BBC - Bradford and West Yorkshire - A Sense of Place - Coal mining in West Yorkshire: The end of an era

Tim says: "Hay Royds Colliery is a family-owned affair between the villages of Scissett and Clayton West in South Kirklees.

It employs about 25 miners who work up to 700 feet below ground. The colliery is a drift mine.

The colliers have to walk for up to three-quarters on an hour to get to the coalface. Despite the fact its owner, David Flack, says some firms would think the seam unworkable, the pit continues to operate and prosper.

These pictures of Hay Royds (click on the link below) offer a glimpse into a working world which has all but disappeared in West Yorkshire over the last two decades.

As the 20th anniversary of the 1984-85 strike approached, I went to the pit to meet the miners and record the way they work in an industry which has shaped their lives and the people they are..."

CLICK HERE TO TAKE A LOOK AT LIFE AT HAY ROYDS COLLIERY IN 2004

Technical details: Pictures shot using a Pentax ME Super loaded with Kodak Tri-X 400asa film, 'pushed' to 800asa. All shots taken using a 50mm lens, using apertures of typically f1.7 and shutter speeds between 1/30th and 1/60th of a second. All prints were processed in a traditional wet dark room.

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