Login   |   Register   |   

coal

Started by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

has anyone seen the comment today about ( BRITISH STEEL ) PLANTS MUST USE UK COAL . At the moment we are importing 5 --10 TONNES
of coal every year from all places Russia and Columbia ,,i ask you columbia other side of the world!!!!! We are paying PUTIN and co millions of pounds and creating thousands of jobs in those countries , the money totals £ 1 BILLION ANNUALLY Which goes against our balace of payments. We import
40% of coal from russia and 20% from colunbia . Also out today was shown facories in (USA) New jersey and factories in China belching out smoke and harmful gases as norm ,yet here we are told by this lot boris we have to go green by 2030 , please inform me is the atmosphere going to stop coming from over the channel or the atlantic ? europe ...my arse it is not just propoganda being rammed downout throats it is al to make
these moguls more and more money thats all they care about ,but finally
just think if we were to provide all that coal ourselve the savings would
help lots f projects here .

Started: 4th Dec 2020 at 15:44

Posted by: laughing gravy (inactive)

is that all 5-10 tons of coal a year? even the laziest miner ever whups could dig that much

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 16:10
Last edited by laughing gravy: 4th Dec 2020 at 16:11:38

Posted by: jarvo (30250) 

Well said, GB.

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 16:47

Posted by: gaffer (7929) 

We don’t produce coking coal for the steel industry in the UK. A new pit is set for mining coking coal at Woodhouse, Whitehaven. It has planning consent from the County Council but work is delayed whilst the government considers the application.
The usual suspects are opposing the plan and lobbying the government to overrule the planning approval.

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 17:45

Posted by: Platty (2107)

GB, my thoughts exactly, we are losing our industries and these liberal greenies aren't coming up with anything to replace it. The latest wheeze is to prohibit all domestic gas boilers, fires, cookers and replace with electric pumps.
What is going to replace the gas engineers, parts, associated jobs, etc?
The expense of all this will be unbearable for many people (as opposed to some people) particularly those on a fixed income.
And what I find strange is that in South America they use children to mine the coal and in Russia their health and safety record is abysmal, yet the greenies here have no problem with that.

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 18:23
Last edited by Platty: 4th Dec 2020 at 18:25:46

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

Gaffer, I'm sure Merthyr is producing coking coal for the steel industry. Actually, the UK coalmining industry is regarded as being much more efficient these days, with excellent output figures.

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 19:11

Posted by: broady (inactive)

They are shutting down the coal industry in Alberta under pressure from the usual richard heads. Alberta would hold the UK 2.5 times with a population of 4.3m so as you can guess the "poisons" produced would hardly impact on anyone. Plus we have millions of trees which are supposed to eat CO2 for breakfast. Pampering to idiots and as someone said India and China use prolific amounts of coal. Never saw that Greta whatever preaching over there!!!!

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 19:36

Posted by: Platty (2107)

You mean Greta Tintin Eleanora Ernman Thunberg.

Replied: 4th Dec 2020 at 20:20

Posted by: Brasstoff (475)

In the 1990s the government were making British miners redundant, having to pay them dole money.
The stupid thing about it was they had to import more foreign coal to make up for the shortage!
Daft or what

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 11:29

Posted by: Domin0 (621)

The 60s saw many more pits closed than any other decade.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 11:40

Posted by: gaffer (7929) 

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 12:16

Posted by: Brasstoff (475)

The 60s saw many more pits closed than any other decade.

Yes, Domino I've read that before somewhere.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 12:23

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

In the early 80's, years leading up to the miners strike, the government was throwing over £140 million a year into UK coal mining. That's an annual loss.
As far as imported coal goes, it was cheaper - then. When the £ was strong against foreign currencies.

But, do we want to return to what it was like in 'them days'?

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 12:43

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

I know a lot of people who were jealous of the redundancy terms the miners got, the miners didn't do too bad out of it, with the good old Golden Handshake.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 13:12

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

Don't talk yer shite, man. The miners got a crap deal!

