Quote Originally Posted by blue matt View Post
I went to the Big pit a few years back ( we go most years, its a nice day out ( 1/2 day if you are from S Wales )
Nice ice cream, down the pit face, back up, look at the displays, nice coffee, have photo taken infront of the NUM picket caravan ( Ive even taken a red flag for the photo ), ice cream ( again ) gift shop , home, entry is free, its great

anyways, our tour guide was a ex-miner, we got chatting on the tour, while chatting, my daughter who was about 9 - 10 at the time blurted out " Shame the evil witch thatcher shut you all down " ( yes of course she had heard me saying it ) he said " most Miners now think it was the best thing to happen " , he went on to say he was so relived his boy wouldn't have to work down the mine, said he was just starting comprehensive school at the time of the closure and would have certainly followed him down the pit just as he had followed his dad, he chatted about how tough the job was, the risk of death was always with you, out of his group of work mates, no-one was sad to see the pit close

It certainly opened my mind about the mine closures, I was always told in school how Maggie destroyed communities in Wales and it was a pre-planned operation against the working classes, but speaking to this miner ( and he made is clear he wasn't alone in these thoughts ) the pit closure might have been the worse thing to happen
Yeah for sure an ex miner came to work with my dad in his factory in the docks mid 80’s, it was really noisy, dark and dangerous (lots of injuries and the odd death) making anchors and chains for ships. He loved it, walk in the park compared to the mines he used to tell me.