A song written by Rita McNeil and this performance by Welshman David Alexander. May we never have to send humans underground again for energy purposes, unless they want to.
I left the pit in south Yorkshire 30 years ago but in my heart I'm still a coal miner. Nobody will ever take the dust out of my lungs and I will never have mates like I had back then. Proud to have been part of the strike and proud to have seen it through.
Even today our youth on the other side of the world learn about that legendary strike. You made history that will be remembered forever. Greetings from Canada.
3 года назад+1
What’s the unemployment rate in your area? My father was a contract miner; he had no use for union miners. In 1968 he made $36k, the days pay miners made $12k. Today contract miners are a “dying breed”; replaced by union miners.
There was a plaque that stood on my Grandad's cabinet. It was for mine rescue. The tragedies in the mines were just something that were taken as life, by those who never experienced the aftermath. Why are there no monuments to the tens of thousands who died and suffered in the Scottish pits?
My father was a Coal Miner in his early childhood life, in the Swansea Valley until he was around 28yrs, he then served in WW2 and then became an engineer / turner. I have researched his life extensively but this is the most amazing recording, both with the Lyrics and the video footage which makes what he did "Come Alive" . Thank you for "U-Tubing" this and sharing. Wonderful vocal / voice too. Miss you dad xx
Strangely most Councils want to forget about the Mining history, so very rarely erect some kind of decent memorial to the Pits and the brave men, instead many memorials are completed by donations from the public, as for the Conservative Government they all will hate Miners.
My 86-year-old husband, as a starving kid from the slums of Leicester, went to work in the mines at Coalville at the age of 12. His job was to take care of 'Pony', often in pitch darkness, but Pony mainly always took care of him! The men also always took care of the many kids that went to work in the mines to help their families with the few shillings they were able to earn. An unimaginably hard life for a child of such a tender age, but, as the old saying goes, 'needs must when the devil drives'! At age 15, he managed to get an above-ground job at a garage, helping the mechanics until he was called-up for National Service at 18. He never forgot those 3 years, or the men who watched over him, or Pony. Every time I hear this song, I could cry millions of tears for those brave men and starving little children who slaved away in the darkness. Thank you, Rita, for putting so much feeling into such tender words!
The video you provide is absolutely profound, complimenting the song. Our civilization is founded on coal and so few realize what it has taken to get it.
My grandad was down the valleys of South Wales....and people these days with health and safety I've work some hard days on building sites and on the bins but they were easy compared to what these men did ❤️
I don't know about that mate- have a look at what slavery involved. No doubt mining was hard honest graft, but nobody was deported from their own country or deprived of their freedom. Miners were paid employees of the colliery and free to do as they wish.
Not in the US in the early days before Unions. Almost all miners were forced to stay at the company thru a practice of "company dollars/stores" where the company printed worthless money that could only be used at company owned stores . The companies also owned all the housing in a town, so the miners had to work or their families would be evicted and face steep fines that could only be paid by working in the mines. So they weren't legally slaves, but they could not realistically freely travel outside the company town/leave. And when miners decided to unionize they were originally gunned down by private militas. Just to re-iterare, this discussion isn't about who wealthy white men hurt more and doesn't detract from the obvious evils of US slavery. That saying about slavery not being abolished in the US isn't entirely true, but it's not entirely false, which isn't a satisfying answer, but it's not wrong. Technically slavery is allowed in the Constitution, it's the clause that allows the government to enslave prisoners and then sell her labor to the state or private corporations.@@MartinWhitefoot
Thank you for this wonderful song. I spent over 30 years working in UG coal mines in Poland and Australia. I'm over 75 and I'm still there in my dreams.
I'm a third generation Ohio miner, Grandpa, dad and my older brother all worked in Coal, however, the local coal mines closed in '16, now dad and I work in an underground limestone mine. Theres nothing I'd rather do, God bless ya'll that work deep mines, keep an eye on the ribs and an ear to the back!
