ken
Trainee
Posts: 46
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Post by ken on Jun 15, 2012 23:31:47 GMT -5
I worked at Easington Co. Durham and we had extensive grounds for recreation. I was wondering what facilities there were in other coalfields. We had bowling greens, tennis courts, children's playground, two soccer pitches, one of which was fenced with a high fence so they could charge for admission, and a full sized cricket pitch. There was a house for a full time caretaker.
Most importantly there was the welfare hall. This was a huge 2 story building. The ground floor had billiard tables, tables for dominoes, etc, and a reading room with magazines. Upstairs was the dance hall. It had a very good sprung floor and was well used Saturday nights. Many romances started there, mine included!! It is still very popular today.
I don't know how it was financed but the mine owners must have contributed to the start-up and maintenance. Now the mine has closed I think most of it was passed over to the local council. The mines in Durham and Northumberland all seemed to have similar setup.
Was this the same in the rest of the country?
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Post by John on Jun 16, 2012 8:06:54 GMT -5
Hucknall Colliery had a new Welfare Institute built in the 60's, not sure if it had tennis courts and football pitches, but they did serve loads of different brews... ;D
Clifton just had an old Miners Institute, so no land for anything else, Cotgrave had a very large Institute, I couldn't swear to it, but I think they had a bowling green etc, I can check with an old mate on that one.
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Post by bulwellbrian on Jun 16, 2012 8:45:16 GMT -5
Babbington colliery welfare was in the old Basford Hall. It too had a cricket pitch which I played on once or twice. I also went into welfares at Bestwood & Moorgreen.
I think the welfares were provided by CISWO, (Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation), which still exists as a charity. It has 7 offices in the coalfields. It has a web site.
I do not know if any of the old welfares still exist, if any.
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Post by John on Jun 16, 2012 8:59:44 GMT -5
Clifton and Cotgrave welfares still exist, Hucknall was knocked down as it was on the front of the colliery land and went with the rest of the buildings. Last time I was over, around 20 years now, I stayed with my Sister at Hucknall, and there was a shopping centre on the old "bottom pit" grounds.
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Post by colly0410 on Jun 16, 2012 9:18:22 GMT -5
Bestwood welfare's still going, my Wife goes line dancing there. Don't know what it's called now though & Sue can't remember (she only went last week).  I had many happy hours chasing girls at the Sunday night disco's they used to have. When I was single of course. ;D |
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Post by dazbt on Jun 16, 2012 16:13:45 GMT -5
Bestwood welfare's still going, my Wife goes line dancing there. Don't know what it's called now though & Sue can't remember (she only went last week). I had many happy hours chasing girls at the Sunday night disco's they used to have. When I was single of course. ;D Remind Sue to ask next week ................ but I'm fairly sure it will still be called "Line Dancing"  . . sorry   |
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Post by dazbt on Jun 16, 2012 16:56:05 GMT -5
I think that many of the larger collieries throughout the UK had Miner's Welfares and Institutes, both buildings and sports ground facilities, most of them at least in part paid for by deductions given from the miners wages. Some of these Welfares certainly thrived until fairly recent times, some built swimming baths and others ran organised Social Clubs that became so successfully profitable that they could afford to pay for Internationally famous entertainers on a fairly regular basis. The Welfares and Institutes were a fundamental part of colliery village life providing much more than a watering hole for thirsty miners, they provided a place for family entertainment, facilities and monetary support for brass bands, the famous family summer seaside trips, sports facilities, some had libraries and some even provided pre PHB bathing facilities, I know that at least one colliery supported Welfare organisation that had a Hospital built almost adjacent to the pit yard. Sadly many of these, like the collieries that birthed them are gone, not just because of the lack of colliery support but rather falling along with the thousands of UK pubs and clubs closed or closing around us as a result of cheap supermarket beer, the smoking ban and what seems to me to be loss of camaraderie and sense of community that was a classic mainstay of pit village life.
