allowed to just lie in these swalleys,until it reached a point where it would overflow and run outbye,downhill,till it reached the next swalley,[which was caused by undulations in the seam due to geological folding of the strata.]. There wasn't a half dozen pumps in the whole pit,so we used to be working soaked to the skin all day,from going inbye,to coming out,at the end of the shift. Now the coldest place in any pit,is the shaft-bottom area,bad enough when you are dry....torturous when you are soaking wet,in the winter,waiting for the cage to take you to bank..[bank= the surface]. The water used to reach past the pony's waist,and they had an awful habit of stopping in the middle of a deep swalley,as ponies did,to have a diddle and whatever else........[have you ever seen a horse getting a diddle?!]......gallons of ammonia....it seems.....in a small arched roadway,with very poor ventilation,and the air movement going in one direction,slowly,about the same speed you are travelling...so you are stuck with these obnoxious fumes and can't escape them!! Aye,they were happy times...[says he...!],and we still managed to have strong sense of humour!

Many thanks Maggie and Sym,I sometimes think I drag on a bit,so it's nice to know my experiences being shared with you are appreciated! I already finished book one of my life story,in hand-written form,which starts from about age three,with everything about my childhood that I can remember,where I was born,lived,played,schools,etc,right up to starting the pits at 15 years of age ,straight from my school desk. The intention was to record my life,for posterity,for my family only,so I started book two,which leads the reader all through my experiences in the mines, but seeing as time is a limiting factor in my life,[i am a full-time carer for my Wife,who is disabled],it is very difficult for me to write for any length of time, [myself having disabling conditions in my hands also]. That is why all my postings are,if you notice,usually about midnight up to about 2-0am,after my commitments have been met. I really enjoy this site,and some nights when I intend to lay a few paragraphs down in my book,I come here and forget to stop!! The trauma of sitting behind a school desk one minute,then going down on the end of a cage rope,into the conditions I was thrown into,lives as fresh in my mind,as it was then,in 1959. So that is how my recollections on this site are so vividly..[i hope!..] ,portrayed. Sym,I am 72 this year,and in my book,I am only up to my age 17yrs,at Choppington High Pit,...I have all the other pits I worked at,to recall!! The trouble with publishing my book is,I wouldn't want one single word changed,or edited out,and I don't think any publisher would touch it as it is,cos I have named names of people in high up positions in Government,and the N.C.B.,not slanderous,only truthfully,which could be taken to be slander!! What do I do?!

Ovalteeny,many thanks for your enthusiastic and very kind comment. I canna help it...I write like I taak,and when a start, me fingers divvent knaa went ti stop!![A divvent have ti sit thinking what ti say...it just flows oot o' me memory like a river.!!] Every word I write is a faithfully accurate statement,in every sense,and I only write of my experiences. Lots of miners,in conversation underground,at bait-times usually,would make it clear that once they got out of the pit cage at bank..[the surface],they wouldn't mention their work at all to their Wives or Bairns,or anybody else for that matter. So none of our heritage was being passed on,by them! I was the opposite,and taught my two young Sons,lots of things about mining,and what the conditions were like. Living in a colliery row for 32 years,ensured all the miner's Wives had an idea of what their men did,what shift their neighbour's Husbands were in, and which ones were on "Sick"[due to illness or accident injuries etc]! Community spirit was second-to-none,and it was nothing out of the ordinary,for somebody to take in your washing off the line,if you were out,and it started to rain,iron it,and bring it over,when they saw you come back in! Or spend a half-hour extra around the allotment,watering your next-door Marra's plants,after you did your own,and vice-versa! Aye,those were the days,my friend,we thought they'd never end.......... I had the foresight to ask a very good friend to take me and my young 14 year-old Son,up to the top of the pit headgear..[the cage wheels],at Bates,in 1986,to take photo's of the surrounding lanscape,all 360 degrees...!! Now,in 2015,lot's of the landscape has vastly changed! Type in Google....."High Pit Wilma's Photostream"....it will take you to "Flickr"....and there,you will have some exciting bed-time reading,and pretty pics of underground Wilma!!

