Coal Mining in Britain | The story of mining from the coal face to the strike
CHANNEL | Home Service
FIRST BROADCAST | 29 November 1959
DURATION | 7 minutes 9 seconds
FIRSTBROADCAST
1959
Frederick Swain, an experienced miner, describes the hardship of life at the colliery, which he says involves walking two miles to the pit face before he can actually start work. Brian Smedley has been a miner for just seven years, starting when he left school at 15. He explains the ways in which mining conditions have improved.
This excerpt comes from 'Home for the Day', which was the Sunday edition of 'Woman's Hour'.
Two recordings of a Welsh male-voice choir.

How do the experiences of two miners from separate generations differ?
Remembering Tonypandy's role in the 1921 National Coal Strike.
Two mining families make the decision to move from Northumberland to Nottingham.
The story of the men who spent World War II down the mines.
A turbulent time for a mining village in the North East of England.
Exploring the culture and social history of the Durham coal fields.
Where there's muck, there's brass... and pigeons and lurchers and bingo too.
The diminishing role of animals in Britain's coal mines.
Recollections of conscription in the coal industry during World War II.
Is the ongoing miners' strike turning moderates into militants?
The miners' strike continues with both sides predicting victory.
A 'Panorama' report broadcast in the final weeks of the miners' strike.
A personal perspective on life in a 1930s mining community.
Revisiting the story of miners from a documentary made in 1969.
Scenes from a Durham mining village that featured in a 1938 radio broadcast by Joan Littlewood.
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