I still work in a Coal mine ( 14 years so far) and my heart is heavy with doubt if i will ever find a job as good. Miners are special breed of man. In a next year i will lose my job becouse EU want a green future or some bullshit.
a wonderful song and sung by a great singer. I just wish the words were not changed from the original. My grandad lost 3 of his brothers and also his dad in a mining explosion deep underground 9.30am Thursday 26 March 1896. RIP all men and boys worldwide who never again saw the sun
My Grandfather was a miner who worked in the mines in N.Z. These mines have a lot of gas in them but to those who work at the face, it's a job. My Grandfather was killed in one of the mines although he was recovered and given a miners burial.
I love that Rita's song has touched the mining community of the world. I worked underground, but not in a coal mine. Those guys worked for their family, no other reason.
A song I’ll always feel proud to listen to. To those men from Auchengeich Miners Distillery, you’ll never be forgotten. A community shook but never broken.
My father worked in the mines until the age of 32, that's when he was killed in collapsed seam, the whole thing caved in. December 19th, 1956, six days before Xmas, left my 28 year old mother and 4 kids, of which I am one. He begged the overman for the overtime, to get money for presents for the kids. The overman told me this and cried in front of me, a fine man he was himself. I was 8 years old, the eldest, we have just gone through another 19th of December, as 66 years ago. RIP dad.
Oh such a wonderful song for our brave men, I only had a brother in law that went down the pit, I was only young then, and still miss him and my sister so much, xxxxx
My family were miners my nan lost her son at 18 yrs old miners brought him home laid him out on my nans table and washed him before the undertakers came for him how harrowing that must have been
My dad was a miner in the north east. Langley Park pit and my older brother to. Dad would not let me go in the pits. He made me go for a trade. He was over the moon when I told him I had a apprenticeship to be a plumber. My hole family and cusons worked in pits sum cam out to drive wagons but dust got most. Dad made it to 83 but the dust got him the end he came out of the RAF and into the pits after the war all. My grandparents and most of ther kids worked pits to thay where a breed apart from the snowflakes of to day 2020
Playing this for my wifes papa who worked in bilston glen midlothian Scotland and for all the working miners who fought too keep our house warm and for the electricity that they went under ground for the coal thank you too all the miners. Great tribute
I lost my dad on the 31st July 2022 at 0641hrs..... He was a miner at the Granville Colliery UK. This was his song and he had it played at his funeral. I miss him so much
My dad went down the pit at 14 survived the lyndsday disaster in kelty five volunteered in 39 to serve with the black watch Dunkirk el allemien Anzio then returned to supposedly a land fit for heroes and went back to the mine died aged 66 years long before his time sadly missed a true hero every day of his life it took great courage to go where they went when health and safety was not as it is today rest in peace da freedom comes at price
iv no connection with mineing but i get tthe camaraderie, Im from a agricultural background and we still have a little of what they had back then, Miners, Dock workers, farmers etc, hard manual workers, what would they think of todays society?
Big respect to every miner for that proper hard work they done real workers in my eyes I live in an old miners village in Scotland called Fallin Behind our house is the old coal bing Total fascinating
Both my grandfathers worked in the pits. One of them was killed down there. The pit have gone now. I can't ssay that they dirty conditions and dangerous work are to be missed. Having said that. By God I miss the people that worked and lived in the mining communities. A proud son of Durham I remain.
You were lucky, they did not throw away your bread and drink underground. Or offer you a sandwich and coffee only to withdraw the offered snap and laughed in your face as you stretched out your hand. They did not throw coal slurry in your face and eyes and laughed with hilarity. They did not pull off your clothes, drag you along the ground and push you over on broken rocks on the blindside They did not thump you in the kidney when the machine jammed and it was not your fault. They did not twist your nose with a filthy pit glove for no reason but to give them a laugh and they knew you would not fight back. You must have been more lucky than I was working down Bentley Colliery as a teenager.
Sadly only one winner, while the miners were eating from soup kitchens or fighting the so called scabs there brothers one man divided them... Mr Scargill the scurge of the miner!!!
Discovered one of my relatives was a welsh coal miner, who was involved with the 1980’s miners strike. He died recently (about 10 years ago). I am learning welsh for him.
