Post by inbye on Jul 5, 2008 3:32:18 GMT -5
Hope this is the right place for this...
I'm from a mining family, probably the last, left the industry from Park Mill in the early seventies.
My father worked in various pits in the Huddersfield area, from day holes to pre & post NCB collieries, retiring from Wooley in the late sixties.
Before WW2, he worked at Grange Ash, situated opposite the Kays Arms at Grange Moor. The pit was unusual in that part of the workings were Safety lamp & part were naked light, accessed from the same shaft, one cage landed at one seam & vice versa. (from memory, I think the Wheatley was the naked light.)
One shift, at his usual place in the Wheatley, there was a "flare up" at the mens candles. The deputy gathered the team together, to say "Tha muunt say owt abhat it, else wis'll all 'ave to carry bloody oil lamps" (not sure about broad spelling)
No one reported it & they carried on with candles & carbide lamps (& smoking) untill nationalisation.
I remember playing truant in the sixties, ending up at a mates farm, next to the pit. Laid in the hayloft watching them winding coal & the "mountain climber" creeping up the muckstack. (I know, sad
)
I think the pit closed in 1966, it's just a green pasture now...
I'm from a mining family, probably the last, left the industry from Park Mill in the early seventies.
My father worked in various pits in the Huddersfield area, from day holes to pre & post NCB collieries, retiring from Wooley in the late sixties.
Before WW2, he worked at Grange Ash, situated opposite the Kays Arms at Grange Moor. The pit was unusual in that part of the workings were Safety lamp & part were naked light, accessed from the same shaft, one cage landed at one seam & vice versa. (from memory, I think the Wheatley was the naked light.)
One shift, at his usual place in the Wheatley, there was a "flare up" at the mens candles. The deputy gathered the team together, to say "Tha muunt say owt abhat it, else wis'll all 'ave to carry bloody oil lamps" (not sure about broad spelling)
No one reported it & they carried on with candles & carbide lamps (& smoking) untill nationalisation.
I remember playing truant in the sixties, ending up at a mates farm, next to the pit. Laid in the hayloft watching them winding coal & the "mountain climber" creeping up the muckstack. (I know, sad
)I think the pit closed in 1966, it's just a green pasture now...