Well, I suppose it depends what you compare it to.
If you compare the miners' pay-off to, let's say, a person made redundant from a small engineering company in Pemberton, or a small transport company in Leigh or, even, a large national supermarket or clothing chain, it wouldn't look bad.
But, t'gas booerd geet a better deal, as did t'water booerd and t''lectric booerd.

Ast' brok'n't flooower booerd ?

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 16:08

Posted by: PeterP (11223)

TTS after just short of 20 yrs down the mine I got what was about one and three quarters of my last years wages for my redundancy money. Out of work for a couple of months then got a job on less than half I got at the pit for longer hours Money was spent wisely but did not last long cut my cloth accordingly so no GOLDEN Handshake for me. Maybe miners who were reaching retirement age gained but these were few and far between

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 16:18
Last edited by PeterP: 5th Dec 2020 at 19:10:41

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

Peter, I think you mean "few and far between".

Actually, they weren't 'few and far between' at all. The older miners got redundancy first, and there were plenty. Some of the blokes at Parkside didn't even know their true age.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 16:38

Posted by: Domin0 (621)

The pit is the only place I can think of where some men are on site up to an hour before their start time, and still on site an hour an hour after finishing, for no extra money.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 17:22

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

"Some men", indeed. "Some men", voluntarily.

Most men, certainly not !

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 17:40

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

I once got made redundant, and I didn't get any 'redundancy' I only got me 14 days holiday pay

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 20:37

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

I think Fireplace Pat was in a similar position at Cromptons when he got made redundant from there, he didn't get any redundancy, but they owed him three weeks holiday pay, and they told him that they were not giving it to him, because they didn't want to, so he said he wasn't leaving the building until they gave it to him, which they did.

I bet Whupsy knows about that too.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 20:41

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

They wouldn't give me redundancy, the personnel said, "Eh.? Redundant? Thee? There's a job for thee here, and thy owd chap'd be gooin' mad"!

So I walked out. And they said, "goodbye"!

Anyroadup, Sister Fish sent for me. She sent me to see the 'area doctor' at Anderton House and he signed me off as 'unfit for any aspect of underground work'. And that was that. I went on my pension at aged 28.

Replied: 5th Dec 2020 at 21:38

Posted by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

Hi there TTS , in response to your comment ( golden handshake ) i know scores of miners who got a pittance not the G/HSHAKE but much closer to home my late father who by the way went down the pit at just turned 12 years young finished on ill health ( ie could not breath frsh air) 100% silicosis did not get any redundancy died in agony at the very old age of 63 so al though i agree with a lot of what you say Tommy i cannot agrree with you on this point .
AS for you LG i think it best i do not respond to your comments .

Replied: 7th Dec 2020 at 16:10

Posted by: sonlyme (3350)

my departed wifes father had pensions for pneumoconiosis and silicosis.he died on (i think) the tb ward at wrightington hospital aged 58.it was about 1971/2.His name was walter sumner if anyone knew him

Replied: 7th Dec 2020 at 16:57

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

Golden Bear

If you don't mind me asking, when did your father get his redundancy ?

Replied: 7th Dec 2020 at 20:25

Posted by: whups (13120) 

i can reiterate golden bears point as most miners got a pittance compared with the other national concerns . my old chap was very similar to GBs & died at 66 .

Replied: 7th Dec 2020 at 23:47

Posted by: retep1949 (1184)

My dad died aged 59 from lung desease having worked in the pit most of his life and got sod all from the NCB.I still have his medical reports where they denied everything. My next door ,ex pitman,has pensions for various complaints.some very iffy but good luck to him

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 08:02

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

I am on about the redundancy the miners received after the pit closures there were after the strike in the late 1980s and early 90s I thought that the government paid them off, to avoid more trouble, probably thinking forward to the 1987 and 1992 general elections, because Margaret Thatcher's popularity was beginning to wane.

