Mike Exon asked a lot of questions about concessionary coal in the Barsnley
MB.
Well. here's my contribution - though I'm sure that there are plenty of
people who know more about it than I do.
I worked for NCB Barnsley Area from 77 to 87 (by which time it had merged
with N Yorks Area and the NCB had become British Coal). I have to confess
that I have never known the geographical extent of Barnsley MB, so cannot
say which mines were in it.
Mike, you are asking for a lot of information. Please could you give us
some background on what this information is for. It seems odd that you only
want concessionary coal info and not total home coal supply. I recall that
in 87 BC was supplying over 12 million tonnes of home coal p.a.
Why do you call concessionary coal a 'hand-out'? Should we have gone to the
pit manager, tugged our forelocks and thanked him each time we came home in
the dark and fell over half a ton of coal and a few detonator wires tipped
on the pavement? (Hey, det wire is useful stuff!)
I can see that it could be quite difficult to trace concessionary coal
supplies to the receiver's location, more so that getting info on how much
was supplied by each colliery or each washery. I got my coal from
Grimethorpe but I lived in Fitzwilliam then Wakefield (both outside
Barnsley MB).
The rules were, to the best of my memory:
Coal or smokeless fuel was provided for your own use. You weren't supposed
to sell it. Accurate history should record that it was sold. Some people
couldn't burn the allotted tonnage (possibly because the coal wouldn't
burn, or they couldn't afford the matches). There was no refund for
unclaimed coal. If you received smokeless fuel there was a refund.
Coal was only available to those living outside smokeless zones, or those
inside who had an approved 'smoke-eater' fire. The coal allowance was by
weight, the smokeless by equivalent value of a much lesser tonnage of
anthracite (was it anthracite or Homefire?). You were free to choose which
smokeless fuel. Some of my workmates had to buy extra smokeless because the
allowance wasn't enough for them.
It is easy to find out how many miners were working at each colliery each
year: just look in the Colliery Guardian Annual Guide to the Coalfields.
Have you asked the NUM about concessionary coal allowances and
distribution? I would have thought that they were the best and most obvious
source of information.
Regards,
Malcolm
Singapore
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