0:00:21 > 0:00:24It's 1954 and the people of Yorkshire's West Riding
0:00:24 > 0:00:27are about to see a very special show.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30NEWSREEL: And here come the boys!
0:00:30 > 0:00:32I beg your pardon, gi...I mean boys.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Believe it or not,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41these ballerinas are actually miners.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45It's hard to imagine any other group of working-class men
0:00:45 > 0:00:47having the confidence to put on a tutu
0:00:47 > 0:00:50and dance like this in front of their family and friends.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58But the people we see watching, captured here on film,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00were not the only audience.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04Incredibly, footage like this was seen in cinemas all over Britain,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07alongside the feature films of the day.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10There's something about being a miner, being in the dark all day
0:01:10 > 0:01:13that when you come out and you see the world,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16you look at it with fresh eyes
0:01:16 > 0:01:18and they express themselves in a lot of different ways.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Here are miners creating art
0:01:21 > 0:01:23that wowed the London arts scene.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28And here's a miner who writes plays.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31NEWSREEL: It was Clarrie Stafford, who works at Steetley Colliery
0:01:31 > 0:01:34and he was typing a play he'd written about mining folk.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36We know about these extraordinary men
0:01:36 > 0:01:39because the daily lives of miners
0:01:39 > 0:01:42were chronicled by the National Coal Board's Film Unit.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46It began filming them shortly after nationalisation
0:01:46 > 0:01:48in 1947 and ended
0:01:48 > 0:01:51just before the miners' strike in 1984.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Around 1,000 films
0:01:53 > 0:01:56record what amounts to the final chapter
0:01:56 > 0:02:00in Britain's long tradition of coal-mining.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02Coal runs through human history.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04It's always been both
0:02:04 > 0:02:07a creative force and a destructive force.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10From coal came some of Britain's
0:02:10 > 0:02:14finest achievements and also some of her mightiest struggles.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18The unit made every type of film imaginable.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20There were dramas...
0:02:20 > 0:02:21SHE SCREAMS
0:02:21 > 0:02:23..documentaries...
0:02:24 > 0:02:26..animations
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and even quirky training films.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31What's incredible about the archive is
0:02:31 > 0:02:34they recorded every possible
0:02:34 > 0:02:36technical, physical
0:02:36 > 0:02:39advance in mining.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Then all the social changes that happened.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Everything from how they used their spare time
0:02:44 > 0:02:46to where they go on holidays
0:02:46 > 0:02:48and the things they do in their home.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Rarely seen in the last 30 years,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54these historic films now offer us a unique window
0:02:54 > 0:02:57into the lost world of coal-mining
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and its remarkable people.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Britain was still recovering from the war
0:03:15 > 0:03:19when the Labour government began its nationalisation programme.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28On 1st January, 1947,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32signs were fixed to all collieries,
0:03:32 > 0:03:34declaring "This mine is managed on behalf
0:03:34 > 0:03:35"of the National Coal Board
0:03:35 > 0:03:37"on behalf of the people."
0:03:38 > 0:03:40There was a sense of a need for
0:03:40 > 0:03:43social renewal after the wartime struggles of so many.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Within months, the National Coal Board
0:03:46 > 0:03:48set up its Film Unit.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53NEWSREEL: Blairhall Colliery, Scotland.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Among these men is Tom Syme, miner.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Tom was picked for the British Ice Hockey Team at this year's
0:03:59 > 0:04:00Olympic Games.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02This is Dunfermline Ice Rink,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04where Tom trained for 2½ years.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Who wouldn't - in this company?
0:04:08 > 0:04:10And this was Tom's last practice game
0:04:10 > 0:04:13with the Dunfermline Senior Team. Watch for number 12.
0:04:13 > 0:04:14That's Tom.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Strenuous work after a day in the pit.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The Mining Review was a monthly newsreel, or cine magazine,
0:04:19 > 0:04:21if you like,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24which was about ten minutes long, a single reel of film
0:04:24 > 0:04:26which went out to cinemas every month
0:04:26 > 0:04:30particularly in all the coalfields across the UK,
0:04:30 > 0:04:31but also elsewhere. We know
0:04:31 > 0:04:34it was certainly shown in London, in the West End.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36You would see Mining Review
0:04:36 > 0:04:39before you went to see your feature film every month.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41At its peak, in the 1950s,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Mining Review was shown in over 800 cinemas and watched by
0:04:44 > 0:04:46millions of people.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49The point of Mining Review
0:04:49 > 0:04:52was, on the one hand, to reach the general public
0:04:52 > 0:04:55an update them on the industry they were now paying for,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57because it was a nationalised industry paid for partly
0:04:57 > 0:04:59through taxpayer money.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02But also to show them mining communities
0:05:02 > 0:05:03at work and at play.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Each Mining Review generally followed a format,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13beginning with technical information highlighting
0:05:13 > 0:05:18the latest developments in the industry.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22NEWSREEL: Williamthorpe Colliery in Chesterfield has been trying
0:05:22 > 0:05:23out a new kind of pit prop.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Instead of being rigid, like the usual timber or steel supports,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31this hydraulic prop is adjustable to different conditions.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34This was followed by some light arts or music
0:05:34 > 0:05:38featuring miners themselves and their leisure activities.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42# We sing a song as we trudge along
0:05:42 > 0:05:45# There's nothing finer than a song... #
0:05:45 > 0:05:47And finally, promoting the various benefits
0:05:47 > 0:05:49the Coal Board were keen to show
0:05:49 > 0:05:50they were providing.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52NEWSREEL: Dust prevention underground
0:05:52 > 0:05:54is removing the danger of dust disease.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58But thousands of miners already have dust disease.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59The new act this July will give
0:05:59 > 0:06:02fairer compensation and the Coal Board and the union
0:06:02 > 0:06:05have been discussing other benefits.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08I first came across the archive
0:06:08 > 0:06:12when we were making the stage show of Billy Elliot.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14We got in touch with the BFI
0:06:14 > 0:06:16and they sent us some films.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The amazing thing about the Mining Review films
0:06:19 > 0:06:24is the massive variety of subject matter.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30NEWSREEL: One wet day, the pass to the loft was pretty muddy,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32so Jack laid down
0:06:32 > 0:06:34a lot of coal slack.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37His pigeons started eating it.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39And they've done it ever since.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45The fame of Jack's coal-fired pigeons spread afield.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47"Dear Mr Bramley," one letter went,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49"I am not a pigeon fancier
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"but I rather want to try the use of this on myself,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55"to see if it will help my indigestion."
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Another asked, "I wonder if you would send me about five pounds
0:06:58 > 0:06:59"of this coal.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01"It may be different to our local supplies.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04"I enclose 20/-."
