Dear Tony would you mind if I use your review in NMRS December Newsletter.
Regards Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Oldham" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 9:34 AM
Subject: TOWER OF STRENGTH


TOWER OF STRENGTH / The Story of Tyrone O'Sullivan and Tower Colliery by
Tyrone O'Sullivan with John Eve and Ann Edworthy  2001 Mainstream
Publishing, Edinburgh.  HB DW £14.99  available from Mike Moore:
[log in to unmask]

Books about the miners' strike seem to be experiencing a flush of
popularity in Britain today and there can hardly be anybody who was not
aware of the drama being enacted at Tower Colliery in the mid 1990's.  We
all saw the news and read the papers, but what really went on behind the
scenes.  Because of the part he played in the struggle, Tyrone O'Sullivan
became a kind of folk hero of the 90's and this book is written by him from
the inside looking out.

A good proportion of this book is taken up by setting the scene,
describing the background of the miners' strike, basically the desire of
the Conservative Government to close all the mines on the grounds of cost
against the wishes of the miners to keep the mines open to ensure
continuity of employment and retain an industry that had, for hundreds of
years, ensured that Britain maintained its place as a major manufacturing
nation.

Margaret Thatcher, Arthur Scargill, Mick MaGahey, Ian MacGregor, Kim
Howells, Emlyn Williams and Neil Kinock and many more players in the
drama are named, praised or shamed.  No matter what side you are on, this is
a warts and all story, mainly warts.  Tyrone comes across as a
committed socialist, a David facing Goliath, a valley boy who went from
mining apprentice to union official and finally to company chairman.  He
is committed to the fair distribution of profit amongst the workers and
to supporting the local community.

The saga of how the miners, in 1995, against all odds bought Tower
Colliery, with their redundancy money from British Coal is well known.
What is not so well known is the blackmail, connivance and just sheer ill
will that the miners were up against. Raising the money was never going to
be easy, 238 miners each put £8000 of their own money into the pot. Money
which could have been used to pay off loans or supplement their dole money.
Instead they all took an enormous risk and invested for the future.
Barclays Bank came up with £2 million and Price Waterhouse agreed to be
their financial advisors for 150% on top of their final bill.  The latter
was Tyrone's master stroke.  After 3 months, Price Waterhouse were owed so
much money, there was no going back, they just had to make it work.

If raising the money was the easy part, getting the mine to work was
another matter.  All miners know how to haul coal, but there is more to
running a mine than simply extracting the coal and the miners needed
help.  Fortunately they knew a man who could give the help they needed -
Cliff Jones.  Cliff had closed many mines and this was a chance for him
to redeem himself by opening up a mine.  As an experienced colliery
manager he also knew what it cost to insure a mine and how to run it.

Lots of interesting facts came to light.  Despite British Coal trying to
show that the mine was running at a loss, Tower Colliery made £4 million
pound profit before tax in the first year and was able to pay off a lot
of the bank loan.  The second year showed a similar profit which was
turned into improved conditions, with extra rest days and longer
holidays.  Later Tower received a government subsidy of £2.7 million to
help it to compete with cheap imports from countries such as Germany
where coal has a subsidy of £80 a tonne.

Marketing was always a problem.  Early in Tower's existence a company
called Ryan offered to buy £18 million worth of coal, only to go back on
the deal when it came time to sign the contracts.  Again Tyrone showed
that he was nobody's fool and refused to sign.  Ryan said "You will come
back".  He did not, they did.  With hard work, other contracts were
signed including a three year contract with Aberthaw Power station which,
now, if all goes well, could be the start of a twenty year contract.

The book highly readable and with Christmas coming up would be a welcome
addition in any stocking.

TO


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