My family on my dad's side have been coal miners in county Durham since 1553 at least. (We have searched our ancestry history). My grandad was killed at Silksworth colliery in 1934. My dad was very badly injured at Vane Tempest colliery and was still in hospital when my brother was killed at the same colliery. He was 21 and had only been married for eight weeks. I went underground 2weeks after my 16th birthday and stayed in the mining industry until I retired in 2007. My dad worked at the pit for 47 years. My great grandad on my mam's side worked in the coal mines in Kilkenny and came across to county Durham to work here. My grandad worked at ryhope colliery as did my uncles. Great and moving song whoever sings it. Rita macneil or the Dubliners or Celtic thunder.
How many good men have worked underground and passed away heroes all off them it's the working man built economy s all over the world god bless all off them from the man going to work on a bicycle and working hard all day and cycling home
I was born outside Edinburgh and brought up in Fife My fathers a miner its a dangerous life No brothers three sisters and kept very healthy In the dark Adams Terrace in a wee place called Kelty I will tell you a bit about all my life From miner to soldier, farming and rail From labouring with Wimpey on the Inverness trail Ive had ups and downs and struggles and strife A family of my own and a beautiful wife When you lived down the Terrace with its dirt and its grime A bit bread and butter was shared most of the time Your doorway was open. and a seat by your grate Your key was on a string, no locks on your gate Men talked of their pigeons and the Union was a must My father would be coughing ,with the dirty black dust With sweat in his eyes, or maybe just was tears You would always hear him talking of the past fifty years So where er you may be in your journey through life Just think of a Son of a miner in Fife
I was crushed Aug. 24th 1979 but was lucky . 4 of my crew were killed & i am only crippled . RIP Guz, Bill, Kerry & Tim . You'll never be forgotten & will live forever at the miners memorial at Price Utah . RIP my friends. Alan. 😢
My grandfather, His brothers, his grandfather and his great grandfather all were Dudley and Barnsley miners, not one of them lived past 65, they were all killed from lung problems, 5 from mesothelioma.
Growing up in a mining village in featherstone South staffs we had a great childhood playing on the pit bonks, using the belting of the pit to turn it up at the front tying string to it and turning it into a bobsleigh to come down the pit bonks, Thatcher and her scum ruined villages and communities
Thank you for the posting and expression of the feelings from the experiences of the men who suffered so badly . Your words are reinforced by the facial expressions of the men who were photographed in that setting......this sorry and tragedy was repeated many times in eastern Canada in the mines over the successive years. I hope that yunger people would watch and ;isten to this U tube and refelct upon it .
I'm from wilkes Barre pa. Both my granddads came from Wales as breaker boys and than worked in the mines here, black lung took them both! And people complain how tough we have it now!
This’s the kind of hard work that America was built on. Not sitting in front of a laptop! Now get off your ass and get busy and get back to welding, hammering, machining, and mining! 🇺🇸
Oops missed a bit - Should read ‘ For all those involved in mining at Leigh Creek South Australia. An Important and Unforgettable part of my Life, that’s for sure ...
I don't accsully work in the pits ,I work In Penrhyn quarry slate but I remember my father and grandfather leaving home to help in the dryweryn ass a Welsh man I'm proud of you miners .
This hits me hard :( It makes me cry every time I listen to it, my whole family & friends were miners, me included, god how I miss being a miner and think of my late dad every single day, our memories should be compiled into a massive book which will most likely never be completed, bless you brave men who worked at the Pits, lets not forget the Canteen women & cleaners, they all did their bit. RIP my friends who have left us. 💔Shirebrook Colliery 1896 until 1993 💔
Iconic. One of my clearest memories is a retired minor walking up through Cinderford. he would take 20 paces then stop to draw on his oxygen bottle. My own Step-grandfather was invalided out of the Northern United mine in the Forest of Dean after a rock fall. I can still remember the coal allowance being delivered and helping carry it down the lane to the coal shed back in the 50s
hopefully it will all start up again,near me in cumbria,they,ve got the go a head,of cumbria county council,but all the do-good enviromentalists are up in arms about it,i just hope no-one takes any notice of them,& it opens & goes from strength to strength
I owe so much to the man who sacrificed his sight to bring my family to England. This is why I preach so much to my children about how lucky they are for the choices they have today yma o hyd
Reading all the comments about people or their parents being miners and facing dangers or lung diseases makes me equal parts ashamed of humanity for subjecting their fellow man to it in the name of profit and equal parts proud of the courage and unity the workers showed and still show.