0:07:04 > 0:07:08So these films shown miners and their families
0:07:08 > 0:07:10involved in a wide range of leisure activities.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13There's all the things you'd expect, like brass bands,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15male voice choirs,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17gala days, but a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Not just sporting events but also hobbies.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21There's quite a lot of eccentric stuff
0:07:21 > 0:07:23going on in Mining Review at times.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25NEWSREEL: These are the miners and sailors of Workington.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28They're known as the Uppies and Downies,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30originally the miners came from the upper part of the town
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and the sailors down by the docks.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35BELL CHIMES
0:07:40 > 0:07:42There are no rules, no referees and no limit
0:07:42 > 0:07:44to the numbers who take part.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45The Uppies try to get the ball home
0:07:45 > 0:07:48into the grounds of Workington Hall up in the town,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50while the Downies have as their goal
0:07:50 > 0:07:51a capstan on the dockside.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54And these goals are two miles apart.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58For nearly 200 years the game has been played like this at Easter
0:07:58 > 0:08:01yet nobody's perfectly sure how it originally started.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04And when it's all over, those on the winning side who aren't in
0:08:04 > 0:08:06hospital have the right to parade the town with the man who scored
0:08:06 > 0:08:09the goal, collecting free drinks in the pubs.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11And they certainly deserve it.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16I think as films there are some
0:08:16 > 0:08:19really great documentaries, some of the early black-and-white
0:08:19 > 0:08:21ones are beautifully shot,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23just as works of art,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26and also capturing an era that's gone.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28People streaming out of the pit,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30that Eisentstein/Lowry world
0:08:30 > 0:08:32that no longer exists.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34I started watching them as a bit of a joke, you think,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37"That's going to be incredibly tedious," and actually they weren't.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40There was some nobility and grandeur in it,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43those great sweeps of the countryside
0:08:43 > 0:08:44and the dignity of labour.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Then there was one called The Shovel
0:08:48 > 0:08:50which I particularly like.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52In a way it's the most boring film on earth,
0:08:52 > 0:08:53and yet it's so portentous.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56They talk about the "laying down of the coal seams
0:08:56 > 0:08:59"and the carbonous material when the great mammoth walked the earth,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01"and man invented the shovel to dig the coals with".
0:09:01 > 0:09:04And you learn how to shovel coal really well.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07NEWSREEL: The first is the way to stand.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Keep your shoulders in line with the movement of the shovel
0:09:09 > 0:09:13and get your whole weight in the swing.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Stand comfortably.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17You'll have seen a stance like this before,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20that is, if you're interested in cricket.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23It's the way a good batsman stands at the crease.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26His shoulder is well forward to the line of the ball
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and he puts his weight behind the stroke.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32You don't have to be a Len Hutton to shovel well
0:09:32 > 0:09:34but it's the same idea.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Which you start out in a way laughing at
0:09:37 > 0:09:40but also there's something quite touching about them
0:09:40 > 0:09:43they definitely capture an era that has now gone,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48it's a civilisation that has gone with the wind.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50At this time still common
0:09:50 > 0:09:53for boys as young as 15 to go down the pit.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58NEWSREEL: These lads are going to be miners.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00But how are they going to learn the job?
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Should they be sent straight down the pit
0:10:02 > 0:10:03where they'll be in everybody's way
0:10:03 > 0:10:05or should they go to college
0:10:05 > 0:10:07where they won't learn anything of the practical side?
0:10:09 > 0:10:11# The workmen in the Rhondda
0:10:11 > 0:10:13# Are wonderful boys
0:10:13 > 0:10:17# They get to their work without any noise
0:10:17 > 0:10:21# They say through the Rhondda you never will see... #
0:10:21 > 0:10:23I started in the pit when I was 16,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27as my two brothers and my father done before me.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I went straight into the training centre, you could just walk into
0:10:30 > 0:10:31the job in them days.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34I didn't feel that I was a miner while I was on the surface,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36to be honest with you.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Finally, when I went underground, I wished I was back on top.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42# They say through the Rhondda you never will see
0:10:42 > 0:10:46# A merrier lot than in Tipperary
0:10:46 > 0:10:48# Too-re-loo
0:10:48 > 0:10:50# Too-re-lay
0:10:50 > 0:10:55# The best little doughboy that's under Jim Gray... #
0:10:55 > 0:10:58The first time I went underground, and I don't mind admitting
0:10:58 > 0:11:01I was a little apprehensive.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04My father had worked the coal mines, he didn't want me to go down.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Uncles had told me the same thing,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It was fairly comfortable once I got down there.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15Whitewashed roadways,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17I could see everything that was going on
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and I thought, "This is not so bad.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23"I'll just continue on like this."
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Later, when I was at the coalface,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30that was a different world altogether.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Instead of walking in heights of eight or nine feet
0:11:33 > 0:11:37along roadways, you were down to 3'6".
0:11:37 > 0:11:39And it was ordinary wooden props,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41setting steel bars
0:11:41 > 0:11:44and the moving forward, having filled off
0:11:44 > 0:11:47a stretch of coal anywhere between
0:11:47 > 0:11:49three and six yards of coal.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53# Oh, talk about hauling It's nothing but fun
0:11:53 > 0:11:57# To do it on the level as well as on the rung
0:11:57 > 0:12:00# To hook her and sprag her and holler, "Gee, way"
0:12:00 > 0:12:04# I'm the best little doughboy that's under Jim Gray. #
0:12:04 > 0:12:07When I left school, it was the Thursday before Good Friday.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10It was in the days when school leaving
0:12:10 > 0:12:13had just been put up to 15.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14So when I got home on Thursday
0:12:14 > 0:12:16before Good Friday,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19My mother says, "Michael, your tea's on the table.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21"By the way, you're starting the pit on Tuesday."
0:12:21 > 0:12:24They may have been barely more than children,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26but they were expected to work as hard as any adult.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29My most embarrassing moments down the pit,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and I only had about a yard of coal to fill off,
0:12:31 > 0:12:32which is nothing, really,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34so I'm filling away
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and all of a sudden I sees this figure
0:12:36 > 0:12:38filling away with my coals.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40"Who the hell are you, what are you doing?"
0:12:40 > 0:12:42and it was my father.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44My father was a deputy on that face
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and he said, "I've just come to give you a hand."
0:12:47 > 0:12:50After that I got all the flack from the fellas -
0:12:50 > 0:12:53"He's got to get his bloody father to come and help out!
0:12:53 > 0:12:56"Wahey, Kirky, man, you're hopeless."
0:12:56 > 0:12:59So I told them, "Never again.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02"It doesn't matter if I'm struggling, just stay away."