Maggie,I wouldn't be surprised one little bit!....can you remember the brand new "TopClub" that was built and demolished within a few short years,where Morrison's now stands? That building was state of the art,at the time,they were putting cinema matinees for the kids,etc......but subsidence took it's toll....whether or not mining was the cause,I do not know. Eggy,thanks for your comment,but just a thought,while the Durham Mining Mueum is a fabulous site,do not place too much faith in the facts and figures presented there,as there are several gliches in the information contained therein! How do I know?..... Because there are misleading facts regarding seams worked ,and fatalities,at Choppington High Pit. Some of the Fatalities have dates which,if true,would mean that I started the pit when I was 13-or 14 years old! One in particular,a lovely old fella,was killed at the coal face,about ten minutes after him and me were having our usual daily cross/shift natter,on his way inbye.[in the early 1960's] Old Walter used to keep the 2-0pm shift,and the nature of both our jobs meant that we would usually cross paths just down the roadway from the coal-face,where he worked...I would be going outbye,as he was going inbye. I always asked him what the weather was like at bank,[the surface],and that day his last words were.."Wilma,it's a luvly day,ye want ti get your bonny lass oot for a nice waak alang thi river..[meaning the river Blyth]. He knew I was courting,and always affectionately referred to my lass as..."Your Bonny Lass..." As we parted company that day,I was deeply shocked just minutes later when the Overman came running up the Mothergate. [A]..the roadway was pretty steep,and very difficult to even walk up,and ....it was against the Law,[and common sense and unsafe to run...] So,I knew something was terribly wrong. Joe Barrat,the Overman,passed me,sweating like the proverbial......and when I asked him what was wrong,he shouted back at me,"old Walter's been killed,the coal's lapped owa on him." Well,the coal was 10 feet high,and varying in height,as the face advanced,due to undulations in the strata,Walter had just started to prepare the area of the face where he worked,to begin advancing the Stageloader conveyor tail-end,when the full height of the seam broke away and .."lapped owa"[fell away],and buried him fatally.I just couldn't take it in...he was there one minute...and gone the next.[i was only 17 or 18 yrs old.] The Durham Museum states he was killed by a fall of stone,[incorrect,and other misleading figures]. No doubt,to their credit,they DO stand to be corrected ,where possible,but they are not going to change their facts based upon what I say,even though I went into that same coalface every day,several times a day sometimes,and knew it,as well as all the rest of the pit,due to the nature of my job. Mining was a cruel industry...I went down that roadway and all the way out of the other adjoining roads,to where my Marra's and me used to get our baits...["the Bait-hole"],on my own,[with my pony],almost in tears,and trying hard to hold them back,as I broke the news to the rest of my Marra's. They all said the daft thing which we all say..."He canna be man,wiv just been taakin' ti him......." Walter was sadly missed,cos he was really well-liked,by everybody at the pit. The one thing I can be proud of is,being part of a team of men,and I mean the whole workforce,and Management,who would show respect for a fatally injured Marra,by closing the pit,the following day. No other pit that I worked at,showed this mark of respect,the only mark being shown,was the black drape over the Union Banner on Miner's Picnic Day following the accident. R.I.P. Walter Grey.

The depth of the mine shaft is irrelevant to subsidence in a way,it's the workings where the coal was extracted,that causes the problems! [unless we consider sink-holes forming from ancient Monks' bell-pits etc!] Just thought I would try and clarify that one !

