The Rock 'n' Coal Years

Last year, whilst on holiday in Cornwall I discovered, among bracken, and a far cry from the tourist trail, a ruined tin mine standing stark against the skyline. A clump of grass sprouted through crumbling brickwork, as if defying the dark and dankness of the mine beneath. My thoughts returned to my younger days, when as a naïve fifteen year old I left school and began my apprenticeship as an electrician in the coalmines. I remembered the confined space and working nearly half a mile down underground and three miles from the pit bottom. I reflected on the lot of the Cornish tin miner with whom I felt an affinity. I imagined them in years gone by hewing ore but without the modern machinery and equipment of my generation. Their lives were much harder and infinitely more dangerous. But perhaps there was a young lad like myself, eager to please but hopelessly ill at ease among a group of older youths whose sole aim was to intimidate and ridicule. Perhaps he has a tale to tell similar to mine and he turned derision to approbation. The following anecdotes, represent a tangible account of my trials and tribulations as I try to find my way in a challenging new job. Using a combination of humour and pathos I have endeavoured to portray a true picture of an era long gone. It will evoke memories from a period of time which many living people look back on with pleasure, and who will identify with the youthful vigour and entertainment the stories afford.