Wigan Album

i wasnt there that day i think there were two groups of lads back row L to R instructor, billy whittle,joe price,brian glazebough,mick ellison,john mchugh,chris moore,tony lavin,? terence fillingham,? inst.front row L to R donelly,mick tougher,neville croston,graham kelly,mick mc carthy,oscer ramsdale,?,?,inst

Morris Svabic - I was in the year above the lads on the picture. Ironically, I became a Mining Surveyor and was at Bold Colliery as Deputy Surveyor before moving onto Sutton Manor Colliery as Colliery Surveyor.

Our Class went to Bold Colliery at St Helens the year after this, unfortunatley we did not have our photo taken but I do remember the day quite well.. after arriving at the pit head we were ushered into a room where we were given a lecture on safety. I remember the words " and the cage drops at 45 feet per second and your ears will pop" now then, at 14 if something was going to pop it would finish up like a popped balloon.. this is what I thought my ears would look like after dropping down the shaft.. from there we we taken to the cage (not a lift) via a pressurised room which also made your ears go POP. when we got to the cage we noticed how big it was with about three levels, two levels containing trucks of coal and one level for the men. Garbed up in overalls seven sizes too big and a metal cap fitted with a lamp and a gigantic battery hanging on a leather belt around your backside we walked towards the cage shaped like a class of letter "Ss" coz the battery was pulling you towards the ground by yer bum. we were given three tallys a white one a red one and a brass one.. the Instructor told us they were for safety, so the cage operator could count you in and then out again. you handed the white on in at the top and handed the red one in at the bottom the brass one you held on to until you were coming back up.. The Instructor said if you lose the brass one you cant come back up !! by the end of the tour mine was red hot coz I had held on to it so tightly.. the cage ride was really odd it started down a gentle pace then it dropped like someone had cut the rope. falling at that speed you did not know whether you were going up or down within a few minutes the cage started slowing down and coming to a halt but before it stopped it bounced on the rope for a while which felt quite strange. We were amazed at the size of the roadways down the pit they were quite large and well lit. then they took us to a replica coal face where you had to crawl on your belly dragging a pick and being weighed down by the great big battery.. the they turned out the lights just to show us what it would be like if the power failed needless to say I have never been in a place so dark. thank fully I never had too again, I dread to think what happened to the boys of my age who went to work in the mines then in the eighties they were all closed.

Morris... thats a blast name from the past

Cheers

Gerald

I know that our Billy (Whittle) and some of the other lads had been on work experience to the pit, the other W/Ex was to Thornleigh priest training college because they thought they would only have to work on Sundays and then the odd funeral and wedding.

Hi Morris, I worked as a linesman when you where a surveyor at bold colliery.