0:13:02 > 0:13:06# I'm the best little doughboy that's under Jim Gray
0:13:06 > 0:13:07# Too-re-loo
0:13:07 > 0:13:10# Too-re-lay
0:13:10 > 0:13:14# The best little doughboy that's under Jim Gray. #
0:13:22 > 0:13:24For the Film Unit's crew,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26who weren't used to working underground,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28filming in mines was a challenge.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31The real difficulty about filming underground
0:13:31 > 0:13:34was that fireproof regulations were so strict
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and we were limited - first of all,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38the camera couldn't be electric
0:13:38 > 0:13:41so we used a clockwork Newman Sinclair camera
0:13:41 > 0:13:44which you wound up like this, laboriously.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47The lights were not made for filming
0:13:47 > 0:13:49and they were very heavy.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52It was very different from filming on the surface.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54The room you had to move around in
0:13:54 > 0:13:57was very much more limited,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00but you became used to this.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05The newly nationalised coal industry
0:14:05 > 0:14:07was hugely confident
0:14:07 > 0:14:09and the Mining Review films
0:14:09 > 0:14:12trumpeted its expansion and modernisation.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13NEWSREEL: Within 100 yards,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16is a coal mine that's been there for years.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Now, a five-year reconstruction plan is to win more coal
0:14:19 > 0:14:21from under Manchester,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23much of which will be for the city itself.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31Coal carried many of the hopes of post-war Britain.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37There was a pride in these nationalised industries,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39particularly coal mining,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42this can be seen very much in the animated film King Coal,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45made shortly after nationalisation.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52King Coal is stirred from his slumbers underground
0:14:52 > 0:14:56by the cries from homes and factories for more coal.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06And he comes to the surface and is seen bestride
0:15:06 > 0:15:09the nation and there's a wonderful sense of movement
0:15:09 > 0:15:11and colour and vitality
0:15:11 > 0:15:14from this Technicolor film.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22# Old King Coal was a merry old soul... #
0:15:22 > 0:15:28It serves both as a recruitment film and a piece of general propaganda
0:15:28 > 0:15:30for the coal industry in Britain.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40King Coal allowed the National Coal Board to speak directly to
0:15:40 > 0:15:44the public, reminding them of the key role played by coal
0:15:44 > 0:15:46in the life of Britain.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53In fact, the NCB was so buoyant about the future that it was happy
0:15:53 > 0:15:56for miners to user its Film Unit to air work-related issues
0:15:56 > 0:15:59such as the argument for a five-day week.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Can we afford it?
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Well, Al, I'm all in favour of the five-day week.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06We shall benefit physically from having a long weekend rest.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08We may lose in production
0:16:08 > 0:16:09but eventually will recover it.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11We're all for it, Arthur,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13but I definitely know this,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16to ensure five full coal production days,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18we still need an extra day,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21and we shall need volunteers to do this.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Get the double pay for the extra day,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27same as they get it on Sundays now.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28I don't think so, Harold.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Production is bound to drop.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Granted, the five-day week must come to the pits
0:16:35 > 0:16:38because they already have got it in other industries.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42As was typical in the Mining Review series,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44the film ends on a singsong.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48# Hellfire, son of a gun
0:16:48 > 0:16:50# Stand by, don't push
0:16:50 > 0:16:52# Plenty of room for you and me
0:16:52 > 0:16:54# Here's not an arm just like a leg
0:16:54 > 0:16:56# A lady's leg... #
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Along with the debate about the five-day week,
0:16:59 > 0:17:03the early Mining Reviews highlighted improvements in the health
0:17:03 > 0:17:06and welfare of miners and their families,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08from the creation of new homes...
0:17:08 > 0:17:10NEWSREEL: This is a great day for the Wilkes family.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12They're moving in.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Instead of one room for all purposes,
0:17:14 > 0:17:19they have a sitting room, dining room, kitchen and three bedrooms.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21..to the development of health centres...
0:17:21 > 0:17:25NEWSREEL: Every day of the week, the health centre is full.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27The doctor's wife, herself a radiographer,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30has the job of X-raying each miner every six months.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34..and improved access to higher education.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38NEWSREEL: This year dozens of young miners from all over the country
0:17:38 > 0:17:39went back to school.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43They had won university scholarships given by the National Coal Board
0:17:43 > 0:17:46for training new mining engineers and administrators.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53In May, 1949, the Film Unit was sent to record the visit
0:17:53 > 0:17:58of the big American singing star Paul Robeson to a mine in Scotland.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Paul Robeson was intending to go to an Edinburgh colliery
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and to sing to the miners in the canteen.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11And we turned up and filmed him, I think that afternoon,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14talking to the miners, walking about,
0:18:14 > 0:18:20erm, and then we filmed the singing in the evening.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and he sang I Thought I Saw Joe Hill Last Night
0:18:23 > 0:18:26which is an American song.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Joe Hill was a legendary American trade union activist
0:18:30 > 0:18:32before the First World War.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36# "I never died," says he
0:18:37 > 0:18:41# "I never died," says he
0:18:43 > 0:18:47# "In Salt Lake City, Joe, " says I
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Him standing by my bed
0:18:51 > 0:18:52# They framed you on a... #
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Paul Robeson was very popular at this time
0:18:54 > 0:18:57amongst mining communities in particular,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01partly as a result of the feature film in which he starred,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04The Proud Valley, from 1940,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07in which he played an heroic and self-sacrificing
0:19:07 > 0:19:10miner in South Wales.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13He had strong sympathies for the underdog
0:19:13 > 0:19:18and this earned him great respect amongst working-class communities.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20To the miners, it must have been quite something,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22in their everyday canteen
0:19:22 > 0:19:28to be visited by someone who was a huge celebrity then
0:19:28 > 0:19:32and for him to sing there such a song,
0:19:32 > 0:19:34it must have been both moving and thrilling.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44# Went on to organise
0:19:44 > 0:19:48# I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
0:19:48 > 0:19:52# Alive as you and me
0:19:52 > 0:19:56# Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead
0:19:57 > 0:20:01# "I never died," says he
0:20:02 > 0:20:08# "I never died," says he
0:20:08 > 0:20:14# "I never died"
0:20:14 > 0:20:21# Says he. #
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Into the 1950s,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33increased mechanisation lead to greater productivity.
