Pit

I was driving to football today when I spotted this silhouette of Maltby Colliery and it reminded me of South Yorkshire's heritage and its demise some thirty years ago when the miner's strike and its aftermath led to the dismantling of the mining industry.

As a probation officer I worked in a pit village and had connections with the local colliery to move my clients into jobs when they showed sign of progress. The closing of the pits led to whole communities being devastated. The economy of the village depended not just on the pit itself but all the related shops, pubs, local businesses depended on the money generated by the miners and their families. When the pits closed so did community life for many many years and only today is regeneration beginning to breathe life back into them

A lost era and I was reminded of all this today. Hence the blip.