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Post by Anita on Oct 28, 2008 2:55:18 GMT
I have been watching this series via i-player as it has been made in the area I grew up in - both grandfathere were coal miners and my Dad was a Bevin Boy during WW2, so this is very poignant for me. This Living History project has been well worth the efforts of BBC Wales and I am looking forward to further episodes this week.
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Post by greentrixiepixie on Oct 28, 2008 13:24:56 GMT
Hi Anita ;D Coal house was on last year as well did you see it ? Debbie Griffiths that was on it last year is a good friend of mine ..Watching her son little Gethin struggling with school was heartbreaking  I wanted to go and get him and bring him home ..  I have been watching this year and think its better than last year apart form the evacuees  What sort of parent sends there child to join in with something like that  The little lad from Cardiff was really sad and missing his parents I think parents that do stuff like that need beaten with a stick  Lisa ;D |
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Post by Anita on Oct 28, 2008 14:59:44 GMT
My Mam became a good knitter during those War years as all the women and young girls in the street she lived in were asked by various agencies inlcuding the Red Cross to make up parcels of balaclavas. fingerless gloves and scarves for the troops. ;D I am catching up with what went on in the first series as that has a separate page on the website. Mam never told me any of this had been on - I found out about it by chance!!! They wanted it to be realistic but that was a bit much, I agree there Lisa!! Poor Lamb, I'd have been sad too!!  My dad was a tot in 1927 (he was born in 1926) and my Grampy was a miner even then - one of the Union Reps he was and during the '26 strike he often got chased up the mountain by a copper on horseback for trying to form picket lines  I hope they don't try to re-create the strike of '84 though as that brings back a lot of bad and sad memories for us as a family  Axx |
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Post by Cheryl on Oct 28, 2008 17:55:51 GMT
I'm enjoying the coal house at war. I saw the first series and thought it was very good. I did wonder how they would continue and now we know My gramp was a miner and used to walk across the mountains to get to work. He worked in the Cambrian Colliery and walked from Gelli. My nan said he would hear the colliery whistle blowing for workers in the mornings from home it was that loud. Many miners in the South Wales Valleys were trapped in poverty with no way out mainly because they didn't have the money to get out of the rental housing market. My nan & gramp were lucky from a serious accident involving my gramp. (I know that sound daft) but my gramps hand was crushed when the wagons failed to stop and he was still working. He was lucky in as much as the colliery had to pay him compensation because he lost his whole knuckle and index finger on his had. This was a blessing as it meant my nan & gramp could get out of the rental housing market that kept them in poverty and buy their own home. Would you believe they paid £600 back then for their house  My mum said her neighbour's son is one of the dad's army boys in this series |
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Post by Anita on Oct 28, 2008 23:19:55 GMT
My Gramp lost most of one finger and the top off another down the pit too - it was an occupational hazard - which is why he encouraged my Dad to become a motor vehicle mechanic once the war was over instead of staying down the mine. Gramps lost most of his middle finger on his left hand down to a stump just below the second joint but the knuckle was saved.
He lost the top of his little finger on the right hand down to the first joint and had a funny nail grow on what was left of it!! I never knew what happend - it was never talked about when I was small but it never hampered him too much and never stopped him playing Bowls - he played for Wales at one stage!! The compensation was great though as he bought their house with some of it and inversted the rest and in early 60s he helped my parents buy the house next door to him and Nan.
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