What was it like working in the Pits?

[Shandy drinker]

Ask Nigel faraj I believe he wants to reopen them
For other people to work there of course

 

[TDalt]

A similar thread from about a year ago suggested that the wage was about 3-4k a year back in the 70s? If so, adjusted for inflation that would be about 40k nowadays. Not much to work in those conditions, albeit a lot of items have increased much much higher than inflation (house prices, price of a pint etc).

 

[errant]

I’ve always thought that this is a beautiful, maybe romanticised look at mining in Wales by Richard Burton.

i've seen that before, and its certainly romanced but he gives a certain gravitas.

 

[Diamond Eyes]

What would the wifi be like?

It was always called why’aye-fi in the Northumberland pits..

 

[Select coaches]

Dad worked down there 40 years, I can count the amount of times I heard him complain on zero hands. I moan like out working in an office.

 

[The Fitter]

My father was a miner from 1946-1969 and told me some stories about his time down there. It was all about how many tubs you and your marra could fill; 2 strong men could make twice that of some others. Getting in the copper bath and his Mam scrubbing his back too hard, knocking off the scabs caused by the low ceilings! Hewing coal for 8 hours & lying in 6 inches of water must have been hard; that's the bit that stuck with me. Anytime I was fed up of my job I thought of that, and then you realize life isn't that bad and just crack on with it.

 

[Darlo1973]

My dad's side of the family were all miners in Ferryhill. My grandad lost a brother and his left leg in one pit accident. My dad,as the youngest son, just avoided working there as there were scaling work back so there were fewer jobs available.

 

[Lord Potts]

It was considered to afford the average worker huge financial rewards great political influence as well as a life of Riley. Consequently it was an industry that attracted a lot or softies and malingerers that held he country to ransom and who we could well do without

Well... that was what Margaret Thatcher once told me.

 

[Black_Cats1879]

Sounds grim as fck. I often walk the dog through Whitburn cemetery and there are two headstones that mention the person died in Whitburn Colliery in 1912 and Monkwearmouth in 1974. Curious to what happened I googled the names and there is an excellent site on North East mines that includes a list of all the poor lads that were killed.

The Whitburn lad injured his face getting out of the lift carrying him out and ended up dead from his injury!!! (Can only assume he got infected) and the Monkwearmouth lad was killed as he was crushed between two carts. Some horrific ways to go reading through the list.

Definitely not for me like and absolute respect to all the men and boys that did it

This website is excellent

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I sometimes take a walk through graveyards or churchyards when I’m out and about and you often see headstones belonging to miners

 

[Hardyman's Yugo]

My Grandad was a pit man. He was in the mines rescue for a good few years, the idea of which terrified me to death. He attended this

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The pit head winding gear and buildings were still there in the 1970’s , we used to ride our bikes through the site and it used to terrify me.

 

[Gobuchul]

My paternal grandfather was an Irishman who came over before WW1 to Birtley to work in the mines.

Apparently, because the Durham coalfield has very low coal seams, working conditions were poor and they couldn't get enough of the locals to work them. Hence, that's where the Irish came in. That's why there is a lot of Irish connections in the NE, including active IRA cells in the 1920's.

He was a coal hewer all his life, he died of lung disease when he was 61.

 

[HorsePills]

My granda worked down Monkwearmouth for a little while. Would have been in the 60s. I only talked to him about it once but he said it was horrible. Said there were times he'd be crawling through sea water.

There's a voice calling for things like mining and shipbuilding but you can guarantee it's not the hard graft that's missed.

 

[Joe Baker]

.

Seems to be this exaggerated mythology and yearning for the ‘good old days’ of working in the shipyards or the mines.
My dad, his brother and their father worked the yards all their life
My brother in law’s dad as well as lot of my mates worked the pits
They all said it was , apart from a couple of years in the golden era of union strength and solidarity, dirty, boring hard work and in Winter, even worse
The camaraderie and craic ( mainly gallows humor) was one of the main things most missed when darling of the black shirts Thatcher closed both industries down.
It’s like those who yearn for a return to standing on terraces at footy but who only really know what they see in old footage
It’s reminiscing through rose tinted specs and harsh dark realities are conveniently forgotten about

This

What was it like? Dark, dirty and dangerous.
Safety undoubtedly improved in the latter years but one of my earliest memories is sitting with my next door neighbour in the late 1950's/early 60's as he gasped for breath suffering from "the dust". He died around 60 years old.

 

[Mackem00]

Sounds absolutely shite tbh. My grandad did his best to make sure my dad never had to work down there.

 

[errant]

Sounds absolutely shite tbh. My grandad did his best to make sure my dad never had to work down there.

a common theme... i do wonder when a keyboard warrior wangs on about reopening pits or shipyards whether they ever stepped foot themselves inside one.

 

[contrarian]

.

This

What was it like? Dark, dirty and dangerous.
Safety undoubtedly improved in the latter years but one of my earliest memories is sitting with my next door neighbour in the late 1950's/early 60's as he gasped for breath suffering from "the dust". He died around 60 years old.

My dad came home several times after gas bottles went off in double bottoms. Couple of his mates died in such explosions
Quite a number of deaths from falls
Before the unions got some power blokes routinely sacked on the spot and sent home because they injured themselves or were too sick to work.
My did suffered from crippling sciatica but still turned up. He couldn’t afford not to work
Yeah the good old days

 

[ChrisK]

Seems to be this exaggerated mythology and yearning for the ‘good old days’ of working in the shipyards or the mines.
My dad, his brother and their father worked the yards all their life
My brother in law’s dad as well as lot of my mates worked the pits
They all said it was , apart from a couple of years in the golden era of union strength and solidarity, dirty, boring hard work and in Winter, even worse
The camaraderie and craic ( mainly gallows humor) was one of the main things most missed when darling of the black shirts Thatcher closed both industries down.
It’s like those who yearn for a return to standing on terraces at footy but who only really know what they see in old footage
It’s reminiscing through rose tinted specs and harsh dark realities are conveniently forgotten about

Coal dust in the lungs was a death sentence, lots of miners died young in there 50’s and 60’s

 

[PinzaC55]

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[SPUFF]

Granda was down easington his entire life, had just came on shift when the disaster struck. Hes on the famous picture outside the offices.

My dad followed him down, looking after ponies. He left when jobs were going to build Peterlee n my granda thought he was mad. Was all a lot of blokes knew.

A similar thread from about a year ago suggested that the wage was about 3-4k a year back in the 70s? If so, adjusted for inflation that would be about 40k nowadays. Not much to work in those conditions, albeit a lot of items have increased much much higher than inflation (house prices, price of a pint etc).

Tin hat on but for unskilled men would it be any worse than going to Nissan?

 

[walls end bob]

Depended which pit you worked at. Me dad worked at Ellington colliery, it was about 10/15 football high , driving large machines. Message worked at Bates colliery in blyth crawling around in water and coal face hight about 3ft high. Fun days. We thought we had jobs for life. 1978/1993.