Tower Closed.

[John]

The pit BC closed as unprofitable and bought out by it's workers has finally closed after some years of making good profits.
Proves my point, the powers that be wanted to smash the last strong UK Union, nothing to do with profits or losses.
World coal prices are on the rise, I wonder where and whom will sink the first UK new mine?

[John]

An article from the Miners Advice site.

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Tower Colliery Closes

Thirteen years ago the miners of Tower Colliery bought their own pit, refusing to accept British Coal's assessment that the colliery was unprofitable and surplus to requirements.

This week the 240 strong workforce finally called it a day, after mining more than 7 million tonnes of coal and finally exhausting the mine's reserves.

Although it is another sad day for the Welsh coalfield communities, the miners of Tower Colliery can be proud of their achievements.

Dave Douglass commented:
This week we have to note the closure of Tower Colliery, the last deep (that is shaft) mine in Wales, we believe there are two drift mines still working . Tower is at last fully exhausted, one of the few times we have heard that expression when it is likely to be true. The mine which was a workers buy out under their own direct control has provided a safe living for the miners of the area many years after British Coal closed it as 'uneconomic'.Its not made any of them a fortune, but its continued to put food on the
table and keep their dignity and culture.

The site is probably best left to nature with the headgear left in situ, but this unlikely to happen. The men are likely to put the site up for development in the hope of getting the maximum back off the money they all put in the buy the mine and land in the first place. We are confident that if it is sold as business development the lads will ensure it is something worthy of their traditions and love for the area.

Good luck to all the lads at Tower from the Minersadvice website

[columbo]

Eminent scientists in the 1970’s told us that Britain could be self sufficient regards fuel requirements (with coal for electricity production, oil for motor power and transport and gas for domestic heating and industrial prossece) and right up until the middle of the 21’st century!!! Every word those scientists said was true, and after all where else on earth ever existed an island of coal floating on a sea of oil with an unequalled amount of skill and talent? Yet here we are and we are f**ked.

Napoleon called us shop keepers and history proves him correct, Maggie Thatcher herself was born a shop keepers daughter and look what she achieved, my mother and her mother my wife and my daughter, all are of coal mining stock and they did not hurt anyone, they are not guilty of sterilising huge resources belonging to human kind resulting in them being buried for ever thousands of feet below the ground, but this is what Maggie did, this is her monument and soon when she’s gone for ever we will have to absorb from the media what a great guy she was when really she was just a nasty bitter individual, and who really knows the reason why??? What was it for???

Tower proved her wrong.

[John]

My friend, I debated the reasons for the complete dismantling of the coal industry with "Red" Dave Douglass a few years back. Dave was a prominent NUM unionist, see the links section for Miners Advice site.
Dave argued on a different platform, but now agrees with my ideas.
I've been away from the old country nearly 30 years now, but from what I saw and know, the NUM was the most powerful union within the UK, and the last big one! They represented a threat to the New World Order! They were the last union that could topple a government and could also instigate an uprising of the people! They had to go, their power had to be reduced to a whimper.
HOW???
Close the pits, that reduces the member base, problems solved.
Again on the links page you will find a great paper on the strike.
Maggie came close to losing!!! Yes losing! But the members will after being out the gates so long was fading.
Arthur made some great blunders, the biggest was he underestimated his own members will for an all out national strike. IF, he'd gone to a national ballot, I believe ALL pits would have followed him and Maggie would have lost!