See the penultimate paragraph below for reference to the above.
I was born at Easington Colliery in 1936 and it was my home base for 27 years until 1963 when I married and my wife and I moved to Hull where I was then an adult student at their University.
However
earlier I spent spells away from home. Between 1954 to 1956
undertaking my National Service in the RAF. For the bulk of 1955 and
1956 I served in Iraq. Then I later became a full-time student at an
adult education college in Oxford from 1960 to 1962, returning to
Easington for the vacations.
I
next studied at Hull University from 1962. For my first year there I
again returned to my home to live at Easington during the vacations.
I then married Ann in the summer of 1963 and we rented a flat in Hull
for two years. She originated from nearby Shotton Colliery. Both of
our fathers being local coal miners. My dad being down the pit at the time of the 1951 disaster, but in a different seam to the explosion. He later helped with salvage work.
After
my graduation at Hull my new employment as a lecturer took Ann and myself to Worksop
for a year, then to Sheffield for three years until Ann and I moved
next door to Dronfield in North Derbyshire just over 50 years ago.
Where I eventually became the local MP between 1987 and 2005.
Ann
and I returned to the North East on a regular basis whilst our
parents were still alive. My mother living the longest until 1999. We
have made occasional visits to the area since then.
In
fact until I was called up to undertake my National Service in 1954 I
had never travelled anywhere further south from Easington than York.
I did a day trip to there at 16 when I was interviewed for my first
job as a railway clerk. My employment as a Railway Clerk whilst
living at Easington taking me no further away than work at Stockton
to the south and Sunderland to the North. My first two years being
spent at the neighbouring Horden Station.
So
despite my moving away from Easington Colliery 56 years ago at the
age of 27, it has always been a pull for me. I had three articles
about its history published in the annual journal of the North East
Labour History Society in their 2011, 2012 and 2013 editions. These
covered the period from the initial efforts to sink its coal mine in
1899 up to 1935. I would have liked to have continued with these
articles in order to finally cover at least the period up to the
closing of the pit in 1993. But when the 2013 edition was published I
had reached 77 years of age and was walking badly. Nor do I drive a
car, yet I had been travelling regularly to Durham as my main
research required me to make visits to the Durham Library research
facilities via public transport. Unfortunately it was all getting
beyond me. I also, however, wrote a more personal piece about my
Easington background for the Labour History journal for their 2017
edition. The following provides a link to search for these articles -
http://nelh.net/the-societys-journal/previous-issues/
I
also wrote a forward for Mary Bell for her fine book “A Chronicle
of Easington Colliery” which was printed by Amazon in 2014. It is a
publication that everyone interested in the area should read. Amazon
also printed her fine book of poems entitled “Where the Pits Were”.
Another telling publication is “Easington Throughout The Years”
by Eileen Hooper. See here for avenues of access to these three
publications -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chronicle-Easington-Colliery-Mary-Bell/dp/1501025481
My
blog was established on my 70th birthday, hence it is
called “Three Score Years and Ten”. Its thread on “Easington”
now shows 30 items which can be trawled back to. These items have
attracted above average readership. See -
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