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Old 13-01-2013, 07:04 PM
Derilda Derilda is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Metheringham, Lincs
Posts: 101
Default Broomhill Colliery

My first job was at the Broomhill Colliery. Born and raised in Six Cottages, now gone and rebuilt as semis and bungalows. Six Cottages ran down the south wall of the Co-op store. My family were allocated a new 3 bedroom semi council house at Hadston in 1954. In 1955 I got a job at the colliery but had to travel to Ashington Mines Training School for six weeks. I was then assigned to a underground gang who were responsible for guiding airflow underground. Sometimes I got into old workings, perhaps closed for thirty or more years after air was found escaping into them. Some of the colourful sights I saw will remain with me though it wasn't always safe. Following that I had spells in the Prince seam, going underground at Moorhouse near Radcliffe, going down quite a number of steps to reach the level the seam was on. I used to think of it as 'The Stairway to Heaven' at the end of my shift. I was working there the day Man. Utd had the aircrash in Munich. A sad day. I worked at various jobs underground - conveyor belt heads, with ponies leading roof supports to the coal face, landings where you handled all coal out and empty tubs in at the end of a hauler run. Tubs were changed from one line to another and were the lifeblood of the underground world. Without tubs to fill miners couldn't earn money. Not a lifetime career for me though. I saw so many men with fingers missing, eyes out, skin covered in the blue scars of coal getting into cuts and leg injuries. I decided that I would be healthier in the forces and so it has been, despite everything. 1959 and out.
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