Joseph Grace my father. Killed at Manton Colliery Worksop 1955 he was 37. Arthur Chamberlain my uncle. Killed at Manton Colliery Worksop 1963. Gary Grace (me) Left after the miners strike. ♥️
"Hey Johnny Bull how you doing down there?" "Cold wet and weary" A story my grandfather used to tell me when I was a little kid. He, along with all his ancestors and my grandmothers all died of coal mine related illnesses. Black lung or mine explosions. Rest in Peace Grandpa.
I left the pit in south Yorkshire 30 years ago but in my heart I'm still a coal miner. Nobody will ever take the dust out of my lungs and I will never have mates like I had back then. Proud to have been part of the strike and proud to have seen it through.
Even today our youth on the other side of the world learn about that legendary strike. You made history that will be remembered forever.
Greetings from Canada.
What’s the unemployment rate in your area? My father was a contract miner; he had no use for union miners. In 1968 he made $36k, the days pay miners made $12k. Today contract miners are a “dying breed”; replaced by union miners.
Still proud of my dad , 84 to 85 bickershaw
My Dad was on the picket line too
I was underground when I was 15 and they were my only true friends and miss them dearly xxxx
Total respect to men of mines all over the planet. The working class army ✊🤝⚒
Me and my class watched it this in school today
❤️
What a great song 😅
There was a plaque that stood on my Grandad's cabinet. It was for mine rescue. The tragedies in the mines were just something that were taken as life, by those who never experienced the aftermath. Why are there no monuments to the tens of thousands who died and suffered in the Scottish pits?
not only the scottish mines,,we in Wales had a few also
Wrexham was based off mines
Never met a minor that would not go back tomorrow my dad was one of it wasn't for twatur is be there respect to you all
Happy Labor Day 2021! 👷🏻♂️
Played at my grandfathers funeral. A Durham miner for 40 years. RIP grandad.
Rip
To your grandad, Rest in peace
My grandad worked at easington colliery pit in Durham for 50 reall men may they rest in peace
My dad worked at blackhall pit from the age of 15 till the pits got closed down
My birth family were miners and myself and I'm proud of them all
30 years ive worked in th pits,and if i was younger,and still pits is still going,i would go back down,coz the men was so good
still miss it every day jimmy
I listen b4 sleep 💤 😴
Exactly how I feel
Us miners were are a special breed of person love to go back
And you you are of the Irish aren't you....?!
My father was a Coal Miner in his early childhood life, in the Swansea Valley until he was around 28yrs, he then served in WW2 and then became an engineer / turner. I have researched his life extensively but this is the most amazing recording, both with the Lyrics and the video footage which makes what he did "Come Alive" . Thank you for "U-Tubing" this and sharing. Wonderful vocal / voice too. Miss you dad xx
My grandpa worked the mines for 54 years in pa died of black lung
Swansea valley? I live in Swansea
Must of been awful to have worked down the mines 😢
All of the men that went down that dark hole deserve a medal.
Yes they do or more recognition
As opposed to those who emerged from a dark hole.
My grandad does
Strangely most Councils want to forget about the Mining history, so very rarely erect some kind of decent memorial to the Pits and the brave men, instead many memorials are completed by donations from the public, as for the Conservative Government they all will hate Miners.
i was a tin miner for 13 years not coal but this song means so much to so many ex miners out there
My 86-year-old husband, as a starving kid from the slums of Leicester, went to work in the mines at Coalville at the age of 12. His job was to take care of 'Pony', often in pitch darkness, but Pony mainly always took care of him! The men also always took care of the many kids that went to work in the mines to help their families with the few shillings they were able to earn. An unimaginably hard life for a child of such a tender age, but, as the old saying goes, 'needs must when the devil drives'! At age 15, he managed to get an above-ground job at a garage, helping the mechanics until he was called-up for National Service at 18. He never forgot those 3 years, or the men who watched over him, or Pony. Every time I hear this song, I could cry millions of tears for those brave men and starving little children who slaved away in the darkness. Thank you, Rita, for putting so much feeling into such tender words!
