Eric Bartholomew

[stanleyphil]

Although it was only for a short time , another Accrington claim to fame was the time Eric Morecambe spent around a year down one of the pits.I would be great if anyone out there has any info of his time in Accrington and which pit it was.

[lancsdave]

According to the Telegraph it was Whinney Hill;

One such was Josh Greenwood, of Clayton-le-Moors, who was born in 1915 and recalls working down the old Whinney Hill Colliery in his home town at 14, pushing coal tubs in his bare feet along dark and wet underground galleries.
Every day he also had to pass the old workings where an explosion had killed 68 men and boys in 1883.
A famous name during the war years at the colliery was Eric Morecambe, who worked there as a Bevin Boy.