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 11:50

Posted by: whups (13120) 

iv,e got the same rept1949 iv,e got my dads medical records & he could,nt breathe . he had to get a surface job because of it & when he put in for silicosis he got knocked back because it was well known that someone had to die before anyone got that pension . 1stroke i can tell you that thru personal experience that miners did get a pittance compared to what the gas , lecky & water got when they deregulated them & sold them off to private companies .what do you think a miner shud have got for 40yrs service down the mine ? .

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 12:12
Last edited by whups: 8th Dec 2020 at 12:16:51

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

Whupsy

I think that a miner should have got a lot of money in redundancy, especially as the miner would have had to retrain to do another job, and that can cost a lot of money.

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 12:34

Posted by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

TOMMY TWO STROKE ::
RE; FATHER AS i stated he did not recieve a penny in redundancy pay all he got was SSP back in the day we called sick pay .I along with my late bro tried to claim the money's that were being doshed out in the 80s ,alas and are you ready for this after visitiNG ANDY BURNHAM UMPTEEN TIMES WE WERE WER TOLD THAT MY FATHER DID NOT QUALIFY FOR ANY MONEY DUE TO THE DEAL THE NUM MADE WITH THE TORY GOV WHICH WAS ::
FOR A MINER TO RECIEVE THESE PAYMENTS THEY HAD TO HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED BY THE N.C.B BETWEEN THE YEARS 1950 1954 . After nationalisation he went to work for a private mine owner at QUAKER HOUSE COLLIERY IN ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD . HE LATER WORKED AT N.C.B. PITS AFTER 1955 BUT MISSED OUT OF THE QUALIFYING PERIOD . THIS I SAID AFTER WORKING DOWN THE MINE SFROM THE AGE OF 13 TO 64 HE GOT RAG ALL AND WE GOT RAG ALL TOO FOR OUR MOTHER . I did hear about miners getting 80/90/100 of thousands of pounds because they worked in that period the whole affair has left our family with a bitter tatse ,I even wrote to GORDON BROWN (P.M) When they were dishing out medals to ( BEVAN BOYS ) Thanking them for thier service asking for a medal for my father in recognition of giving his life to the country all those years and guess what , NO REPLY ,NO COMMENT, WROTE TO BURNHAM COUNTLESS TIMES RESULT BUGGER ALL , long live great britain my backside ,have a nice day stay safe G.B. BYE!

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 14:05

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

" I did hear about miners getting 80/90/100 of thousands of pounds "


This is from a copy of "The Miner", from the mid to late 80's after the strike, at the time of the pit closures ....

REDUNDANCY PAY FACTS

After 12 months, dole money is stopped for people who still have more than £3,000 of their redundancy cash left. This has the effect of forcing most people to live off the lion’s share of their redundancy money.
Here are some examples of redundancy pay real values.

A 25-year-old married miner (no children) earning £100 a week and made redundant after 5 years would get £5,400 in redundancy pay.
According to the 1982 Family Expenditure Survey (FES), the cost of maintaining such a household is £5,680 a year.
REDUNDANCY PAY THEREFORE EQUALS 49 WEEKS OF NORMAL LIVING COSTS.

A 30-year-old married miner (one child) earning £130 per week and made redundant after 10 years would get £11,170 in redundancy pay.
According to the FES it costs £6,900 a year to maintain such a household.
REDUNDNACY PAY EQUALS 1 YEAR AND 8 MONTHS NORMAL LIVING COSTS.

A 40-year old married miner (three kids) earning £130 a week and made redundant after 15 years would get £16,950 in redundancy pay.
According to the FES the cost of maintaining his household is £5,660 a year (at the
age of 40 many major items have normally been paid for).
HIS REDUNDNACY MONEY EQUALS 3 YEARS NORMAL LIVING COSTS.

I heard some men I knew at Parkside had got just over £27,000. Men with many years service, in management positions, didn't get anything like the figures Golden Bear mentioned above.