❤️
Sending love to you xxx
Love and best wishes from Australia 🇦🇺 ❤
God Bless. 😢
❤
The video you provide is absolutely profound, complimenting the song. Our civilization is founded on coal and so few realize what it has taken to get it.
My grandad was down the valleys of South Wales....and people these days with health and safety I've work some hard days on building sites and on the bins but they were easy compared to what these men did ❤️
My Great Grandad worked in coal mines...very hard work...God bless him.Amazing song !! Everyone who worked in mines deserve a gold medal!!
In the words of Max Boyce “every time i cough i get a mining souvenier”
Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors”.
I don't know about that mate- have a look at what slavery involved. No doubt mining was hard honest graft, but nobody was deported from their own country or deprived of their freedom. Miners were paid employees of the colliery and free to do as they wish.
Not in the US in the early days before Unions. Almost all miners were forced to stay at the company thru a practice of "company dollars/stores" where the company printed worthless money that could only be used at company owned stores . The companies also owned all the housing in a town, so the miners had to work or their families would be evicted and face steep fines that could only be paid by working in the mines. So they weren't legally slaves, but they could not realistically freely travel outside the company town/leave. And when miners decided to unionize they were originally gunned down by private militas. Just to re-iterare, this discussion isn't about who wealthy white men hurt more and doesn't detract from the obvious evils of US slavery. That saying about slavery not being abolished in the US isn't entirely true, but it's not entirely false, which isn't a satisfying answer, but it's not wrong. Technically slavery is allowed in the Constitution, it's the clause that allows the government to enslave prisoners and then sell her labor to the state or private corporations.@@MartinWhitefoot
Everyone who works to keep the masters in a life of luxury is a slave
hard working, proper people, long live the memories and the miners who are still present today, long live gentlemen!!!!!
Thank you for this wonderful song. I spent over 30 years working in UG coal mines in Poland and Australia. I'm over 75 and I'm still there in my dreams.
In memory of George Renwick, underground miner, RIP Cousin, this song was played for his funeral
I'm a third generation Ohio miner, Grandpa, dad and my older brother all worked in Coal, however, the local coal mines closed in '16, now dad and I work in an underground limestone mine. Theres nothing I'd rather do, God bless ya'll that work deep mines, keep an eye on the ribs and an ear to the back!
Keep it up, I hope your work go's well for you.
I still work in a Coal mine ( 14 years so far) and my heart is heavy with doubt if i will ever find a job as good. Miners are special breed of man. In a next year i will lose my job becouse EU want a green future or some bullshit.
a wonderful song and sung by a great singer. I just wish the words were not changed from the original. My grandad lost 3 of his brothers and also his dad in a mining explosion deep underground 9.30am Thursday 26 March 1896. RIP all men and boys worldwide who never again saw the sun
My Grandfather was a miner who worked in the mines in N.Z. These mines have a lot of gas in them but to those who work at the face, it's a job. My Grandfather was killed in one of the mines although he was recovered and given a miners burial.
R.i.p. to your grandpa. My grandpa worked 54 years in the mines. Died of black lung
Beautiful song god bless and rip all the underground working men that are all gone but never forgotten
God bless all coal miners. This video makes me TRULY appreciate the work I do.
I love that Rita's song has touched the mining community of the world. I worked underground, but not in a coal mine. Those guys worked for their family, no other reason.
A song I’ll always feel proud to listen to. To those men from Auchengeich Miners Distillery, you’ll never be forgotten. A community shook but never broken.
My father worked in the mines until the age of 32, that's when he was killed in collapsed seam, the whole thing caved in. December 19th, 1956, six days before Xmas, left my 28 year old mother and 4 kids, of which I am one. He begged the overman for the overtime, to get money for presents for the kids. The overman told me this and cried in front of me, a fine man he was himself. I was 8 years old, the eldest, we have just gone through another 19th of December, as 66 years ago. RIP dad.
