Wigan Album

does anybody remember jackie platt and dickie pilk. they were the deputy and overman when L18 was running? Ihad a few shifts on it when we had to run chocks down the panzer every other day to keep the face in line. I've never seen a more untidy main gate in my life.

Yes Fred i remember both of them very well.Myself and Jackie Platt used to work the Saturday night shift regular on L18 pumping water out of the maingate stable,12 midnight until 6am Sunday morning.We both used to meet at the chippy in Newton and have our supper in the elsie room with Brian Wareing before going down the pit.

my dad (jackie johnson) must have been on the opposite shift then because he was L18's district deputy too , he often talks about his time down there with derek shaw (overman)

Hi Darren,i remember your dad very well.Dickie Pilkington(overman)and Jackie Platt(deputy)worked on one shift and Derek Shaw(overman)and your dad worked the other.The face only produced on two shifts,days and afternoons and the only night shifts where for pumping and pre-shift inspections.

I WORKED ON L18S WITH Derek Shaw and Jackie Platt and Dicky pilk ,this was the worst face i ever have seen everything was under water and we had to fire in front of the chocks to get them over,i never complained when we went back to the A side of the pit after that experence and even having the face on fire(l4os) was even better than working on l18s,Ive looked up to those men and officials ever since and they made me a better miner for that experence.Nothing ever seemed any trouble after that,J.C made made men out of boys?

I have just heard from Sid Hichisson that Jackie Platt has passed away. Dickie Pilk died sometime earlier this year

Did my training on L18 haulage with Les topping great days