Don’t get me wrong, the mines weren’t call pits without good reason. In my courting days I once sat in the pit yard reading a book waiting for my intended to finish his shift and found myself unable to distinguish one sweat streaked blackened face from another. Coal mining is dirty, hard and dangerous. There were no toilets or washing facilities underground and, working up to 1000 feet below ground, it’s hot and dark. Sandwiches (snap) were eaten by gripping one corner and eating up to your fingers and no more, especially if you’d just dug a hole to have a poo. The only time comfort and cleanliness were ever considered was when visiting Royalty decided to take a look underground, then the coal was washed so as not to offend them. My father worked down the pit where his father was killed in an accident; it was not uncommon. The Coal Mining History Resource Centre http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/ has a database of over 164,000 accidents and deaths in UK coal mines, almost one for every striking miner at the height of the 1984 dispute.
The 1984 Miners Strike
