Wigan Album

Pity Lady Astor couldn't see the working conditions miners had to contend had to endure . I'am from a mining family and her name was mud , after her remark in the 1930s on hearing of a strike ."What do the earthworms want now". What they wanted was decent and safe working conditions,and fair recompense .

It makes you wonder what conditions were really like ? can you picture them saying I'm just off to the toilet, or I wonder what grub is on canteen menu today?or its too cold or wet,one thing it does prove the workers have come a very lond way a lond way indeed.

seeing them there hundreds of feet underground doesn't bear thinking about they earned every penny and more besides these type of men kept the rich in the style they were accustom too

Ladies, and gentlemen, you ate just a little less dust, as as the amount of dust you breathed. A lot of the lads used to take oranges on their sandwiches for the sake of the moisture, I did on many occasions. You just ate where you worked. Carried your butties in a tommy tin, and your water in a metal can, with a tin lid on it. Leave it to your own imagination, regarding toilet facilities.

My dad was in the pit aged 13, Thomas.His dad was also a pit man along with 6 brothers.These pit men along with the mill workers and steel workers put the Great into Great Britain.

I never knew about that quote from the so-called Lady Astor..they should have taken her down for a few days.

Aye we had it bad dan't pit, no canteen and no bogs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2AcJSkUw6M

Maureen. What Tom has stated is true ,my dad quoted to me, as to what she said. I believe it was in reference to the 1926, general strike.

Albert,it makes your blood boil doesn't it..the upper classes had no idea had they..those men were the salt of the earth.

Awesome pic my dad was down the pit all his life he did carry a tin and called his food jack bit or something like that Please may I share this on face book

As you say Lancy11. It was referred to as jack bit. Where the saying came from, I don't know. You can see a tommy tin, open, in the foreground. One half slid over the other half, to make a sealed container. If you tried to be hygienic, you would cover your fingers with paper, so your fingers would be between them, and your buttie. Usually finished up with a mouthful of paper.

That's right lanky,down the pits around Wigan food was known as jackbit, and break time was known as jackbit time, 25 minutes to grab a butty and a drink of water. At the pit where I worked if you were on the face you didn't stop for jackbit, you worked through it. Apart from wearing safety helmets Jackbit time still looked pretty much like that photo in the 1970s 80s and 90s.

The term "jackbit",derived from Jack's Bait. Jack being a man and bait being his food.The saying is particular to South Lancashire and I think to a fairly small area around Wigan,Leigh,Hindley,Atherton,Ashton,Haydock,Aspull maybe Coppull,Tyldesly,Standish and Howfen.(Apologies to anywhere I've missed out, Tonker)

My dad worked at Garswood hall till it closed down then he went to some where in haydock or that was the bus he got in the morning very early

If you haven't been a miner I don't suppose you can imagine what the reality of the job is/was - this photo comes as close, I think, to seeing and feeling just how awful the conditions were - a daily routine - I was born and bred in Wigan, knew a number of miners but could never appreciate their actual conditions. As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words" - a brilliant photo thanks for posting.

And people wanted pits to stay open...well done, Thatcher.

We'll said Gary

Dont go there Garry and definately dont mention that cows name on the same page as miners are depicted. You say 'people' wanted the mines to stay open? Do you mean the thousands of lads who were losing their livelihoods, plus the thousands more that relied on the mining industry for their income, it's a good job you posted late in the piece and not on the first day the photo appeared or i think you may have been shot down in flames.

Hang on there Roy,what about Britsh Railways, there were more people employed with BR than the pits...look what happened to them. Pit men get up my nose, they what everything their way, well all I can say well done to Thatcher and her govenment for standing firm, they thought they could still rule the country with strikes, power cuts etc etc. Well the UK is much a cleaner place and people live much longer....and no more three day week and power cuts. It needed someone to bring the miners down and mrs Thatcher had the bottle to do it, were others failed. God bless and rest in piece Margeret Thatcher.

Garry the railways are still running. The cow and her Yanky cohort told downright hard faced lies re the pits and closures as you will have heard over the last few days.You would be on a loser drinking in my club blowing HER trumpet.

Roy, British Railways are NOT running at all.
I can and will drink anywhere with my head held high.
Hip Hip aray for Mrs Thatcher. Cheers.

We are not drawing the same battle lines as we did with the Bickershaw Colliery photograph, are we. What is past, is past, and there is nothing that can be done about it, whether it's railways, steel works, cotton mills, or pits. Look what is happening to the military, after all that they have gone through.

Garry, i didn't say British Railways were running, there are still thousands of people employed in the rail industry, but very few in the mines. You give as an example the demise of British Railways, this was ANOTHER Tory lead fiasco, commissioned by the then Tory government and opposed by the Labour party and the unions of that time.

