Anne Gilbert

Hi Ann, I lived in Netherton Lane as a small child in the early 1960s. Although I don't remember that name, I don't think that there are very many older houses along there. (I could be wrong!) It might be worth a walk along there. You never know, the name may still be on the house! Good luck with your search!

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.

Thanks. I'd forgotten about The Journal!

Hi Stephen. See my newspaper cuttings I've just posted.

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.

Thanks so much for sharing that map. It makes me want to explore all those places again!

I wonder if this is the same opencast area that I know about. It was behind our house in Netherton Lane (on the map now it says Westlea in that area). In 1963 my brother George drowned in a trench in an old opencast site which hadn't been filled in. It was soon filled in after that. Does anyone remember anything about that, please?