A tragedy in the week before Christmas 1939 at a Notts Colliery reminds us of the dangers of winning the coal 80 years ago. This description from a great site for history of mines: www.healeyhero.co.uk :
"Warsop (Nottinghamshire) A massive fall on a Top Hard coal face, some 8 or 9 yards (7m or 8m) long, smashing props and bars, entombed 6 men on 20th December 1939.
The colliery Manager Herbert Gent supervised the recovery of the bodies and the timbering up operations. It was very slow progress due to the amount of debris, estimated at 1,850 tons. William Fry , Manager at Markham (Derbyshire) and Charlie Ringham, Manager at Ireland (Derbyshire) hastened to the scene some 3 miles from the pit bottom to assist in the supervision. It was Christmas Day before the first body was recovered and New Year before the last was recovered."
