> Any form of record is better than no record and most
I have lost count of the number of times I have taken a quick snap of
something intending to go back and take detailed measurement/photos only to
find it has been flattened in the meantime.
A quick note of the comments from an old miner is better than nothing if
you never get round to going back and he dies in the meantime!!
One of the benefits of a mining group or society is it can act as a place to
pool information and data. From experience, the "official" places to
deposit info (e.g. record offices, HER and SMR etc) should mean it is safe
and publicly available but in practice may never be seen again !! It is
usually difficult to locate unless someone knows it is there. e.g.
photographs of excavation work at Ram Hill colliery deposited with South
Gloucestershire Council and even the guy responsible at the council for the
SMR and the archive didn't know they were there (and he is a SGMRG member
and on the Friends of Ram Hill Committee!!!!!)
Regards
David Hardwick
P.S. Can someone advise as to whether the area of the
Gloucestershire/Bristol/Somerset coalfield falls into "South West of
England" or "Northern" as I would like to know which side of the arguments I
should be agreeing with - then again don't worry I'll let the various
parties rant at each other and keep my head down !!!!
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