Druridge Bay

[maingate]

Correct. Oo but it were mucky round there back then!

You're dead right in everything you say about coal, Jim, and when the chips are down it might need to happen.

However, a better solution would be to reduce the world population and thus reduce the pressure of supply and demand?

Oh, hang on a mo - think covid-19 and its potential mutated successors might be cracking on with the job already...

Reducing the world population is a good idea. I'll be up your way next week and will make a start on that. PM me your address and make sure you and Neil are at home.

 

[kensowerby]

Thanks Jim

This corrective text thing is a load of

 

[mariesnowgoose]

@kensowerby, did you mean this Big Jordan, Ken?

 

[izwozral]

@kensowerby, did you mean this Big Jordan, Ken?


View attachment 78547

Do you mind Marie, I have just had my breakfast.

 

[Pauljenny]

Beautiful day in the garden, yesterday, clear blue sky.
.

Not a vapour trail in sight, no planes into or out of Faro. Nothing to or from Africa.
.
The trouble is every one of those planes brings cash, employment and prosperity with it.

 

[kensowerby]

Thanks Marie,
Ken xx

 

[NeilyG]

Reducing the world population is a good idea. I'll be up your way next week and will make a start on that. PM me your address and make sure you and Neil are at home.

Have you suddenly lost the will to live, Jim? Want us to do your dirty work for you? Tell all...

 

[maingate]

Have you suddenly lost the will to live, Jim? Want us to do your dirty work for you? Tell all...

There are numerous threads on here by members saying how quiet and peaceful things are with the lockdown. No traffic, no noisy aircraft etc. I want to extend that peacefulness and if it means a hit job on you and Marie, then I think it is worthwhile.

Nothing personal you understand.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

There are numerous threads on here by members saying how quiet and peaceful things are with the lockdown. No traffic, no noisy aircraft etc. I want to extend that peacefulness and if it means a hit job on you and Marie, then I think it is worthwhile.

Nothing personal you understand.

I understood you first time, Jim.

Wor Neil can be real slow on the uptake at times.

Just to let you know I've got the gatling guns mounted at end of drive for when you arrive

 

[Toffeecat]

You know, I do understand that we do need some coal. What really really annoys me is why my district? Why does my county have to have had so many bloody opencasts? Theres coal in many places across the UK but my county, Durham has had far far to many. Where I live in my memory I recall coal mines, many many coal mines,places where my family worked. The spoil heaps have now gone but we then got opencast,lots of them. They ruin the countryside, employ very few locals, and then when finished the lands rarly good enough for anything other than grass. I do get we need coal but we need to get it from other areas. My area has given way more than its fair share. Or is it because we're scruffy northerners and its easier to ruin my countryside than lets say "other places".

 

[GreggBear]

Maybe its because that's where the coal is...
Wasn't only County Durham buddy, Yorkshire had hundreds of pits, so many in fact that there weren't enough men to work them, hence loads of Scots coming down to settle here. 2 local estates are famed for being predominantly Scots.

 

[maingate]

You know, I do understand that we do need some coal. What really really annoys me is why my district? Why does my county have to have had so many bloody opencasts? Theres coal in many places across the UK but my county, Durham has had far far to many. Where I live in my memory I recall coal mines, many many coal mines,places where my family worked. The spoil heaps have now gone but we then got opencast,lots of them. They ruin the countryside, employ very few locals, and then when finished the lands rarly good enough for anything other than grass. I do get we need coal but we need to get it from other areas. My area has given way more than its fair share. Or is it because we're scruffy northerners and its easier to ruin my countryside than lets say "other places".

Durham and Northumberland has good quality Coal close to the surface. You cannot use just any Coal for making Coke.

The Coal industry was a lot more complicated than many realise. Not every piece of Coal is the same. I worked in the industry in Mines and Cokeworks. There were 3 types of Coke. Foundry, Blast Furnace and Domestic. Different blends of Coal were needed for each one and different processes were needed for each type.