I have a friend who 'claims' he got over £40,000 redundancy pay, from t' Gas Boo'erd.

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 17:49

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

Thank you Tonker that is exactly the sort of information I wanted to know about

I am sorry to hear about folk who ended up with serious illnesses due to the job they did, and there was lot, as well as miners, there are folk who worked with asbestos, and other noxious materials and substances, and when it comes to making a claim about anything, the powers that be don't want to pay out.

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 18:26

Posted by: whups (13120) 

my old chap worked at quaker house until he retired golden bear maybe they worked together . 1 stroke you did,nt answer my question ? .just to let you know 1stroke my old chap got £14,000 for 40yrs service ? .

Replied: 8th Dec 2020 at 23:57
Last edited by whups: 9th Dec 2020 at 00:00:14

Posted by: whups (13120) 

still waiting for a reply 1stroke.

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 20:21

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

I was burning Yorkshire-mined house coal from Kellingley until it closed, must be about five years back now. Kellingley was the last UK deep-mined coal, though obviously there continues to be some opencast working and very small scale working of underground seams.

My dealer, (coalman) was selling house coal originating from Columbia, and from Vietnam. When I said I would prefer Yorkshire coal, he said I could have Yorkshire coal, but only one delivery per year, and he could not tell me the price in advance, as he had to bid for it. Apparently he had a handful of customers who also had asked for Yorkshire coal.

I am glad that I opted for the Yorkshire coal.

1 It was far less dust and fines than the imported stuff, which I guess suffers quite a bit of degradation on a long sea passage.

2 During the three years I bought the stuff, the Kellingley coal came in at a price less than the imported product!

Supply and demand, I guess. Others on here will know more about this than I do, but I gather the setting of the cutters on the mining machinery produces either house coal, or the very fine coal power gen furnaces use. ie they are not interchangeable products.

3 I knew a couple of Kellingley miners, so I was pleased to engage in the keep it in the local economy scenario.

Cannot burn coal anymore, though I am planning for a flue relining next year, but unless I find a suitable dual burner, might be restricted to kiln dried hardwood logs.

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 21:19
Last edited by priscus: 9th Dec 2020 at 21:23:01

Posted by: First Mate (2324)

Solar/wind is the way to go.

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 21:38

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

First Mate

Trubble is with that is that on a cloudy day with no wind, there would be no Lecky, it would be like going back to 1972 and 1974 with the Power Cuts during the Miners Strikes, with Ashton in Makerfield's Joe Gormley orchestrating everything

It would be nice and nostalgic for Whupsy though

Doo yoo remember the Power Cut Rota's being published in the Post & Chronicle for the Wigan area, and this would have seen Tonker on steroids, because this was the old boundaries, before the Local Government Reorganisation thing.

There the Norweb and Manweb area's but how where the power cuts actually done ?

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 22:06

Posted by: priscus (inactive)

Returning to the OP, though......

"There is currently no technology to make steel at scale without using coal."

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 22:35

Posted by: tonker (27835) 
Posted by: tonker (27835) 

TTS., power cuts would have nothing to do with councils, or ward boundaries.

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 23:12

Posted by: whups (13120) 

1stroke that isnt the question . just give me an answer instead of waffling about .

Replied: 9th Dec 2020 at 23:50

Posted by: whups (13120) 

still waiting 1stroke

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 01:25

Posted by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

HELLO WHUPS ,
You say your dad worked at Quaker House Colliery , what was his full name and what period did he work there . My dad was Thomas Winstanley also my elder brother Wilfred Winstanley worked there also the date sf i can recall ( approx) were from the late 1950 s thro to mid late 60s There was a roof collapse in February 1956 when my dad was trapped for well over 8 hours or so i remenber playing in deep snow and making a slide were we lived and even at 6.30 pm he had not come home my mam finished work at Eckersleys Mill she got home at 6.15 when i told her dad had not come home yet we all started panicking then i'll never forget this we saw a copper walking up Walpole Ave with his bike ( in all the snow ) to inform us they had got him out and they were operating on him at wigan infirmary funny in it how we remember things hope to hear from you WHUPS G.B . ps The man who owned then was a DONALD ANDERSON HE WROTE SOME BOOKS ON MINING LIVED AT PARBOLD later when dad got better he could not work ont face anymore so at weekend in spring/summer Donald used to ask dad to come and do his big garden work to help make up for the money he losthe was what i call A PROPER BOSS not many of them around today !

