At the turn of the century a lot of mine owners were Methodists, workers would live a life of temperance attending church daily and three times on Sundays. There was great camaraderie, people lived in close communities which shared an interest in art, music, allotments, canaries and pigeons - all things to be enjoyed in the fresh air. If you were working you were well rewarded, paid the equivalent, in todays money of £900/month plus a rent free house and free coal, worth another 100/month. Very important that considering there was no welfare state or national health service. Before you sign up though, consider this... These men worked hard, damn hard, for 6 days a week and 10 hours a day and that excludes the one hour walk each way to the pit face and then to and from home. They could be fined for lateness, insubordination, not finding someone else to cover a shift when sick and even for talking. And what brutal work this was, hard on the knees, eyes and back and arms. Working in dark, noisy, wet, claustrophobic, hot/cold, lonely conditions, surrounded by rats and stench, it's too far to walk to the surface to use a w/c. Death is very common, be it by, disease, accident, gas, flooding or collapse. In later years, if you make it to 50 you'd inevitably be retired but contending with, industrial deafness, blindness, nystagmus, white-finger, osteoarthritis, phthisis, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, silicosis and black lung. This was a life before organised trade unions, once you stop working you lose all your benefits. There's no payoff, no pension, no house, no income, no coal. The only option open to families is to send young children into the self-same world. Early miners would be paid based on piece-work, the more coal they can mine the more they are paid. Workers would draw lots, possibly open to underhandedness, for a 3 months stint on an assigned seam. The lucky ones could get a seam 4 feet thick were they could sit on a cracket/stool and effectively wield a shovel and pick. The unlucky ones could be crawling up to 30 feet into narrow seams, there's no value in widening the space, only the coal has value. They'd crawl into a seam area as little as 18 inches high, that's lower than your knee, for 10 hours wielding a pick, lying in 1 inch of standing water. These men and their families are the foundation for the privilege the western world now enjoys.
Hello Frank, I would be interested in how you were able to get permission to use this footage as I would be interested in using it from the same source. Please would you inform me of this. Many thanks.
Hello Frank! That's brilliant footage there! I'm working on a video project and I was wondering if it's okay if I use this footage for the video. Thank you so much!
I have done some research and found original source and it states nobody is allowed to download footage. It would be perfect for me but I wouldn't want to get sued!
AP lists the date as 03 March 1930 for this British Movietone News film "COAL SPECIAL. SOUTH WALES COLLIERS GO DOWN THE MINE" - details and full version here www.aparchive.com/metadata/Coal-Special-South-Wales-Colliers-Go-Down-The-Mine/e30c6a3cbd454fed9f38ba2b1db8d9ba
This is a great record. I worked in coal mines 1968-73.
At the turn of the century a lot of mine owners were Methodists, workers would live a life of temperance attending church daily and three times on Sundays. There was great camaraderie, people lived in close communities which shared an interest in art, music, allotments, canaries and pigeons - all things to be enjoyed in the fresh air. If you were working you were well rewarded, paid the equivalent, in todays money of £900/month plus a rent free house and free coal, worth another 100/month. Very important that considering there was no welfare state or national health service. Before you sign up though, consider this...
These men worked hard, damn hard, for 6 days a week and 10 hours a day and that excludes the one hour walk each way to the pit face and then to and from home. They could be fined for lateness, insubordination, not finding someone else to cover a shift when sick and even for talking. And what brutal work this was, hard on the knees, eyes and back and arms. Working in dark, noisy, wet, claustrophobic, hot/cold, lonely conditions, surrounded by rats and stench, it's too far to walk to the surface to use a w/c. Death is very common, be it by, disease, accident, gas, flooding or collapse. In later years, if you make it to 50 you'd inevitably be retired but contending with, industrial deafness, blindness, nystagmus, white-finger, osteoarthritis, phthisis, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumoconiosis, silicosis and black lung. This was a life before organised trade unions, once you stop working you lose all your benefits. There's no payoff, no pension, no house, no income, no coal. The only option open to families is to send young children into the self-same world.
Early miners would be paid based on piece-work, the more coal they can mine the more they are paid. Workers would draw lots, possibly open to underhandedness, for a 3 months stint on an assigned seam. The lucky ones could get a seam 4 feet thick were they could sit on a cracket/stool and effectively wield a shovel and pick. The unlucky ones could be crawling up to 30 feet into narrow seams, there's no value in widening the space, only the coal has value. They'd crawl into a seam area as little as 18 inches high, that's lower than your knee, for 10 hours wielding a pick, lying in 1 inch of standing water.
These men and their families are the foundation for the privilege the western world now enjoys.
🤔
It’s very interesting to see mining from back then
I'd be interested to know the approx year of this footage
Hello Frank, I would be interested in how you were able to get permission to use this footage as I would be interested in using it from the same source. Please would you inform me of this. Many thanks.
Is there footage about coal trimmers (inside steam ships) ?
Absolutely brilliant film Frank, thanks for posting this
That's a deep mine, wow.
Hello Frank! That's brilliant footage there! I'm working on a video project and I was wondering if it's okay if I use this footage for the video. Thank you so much!
Hi just wondering if you ever got an answer back? I would love to use this vid if possible!
@@chebradley hello, no unfortunately no 🙁
@@david8photography92 Hi there, I would like to use footage too, did you ever get permission at all?
@@mariarose417 no, not answer at all
I have done some research and found original source and it states nobody is allowed to download footage. It would be perfect for me but I wouldn't want to get sued!
emile zola´s germinal brought me here
I probably wouldn’t even be able to lift the drill but I’d like to have a go of that 😀
Brutal work but at least it gave us Pink Floyd.
What year is this?
AP lists the date as 03 March 1930 for this British Movietone News film "COAL SPECIAL. SOUTH WALES COLLIERS GO DOWN THE MINE" - details and full version here www.aparchive.com/metadata/Coal-Special-South-Wales-Colliers-Go-Down-The-Mine/e30c6a3cbd454fed9f38ba2b1db8d9ba
Cool 😎
Lol teacher showed us this in class 😂
this guy sounds like hes far away from the program hahahahaha