0:20:33 > 0:20:39NEWSREEL: Here, 31 men have been averaging over 230 tonnes a shift
0:20:39 > 0:20:44with a bigger output possible if they can get it away quickly enough.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45That's pretty good going,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47and the coal's not all small stuff, either.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Things were looking rosy for both the industry
0:20:53 > 0:20:54and the miners and their families -
0:20:54 > 0:20:59there's a real glow to the Mining Review films of this period.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Most of what miner's did in their spare time
0:21:13 > 0:21:16focused around the local welfare or social centre,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20which offered a range of sports, leisure and educational activities,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23funded by the miners themselves.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28NEWSREEL: The centre cost some £120,000 to build.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32It was provided by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and the miners and their families from Bilston Glen
0:21:35 > 0:21:39and other surrounding collieries make full use of it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41And at the time, every miner
0:21:41 > 0:21:43paid a one penny levy
0:21:43 > 0:21:47to the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation
0:21:47 > 0:21:50and they organise most of the welfare things that were going on.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54First of all, they supported outdoor facilities
0:21:54 > 0:21:56as well as indoor facilities.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00NEWSREEL: Young Abe is a busy man.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Not only has he this swimming bath plant to look after,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06but he also has to make sure that nothing goes wrong with
0:22:06 > 0:22:08the tea-making apparatus
0:22:08 > 0:22:12for that's what keeps the ladies happy while the men enjoy themselves.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16And within them Welfare Institutes,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18you had libraries,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20and in them libraries,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22there was books of all sorts,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26where people educated themselves.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37What a beautiful room this is.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41It's bought and paid for by the people of this community here.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Paid it out of their wages.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46This cooperative spirit
0:22:46 > 0:22:48was frequently captured in Mining Review.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52THEY SING A HYMN
0:22:53 > 0:22:55All the films articulate
0:22:55 > 0:22:57that sense that you don't live your life alone.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00You live it with other people
0:23:00 > 0:23:02and for other people.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Lee Hall
0:23:16 > 0:23:20is fascinated by the social dynamics of the old mining communities.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22He's come to the British Film Institute
0:23:22 > 0:23:27to explore documents relating to the Coal Board's Film Unit, which,
0:23:27 > 0:23:32like the films themselves, have been archived here for 30 years.
0:23:32 > 0:23:33The Rolling Miner.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35I have no idea what this could be.
0:23:35 > 0:23:3713th year.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39It was only after writing Billy Elliot,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42with its story of a miner's son who wants to be a ballet dancer,
0:23:42 > 0:23:47that Lee came across evidence mining and ballet had mixed before.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49This is brilliant. Obviously,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51I'd written Billy Elliot as a kind of fantasy,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55and then when I was working with the Archive here,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58they showed me this amazing film
0:23:58 > 0:24:01of these stocky miners,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05there's all these shots of them down the mine
0:24:05 > 0:24:07and there's Jim Turner, the fireman.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09NEWSREEL: Fireman Jim Turner,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12underground worker, Jack Fish,
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Colin Plant, clerk,
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and storekeeper, Israel Downton.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19They're all working underground and then they come up
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and they did this mad
0:24:22 > 0:24:25sort of ballet dance.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27NEWSREEL: And here come the boys.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I beg your pardon, gi...
0:24:29 > 0:24:30I mean boys.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40They danced Coppelia
0:24:40 > 0:24:43for the delectation of the village
0:24:43 > 0:24:46and it's just absolutely hilarious and charming.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Typically in mining villages,
0:24:55 > 0:24:57entertainment was a communal activity,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01something participated in with neighbours and friends.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05The biggest communal event in the miners' calendar was the gala day,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07or miners' picnic,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10and music was always central to these events.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:25:16 > 0:25:19The Miners' Picnic in Northumberland was a huge
0:25:19 > 0:25:22family celebration. Families came from all over
0:25:22 > 0:25:24the Northumberland coalfield
0:25:24 > 0:25:27to get together for a big party day.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Every pit would have its own brass band
0:25:30 > 0:25:31or they would have borrowed one
0:25:31 > 0:25:33if they didn't have their own, for the day,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36so there would be a wonderful atmosphere.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Competition was important at these gatherings.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49The local colliery bands would all compete for the title
0:25:49 > 0:25:52of Best Brass Band.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55NEWSREEL: The adjudicator, Mr Oliver Howarth, of Manchester,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58is locked in a room and no-one must have contact with him.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00When he hears the band playing,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02he doesn't know which one it is, he can't see it.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Next band, please.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Right, Mr Howarth.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10The adjudicator is now ready.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Every miner had sixpence deducted
0:26:24 > 0:26:28from his wages by the Miners' Union
0:26:28 > 0:26:30to pay for the brass band.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35And there were 165,000 men in the Northern Coalfield
0:26:35 > 0:26:39in 300 pits in the 1950s.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42If you think about 165,000 sixpences every week,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47you can see why it supported 150 bands.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49TRUMPETS DRONE
0:26:55 > 0:27:00It gave children a great opportunity to learn music,
0:27:00 > 0:27:04and it was a source of pride in every family that they had somebody
0:27:04 > 0:27:06playing in a brass band.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09It was a great educational thing as well as being something that
0:27:09 > 0:27:12cemented the community together and gave them a sense
0:27:12 > 0:27:16of pride in having a band that was able to win competitions
0:27:16 > 0:27:19or simply just appear at the gala.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:27:24 > 0:27:26NEWSREEL: After the contest, in the afternoon,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29all of the bands march down to the picnic field.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37Brass bands themselves are kind of seen as a sentimental thing,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39largely because of the Hovis advert.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42But there's something quite powerful and Wagnerian
0:27:42 > 0:27:44about the swell of this big load of brass coming up,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47and the way a Yorkshire brass band plays,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51and I know this because we've been looking into brass sounds -
0:27:51 > 0:27:53completely different from a New Orleans trumpet
0:27:53 > 0:27:56will flare and blare,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59whereas a Yorkshire one does this Wagnerian swell.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01There's something majestic about it,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03it's not just whimsy and nostalgia,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07there's something quite powerful about it.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19What seems most significant is it was a band,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22it wasn't about individual virtuosity.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25It was about coming together and each playing your part
0:28:25 > 0:28:28and you create this glorious sound.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Before the end of the day,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45the judges had another winner to appoint.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Who was the prettiest girl?
0:28:47 > 0:28:51The mining industry encouraged its pretty young ladies to come forward
0:28:51 > 0:28:55and represent the collieries and the coalfield communities
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and we developed Coal Queens.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Over the years, it became more than just a little local event,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05it actually became a national competition.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10And I had the privilege in 1982 of representing Northumberland
0:29:10 > 0:29:13and that was huge fun.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Some of the prizes were more than a week's wage,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18so it was a big deal
0:29:18 > 0:29:20to win these things.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27But one musical tradition was on the wane,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30the mining folk ballads.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# I wish your daddy may be weel
0:29:39 > 0:29:42# He's langly comin' frae the keel
0:29:42 > 0:29:45# Though his black face be like the De'il
0:29:45 > 0:29:47# I like a kiss frae Johnny... #
0:29:50 > 0:29:51In the mid-'50s,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55Mining Review became part of an initiative to revive and record
0:29:55 > 0:29:57this dying folk tradition.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01We often tend to think of folk song in terms of
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Merrie England, dancing round the maypole,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06a rural version of folk tradition.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08But there was just as much a tradition
0:30:08 > 0:30:09of industrial folk song
0:30:09 > 0:30:13which is deeply embedded in the coalfields around Britain.