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Post by Ragger on Jun 18, 2012 13:12:46 GMT -5
I think that many of the larger collieries throughout the UK had Miner's Welfares and Institutes, both buildings and sports ground facilities, most of them at least in part paid for by deductions given from the miners wages. Some of these Welfares certainly thrived until fairly recent times, some built swimming baths and others ran organised Social Clubs that became so successfully profitable that they could afford to pay for Internationally famous entertainers on a fairly regular basis. The Welfares and Institutes were a fundamental part of colliery village life providing much more than a watering hole for thirsty miners, they provided a place for family entertainment, facilities and monetary support for brass bands, the famous family summer seaside trips, sports facilities, some had libraries and some even provided pre PHB bathing facilities, I know that at least one colliery supported Welfare organisation that had a Hospital built almost adjacent to the pit yard. Sadly many of these, like the collieries that birthed them are gone, not just because of the lack of colliery support but rather falling along with the thousands of UK pubs and clubs closed or closing around us as a result of cheap supermarket beer, the smoking ban and what seems to me to be loss of camaraderie and sense of community that was a classic mainstay of pit village life. Hi. Daz, I don't know how many colliery swimming baths were constructed or how many survived. Sherwood Colliery Pit Head Baths / swimming pool, now The Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre was built under the Miners Welfare Fund in the 1930's. Becky was magnificent winning two gold medals at the last Olympics and deserved some recognition locally as a Mansfield girl, however it would have been nice to have retained the Sherwood Colliery connection in some capacity. |
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Post by Ragger on Jun 18, 2012 13:20:18 GMT -5
I worked at Easington Co. Durham and we had extensive grounds for recreation. I was wondering what facilities there were in other coalfields. We had bowling greens, tennis courts, children's playground, two soccer pitches, one of which was fenced with a high fence so they could charge for admission, and a full sized cricket pitch. There was a house for a full time caretaker. Most importantly there was the welfare hall. This was a huge 2 story building. The ground floor had billiard tables, tables for dominoes, etc, and a reading room with magazines. Upstairs was the dance hall. It had a very good sprung floor and was well used Saturday nights. Many romances started there, mine included!! It is still very popular today. I don't know how it was financed but the mine owners must have contributed to the start-up and maintenance. Now the mine has closed I think most of it was passed over to the local council. The mines in Durham and Northumberland all seemed to have similar setup. Was this the same in the rest of the country? There's some info about Miners Welfare at www.dmm-pitwork.org.uk/html/welfare.htm |
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Post by dazbt on Jun 18, 2012 14:35:44 GMT -5
I think that many of the larger collieries throughout the UK had Miner's Welfares and Institutes, both buildings and sports ground facilities, most of them at least in part paid for by deductions given from the miners wages. Some of these Welfares certainly thrived until fairly recent times, some built swimming baths and others ran organised Social Clubs that became so successfully profitable that they could afford to pay for Internationally famous entertainers on a fairly regular basis. The Welfares and Institutes were a fundamental part of colliery village life providing much more than a watering hole for thirsty miners, they provided a place for family entertainment, facilities and monetary support for brass bands, the famous family summer seaside trips, sports facilities, some had libraries and some even provided pre PHB bathing facilities, I know that at least one colliery supported Welfare organisation that had a Hospital built almost adjacent to the pit yard. Sadly many of these, like the collieries that birthed them are gone, not just because of the lack of colliery support but rather falling along with the thousands of UK pubs and clubs closed or closing around us as a result of cheap supermarket beer, the smoking ban and what seems to me to be loss of camaraderie and sense of community that was a classic mainstay of pit village life. Hi. Daz, I don't know how many colliery swimming baths were constructed or how many survived. Sherwood Colliery Pit Head Baths / swimming pool, now The Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre was built under the Miners Welfare Fund in the 1930's. Becky was magnificent winning two gold medals at the last Olympics and deserved some recognition locally as a Mansfield girl, however it would have been nice to have retained the Sherwood Colliery connection in some capacity. I don't know how many "Miner's Welfare swimming pools" were built either Bill but I do know that there were quite a number, to name just a few gleaned via the "Net", include Ashington's, Frickley, Shotts, Scissett and Buckley in the early days and quite a few more in later years. I can only guess that if any still survive in use they will have been adopted by local authorities, it can't be cheap to maintain a public swimming pool. |
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ken
Trainee
Posts: 46
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Post by ken on Jun 18, 2012 21:13:28 GMT -5
At Easington they found a ready-made pool on the pit grounds. When the pit started there were two banks of Lancashire boilers which used a large wooden cooling tower. The water from this drained into a large concrete pond which was quite deep but was made with steps about 2 ft high so it was ideal for learning to swim. My wife's parents were involved in setting it up. It was a major job cleaning out the pool and making changing sheds. It ran for many years and a lot of young people learned to swim there. I don't know if it had a formal connection with the welfare.
Dawdon colliery had a similar setup and they had international competitions there. I am sure several other collieries had the same setup.
