Re: BRZESZCZE, a Polish Coal Mine

[John]

Didn't you have any Polish miners at any of the Yorkshire pits you worked in as an apprentice Daz???
We had a face chargehand who had served with the SS in a Panzer division during WW2. It was either serve with them or lose his family.
We also had a Pole on nightshift "panzer" maintenance. He was a card! Knew his job when it came to replacing mid face pan sections though!!!
When Clifton was closed in 1968, he was with us when we went to Cotgrave, and so impressed management with AFC maintenance, he headed the first crew of his picking from ex Clifton blokes to start a regular AFC maintenance crew there on nights. Before him, it was done by any spare miners who usualy botched the job and took too long.

[dazb]

The Barnsley area had several pits with large numbers of Polish miners, in fact Levi Tagg and Barrow collieries had more Poles than props. I reckon hundreds of Hungarians came over in about 1952 during or after the "Uprising", they were actually recruited by the NCB and brought over to work in local pits. There were also a few Russians, Latvians and Lithuanians but for whatever reason it was the Polish miners that made a long and lasting impression on me as a lad. The amount of work that they got through was unbelievable, non stop graffters every-one of them. I had learnt to say "good morning" and the colloquial "Ouch, that hurt" in Polish by the age of seventeen. My best mate today is an Hungarian who came here as a sixteen year old mining college student, eventually working his way from not having one word of English on his arrival here, to owning his own Road Construction business, now retired but still needs to be up and working at 5.0am every morning, gardening or woodworking.
I recently heard Billy Connelly "at the Olympic games" when he asked a guy carrying a long thin bag "Are you a pole vaulter?" and got the reply "No I'm German but how you know my name iz Valter?"

[Clive]

Out of interest we had a checz come to our place a couple of years back. seeing as we couldt get any english blokes I figured there were plenty of refugees who weree miners and probably had it rough so we got tis checz from london. Well actualy he was from ostrava ( SIC) but now lived in london. his rent was about 135 A WEEK and he eerned about 200. the coroadores on the block of flats wer full of smack heads.

Any road this blke turned up only t werent him it were his brother. HE was decidedly mediteranian looking and had an english name but cant remember it (well first neme were english summat like bob or paul). It was fun trying to explain things we ended up drawing things on the landings and on dusty floors. Hehad worked thin seams in the checz republic and i had to give it him.. he couldnt hew coal but he could shift stone and wa quite handy backening it under the low. We were in very hard coal so I turned a bord off at the other side of the heading which was heading for gob and I knew the coal would bowke off. Unfortunatly the roof had settled and ther were a few drippers. We ands on the pit top and hes on the mobile to mrs in smack villas.
I ave trouble at home must go back but will come next week. Never saw him again untill they wanted to deport him 1 year later and he wanted me ro sponser him to stay in the country. Mustnt have worked cause i last hered of him from check itself again asking us to sponser him, Wuldnt have minded but he had no intention of staying at our pit. After us a gang of them went to Blenkinsopp but they wouldnt set them on they wernt used to foreighners in this area.

In Bunley at the Valley the pit wer full of poles Ukrains Italians Russans ect. One called Big Michael who had also been at hill top was russian. He had fought in 13 armies as a mercinary and been in 2 consentration camps.At one they strung a bloke up for selling chicken only t wernt it were humans. Fom what I remember they were all good workers.

We got a good lad from oz 8-)at ayle a few years back but thats another story

Clive

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[dazb]

Just realised on reading AYLE'S last posting that I should have explained that BRZESZCZE is pronounced something like BRESZCHA, it took me a week to speak it and a month to learn to spell it......(and I'm still not sure)