During the golden age of mining in Nottinghamshire there were some 42 pits employing over 50,000 men. At that time the largest were Bestford, Gedling and Rufford, each with over 2000 men. Today only two remain - Thoresby and Welbeck - both under private ownership.
For this book, David Bell has met and talked to many ex-miners about what it was like to be part of the mining community. They describe their early experiences of working in the local pits and the harsh and dangerous conditions they had to face together. There were disasters like the fire at Creswell colliery in September 1950 when 99 men were trapped and only 19 were rescued alive.
For most a way of life, which had come down from father to son to grandson, vanished in the 1980s. The 1984-85 miner's strike, when 27,000 Nottinghamshire men voted to work on while 7,000 came out, split families and caused rifts that are still keenly felt today.
This book includes many old photographs, a map of the county's coalfields and a chart of the local pits also showing how many each one employed.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Map of the Nottinghamshire Coalfields
Glossary of Mining Terms
List of the Nottinghamshire Pits in 1957
Introduction
1. Starting Work
2. Banter and Backchat
3. Nicknames and Odes
4. 'There Was this Character'
5. Pit Humour
6. Stubborn Ponies and Hungry Mice
7. Missing Fingers and Miners' Tattoos
8. Death and Disaster
9. Dogging On, Turning Coal and Surveying
10. Strike and Division
11. The Best and the Worst of It
Index
