Who remembers?

[MargaretR]

The men who worked at Altham coke works left work blackened too.
After leaving school I worked for a short time at Mullards Simonstone and we shared a works bus with them. Their muck got rubbed off on your sleeves if you shared a seat with them

[cashman]

was there not an old drift mine at altham? way back.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by West Ender

Can you answer a query for me? When I was very young, before I went to Paddock House School, I remember miners getting on the Blackburn buses at Church Commercial, which I got to go to West End. This must have been before pithead baths as they always had coal dust on their faces. Where was there a pit near there? I can't remember one.

As near as I can remember Blackburn didn’t have a pit. Maybe the guys that you saw weren’t miners but workers in a coal yard where domestic coal was bagged. They would get just as mucky as a miner, as would the coalman who delivered the coal to the houses. Apart from Scaitcliffe pit in Accrington there was a pit at Huncoat, one at Hapton and a drift mine at Read, then Burnley.

It was very difficult to get rid of the coal dust embedded at the base of the eyelashes. So miners would look like they were wearing eyeliner makeup. Most never bothered to try during the week.

If you tried using soap it got in your eyes and stung like blazes. We were told to use Vaseline.

[cashman]

just come to me west-ender, way back there used to be barges stop on the leeds n liverpool canal in a little bay where the "Coke ovens" are situated, could it be some of the guys that used to load em? used to be a little pub just past bridge street,workers were known to frequent that.(forget name)

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by cashman

just come to me west-ender, way back there used to be barges stop on the leeds n liverpool canal in a little bay where the "Coke ovens" are situated, could it be some of the guys that used to load em? used to be a little pub just past bridge street,workers were known to frequent that.(forget name)

Weren't the Australian were it cashy, might have got the wrong name, but
Ernie Gribble was the last landlord before they pulled it down, he then moved to the White Bull, up New Lane

[cashman]

nah australian was on the "Pleck" off Bull Bridge" Accy, still see the last landlady occasionally.

[darwendosser]

Originally Posted by cashman

just come to me west-ender, way back there used to be barges stop on the leeds n liverpool canal in a little bay where the "Coke ovens" are situated, could it be some of the guys that used to load em? used to be a little pub just past bridge street,workers were known to frequent that.(forget name)

was it called the navigation

[beechy]

Apart from Scaitcliffe pit in Accrington there was a pit at Huncoat, one at Hapton and a drift mine at Read, then Burnley.

was hapton valley pit and thorneybank colliery one of the same ?

thorneybank was on burnley road near the hapton inn
were was hapton valley pit ?

[West Ender]

They'd have had a long walk from Hapton.

[West Ender]

Originally Posted by cashman

just come to me west-ender, way back there used to be barges stop on the leeds n liverpool canal in a little bay where the "Coke ovens" are situated, could it be some of the guys that used to load em? used to be a little pub just past bridge street,workers were known to frequent that.(forget name)

These blokes wore white helmets with torches on the front so I think they must have worked down the pits. I'm going back to about 1949/50 and there was always about a half dozen of them waiting for the bus at Church around 4.30 p.m. I don't think they were still around in later years.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by darwendosser

was it called the navigation

Ya spot on DD couldn't think of it, as soon as cashy said where the Australian was I knew I had it wrong, although I remember Ernie teling me about his days in the Navi as he used to call it, sadley he's no longer with us