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 15:14

Posted by: Billinge Biker (2383) 

That reminds me... Off to Bryn coal yard for 6 bags... Keep me toasty till march.

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 15:17

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

Imagine if Whupsy had been a boss

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 15:57

Posted by: Handsomeminer (2706)

A proper boss would have paid him the same rate not dished out a bit of charity

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 16:18

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

Whupsy said:

"what do you think a miner shud have got for 40yrs service down the mine ?"

Whupsy

If that is the question ? I answered it next post down.

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 17:55

Posted by: whups (13120) 

hi gb it was tommy scully . have you seen the pic on album of the miners ? . my old chap worked there from the 60s until he finished in 82 when the pit completely closed down .same as , he had to finish on the face & came on the surface for a few years.

Replied: 11th Dec 2020 at 23:52
Last edited by whups: 11th Dec 2020 at 23:56:30

Posted by: whups (13120) 

alan left you a reply on the quaker house pic .

Replied: 12th Dec 2020 at 11:30

Posted by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

Hi WHUPS,

I have left you a message on quaker photo site thank you very much when you read it i think you will understand how i feel ( GUTTED) I am at a loss as to what if anything i could do? There is one i suppose if i could get my hands on Andy Burnham he would not half get IT! Because of him when he was mp for LEIGH he and his staff lost ALL our paperwork about the claim , he has said at the time they had a flood where all documents where kept .

Replied: 12th Dec 2020 at 14:28

Posted by: whups (13120) 

maybe they have something at thompsons ? . my old chap was with them alan .

Replied: 13th Dec 2020 at 11:05

Posted by: GOLDEN BEAR (6555) 

Hi Whups

Problem is now that Andy Burnham lost ALL my dads
papers at the Leigh office he claims they had a flood in
ythe cellar where they kept all papers so i think i/m stumped !

Replied: 16th Dec 2020 at 16:03

Posted by: gaffer (7929) 

GB

Andy Burnham’s staff had a duty of care to protect your documents.
It may well be that the information you need is still available in official records.
Have a word with someone at Mellor Hargreaves, solicitors in Oldham. The principal is David Mellor.
They established a track record of exposing rogue solicitors who were exploiting miners over the NUM compensation claims.

Replied: 16th Dec 2020 at 16:19

Posted by: broady (inactive)

I think Irwin Mitchell???handled my Mum’s claim for my Dad and actually sent a cheque for around £1400 to her as an interim payment. People in a similar situation said that as normally 10% of what you could expect. I can’t remember what the reason was but eventually there was no more money and they actually asked for the cheque back. It was a long time ago and I was working away so some of it is a blur.

Replied: 16th Dec 2020 at 16:30

Posted by: tonker (27835) 

"Here's a genuine pair of old National Coal Board Pit Boots. Size 10's. Found in Grandad's shed - They must've been in there for over 30 years !
They're in fine condition too, hardly been worn.
Ideal for walking the dog, Digging the allotment or Fancy Dress !!
BIDDING FOR THIS VERY RARE & COLLECTABLE PIECE OF COAL MINING MEMORABILIA STARTS AT JUST £4 - 19 - 8 1/2d .... Errrrrm, No, Make it £4.99!
THESE BOOTS WILL BE POSTED RECORDED DELIVERY"

Replied: 17th Dec 2020 at 16:43
Last edited by tonker: 17th Dec 2020 at 16:46:46

 

Note: You must login to use this feature.

If you haven't registered, why not join now?. Registration is free.