Post by ken on Mar 31, 2011 19:24:44 GMT -5
Another large part of the miners life was the allotment garden. Few miner's houses had a garden so the opportunity to have an allotment garden was taken up by many miners. There were at least three large groups of gardens at Easington. I think one of the reasons which made the gardens so popular was the fact that most miners worked shift work and they could work in the gardens even in the winter. The gardens must have been a great help during the depression and wartime and even to help out the poor wages some miners got. My father could not work underground due to bad eyesight so never made good money and the allotment was a great help to us.
The allotments were not used just for vegetables and flowers but also for keeping poultry. pidgins and even rabbits. Pidgin racing was very popular. The birds were taken down to the railway station in large baskets to travel to wherever the race started from. The birds were released simultaneously. Every bird had a rubber racing ring on its leg which had to be removed and put into a racing clock to mark the time the bird got into the loft. Sometime the bird would get home but not land and just go round and round with it' owner getting more and more frustrated.
The allotments gave the miners opportunity to compete in the working mens clubs flower and vegetable competitions. In the North East, to win a leek show was the best thing that could happen to a gardener. Leek shows could have big money for first prize. Some miners had their own formula for fertilizing leeks which could contain blasting powder for the nitrogen in it.
The allotment was also a great place to sit with other miners and put the world to rights
Ken
The allotments were not used just for vegetables and flowers but also for keeping poultry. pidgins and even rabbits. Pidgin racing was very popular. The birds were taken down to the railway station in large baskets to travel to wherever the race started from. The birds were released simultaneously. Every bird had a rubber racing ring on its leg which had to be removed and put into a racing clock to mark the time the bird got into the loft. Sometime the bird would get home but not land and just go round and round with it' owner getting more and more frustrated.
The allotments gave the miners opportunity to compete in the working mens clubs flower and vegetable competitions. In the North East, to win a leek show was the best thing that could happen to a gardener. Leek shows could have big money for first prize. Some miners had their own formula for fertilizing leeks which could contain blasting powder for the nitrogen in it.
The allotment was also a great place to sit with other miners and put the world to rights
Ken