❤️
Sorry to hear that ..may he R.I.P.
Some real Heartbreaking stories.
I’m welled up reading them.
Liam . From Dublin 2023. I’m almost 80 Yrs old.
God bless you all.
Your daddy sounds like an amazing daddy doing what he could for yous . Shout your story to everyone you meet
Respect to the men who worked hard and suffered in the mines
Oh such a wonderful song for our brave men, I only had a brother in law that went down the pit, I was only young then, and still miss him and my sister so much, xxxxx
Respect to all those men who worked in the pits to put food on the table
Powerful song Reminder of the suffering our grandparents went through back in the days so sad bless them all
photo of ma papa in this video....sleep tight papa,at least your back together with the love of your life my wee nana.....miss you's❤💙❤💙
May the black-brown maiden keep him in her mantle. Babara , keep the miners safe!
John Wotherspoon s
Wow that's so beautiful! What a man to be proud of! Never tire of telling people how amazing your father and his colleagues were.
Grandfather worked down the pits all his life and died eventually of coal dust on his lungs.. Beautiful song.
My dad was a coal miner in wales. His dad was too. If he stayed in wales and didnt closed. I would of gone down
My family were miners my nan lost her son at 18 yrs old miners brought him home laid him out on my nans table and washed him before the undertakers came for him how harrowing that must have been
True hard working hero's to the country.god bless them all.
My dad was a miner in the north east. Langley Park pit and my older brother to. Dad would not let me go in the pits. He made me go for a trade. He was over the moon when I told him I had a apprenticeship to be a plumber. My hole family and cusons worked in pits sum cam out to drive wagons but dust got most. Dad made it to 83 but the dust got him the end he came out of the RAF and into the pits after the war all. My grandparents and most of ther kids worked pits to thay where a breed apart from the snowflakes of to day 2020
All respect to coal miners and any other kind of miners , that is hard job , that is like work in prison camps due to the conditions...
Dad was a miner in Abercynon S. Wales . We moved to Canada so I would not have to go underground
That's the goal.
Playing this for my wifes papa who worked in bilston glen midlothian Scotland and for all the working miners who fought too keep our house warm and for the electricity that they went under ground for the coal thank you too all the miners. Great tribute
I lost my dad on the 31st July 2022 at 0641hrs..... He was a miner at the Granville Colliery UK. This was his song and he had it played at his funeral. I miss him so much
So sorry for your loss,God bless you and your dad.🏴🏴🏴🏴
My dad went down the pit at 14 survived the lyndsday disaster in kelty five volunteered in 39 to serve with the black watch Dunkirk el allemien Anzio then returned to supposedly a land fit for heroes and went back to the mine died aged 66 years long before his time sadly missed a true hero every day of his life it took great courage to go where they went when health and safety was not as it is today rest in peace da freedom comes at price
Respect. Made of stronger stuff.
iv no connection with mineing but i get tthe camaraderie, Im from a agricultural background and we still have a little of what they had back then, Miners, Dock workers, farmers etc, hard manual workers, what would they think of todays society?
Big respect to every miner for that proper hard work they done real workers in my eyes
I live in an old miners village in Scotland called Fallin
Behind our house is the old coal bing
Total fascinating
My GRANDAD worked in the mines and died of black lung at an early age. This song gives me goosebumps. Thank you.😢
my family still works coal mining ohio west virginia 2022
aep
Both my grandfathers worked in the pits. One of them was killed down there. The pit have gone now. I can't ssay that they dirty conditions and dangerous work are to be missed. Having said that. By God I miss the people that worked and lived in the mining communities. A proud son of Durham I remain.
it was hard but honest work ,i went down at 16 and met some of the best work mates a man could have
Amen to that Brother. X
You were lucky, they did not throw away your bread and drink underground.
Or offer you a sandwich and coffee only to withdraw the offered snap and laughed in your face as you stretched out your hand.
They did not throw coal slurry in your face and eyes and laughed with hilarity.
They did not pull off your clothes, drag you along the ground and push you over on broken rocks on the blindside
They did not thump you in the kidney when the machine jammed and it was not your fault.
They did not twist your nose with a filthy pit glove for no reason but to give them a laugh and they knew you would not fight back.
