General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Tommy Two Stroke

I had three Uncle's who worked down pits in conditions which were terrible prior to the mining industry being nationalise and there was more concern about miner's safety underground.

Imagine what it was like in all the years prior to nationalisation when pit owners could not care less about safety in the knowledge that if one was killed or badly injured, there was always a man ready to replace them.

All three of them together with my father who was a engine driver on the surface, told me never to even think about it.

My Uncle's started being miners in the bad days of the thirties when because of the then depression, jobs were scarce and the only alternative to feeding your family was to go and stand outside a factory gate and hope you would be selected for a day's work, even go on slag heaps for coal waste to keep your self and your family warm.

Neither was there a benefit system like today to provide a income!