Roy..just look at the state of our pits, who in their right mind would want to work in that dirty filthy enviroment. They were costing to much money to keep open, plus pitmen wanted to control the country. However, pits in the 1980s would not be around today, even if the Thatcher give in to them, you know why...HEALTH and SAFTEY would have shut them down.

Since it has recently been revealed that Mrs Thatcher lied through her teeth about the Miners Strike perhaps a little more humility from her 'Admirers' would be in order.

Thank you Den s. Thousands would still be working down the mines, there is 50 years of production or more beneath our feet. Conditions and safety would be a lot better nowadays. Garry, you and i will have to agree to disagree, this argument could go on for a long time.

I was just glad to get out of the hell hole

Fair do's Roy.

Garry, why would health and safety have destroyed the coal mining industry? The health and safety at work act has been around since 1974, and all mines had to (and still do) operate within the confines of this act, in addition to the mines and quarries regulations.

Things have changed since 1974, Tully. Who in there right mind would want to be a pitman today, a dirty filthy mess of darkness and water, dust grime and ill health. It served it's purpose years ago but not now, time has moved on. Its been said before, the UK can get cheaper coal from abroad, but having said that theres no demand for coal now.

Whatever the politics . To those men i tip my hat.

Garry,I think your comment "It served its purpose" is harsh in the extreme.
Thousand upon thousand of men died and thousand more maimed not to mention those who suffered with silicosis and other lung diseases blighting their lives for decades. It was their suffering ,and yes blood on which the wealth of this Country was built, and to dimiss the past in such a cold hearted way is something I'm sure on reflection, you will feel could have been phrased in a more compassionate way. I hope you don't mind me replying to your comment,but I felt it couldn't go unanswered .Kind regards,
Tom.

Thank you Thomas for your comment, I never mean to be disrespectful, I supose your right what your saying, Many pit men have lost their lives down the mines and its very sad indeed, but its now stopped thanks Thatcher. Many thousands of men have lost lives in other jobs aswell, ie, railway navies, look how meny men lost their lives building railway bridges and viaducts some well over 100 feet high, only to have them ripped apart and distroyed by the Beeching era in the 1960s. I'm just commenting on facts..look at our ship industry, Liverpool, Newcasle etc etc. Its all gone its very sad. After saying that, the miners did try and hold the country to ransom. When was the last time we had a power cut or three day week, Thomas.
There is no more demand for coal today..no more steam fired factories, no steam on our railways, most houses have gas central heating.

Garry
Your right most homes are now heated by gas and because of the greed of the energy companies most of which are owned by foreign countries ,sold to them by Mrs Thatcher,we now have a situation were pensioners sit in a room with a blanket around them. I suppose that's also down to the miners,

Garry, You still haven't explained how health and safety would have destroyed the mining industry. Anyway, about the three day week and the miners holding the country to ransom. Did you know that the miners were NOT on strike when the three day week was introduced? And did you Know that between 1926, and 1984 there had been just three national miners strikes? Not realy the actions of a group of workers were holding the country to ransom. You also said that there is no demand for coal now, so you can't be aware that over 40% of Britain's electricity was generated at coal fired power stations in 2012.

Garry, the Health and Safety at Work Act introduced in 1974,was based on the Mines and Quarries Act and the Factories Act.These were existing legislation of long standing and regularly updated.Thus we in the mining industry were operating under stricter laws than the rest of the country. I can remember doing plans and writing documents for the Mine Manager's risk assesment and proposed methods of working from 1974 onwards.After leaving mining in 1988,I went into construction.I was astounded to see how far behind mining they were as regards safety. Even with simple things like the wearing of safety boots and helmets! Then,about the late 1990's,they discovered risk assesments and method statements.Since then they have gone completely over the top,as have the rest of the country.

Sounds like there's a few ex pit men on here. IT'S POINTLESS discussing this any further. Coal was King now it's dead, just like all your comments.

Chris, thank you for enlightening me about a topic of which I was in complete ignorance. Fascinating for me to learn about the situation you described.

Garry sounds like you are one of a diminishing band of Thatcher admirers, she was on a par with Lady Astor enemy of the working class !

Garry, coal is still mined and used all over the world yet, so there cant be that much wrong with working in the industry, the dole queue would be a lot shorter if we still had mines. Coal is dead here because your so called 'iron lady' made it so, just like a lot of other industries she stuck her uneducated snobbish oar into. SHE was the one that took the Great out of Great Britain and nobody else, she is why we now have to buy almost everything we need from abroad. There was over a million tons of coal mined in the USA alone last year, so coal is not as you say DEAD.

My grandad, James McDermot, worked down the Wigan mines in the 40s & 50s. He was blind and bedridden for 7 years before dying in 1963 of the disease contracted in the mines .The earthworms lived in better conditions than the brave miners. Rest in peace my gentle beautiful grandad x