Gerald Senior
Heckmondwike
Served: 1944 - 1947; Gomersal
Gerald Senior, and his wife Margaret, are Heckmondwike born and bred. He has lived there all of his 81 years. He was a cobbler by trade, working for a small firm in Heckmondwike. In 1944 he was surprised to receive his papers and discover he was going to be a Bevin Boy.
He reported for his six weeks training to the Prince of Wales Colliery, Pontefract. He lived in a hostel in Castleford and was bussed to the pit every morning to do his four hours in the classroom and four hours underground. He recalls there were several 'college boys' in his group. Few of them had ever done hard physical work and were often the targets of the almost incessant banter – always a feature of life in any coal mine. Good nature invariably triumphed.
At the end of his training Gerald’s life took an unhappy turn. He was assigned to Nutter Lane Colliery at Gomersal. In the Prince of Wales, he had become accustomed to the excellent shower and toilet block, to being able to stand up to work when underground, to the good lighting and to the first class canteen.
This was before nationalization and it became obvious to Gerald that little money had been invested in Nutter Lane. It was dispiriting. There was no shower and toilet block, no brilliant lighting down the pit though there was a mediocre canteen.
There was worse to come because the working conditions were atrocious. He had to walk three miles to the face and then crawl to his place of work. While working miners had no opportunity to stand up straight. One of his main tasks was 'tramming' which meant he removed the tubs when full of coal and replaced them with empties. There were no ponies to work at Nutter Lane. Because of the poor working conditions he developed problems with his knees which became so severe that in 1947 he was medically discharged. There was no compensation.
Back home in Heckmondwike he took up his job repairing shoes before spending three years working for the railway in Mirfield Goods Yard. After a spell as a warehouseman he landed a good job with the well known textile firm, T F Firth. He enjoyed his work and retired happy at 65.
Gerald and Margaret enjoy the company of their family and the regular escape to their caravan by the sea. It’s a million miles from those dark, dank, painful tunnels beneath Nutter Lane.
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