As the Tories regain power after 13 years, one of the last pits closes

18
May/100

As the Tories regain power after 13 years, one of the last pits closes

Tory Prime Ministers and coal mines seldom make for a story ending with the words “happily ever after”.

And as if on cue, David Cameron was settling in at No10 as the last shifts ended at Welbeck Colliery.

In the 80s it was arrogant Conservative policies that destroyed swathes of British industry and robbed so many communities of their proud prosperity.

Now for Welbeck, closing down after 98 years, it is something just as uncompromising - the seam of coal had simply run dry.

The Nottinghamshire mine opened in 1912. At its peak 1,400 men worked at the pit and nearly all lived in Meden Vale village.

Fathers, sons and brothers worked together, bathed together then drank together.

As a group of miners headed to the pit-head bath for the last time on Friday, one lad started to sing. It was a traditional mining song to the brave men who work the seam.

“It’s a sad, sad day,” said Gary Cox, 50, carrying the last lump of coal his shift brought to the surface.

“I have been here for 34 years, since I was 17. This has been my life. We are like a family here. It is a piece of history.”

Gary, a loco driver, followed his father Billy down the pit. They worked together for a few years before Billy retired. Father-of-four Gary said: “We both wanted to be the gaffer, to be in charge.

“But we enjoyed working together and I did learn a bit from him.”

Billy died last year aged 87. He lived long enough to hear the news the pit was to close. Gary said “He was sad that it was to shut and it’s a shame he didn’t live to see the final day today. Or maybe it isn’t. He had spent his life here, too.”

Welbeck had 400 employees when the decision was made to close it. Many of the final shifts finished on Friday and scores of men headed into nearby Mansfield for a farewell booze-up. Up to 60 of them have taken redundancy. The rest have been transferred to the three remaining UK Coal deep pits at nearby Thoresby, Daw Mill, close to Coventry, and Kellingley, North Yorks. Just two more big pits remain - at Maltby and Hatfield in South Yorkshire - along with a handful of smaller private concerns.

Manager Geoff Mountain said: “There were 220 deep mines when I began in 1979. It’s sad for Welbeck but work goes on elsewhere.

“We have plans for the site. You have great equipment here and it would be perfect for industry. We want to get that going so that will bring jobs to the area.”

Seventy men will stay behind for a few months to reclaim £6million of equipment from the works. The windings, symbol of mining history, will have to come down.

“Daft people will try to climb them,” said Geoff. “It’s dangerous.”

Softly spoken Tony Ambler, 49, looked back wistfully at the pit head as he left his last shift.

He had followed in his stepdad’s footsteps. Tony said: “He worked during the war, keeping supplies going.”

“Here we are a family. In the village we all knew each other. We grew up together and joined the pit together.

“Our friends and their dads were there. In the village, doors would be left wide open. There was no crime there. It’s changed a lot.

Everyone in the village works away. The character has changed.”

Mining is still a dangerous business. Just three years ago all were reminded of the perils inherent in the job.

On November 3, 2007, Paul Milner, 44, died when the shaft collapsed on him as he and three colleagues tried to remove a hydraulic roof support from an exhausted seam.

Ninety tons of earth fell, trapping him for five hours.

Gary said: “You do everything you can to get the man out. It hits you very hard because we are a family here. Losing someone is terrible but all know we have to carry on working.

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“It was a terrible day. We will always remember it.

“Everyone was superb that day. Mine rescue were there but we all know it will take hours to get to you. That is the reality.”

Neil Bradbury, 44, has served 23 years underground and sees an uncertain future. He has been transferred to Daw Mill and will have to drive 70 miles home each day after an arduous shift.

The father-of-three said: “It is a hell of a journey. But I have to keep working. We aren’t going to move. We were brought up here and the kids are settled. We can’t uproot them all from everything they know. I will have to do it.

“I could take the redundancy but there are no jobs out there.”

As the lads head off for a bath and a farewell pint, one of the last pieces of coal mined at Welbeck lies cracked and broken on the pit-head floor - the final discarded remnant of a discarded industry.

UK’s deep coal mines

KELLINGLEY, W YORKS

OPENED: 1960

EMPLOYS: 800

Future: In 2004, Coal Investment Aid Scheme pumped £7.2million into the mine.

THORESBY, NOTTS

OPENED: 1925

EMPLOYS: 700

Future is safeguarded until 2017 following a £55million investment from UK Coal.

DAW MILL, WARKS

OPENED: 1956

EMPLOYS: 680

Warwickshire once boasted 20 collieries but now there is just Daw Mill, which has a predicted lifespan of another 18 years.

MALTBY, S YORKS

OPENED: 1956

EMPLOYS: 500

Owned by transport firm Hargreave Services, it produces 1.2 million tonnes of coal a year.

HATFIELD, S YORKS

OPENED: 1920

EMPLOYS: 380

Closed in 2001 but reopened four years ago. Work is due to begin on a new coal-fired power station and industrial estate called Hatfield Power Park which promises cleaner, greener coal power.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/latest-news/celebs/2010/05/13/losing-a-coal-way-of-life-115875-22254745/

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