Merc,wat a strange co-incidence!..a wud be pleased ti meet yi one day! NOO!,aboot this Bower Grange debate!! Let's the facts straight,Eggy![.....says Wilma ...in his Mr Know-all voice...!!!heh heh ] Bedlington "A" Pit, closed in 1971,[not 1962..!!]...I was transferred there in 1965,from Choppington High Pit,[when it was about to close in 1966]. I was then transferred to Bates Pit in 1971,shortly before the "A" pit closed [ in 1971]..having qualified as a mine Deputy. I came back into the N.U.M.,disillusioned with Deputy-work,in 1978. One day,in around the 1980's,I was attending a safety course,on the surface,at Bates,when the course tutor,who was our Safety Officer,was called away to Bower Grange development ground-works. He had gotten a phone call to say a J.C.B. digging machine,with the back-actor,and it's operator,had fallen into old mineworkings,on the site where the foundations for the houses were. The machine went down about 20 feet,and the operator was obviously injured. The next day,I asked him what had happened,and that is what he told me,saying that the workings were uncharted,and were the remains of mining done by the Monks,hundreds of years ago. The coal seam workings had been dug out with a pick only,and the sides were as "straight as a die".....[meaningless to the uninitiated...but to those who have had to use a pick on solid coal,without explosives,will understand!!...coal is hard like diamond in some seams,admittedly softer in others....but still HARD!!] There was no mention of this in the press that I recall,and when I have spoken to residents,[strangers to me sometimes],when out dog-walking,they have been surprised to hear that the Gallagher Park Hill,was the biggest Pit-heap in the country,and was 140 years old when I started there in 1965!! Now the place where the machine went down,wasn't the first time old workings had been found,previous to that,a lot of years ago,they found old picks and shovels,with small baskets that the monks would have filled ,[having picked on for hours at the coal face,for a pailfull of coal],and then dragged out to the surface. In "modern" times,like.....after the war,the A pit used the Bord-and-Pillar method of extraction of the coal,and the High Main seam,which was ten feet high,was like the proverbial rabbit warren,with a lattice-work of criss-cross roadways...[or "Bords"] Pillars of coal 60 yards by 60 yards were left in to support the roof,and supposedly prevent subsidence......in a seam which wasn't 40 yards down underground! The seam was worked under the whole of Bedlington,along with the contribution made by the Bedlington "Doctor" Pit also. Just like Choppington,when the pit was about to close,and it was a case of fighting for survival,boundaries became meaningless,and officials gave orders to carry on working the seam,contrary to the mine regulations,and the plans laid down by the surveyors and planning department. But you see,it's all gone,and when Mr Budge,took over from British Coal,it was a well-known fact,that he destroyed most of the offices files at Team Valley,including personal files appertaining to me personally,which makes me wonder now,what was the reasoning behind all this,and why didn't British Coal ensure all files were protected and transferred to be archived? Also makes me wonder if his very good friend,thatcher-the-hatcheter,ordered him to do this....for some odd reason.....hmmmm! Seams which were deeper,such as the Harvey,the Denton low Main,etc,were worked using Longwall coal faces,otherwise known as "Total Extraction" Now if you add up all the seams ever worked at all the pits,[and at one time there were more than 76 pits in Northumberland alone..!!],you will see that a considerable amount of vertical support has been removed,so it's no wonder door-frames twist,and windows crack,due to subsidence!! The "experts",who know the bookwork,used to preach the idea of "Consolidation"...meaning when you extract ten feet of coal-height,it's only the immediate few feet above the seam,what will collapse into the void left by the coal extraction....the strata will eventually be strengthened by the "Pressure-arch" theory. ....and Consolidation will take place.[no risk of the collapsing strata reaching to the next seam,or to the surface. Try telling that to any miner who worked the Beaumont seam at Choppington B pit! The strata was what the "experts" referred to as "very friable"....meaning when a roof fall occurred,you couldn't stop it...the strata was blue shale,and full of "slippy-backs",which meant as fast as you filled the rubble away...more kept pouring in like water out of a barrel. I could go on for ages with these truths.......well...I just DID!!

Check out your introductory post,Liisa. Hope somebody else can help you as well. The Lone Ranger,also worked at the High Pit,and knew your Dad,but he is like the Scarlet Pimpernel......[heh heh,just joking Brian!!]

Hi Diana and Bill! I may be a bit late of welcoming you to this site,just came across your kind comments to the Country club organisers. Alan was old mate and neighbour of mine,we were brought up together from very very young......about 6yrs old in my case,Alan is about two years older than me. He was one of our Councillors for many years,and always tried to fight for more leisure and sports facilities for Bedlington,which,over the decades.....escaped Bedlington,and went to Ashington instead. Alan has been very ill over the last few years,and had to retire due to to ill-health. Although I have never seen him for lots of years,His Wife has kept me up to date with his progress. I am a bit sorry that no-one has seen your kind remarks,and responded from the Country and Western club on this forum. If you have been back over here since,then I hope you enjoyed your stay very much!! We're a canny lot over here! Cheers, Bill.

Merc,if ye cross thi road and come owa the fields doon from Eastgreen,yi might bump inti me and my Little Black Jess! We waak owa them fields towards your place from Bomarsund,just aboot ivry mornin! Yi wud knaa us by hor being a little Labrador /cross,and me an aad silly bugga waakin alang singin me heart oot,[cos aam an aad Muso-guitar player who canna sing, but tries anyway....!] When thi pits were gaanin,Choppington was like every other close-knit mining community,everybody knew everybody else...whole families worked doon the pit together...Fathers,Sons,Brothers,Uncles....Friends...Neighbours....etc. Pleased yi have settled in,and enjoy living here!

We were learnt ti write letters in block capitals. Noo a find oot it's bad manners using capitals on computers....whose the boss here...us or them!!