Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 5, 2013 16:20:59 GMT -5
I pass it every day nothing left now,Wheldale was one good pit to work at enjoyed every bit of it,well apart from working the Lidgett that was one pain to work. Mick.
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 6, 2013 13:00:55 GMT -5
Me and my dad went for a look around wheldale about 1990 but the security guard told us to clear off! My dad wasnt impressed.
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Post by normylad on Feb 6, 2013 15:13:10 GMT -5
I'll bet he wasn't impressed :-O
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 6, 2013 15:24:58 GMT -5
My dad at the time was chairman of the townvill miners welfare. I went with him to a meeting one night as he said we could look at the pit. Security told us to clear off as my dad didn't work for the coal board. I remember my dad saying the fella was a tin pot hitler!
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 6, 2013 16:50:57 GMT -5
Hey Normylad, do you happen to know why Fryston pit closed at all?? With you saying that Wheldale could have worked the lidget seam and i've read that allerton Bywater were looking to mine it too, just wondered if thatcher closed Fryston too?
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Post by normylad on Feb 6, 2013 17:13:42 GMT -5
Fryston closed in 1985, most of the miners moved to Selby or Kellingley but a handfull came to Wheldale. Like Wheldale and many other mines at that time, Fryston was closed because it was deemed 'uneconomical'....strange how so many pits suddenly became so, without any attempt to make them economical. Fryston was put through the 'Colliery review proceedure' but I am sure the decision to close was signed and sealed even before the 84 strike.
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Post by normylad on Feb 7, 2013 15:22:29 GMT -5
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Post by welderpaul on Feb 7, 2013 16:34:16 GMT -5
These are brilliant, love em. Keep them coming! The lads going down the shaft in the latest film; are there sides to the cage?!! Was much going on underground at the time you made the film?
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 7, 2013 16:54:47 GMT -5
Another great video! Thanks for sharing Normylad!!
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Post by normylad on Feb 7, 2013 17:54:07 GMT -5
These are brilliant, love em. Keep them coming! The lads going down the shaft in the latest film; are there sides to the cage?!! Was much going on underground at the time you made the film? The cage sides are there but we used to ride with the back and front gates off during the salvage period, the shaftmen didn't like having to take them on/off all the time. It sounds quite dangerous but it wasn't really, as long as you were careful....anyway it was the 1980's....wot health and safety?? The pit finnished coaling in Oct 1987 and for the following 12 months we concentrate on salvaging electrical/mechanical equipment and removing the concrete 'caps' in the pit bottom to allow the gas to escape from the Beeston levels.
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 10, 2013 15:11:24 GMT -5
Ive got an NCB information sheet, it says that dirt from headings and repairs was loaded into tubs and taken to the pit bottom. Did the dirt come up in tubs or was it tipped into the skips?
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Post by normylad on Feb 11, 2013 11:05:51 GMT -5
Ive got an NCB information sheet, it says that dirt from headings and repairs was loaded into tubs and taken to the pit bottom. Did the dirt come up in tubs or was it tipped into the skips? The majority of the heading 'muck' came out on the conveyors with the coal and was washed out down at the washery. Small amounts from repair works/tidying up would come to the surface in tubs
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 11, 2013 13:25:10 GMT -5
Wheldale did work the Ledget with 2 advance face's i worked on both and they were a nightmare spent most of are time on top of chocks timbering up, we were on 5p bonus a shift never had a hammer or shovel out of are hands from one week to next. The last face down there was stopped because we were cutting that much muck that me and my mate on number 2 machine never saw each other till the number1 machine got into the loader or tail gate. Coal news came down and the camera man turned too me and siad we normally come to good face's not to a hell hole like this and i can tell you im not coming back.
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Post by normylad on Feb 11, 2013 14:16:30 GMT -5
Wheldale did work the Ledget with 2 advance face's i worked on both and they were a nightmare spent most of are time on top of chocks timbering up, we were on 5p bonus a shift never had a hammer or shovel out of are hands from one week to next. The last face down there was stopped because we were cutting that much muck that me and my mate on number 2 machine never saw each other till the number1 machine got into the loader or tail gate. Coal news came down and the camera man turned too me and siad we normally come to good face's not to a hell hole like this and i can tell you im not coming back. Was that 70's and 71's down the South Side ?, I spent some time on there during my apprenticeship with sparkies Terry Tordoff and Dave Bell. And you're right, probably the worst faces I've ever been on.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 11, 2013 14:38:20 GMT -5
That's right mate me and Dave James were on number 2 machine on both 70s and 71s,Pete James was on number 1 and Trev Smith was are face overman.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 12, 2013 8:18:21 GMT -5
Dont really know if there is any truth to what im about too say but there was a story going round that one of the seams at Wheldale could not be worked again untill the last person who had worked on it before it was stopped because of a dispute had died.
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Post by normylad on Feb 12, 2013 9:56:23 GMT -5
The Final part of my Wheldale movies, hope everone has enjoyed them
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 12, 2013 13:34:22 GMT -5
Classic!! Great ending, photos are great. Ever thought of doing a DVD with it all on? I for one would buy a copy. Great peice of history.