0:30:13 > 0:30:14Now, AL Lloyd
0:30:14 > 0:30:19a folklorist who published a book in the 1950s called
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Come All Ye Miners: Songs & Ballads of the Coalfields,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26and he actually used Mining Review as one of his research tools.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29In Mining Review Fourth Year, Number 9,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32there's a very interesting story called Miners' Songs
0:30:32 > 0:30:35in which Lloyd appears on camera,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37appealing to miners and mining communities
0:30:37 > 0:30:41to dig out songs from their local folk tradition
0:30:41 > 0:30:44that he could use in his research.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46We want to collect them before they disappear
0:30:46 > 0:30:48so we're having a competition with prizes.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51If you know any of these songs of the coalfields,
0:30:51 > 0:30:52please send them to me.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54My name is AL Lloyd
0:30:54 > 0:30:58and you'll find full particulars in the May issue of Coal Magazine.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01The 80 or so folk songs collected
0:31:01 > 0:31:04by AL Lloyd in his book
0:31:04 > 0:31:06Come All Ye Bold Miners
0:31:06 > 0:31:09form an important historical record of the ballads
0:31:09 > 0:31:12of the British coalfields.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14There's a famous song called The Blackleg Miners.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17This is the version in the AL Lloyd book.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19"Oh, early in the evening
0:31:19 > 0:31:21"Just after dark
0:31:21 > 0:31:23"The blackleg miners creep out and go to work
0:31:23 > 0:31:26"With their moleskin trousers and dirty old shirt..."
0:31:26 > 0:31:30# Oh, it's in the evening after dark
0:31:30 > 0:31:34# That the blackleg miner goes to work
0:31:36 > 0:31:41# With his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt
0:31:41 > 0:31:44# There goes the blackleg miner... #
0:31:45 > 0:31:49It is a sort of comic song about strike breakers,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53but I think that's typical of the salty,
0:31:53 > 0:31:59ironic way that these writers use that experience.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03# It's in the evening after dark
0:32:03 > 0:32:07# The blackleg miner goes to work
0:32:07 > 0:32:09# With his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt
0:32:09 > 0:32:11# There goes the blackleg miner... #
0:32:13 > 0:32:14Now, several years after Lloyd
0:32:14 > 0:32:17had published his book of mining songs,
0:32:17 > 0:32:20there was a spin-off back into Mining Review,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22because in 1957,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Mining Review ran five stories
0:32:25 > 0:32:28as part of the regular issues called The Songs Of The Coalfields.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31These were all taken from Lloyd's research,
0:32:31 > 0:32:35using Isla Cameron, she's singing the Sandgate Nursing Song,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37and using particularly Ewan MacColl
0:32:37 > 0:32:39singing a number of songs
0:32:39 > 0:32:41from north-east England, Scotland and Wales.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46# One morning when I went to work
0:32:46 > 0:32:48# The sight was most exciting
0:32:48 > 0:32:50# I heard a noise and looked aroond
0:32:50 > 0:32:51# And who do you think was fightin'?
0:32:51 > 0:32:54# I stood amazed and at 'em gazed... #
0:32:54 > 0:32:57That in turn led to an association between Mining Review
0:32:57 > 0:33:00and Ewan MacColl in particular and Peggy Seeger
0:33:00 > 0:33:02and they supplied some songs for use
0:33:02 > 0:33:06on some Mining Review stories later.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08# It's because it's my intention
0:33:08 > 0:33:10# To let me see whether you or me
0:33:10 > 0:33:12# Is the best invention... #
0:33:14 > 0:33:17A lot of what the songs are about
0:33:17 > 0:33:21are the problems of property, the industrial conflicts
0:33:21 > 0:33:23there were going on in the coalfields.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26The corpus of songs in the north-east
0:33:26 > 0:33:31it's a sort of 200-year-old litany
0:33:31 > 0:33:35of this, of the hardships and the political and social struggle
0:33:35 > 0:33:38that these communities had to face.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40# One old kid sent his notice in
0:33:40 > 0:33:43# Just to mix the maisters... #
0:33:50 > 0:33:53It's just a song that a friend of mine asked and it's called
0:33:53 > 0:33:57The Working Man. It's about a miner
0:33:57 > 0:33:59starting work at 16
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and then finishing at 65.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03It's just...
0:34:03 > 0:34:06# It's a working man I am
0:34:06 > 0:34:09# And I've been down underground
0:34:09 > 0:34:14# And I swear to God if I ever see the sun
0:34:14 > 0:34:17# Or for any length of time
0:34:17 > 0:34:20# I can hold it in my mind
0:34:20 > 0:34:25# Then I never again will go down underground. #
0:34:25 > 0:34:27That's the gist of it.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Actually, my husband loves it, it's his favourite song.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38# Pray tell me the cause of your trouble and pain
0:34:40 > 0:34:47# And sobbing and sighing, these words she did answer... #
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Fatal disasters had been part of life for coal communities
0:34:51 > 0:34:53ever since mining began.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Some of the most powerful songs collected by AL Lloyd
0:34:56 > 0:34:59are about such incidents.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02This one commemorates a disaster in Scotland,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05The Blantyre Explosion.
0:35:05 > 0:35:10# The explosion was heard All the women and children
0:35:13 > 0:35:18# With pale, anxious faces They haste to the mine
0:35:20 > 0:35:24# When the truth was made known
0:35:24 > 0:35:27# The hills rang with their moaning
0:35:30 > 0:35:36# 310 young miners were slain... #
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Despite improvements in mining safety in the '50s,
0:35:45 > 0:35:47fatalities continued to occur.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55I've been where there's three people
0:35:55 > 0:35:59in my life down the pit
0:35:59 > 0:36:01been killed from me to you.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03Next to me.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05With fall of stone,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10and different things happening, and that was
0:36:10 > 0:36:14a frightening thing. Never slept
0:36:14 > 0:36:15for at least a fortnight,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18thinking about him being killed right beside you.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21- And could these accidents have been avoided?- Yes.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26I was in a rescue team
0:36:26 > 0:36:29and we had to go to a private mine
0:36:29 > 0:36:31in Tonyrefail,
0:36:31 > 0:36:36and there was a fatality there.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38This fella had got buried
0:36:38 > 0:36:42at about three o'clock on the Monday afternoon.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46And we didn't get him out of there until
0:36:46 > 0:36:49about one o'clock the following day.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53When we carried that guy out of that pit that day,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57it was a beautiful, bright, sunshiny day.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00His wife was wailing.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03That really grabbed you by the throat, that did, mind.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06That was not pleasant.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10But, like somebody said, "That's mining, innit?"
