The above sketch is of a neighbour of ours who, when on ” Afters “, would spend the morning, ( As did others ), leaning over the rounded concrete part of the front wall to the house, I can’t say it was a garden wall, for there was no garden to the houses, just a postage stamp sized garden at the rear. The miner wood while away his time waiting for the time for him to set off on his journey down town to catch the bus that would take him to the pit. That small part of the wall was a leaning perch for many of the Miners to breath the fresh air, enjoy a cigarette, and cough up any of the coal dust that had been breathed in whilst working amongst the coal and coal dust down at the bottom of the mine. How true this was for many , for all the miners of our town, and also all the other mining towns who relied on coal for that matter. It was also a perch for a chat with any passer by on their way to the shop, many folk who saw someone leaning over and enjoying the day, would walk over , stop , and could talk for many a while. I believe his afternoon shift would have been 2 till 10 pm.. I’m sure Afternoons was a shift they liked, for they could get a full nights sleep afterwards. The downside being, the Pubs shut at 10 pm. But you could bet your bottom dollar that they would have a Jug of Draught Beer on the pantry slab for when they returned to wash down the dust.
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I liked your drawing and comments about the wall Alan because I have a snapshot among my photos with my gramma and your mum both leaning on wall outside grammars chatting.It was a regular thing in warm weather.
Kath Mason
I recall a story from my much younger days about a mining village pub but which pub ? I cannot remember! What I do know is it was frequented by thirsty miners on a regular basis. It was such that every Friday night, the Landlady would have the wives of the miners lined up outside the pub.The miners had to hand over their wages to the wives before the Landlady would let them into the pub. I do wish I could remember which pub it was, but I bet many a wife would meet their husband outside the pub on a Friday, before they spent the money on beer.
There are many miners and their children who will remember how the miners of yesteryear lived their lives, and the suffering of working down the pits. Many wore clogs to go to work but wore the old steel toecaps commonly known as pitboots when working down the pits. Both of these types of footwear clomped on the causeway as they made their way in the early mornings to catch their bus. It was a hard dangerous job, that many took in their stride.
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