You must have been more lucky than I was working down Bentley Colliery as a teenager.
Sadly only one winner, while the miners were eating from soup kitchens or fighting the so called scabs there brothers one man divided them... Mr Scargill the scurge of the miner!!!
Discovered one of my relatives was a welsh coal miner, who was involved with the 1980’s miners strike. He died recently (about 10 years ago). I am learning welsh for him.
Da iawn chi.
@@garmit61 diolch
Thats a great way of honouring him. Da Iawn
I'm a Morgan💯 and I'm very proud, I'm half Jamaican too 👍 my name is Michelle Xx
❤️ The National Union of Mine Workers! ⛏️✊🌹
It's the same in Eastern Kentucky. But like we say here coal still keeps the light's on. But God bless the men that still do it.
NEVER A TOUGHER OR GENTLER SET OF MEN
My Welsh Great Grandfather was a coal miner. Sadly like many of his time, he passed away from the Black lung.
My family on my dad's side have been coal miners in county Durham since 1553 at least. (We have searched our ancestry history). My grandad was killed at Silksworth colliery in 1934. My dad was very badly injured at Vane Tempest colliery and was still in hospital when my brother was killed at the same colliery. He was 21 and had only been married for eight weeks. I went underground 2weeks after my 16th birthday and stayed in the mining industry until I retired in 2007. My dad worked at the pit for 47 years. My great grandad on my mam's side worked in the coal mines in Kilkenny and came across to county Durham to work here. My grandad worked at ryhope colliery as did my uncles. Great and moving song whoever sings it. Rita macneil or the Dubliners or Celtic thunder.
Respect my friend, I'm Australian and have a similar history although not as long of course.
How many good men have worked underground and passed away heroes all off them it's the working man built economy s all over the world god bless all off them from the man going to work on a bicycle and working hard all day and cycling home
I was born outside Edinburgh and brought up in Fife
My fathers a miner its a dangerous life
No brothers three sisters and kept very healthy
In the dark Adams Terrace in a wee place called Kelty
I will tell you a bit about all my life
From miner to soldier, farming and rail
From labouring with Wimpey on the Inverness trail
Ive had ups and downs and struggles and strife
A family of my own and a beautiful wife
When you lived down the Terrace with its dirt and its grime
A bit bread and butter was shared most of the time
Your doorway was open. and a seat by your grate
Your key was on a string, no locks on your gate
Men talked of their pigeons and the Union was a must
My father would be coughing ,with the dirty black dust
With sweat in his eyes, or maybe just was tears
You would always hear him talking of the past fifty years
So where er you may be in your journey through life
Just think of a Son of a miner in Fife
Thank you for sharing this poem, Jock. God bless you.
Felt every aching word of that thank you.
Great poem jock Stewart Redmond
I was crushed Aug. 24th 1979 but was lucky . 4 of my crew were killed & i am only crippled . RIP Guz, Bill, Kerry & Tim . You'll never be forgotten & will live forever at the miners memorial at Price Utah . RIP my friends. Alan. 😢
So much respect for all those that worked the mines, very brave x
My grandfather, His brothers, his grandfather and his great grandfather all were Dudley and Barnsley miners, not one of them lived past 65, they were all killed from lung problems, 5 from mesothelioma.
Growing up in a mining village in featherstone South staffs we had a great childhood playing on the pit bonks, using the belting of the pit to turn it up at the front tying string to it and turning it into a bobsleigh to come down the pit bonks, Thatcher and her scum ruined villages and communities
Thank you for the posting and expression of the feelings from the experiences of the men who suffered so badly . Your words are reinforced by the facial expressions of the men who were photographed in that setting......this sorry and tragedy was repeated many times in eastern Canada in the mines over the successive years. I hope that yunger people would watch and ;isten to this U tube and refelct upon it .
I'm from wilkes Barre pa. Both my granddads came from Wales as breaker boys and than worked in the mines here, black lung took them both! And people complain how tough we have it now!