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 12, 2013 13:36:12 GMT -5
Wheldale did work the Ledget with 2 advance face's i worked on both and they were a nightmare spent most of are time on top of chocks timbering up, we were on 5p bonus a shift never had a hammer or shovel out of are hands from one week to next. The last face down there was stopped because we were cutting that much muck that me and my mate on number 2 machine never saw each other till the number1 machine got into the loader or tail gate. Coal news came down and the camera man turned too me and siad we normally come to good face's not to a hell hole like this and i can tell you im not coming back. What year did you work in the Lidget Mick? On the BGS website there is a borehole showing the lidget seam in the Townville area in 1981. Seam was about 90cm thick.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 12, 2013 15:30:29 GMT -5
Not sure of year but was down there from start to finish for my sins mate was glad when the seam finished.
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Post by normylad on Feb 12, 2013 15:58:29 GMT -5
Wheldale did work the Ledget with 2 advance face's i worked on both and they were a nightmare spent most of are time on top of chocks timbering up, we were on 5p bonus a shift never had a hammer or shovel out of are hands from one week to next. The last face down there was stopped because we were cutting that much muck that me and my mate on number 2 machine never saw each other till the number1 machine got into the loader or tail gate. Coal news came down and the camera man turned too me and siad we normally come to good face's not to a hell hole like this and i can tell you im not coming back. What year did you work in the Lidget Mick? On the BGS website there is a borehole showing the lidget seam in the Townville area in 1981. Seam was about 90cm thick. Wheldale accessed the Lidgett seam via a 1 in 5 drift that went from the South Flockton Thick to the Haigh Moor workings. Development began in 1979, 70's face was directly under the Ladybalk Lane area of Pontefract whilst 71's face ran under the Holmfield lane/Orchard head Lane area. The lidgett faces were all worked out by 1983 and turned out to be the worst faces at Wheldale with a very high stone content to the vend. I got this info from the seam drawing I 'liberated' when the pit shut. Mick...was there a 72's face ?, I seem to remember a 72's development but my memory might be playing tricks on me.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 12, 2013 16:08:38 GMT -5
Yes there was a 72s but never got going thank god,to this day i have no idea why they went for that coal it was that bad it nearly shut the pit.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 12, 2013 16:22:28 GMT -5
To get a good idea of what it was like we would cut into the corner on 70s in the tail gate and have a full drum of coal come out about 10 yard and have the same of muck and a full seam of coal in the roof and it was like that all the way though the face.
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 13, 2013 16:34:12 GMT -5
towards the end of the video Normylad, on the 7th still photo is that the Fryston headgear just to the left of the electricity pylon?
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Post by normylad on Feb 13, 2013 17:48:02 GMT -5
towards the end of the video Normylad, on the 7th still photo is that the Fryston headgear just to the left of the electricity pylon? Yes it was...gives you and Idea how close Fryston was to Wheldale. The two pits were actually connected underground by a little used emergency access tunnel, when I was an apprentice I worked with a team of lads running a 19 pair telephone cable through to Fryston pit bottom, the roadway was in very poor condition.
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Post by Wheldale on Feb 14, 2013 14:11:11 GMT -5
I remember my dad saying that he had been through the connection a few times during safety inspections. He told me some of it you had to crawl. Youve mentioned a connection to Allerton Bywater, was there one to Glass Houghton do you know?
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Post by normylad on Feb 14, 2013 14:23:04 GMT -5
I remember my dad saying that he had been through the connection a few times during safety inspections. He told me some of it you had to crawl. Youve mentioned a connection to Allerton Bywater, was there one to Glass Houghton do you know? Yes there was a connection to Glasshoughton, it was a very long, old roadway again in very poor condition, never went down there though.
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Mick
Shotfirer.
Posts: 163
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Post by Mick on Feb 14, 2013 17:56:11 GMT -5
I once went though to Glass Houghton in the 70s and as you said it was a long way,but i found the road way in good condition we found afew old news papers dating from 1950.
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Post by John on Feb 14, 2013 18:11:13 GMT -5
I once went though to Glass Houghton in the 70s and as you said it was a long way,but i found the road way in good condition we found afew old news papers dating from 1950. I had a horrible thought about the newspapers, hope you picked them up carefully... ;D ;D
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Post by aidieb on Mar 7, 2013 11:50:27 GMT -5
I once went though to Glass Houghton in the 70s and as you said it was a long way,but i found the road way in good condition we found afew old news papers dating from 1950. I had a horrible thought about the newspapers, hope you picked them up carefully... ;D ;D My thoughts too!!! I worked at Wheldale from 81 to Nov 87, I was an apprentice fitter until just after the strike. I then worked as Skip fitter ( in and around No1 shaft) I also was part of the oil sampling team. I then left to go to Riccall/Selby for another 10yrs. I recognize many of the faces on these videos even some of the names. I am actually on the No6 video, haha, just as the camera comes to the shaft side I am going preparing to down and someones says that I'll dance for the camera.!! maybe then but not now ;D ;D & then trying to pry something off an old belt jib head with a slusher board. Great memories of an age now long gone. Wasn't it a S**T hole though. ;D Sad to see it in the videos shutting down getting raped. Aidie Bark
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