0:37:10 > 0:37:15Mining communities have a special way of burying their dead.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Any tragedy,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19the funeral
0:37:19 > 0:37:23was something to see, you know,
0:37:23 > 0:37:24they felt it.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32And they'd walk a certain length behind the hearse
0:37:32 > 0:37:35and they got in the cars when they were out of sight,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37towards the cemetery.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40It was respect.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44They had respect for each other.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48The women, including myself, there's a funeral,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51you stood there and you just watched.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53All the men in their suits and ties
0:37:53 > 0:37:57and all that, they all followed the hearse.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00It was a sight to see and you'd be crying
0:38:00 > 0:38:03even if you didn't know who it was,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06because it was so moving.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Watch out, prop!
0:38:29 > 0:38:32One of the things about the way miners work
0:38:32 > 0:38:35is that they have to trust one another,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37they have to be responsible.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41You're expected to consider your fellow man.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43Individualism, in a way,
0:38:43 > 0:38:46is outlawed by the very nature of the task.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48So when you do come up,
0:38:48 > 0:38:52there's a great sense of release
0:38:52 > 0:38:55and things are enhanced in a strange way.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58When you came out the pit,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00especially in the summer,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02it was a brilliant thing to come up
0:39:02 > 0:39:04into the sun,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07because you sort of knew what you had missed -
0:39:07 > 0:39:10that nice feeling of being in the sun.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12This quickened sense of life
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and the chance to be an individual again when above ground
0:39:15 > 0:39:19led to a flowering of artistic expression.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23A group of miners who painted were filmed by the Mining Review
0:39:23 > 0:39:24in 1959.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29NEWSREEL: These are the eyes of Oliver Kilbourn,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32a salvage drawer at Ellington pit in Northumberland.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34He's worked there since he was 13.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37In his spare time, he paints.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41I think there was a general belief that the arts were for everybody,
0:39:41 > 0:39:45and that you couldn't live a properly fulfilled life
0:39:45 > 0:39:48without having some cultural and artistic expression.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Oliver Kilbourn is a member of a group
0:39:51 > 0:39:52started in 1934
0:39:52 > 0:39:54to foster artistic appreciation.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56It wasn't long before the members
0:39:56 > 0:39:59decided to do some painting themselves.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Back in the early 1930s,
0:40:01 > 0:40:02the Ashington Group came together
0:40:02 > 0:40:06as a result of a workers' education initiative.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09They'd studied all kinds of different subjects beforehand -
0:40:09 > 0:40:12history and politics and all kinds of things -
0:40:12 > 0:40:15and although they couldn't find a lecturer that they
0:40:15 > 0:40:18wanted for their particular subject, this year,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20they had the option of doing art appreciation.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22So, not being one to shirk
0:40:22 > 0:40:27a challenge, they decided to give it a go.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30Working from a YMCA hall in Ashington,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33they pursued their interest in art by employing Robert Lyon,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37an arts academic from Newcastle University.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40When Robert Lyon arrived in Ashington,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43it must have been a complete culture shock for him.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45He thought, "This will be a doddle because I've done it
0:40:45 > 0:40:47"a thousand times before
0:40:47 > 0:40:49"and we'll give them this, this and this
0:40:49 > 0:40:51"and we're home and dry, they'll be happy."
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Well, they weren't.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55They were probably more knowledgeable
0:40:55 > 0:40:57about the history of art
0:40:57 > 0:41:00than he anticipated they would be
0:41:00 > 0:41:03and therefore in an endeavour to try and move it on,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07he tried to look at more practical aspects of art
0:41:07 > 0:41:10and then realised that they were not susceptible
0:41:10 > 0:41:16to being formally trained as artists.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18NEWSREEL: The group believes
0:41:18 > 0:41:22that the amateur shouldn't try to copy the professionals.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24While expert techniques may be beyond their range,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27they can still express what they see and feel
0:41:27 > 0:41:29as directly and simply as possible.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Jim Floyd, left,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35has been 47 years in the pits.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38He's working alongside Len Robinson
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and he's putting the finishing touches to his Easter Wedding.
0:41:42 > 0:41:43But the men themselves
0:41:43 > 0:41:46would have been all dressed up in their Sunday best,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49but painting with whatever came to hand.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51There wasn't money to spare frivolously
0:41:51 > 0:41:53on buying paints and canvas,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56so they would paint with wall paint,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59they would use bits of hardboard that they had,
0:41:59 > 0:42:01bits of wood, whatever came to hand.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05And usually whatever colours came to hand as well.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10I do believe that some of the colours that are on the wall
0:42:10 > 0:42:12perhaps started off with a culinary origin.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15SHE LAUGHS
0:42:15 > 0:42:17For these miners, painting the classics
0:42:17 > 0:42:19had no relevance.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21For they, like Fred Laidler,
0:42:21 > 0:42:22here on the left,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25wanted to paint what was important to them
0:42:25 > 0:42:27such as their tool box.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Fred Laidler was my father.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35He was always interested in drawing and in art.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40The Open Drawer is the one picture I can remember being painted.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43My father was a joiner.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45He loved being a joiner.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47He loved the tools,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50they were just an extension of himself.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52But, again,
0:42:52 > 0:42:54typical of them,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56he knew the history of tools,
0:42:56 > 0:42:58he'd read about tools,
0:42:58 > 0:42:59he knew where they came from,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03what they were used for and he cherished them.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06As was characteristic of miners,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08they set up a structure, with rules,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12which outlined how the group would work in detail.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16It's the Ashington Art Group,
0:43:16 > 0:43:18they made this rule book.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20It's incredibly bureaucratic.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23I think it speaks a lot about the importance
0:43:23 > 0:43:27they put in any activity that they did.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Number five - new members
0:43:29 > 0:43:32to be informed when starting of the following conditions.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34A probation period
0:43:34 > 0:43:37which shall constitute six consecutive meetings.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Two - that the group shall decide
0:43:40 > 0:43:42at the seventh meeting by unanimous vote
0:43:42 > 0:43:46whether or not the candidate shall be accepted,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48et cetera, et cetera.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51It seems kind of probably unnecessary
0:43:51 > 0:43:53in order to make art.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00One of my favourite paintings in the collection
0:44:00 > 0:44:03is one of Len Robinson's
0:44:03 > 0:44:05and the lady is standing on the table in the kitchen
0:44:05 > 0:44:07whitewashing the ceiling.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10The man is just tending to a piece of stuff on the wall.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14I imagine that's fairly typical, certainly was typical in my house
0:44:14 > 0:44:17where my mother would have done the stronger bits of work
0:44:17 > 0:44:20and my father, if he'd been allowed
0:44:20 > 0:44:21to do anything at all,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23it would have been something menial or
0:44:23 > 0:44:26he would have been chased out of the house altogether.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Wives and mothers are often conspicuously absent as subjects
0:44:31 > 0:44:33in the Mining Review films.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36This goes against what we know about how pivotal
0:44:36 > 0:44:38women were in making pit life work.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Men were doing the work, they were going down the mine,
0:44:41 > 0:44:43but at home we had to be very strong.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Because they worked such long hours,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50that the wives had to see to most things.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53My husband didn't know what shopping was until he retired.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56He didn't know how much a pair of shoes were.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00So the women had to be strong and do a lot.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01Everything in those days.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04- They didn't know which drawer their socks were in, did they?- No.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08- We nearly sugared their teas for them.- We did, that's right.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12When husbands and sons arrived back from work,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15the women were expected to have hot food on the table
0:45:15 > 0:45:17and hot water to wash in.