It's sad to think about the men that never came out 😭
This’s the kind of hard work that America was built on. Not sitting in front of a laptop! Now get off your ass and get busy and get back to welding, hammering, machining, and mining! 🇺🇸
Proper miners song rip jock Findlay
My dad worked at blackhall pit in co.durham from when he left school age 15 till the pits got closed down
Total respect to each a every coal worker, This song brings tears to my eyes
Proud to be part of this Community
Oops missed a bit - Should read ‘ For all those involved in mining at Leigh Creek South Australia. An Important and Unforgettable part of my Life, that’s for sure ...
thank you for song remind me both my grandpap who where coal miner I miss them both the where who look up to growing up
My great grandfather James Hancock was killed in the 1941 mine blast down crigglestone colliery R.I.P
My Dad Billy worked at Sixth Pit from 14 yrs...then later worked at Houghton Pit.
my grandad is in this I am doo sad they closed the mine down
Queen Fox it was dangerous he could of died
@@hermionegranger7840 i agree, the company heads didn't invest enough into the safety of the miners, but it did cost a lot of jobs
My dad was a miner in County Durham and why does he cry when listing to this song
Outstanding song Thank you for sharing
Omg this song is brilliant first heard it when somebody sang it in a pub in liverpool aug 2017 absolute brilliant
It touch you in the heart right away. Warm greetings to merseyside
I don't accsully work in the pits ,I work In Penrhyn quarry slate but I remember my father and grandfather leaving home to help in the dryweryn ass a Welsh man I'm proud of you miners .
They were all brave men. How many lost their lives . Working class and proud.
my brother is playing minecraft to this song on repeat
My Dad and Granda were miners in Northumberland . I'm proud to be a pitman's Daughter.
Proud noble men. My grandfather was a coal miner all his life, but he NEVER wanted me down there.
🐴 ⚒ ❤ I LOVE IT ❤ ⚒ 🐴
All the best from an ex-coal miner from Germany.
This hits me hard :( It makes me cry every time I listen to it, my whole family & friends were miners, me included, god how I miss being a miner and think of my late dad every single day, our memories should be compiled into a massive book which will most likely never be completed, bless you brave men who worked at the Pits, lets not forget the Canteen women & cleaners, they all did their bit.
RIP my friends who have left us. 💔Shirebrook Colliery 1896 until 1993 💔
Iconic. One of my clearest memories is a retired minor walking up through Cinderford. he would take 20 paces then stop to draw on his oxygen bottle.
My own Step-grandfather was invalided out of the Northern United mine in the Forest of Dean after a rock fall.
I can still remember the coal allowance being delivered and helping carry it down the lane to the coal shed back in the 50s
hopefully it will all start up again,near me in cumbria,they,ve got the go a head,of cumbria county council,but all the do-good enviromentalists are up in arms about it,i just hope no-one takes any notice of them,& it opens & goes from strength to strength
I owe so much to the man who sacrificed his sight to bring my family to England. This is why I preach so much to my children about how lucky they are for the choices they have today yma o hyd
So powerful......
My grandad, his dad, uncle, and cousin all were coal miners. Everytime I hear this song I think of them. ❤
Reading all the comments about people or their parents being miners and facing dangers or lung diseases makes me equal parts ashamed of humanity for subjecting their fellow man to it in the name of profit and equal parts proud of the courage and unity the workers showed and still show.
You've got to go there to come back ....
Joseph Grace my father.
Killed at Manton Colliery Worksop 1955 he was 37.
Arthur Chamberlain my uncle.
Killed at Manton Colliery Worksop 1963.
Gary Grace (me)
Left after the miners strike.
♥️
My Grandads were Down The Pit ❤️❤️ ⛏️⛏️ ✊✊🌹🌹
Alway brings a tear to my eyes
Roland Laycock .....a tear? An ocean no, it’s a tsunami of tears are escaping my eyes sniff sniff
"Hey Johnny Bull how you doing down there?" "Cold wet and weary" A story my grandfather used to tell me when I was a little kid. He, along with all his ancestors and my grandmothers all died of coal mine related illnesses. Black lung or mine explosions. Rest in Peace Grandpa.
live by this song, magical
I love you Dad you never gave in to Thatcher like the rest of our generations. You was all united.