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Post by dazbt on Jun 19, 2012 3:41:46 GMT -5
I learnt to swim when I was about 9 or 10 years old in the pityard canal adjacent to a ten inch diameter pipe that drained what I presume was mine water into it. The canal at that point was pretty deep but comparatively warm, made a great swimming area providing the "pit bobbie" didn't catch you, my mother would have died had she known where I learnt to swim and what I did with the money she gave me in the belief that I was learning to swim under supervision at the public swimming baths.
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Post by Ragger on Jun 19, 2012 9:30:37 GMT -5
Hi. Daz, I don't know how many colliery swimming baths were constructed or how many survived. Sherwood Colliery Pit Head Baths / swimming pool, now The Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre was built under the Miners Welfare Fund in the 1930's. Becky was magnificent winning two gold medals at the last Olympics and deserved some recognition locally as a Mansfield girl, however it would have been nice to have retained the Sherwood Colliery connection in some capacity. I don't know how many "Miner's Welfare swimming pools" were built either Bill but I do know that there were quite a number, to name just a few gleaned via the "Net", include Ashington's, Frickley, Shotts, Scissett and Buckley in the early days and quite a few more in later years. I can only guess that if any still survive in use they will have been adopted by local authorities, it can't be cheap to maintain a public swimming pool. I used to go swimming at Ashington every Sunday morning when I was young and had a motorbike (early 60's) . It got me and Geordie Tatters there in no time. Never knew it had colliery connections Daz. |
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Post by dazbt on Jun 19, 2012 11:25:21 GMT -5
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tim
Trainee
Posts: 6
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Post by tim on Jun 20, 2012 18:26:19 GMT -5
At Stainforth (Hatfield Main) we had an open air swimming pool, Miners welfare club, 2 bowling greens, tennis courts, none of those exist now, a cricket and 2 footbaal pitches are still there, though houses are being built on the miners welfare site.
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Post by dazbt on Jun 21, 2012 6:01:48 GMT -5
I remember as a kid being mystified by The Mechanics Institute at Wath on Dearne, it always seemed like special, secret place. I could never understand how there were enough mechanics in Wath to support such a majestic building and when I asked, I was told it was a place where old men went instead of going to church to be able to read newspapers in peace and quiet, which made it even more puzzling to me.
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Post by John on Jun 21, 2012 11:26:30 GMT -5
I think most of the best welfare's were affiliated with the CIU, they put on some good live acts.
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Post by colly0410 on Sept 1, 2012 17:33:21 GMT -5
Just been to a knees-up at what used to be Bestwood Welfare. It's now called Bestwood Village social club. It's run by an old friend of mine & his lovely new Wife, so we had a good old chin-wag...
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Post by colly0410 on Aug 18, 2013 15:32:43 GMT -5
My Wife is now a fully qualified line dance instructor & has finally got me to go line dancing (don't laugh). Two of the places we go is Underwood Miners Welfare Ltd & Langley Mill Miners Welfare Social Club, so they're still in use as clubs. She's teaching me to line dance but I'm a bit useless & get shouted at for going wrong, she says I dance like a clodhopper.. |
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Post by colly0410 on Jan 8, 2015 14:13:02 GMT -5
Update on my line-dancing: I'm no longer a beginner, I'm now classed as an improver, so I'm getting better. We went on a linedance vacation over the new year at a hotel in Stafford, had a great time. BTW the line dance grades are: Absolute beginner, beginner, improver, intermediate & advanced. So as you can see I'm half way up the scale. Wonder if I'll ever get to my Wife's advanced level, mind you she's an instructor.. |
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Post by John on Jan 8, 2015 16:13:20 GMT -5
Update on my line-dancing: I'm no longer a beginner, I'm now classed as an improver, so I'm getting better. We went on a linedance vacation over the new year at a hotel in Stafford, had a great time. BTW the line dance grades are: Absolute beginner, beginner, improver, intermediate & advanced. So as you can see I'm half way up the scale. Wonder if I'll ever get to my Wife's advanced level, mind you she's an instructor.. |
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Post by fortythreesflyer on Jan 8, 2015 19:13:41 GMT -5
Clubs round yorks were in C.I.S.W.O, Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. Wheldale Fryston and Glasshoughton all had cricket football and rugby pitches, also Wheldale and Fryston had crown green bowling and tennis courts along with changing rooms. They had a area for children with slides and swings etc,
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