Beneath This Green and Pleasant Land by John William Graham

Beneath This Green and Pleasant Land by John William Graham

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Summary

From pit lad at Prestwick colliery in Northumberland in the 1950s to overman at the vast Westoe colliery at the end of an era, John Graham saw life at the coal face at first hand. In this book, he tells of the dangers, the characters, the friendships and the sheer hard graft of a working life underground.

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Beneath This Green and Pleasant Land by John William Graham

One of John Graham's proudest moments came when he handed his first pay packet from Prestwick colliery to his mother in 1953. He was just 15 years old. That pride in hard and honest work followed John right through a mining career that took him from Prestwick, Northumberland, to the vast undersea colliery at Westoe. John encountered many dangers in his 34 years underground including roof falls, methane gas explosions and flooding. He also had to live with the fear of redundancy as pits were closed. Humour, friendships, and a general impatience with officialdom saw him through it all. And if you've ever wondered just how all that coal reached the surface, John explains the mechanics of the coalface and its machinery, from hewing and putting to the massive technology of the super pit.
John William Graham was born at Prestwick, Northumberland in 1938. His career in mining included Prestwick Colliery, Havannah Pit, and Westoe Colliery. He retired in 1987 and runs a successful family news agency from his home village of Corbridge in Northumberland.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781857951431
ISBN 10 1857951433
Title Beneath This Green and Pleasant Land
Author John William Graham
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Newcastle Libraries & Information Service
Year published 2009-11-03
Number of pages 216
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.