There was a very large Mine at Westoe, South Shields producing over 1 million Tons a year whose market was Battersea Power Station in London. It employed a large workforce and was profitable. There was a small Drift Mine in Gateshead that mined very little Coal, never made a profit but was vital to Westoe Colliery. Its Coal was blended with Westoe Coal and this brought the Ash content down. Otherwise Westoe Colliery would not have a market for its Coal.

You should be proud of your heritage, not ashamed of it. I know I am.

 

[Toffeecat]

Where in my post have I ever said im ashamed of my history? My family worked for generations in the coal industry and iim as proud of my heritage as anyone. Im aware of the different quality of coal its types and what its used for. What I dont like is multiple open casts in my county.

 

[GreggBear]

Durham and Northumberland has good quality Coal close to the surface. You cannot use just any Coal for making Coke.

The Coal industry was a lot more complicated than many realise. Not every piece of Coal is the same. I worked in the industry in Mines and Cokeworks. There were 3 types of Coke. Foundry, Blast Furnace and Domestic. Different blends of Coal were needed for each one and different processes were needed for each type.

There was a very large Mine at Westoe, South Shields producing over 1 million Tons a year whose market was Battersea Power Station in London. It employed a large workforce and was profitable. There was a small Drift Mine in Gateshead that mined very little Coal, never made a profit but was vital to Westoe Colliery. Its Coal was blended with Westoe Coal and this brought the Ash content down. Otherwise Westoe Colliery would not have a market for its Coal.

You should be proud of your heritage, not ashamed of it. I know I am.

Well said Main gate! It still saddens me that after years working surface plant at various pits, my boy will grow up probably never seeing a working pit. I too am proud that I got to spend time around a once great industry, both on site & on the haul moving countless tons of coal from & to many areas. The coalfields should be celebrated as a once major employer of many proud men...

 

[maingate]

Where in my post have I ever said im ashamed of my history? My family worked for generations in the coal industry and iim as proud of my heritage as anyone. Im aware of the different quality of coal its types and what its used for. What I dont like is multiple open casts in my county.

Multiple?

As far as I know there is only one .... near Dipton. Opencast is the only viable method of obtaining Coal. Once a deep Mine is closed you cannot reopen it.

I can only assume from your angry post that you have personally been affected by Opencast close to your Home at some time.

 

[Biggarmac]

On the Ayrshire / Lanarkshire border there are the remains of opencast mining where a company went bust a few years ago leaving the land unreclaimed. There are other opencast areas in Scotland. Its not just the former Durham and Northumberland coalfields were the scars are still around.

 

[GreggBear]

I used to run out of Ochiltree opencast many years ago, We were hauling Lytag beans from Hensall up to a job near Hunter stone, then Coal back down from Ochiltree. I believe the site was operated by Banks.

 

[Toffeecat]

I was born in a miners house in a mining village. My dad worked in the pit since the age of 14 digging coal with a pick eventually looking after the horses. He died and I guess the dust he had on his lungs didn't help. His seven brothers did the same. All bar one are dead and didn't live a ripe old age. I played on pit heaps as a kid, my brother worked in mining supplies. My dad got a medal from the NUM after over 40 years service. Im on film briefly as a kid go on YOUTUBE and type in Craghead. Youll see my family as my cousins moved to Nottingham to work the coal. It shows the closure of our pit.I attend the miners gala most years and clapped as Arthur scargill correctly announced pit closures as an example. My brother works in mining supplies or did should I say. So yes im very proud of my history and culture and do get a tad annoyed if its questioned. Whilst you are correct theres only one opencast in my county that wasn't what I actually wrote if you read it. If you look at the village where I lived we had the pit which later closed. There was an opencast up the road, one over holmside where I used to walk, a second just along the road from it, a third came later. A massive one near Quaking Houses followed. I could go on about the ones in Derwentside but I wont. I moved and now live in a house which used to house people who worked in the drift mine 100 yards from my house. It was later shut to become......an opencast. My district in my opinion has had its fair share of opencasts. I dont live near one,i live on one and im no nimby. I just feel we in Derwentside have paid our fair dues to this country and its time to dig other places.