0:45:17 > 0:45:18This was further complicated
0:45:18 > 0:45:21if the men in the house worked different shifts.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28If you had a family, perhaps a husband and two sons,
0:45:28 > 0:45:32and they were working in different shifts,
0:45:32 > 0:45:35you had men going out, men coming in,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38they all had to be fed at different times,
0:45:38 > 0:45:41they all had to get their sleep at different times,
0:45:41 > 0:45:44they all had to get bathed at different times
0:45:44 > 0:45:47when there wasn't pit baths so water had to be heated.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50And, of course, in the early days,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53they didn't have what they called the pit baths,
0:45:53 > 0:45:55which was where they got bathed
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and they had to come home dirty and you had all these dirty
0:45:58 > 0:46:00clothes they'd been wearing,
0:46:00 > 0:46:02you had to clean all that lot,
0:46:02 > 0:46:04and get ready for them for the next day
0:46:04 > 0:46:08which wasn't very easy as you can imagine.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12My first two children didn't know they had a father.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15He was in what we call "four shift"
0:46:15 > 0:46:19and he used to go out at 12 o'clock at night
0:46:19 > 0:46:22and by the time he came in, the kids were away to school.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30In spite of these long and exhausting shifts,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34some miners still found time to write.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36NEWSREEL: Miners returning home in the dark hours
0:46:36 > 0:46:39often heard the click-clack-click of a typewriter
0:46:39 > 0:46:41coming from a house in Whitwell in the Midlands.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44It was Clarrie Stafford and he was typing a play
0:46:44 > 0:46:46that he'd written about mining folk.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51It was accepted by the Chesterfield Civic Theatre.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53Some men would make a fuss o'er owt.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Maybe so but I bet you never had
0:46:55 > 0:46:57your carbuncle poked with a stick.
0:46:57 > 0:46:58SHE GROANS
0:46:58 > 0:47:00It was called Dear Strikers
0:47:00 > 0:47:03and was about the day the ladies went on strike.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Well, this is a comedy.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But ever since I saw a man hacking away at the coalface,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13I wanted to write about the miners.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15That was in 1929
0:47:15 > 0:47:18when I was 14.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21And a miner's life lends itself to humour,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25drama and sometimes tragedy.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28And, so, 12 months ago,
0:47:28 > 0:47:33I decided to write this play about the only people I really knew.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35It's a moment of tension,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39even for the old-stagers, as curtain-up approaches.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41But Chesterfield soon made up its mind.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46They liked the show and they made their appreciation felt.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49One miner whose writings came to national prominence
0:47:49 > 0:47:51during this period was Sid Chaplin
0:47:51 > 0:47:53from the north-east.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57His stories often focused on the rural nature of the pit village.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00"From boyhood, I've loved the long, winding valley
0:48:00 > 0:48:05"with the Pennines, hazy and half-seen in the distance.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08"It was then that the countryside grew upon me.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11"The micro-cosmos of the village, the fields and farm,
0:48:11 > 0:48:16"the river and the woods provided new wonders every day.
0:48:16 > 0:48:21"When the sun shone there was open country to run wild in."
0:48:21 > 0:48:23Ah...
0:48:23 > 0:48:25this is Sid Chaplin.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28He wrote these incredibly beautiful stories about
0:48:28 > 0:48:31working as a young man in the mines,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36but also about the world of the pit village,
0:48:36 > 0:48:38kind of what it meant in this period
0:48:38 > 0:48:40of huge change.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45Even he's talking about how the big modernised, streamlined
0:48:45 > 0:48:48industry was taking over,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50this small industry...
0:48:51 > 0:48:54The idea of the pit village,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57they were very often very small communities
0:48:57 > 0:49:01and what people don't perhaps understand
0:49:01 > 0:49:05is that they were very often close to the countryside.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10I was born in-between Weardale and Teesdale
0:49:10 > 0:49:12and the pits.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17There was this splendid moorland landscape just the doorstep.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21Just at the end of the street, always you had the pulley wheels.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25And I graduated from that kind of landscape,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28600-feet underground,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32into an entirely different landscape, a man-made landscape
0:49:32 > 0:49:36and that fired me as well.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38I think this is very much Sid,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41when he writes, "My work and background is more important,
0:49:41 > 0:49:43"the place and the people where I grew up."
