O/T The Price Of Coal 1977 BBC Drama

[millmoormagic]

My dad was a miner..he worked for 49 years and 9 months in the pit as a tailgate ripper all bar the last few years on a button..he finished aged 63..he never left a pit but was transferred on several occasions...roughwood, roundwood, skiers, barley hall, bradgate..i can tell you he didnt get a good pension, didnt get a good pay off, ( unless you think 1500 and odd quid was ), and from what i understand, he didnt need to be questioned on the subject of graft, working for such along time in the rip...i once went down a pit on a school visit, but we didnt have to crawl in 18 inch spaces like my dad..people like you wouldnt last two minutes..

Indeed, Tailgate rippers were of the legendary types, even among fellow miners, i doff my cap sir...

[millmoormagic]

https://the-enemy-within.org.uk/the-film-3/

Link to the synopsis of said film...

One last thing, i went to watch this last night with a few friends at the new Rotherham Underground cinema ( the old turf tavern) it fetched some good and bad memories back, i'd encourage folk to take a look at the said Rotherham Underground, decent little 'arty' set up...http://www.rotherhamunderground.com/about-us.html

[ragingpup]

My goodness, CT, you're dragging this board down sir. We can't have people posting who take a considered view, who can see merit and fault on both sides, who revise their views on the basis of evidence and experience. No, sir, it will not do.
I never worked as a miner, nor did any of my family going back to when they arrived here from Ireland. But whatever the arguments about the industry and the strike it seems to me that a great social injustice was done. That the miners' leaders may have to some extent "brought this on themselves" is irrelevant to the failure of government to behave in a fair and compassionate way. You do not have to be a socialist to see that much of what the Tories did under Thatcher (and are still doing) was motivated by spite, by class hatred (or contempt) by a disregard for the less well-off and by a Little England worldview. Regrettably, in this country that remains a winning formula.

Are you the same Monty? Dunno if the new avatar is spooking me but I've suddenly started agreeing with all of your views. What's happening?!

Sorry to break this to you - you must be as scared as I!

[Exiletyke]

Are you the same Monty? Dunno if the new avatar is spooking me but I've suddenly started agreeing with all of your views. What's happening?!

Sorry to break this to you - you must be as scared as I!

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[monty_rhodes]

Are you the same Monty? Dunno if the new avatar is spooking me but I've suddenly started agreeing with all of your views. What's happening?!

Sorry to break this to you - you must be as scared as I!

Morning raging. I have many times pointed out that my political views are left of centre and that I hold very liberal views on ***ual matters and a broad range of social policies. I remain opposed to immigration particularly from the sub-continent - the arguments about EU freedom of movement are a red herring imo. EU immigrants on average boost UK GDP by around £2000 per capita whilst immigration of "family members" from the sub-continent has a net cost of around £850 per capita, runs at many tens of thousands and is potentially socially destructive as research shows the majority of these are poorly educated, economically inactive, rarely speak English, hold very conservative views on social issues and tend to disappear into their communities. I am also at present doing my best to stop parliament liberalising the Gender Recognition Act - Rachel McKinnon rules and soon English women's football will be dominated by self-identifyin "women" in mens' bodies. Watch this space.

[Exiletyke]

Morning raging. I have many times pointed out that my political views are left of centre and that I hold very liberal views on ***ual matters and a broad range of social policies. I remain opposed to immigration particularly from the sub-continent - the arguments about EU freedom of movement are a red herring imo. EU immigrants on average boost UK GDP by around £2000 per capita whilst immigration of "family members" from the sub-continent has a net cost of around £850 per capita, runs at many tens of thousands and is potentially socially destructive as research shows the majority of these are poorly educated, economically inactive, rarely speak English, hold very conservative views on social issues and tend to disappear into their communities. I am also at present doing my best to stop parliament liberalising the Gender Recognition Act - Rachel McKinnon rules and soon English women's football will be dominated by self-identifyin "women" in mens' bodies. Watch this space.

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[rolymiller]

Some good points. Posters like Kerr and twincat need to go down the national coal museum in Wakefield and get a feel for what it was like working down the pit and remember that this place is very sanitised. I never worked in the mines but I worked in the steelworks which used to scare the **** out of me on a daily basis. I wonder if Kerr and twincat go\went into work each day wondering whether they might come home after their shift later. Which is another point a lot of these types of jobs involve shift work which statistics show have health implications for those who do them. Kerr and co will be on steady 9-5 jobs so won't appreciate how shifts particularly neets knock the carp out of you. It's like I've said before to Kerr a bit of empathy from him would be a good thing.

[KerrAvon]

@MMM. I'll offer you a variant on the proven liar challenge that reduced your new chum, Monty to a blustering wreck: demonstrate where I have even implied support for brown coal and I will never post again. Fail and all you have to do is aplogise. Deal?

Fracking isn't necessarily a dirty technology and as even the Green Party acknowledges, natural gas electricity generating capacity is required for those days when solar and wind fail to turn up.

No, we didn't have an awareness of climate change back in the 80s. We had acid rain, with the burning of coal in the UK causing widespread damage to forests, lakes and rivers in Scandinavia in particular.

I just find it interesting that you would accept the running down of the mining industry and consequential loss of jobs on environmental grounds, but not on the economic ones cited by Thatcher.

[animallittle3]

I think it's also worth pointing out why we fought so hard to keep our industry open was the fact when the announcement was made to close Cortonwood we'd already existed under the Thatcher government for nearly five years .

Five years that we'd seen millions on the dole and the massacre of major industries around the country , clearly we weren't too bothered about joining them .


These were harsh times , out of work was brutal , there wasn't any alternative employment , the places that remained open weren't hiring anyone .

To be out of work under early Thatcher was frightening , a reality for millions .

Even in 1987 when I left the industry and found another job it was only due to a chance conversation in a pub that such and such over Skelmanthorpe way were looking for a few guys .

The money wasn't as good but you could make up the shortfall with overtime so I took it before landing a job in Huddersfield where I stayed for almost 15 years before that shut down too .

Thatcher threw the first stone in 1984 not the NUM , planned it for years before making her move .

Pretty obvious to most of us that after a few months we weren't going to win , we knew that deep down but we still fought and I'm proud to say we did , better to go down swinging than giving up in my opinion .

[Lolmorgan]

animal did you work at Cortonwood.