0:49:43 > 0:49:48I think what he manages to do rather brilliantly is to
0:49:48 > 0:49:52use his own life to tell this bigger story.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55NEWSREEL: What's important is this.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57You have a nice high tea,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Heinz soup, half a pound of cooked pork,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02with a little of the crackling for body.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06You languorously climb the stairs and have a nice, hot bath,
0:50:06 > 0:50:07water up to your chin.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09For this is Friday night
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and you want to sweat clean, if you have to sweat,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16and it's ten to a penny you will before the weekend's over.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Then you shave yourself with real precision,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21brush your teeth, cupping a hand over your mouth,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24blowing your breath up just to make sure that the old womanising
0:50:24 > 0:50:26breathing is sweet.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Then you pull on a clean shirt
0:50:29 > 0:50:32and feel your skin tingle, pingle, tingle.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34That's the way it should be
0:50:34 > 0:50:37and has been for a thousand nights or more.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49The 1950s had been a good decade for the mining industry,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51with coal production peaking.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00But the 1960s would see a prolonged period of contraction.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05In 1963, Mining Review produced a short piece about the closure
0:51:05 > 0:51:07of a pit in Wales.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09It began with a song by Ewan MacColl.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12# Come all you gallant colliers
0:51:12 > 0:51:16# And listen to me tale
0:51:16 > 0:51:19# How they closed the Aberaman pit
0:51:19 > 0:51:22# In Aberdare, South Wales
0:51:22 > 0:51:25# It was in 1842
0:51:25 > 0:51:28# That coal there first was won
0:51:28 > 0:51:32# She's yielded 40 million tonnes
0:51:32 > 0:51:36# But now her days are done. #
0:51:36 > 0:51:40Coal was starting to be seen as a dirty fuel
0:51:40 > 0:51:42and an industry that belonged in the past.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Many people associate the '80s
0:51:45 > 0:51:48with a real period of decline
0:51:48 > 0:51:50of the mining industry,
0:51:50 > 0:51:51which it certainly was,
0:51:51 > 0:51:56but it wasn't the first time that mass closure of pits
0:51:56 > 0:51:57had happened.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01The '60s was a period when many thousands of miners
0:52:01 > 0:52:05lost their jobs and communities were either destroyed or uprooted.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15The National Coal Board had to adopt a different approach
0:52:15 > 0:52:18to attracting new recruits.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23Teenagers were no longer so keen to go down the pit...
0:52:23 > 0:52:27so its recruitment films, now made in colour,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30like this one from 1965, Big Job,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34had to work much harder to make the industry seem appealing.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38NEWSREEL: And to get the most out of the machines,
0:52:38 > 0:52:39we need more men,
0:52:39 > 0:52:44young men who want to learn the thousand skills a miner must master.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Behind the bravado of Big Job,
0:52:50 > 0:52:54it's clear that this is an industry in decline
0:52:54 > 0:52:57and that true confidence is beginning to diminish.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59This is seen in the tone
0:52:59 > 0:53:03and style of films made from the late 1960s onwards.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06CHEERING AND WHISTLES
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Health and safety animations, like this one,
0:53:13 > 0:53:15still had a practical purpose.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18The tone, though, is plainly more trivial.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20SLEAZY MUSIC AND CHEERS
0:53:32 > 0:53:34The problems threatening coal-mining
0:53:34 > 0:53:36were about to become fatally divisive.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40But the films just weren't able to reflect this.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42At one point they got really cheeky and asked for a budget
0:53:42 > 0:53:46for some dolly birds and made a sort of Carry On Down The Pit
0:53:46 > 0:53:48kind of thing or Confessions Of A Pit Man kind of thing,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50getting a little bit saucy.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02One of the interesting things about these films
0:54:02 > 0:54:05is that the trajectory of the NCB's film-making history
0:54:05 > 0:54:09kind of reflects the trajectory of the coal industry in general.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11And as we know, of course,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s,
0:54:14 > 0:54:18this was an industry headed towards a crisis.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22And the films take on a slightly desperate kind of triumphalist
0:54:22 > 0:54:25tone in an attempt to try and convince the viewer
0:54:25 > 0:54:29that the mining industry has hundreds of years of glorious
0:54:29 > 0:54:31future ahead of it.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37NEWSREEL: And it is upon them, they who implement the tools
0:54:37 > 0:54:39and the decisions,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41as well as upon the mining engineers
0:54:41 > 0:54:46who will continue to devise and execute their dreams of the future
0:54:46 > 0:54:49that we shall all continue to win our essential
0:54:49 > 0:54:51energy from under the earth,
0:54:51 > 0:54:56not only for the next 40 years but for the next 400.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05I think it's very telling that in a film made in 1978,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08they make a point of ending on the conclusion,
0:55:08 > 0:55:10the resounding conclusion,
0:55:10 > 0:55:14that there are 400-years' worth of coal underground.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18And that was true and to make that point at that time
0:55:18 > 0:55:21is quite significant and perhaps they knew
0:55:21 > 0:55:25there were forces at play
0:55:25 > 0:55:28that meant they were under threat and they might not be
0:55:28 > 0:55:31around for that long.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35The NCB Film Unit,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39which had been launched in 1947 with pride and much fanfare,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43making films that were seen by millions in Britain every month,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45now quietly stopped production
0:55:45 > 0:55:48as the coal industry began to be broken up.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53The very final Mining Review,
0:55:53 > 0:55:5636th Year, Number 5,
0:55:56 > 0:55:58which was released in April 1983,
0:55:58 > 0:56:03so just before the miners' strike began.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07To me, this is one of the most moving films ever made.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11NEWSREEL: Only coal, exemplified by the impending birth of the new
0:56:11 > 0:56:14Selby coalfield and its vast reserves,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18can guarantee us a supply of energy for centuries ahead.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Selby is a forerunner,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29a blueprint for the other great coalfields of the future.
0:56:29 > 0:56:34There must, and will be, a light at the end of the energy tunnel
0:56:34 > 0:56:36and, born of coal,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38it will dazzle us.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43The very year the Film Unit closed,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47the National Union of Mineworkers went on strike for the last time.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07The strike ended in defeat for the miners
0:57:07 > 0:57:10and led to an extensive closure programme
0:57:10 > 0:57:13and the eventual privatisation of the industry.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18There are now less than a handful of deep coal mines in Britain,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22employing just a few thousand people.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25In most of the former mining communities,
0:57:25 > 0:57:29the remnants of the coal industry have been erased from the landscape.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32If you look around Ashington now,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36or if you are a stranger coming into Ashington for the first time,
0:57:36 > 0:57:38there's very little evidence
0:57:38 > 0:57:43that it was ever a thriving coal-producing town.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48It was inevitable, I suppose, but nevertheless,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51it changed the whole nature
0:57:51 > 0:57:55of the town, it changed the people, it changed their attitudes.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00My granddaughter, she's 16 now.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02When she was about ten, I took her
0:58:02 > 0:58:05to where was I was working and there was a boiler house full of coal.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09When she saw the coal, she said, "What's all them stones?"
0:58:09 > 0:58:11She thought it was stones.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13She was about eight to ten years of age.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17She's 16 now, so she didn't even know what coal was!
0:58:17 > 0:58:18So there we go.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23That's how far a distance we are from it now.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26# It stands so proud
0:58:26 > 0:58:31# The wheel so still
0:58:31 > 0:58:36# A ghostlike figure on the hill
0:58:38 > 0:58:42# It seems so strange
0:58:42 > 0:58:46# There is no sound
0:58:46 > 0:58:52# Now there are no men underground. #