When they took the pits away some people say best thing that ever happened oh yes we got lovely green fields and no tips we also have a load of empty shop's pubs shut no one socialises anymore they also took our steel industry railways I can go on this country is gone

Terrible to hear that guy say his brother took a week to die. My grandfather took much longer. Bloody awful to see your loved ones suffering so much. GOD BLESS THE MINERS!

What a tragedy about the mining industry. One thing that is noticeable about this film is how smartly dressed and slim most of the working class looked in those days

My Mum was born in Blaenavon. My grandfather and his family were miners to the bone. One of my great aunts’ husband was killed in the mines and because she had something like 13 children she was forced to go down the mines herself to keep food on the table.

From 5:10 - "what made me get out was watching my brother die. it took him a week to die. four bottles of oxygen a day and they couldn't take off his mask to give him a tablet for the pain even. So I decided to get out of the mines then, while I could" Reporter: "Sounds terrible. So was it JUST the money that made you want to leave the mines then...?" "Errrr..."

Yes, it was 1973. Alwyn Lloyd was a good snooker player, and the film was shot at Abertysswg Working Men's Club where he lived. In fact where I grew up. Most of those people would be 80 + years of age now. I left South Wales in 1984, most of my friends worked in the pits throughout the valley's.

"I don't think the miners will ever be in a better bargaining position than they are today" (1973) God, how true!

Very good video that captures a time now past,But back then the end of coal would have been unthinkable.

The day 'they' shut down the mines and the manufacturing, they sealed the end of prosperity. 😢

I was 9 in 1977 , & i can still remember all the power cuts , & we had a black & white television we had 2 put 2pence in the back , 2 work it ?? Happy Days though , im not cut out for 2022 😕

My late old man knew him,and my dad worked in Hoovers to,well over 20 years'and worked alongside ex miners.

Scargill , was no friend of the miners . He had his own agenda ..

The Hoover factory closed in 2009.

It’s all thanks to Maggie Thatcher and big mouth Arthur Scargill that all our pits have gone.

Christ an old hoover twintub. I used to service them at work and had a second hand one when I got married nicked the spares to fix it from work lol

i wonder what happened to the people in this film.. hope their lives turned out ok

I grew up in the Kent coalfield where many of the miners ended up from South Wales, Scotland and Durham (some Yorkshire and Staffordshire) after being blacklisted for union activities in the 26 strike. They all kept their accents and traditions, maybe held on to them more in the isolation, social and geograhic, of the Kent mining areas. I remember being young and assuming that all mens lungs packed in when they got old. My dad went the same way, it was awful to see him gradually suffocate.

Great video 👍👍

Go up anywhere up the valleys now and you'll see the effects of the pits closing.

My Great-Grandfather was a coal miner, and before that a lead miner during the early 1900's in south and Midwest Wales

I'm not from a mining community but remember the strikes. Most of the UK hadn't the right, truthful information to understand (or care about) what was happening and the ideology behind the closure of the coal mines. There was no investment in the communities who were left without jobs, food, security and the rest, they had little chance to retrain or use existing skills, they were just left to fend for themselves. Thatcher hated the unions, as, well as the workers, and her government of the day wasn't prepared to invest in a transition for the communities once the mines and steelworks had been destroyed. The Tories also stockpiled masses quantities of imported coal to beat the miners' strikes and keep power stations running.

great video

My Great Grandfather, my Grandfather, and my Father were Miners, my Father was killed in a mining explosion in 1963 in Tower Colliery. All those Miners are legends, made of granite those people salt of the earth.

At least you were making washing machines in the U.K. we don't make anything in Australia, we closed the car plants down the other year. All we do mine and farm. Everything is bought in cheap from bloody China. I suppose it's happening In Britain too.

Watch the film above us the earth it's about ogilvie Colliery closing

The year this was made was 1973 not 1977.

So much family history to this....

£7,500 for a washing machine in 1977?!

Coal Board: "How can we keep miners?" Miner 1: "Pay us more. Job is tough and requires skill." Coal Board: "So many are leaving... why they go?" Miner 2: "I like the work. Just pay us more." Coal Board: "We need to study this and figure out a solution." Miner 3: "Just pay us more like the essential workers we are." Coal Board: "So complicated...policy and such." Miner 4: "Change policy. Increase our pay. Easy. "

Is that Alayn Lloyd playing snooker.?

Public Service Broadcasting brought me here...

what's the music at 13:50 mins in?

'They will have to sink those pits again' said an old teaching assistant that I used to work with. I just got back from Russia, Gas is 3 gbp a month, electricity is around 15 gbp a month. Coal, oil is abundant and China is drinking it up like no tomorrow. Their monopolised rail is mainly dealing in 80 carriage crawls of coal oil and gas on the rail, some rock and building materials. These trains run at least 20 times day and night. We in the UK are dependent now for our energy. You know I think he is actually right, they will have to sink those pits again but actually if we do it this year we may be able to save valuable equipment. Knowing our country we will do it too late, we will get the govt. involved and then it will all be ruined. We need private entrepreneurs who own land to organise and start mines. Why am i paying 8.99 gbp for a 10kg bag of coal at my local Indians, this coal probably came from Poland? Can you imagine in this film people complained at paying 20gbp for a tonne of coal? Are we the experts at ripping ourselves and each-other off? Coal mining is a deeply British tradition and will never die. Now is its nadir, but it will arise.. It is harsh, un-human, extremely dangerous to work in a pit but as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Are we ready? PS the Americans have resorted to shallow cast mining but at least they have private firms. They still need 70% of their electricity to be coal generated, of course they won't tell you this. I think that sensible investors and entrepreneurs have an ideal time to open new pits. Come to Nottingham, we have 47 old pits that need work. Clipstone in Mansfield looks like a good bet.

That hoover factory is long gone so sad

Just noticed Adrian Williams had commented earlier, a Rhymney boy who emigrated to Canada. How's it going Adrian?

Coal miners are the only people that can get away with blackface.

Dt half miss my grandparents coal fire

Im sure some people reading here will know my grampa kenneth hughes what a man and what a shame whats happened to our country

Says 1977 in the title and 1973 in description?!

Shame coal mining went shame on all those that worked so hard for the country and also those that suffered and died too young with the black lung

theres more chance of death and accidents on building sites

1973 not 1977

Once a miner always a miner

Sad, so very sad….

Flippin eck ! one of the highest paid and he was only on £36 per week. That is only £276 per week in 2023 prices. Its no wonder they always seemed to be on strike. I am sure the car workers, steel workers, and most other manual labour jobs were paid more than that .

Came here from Trash Taste

Pip Pip Cheerio Bob’s your Uncle

I don't blame them. That's hard work i wouldn't do for $313.96/WK either. Pay these folks what their worth.

Coal mining should have been phased out during the 1960s.

hope kids are looking back and realising that rules change because of votes, chat about where u go kids, not about drugs, make us oldies proud !!

Why does the title say 1977 but description say 1973 ??

80 a week? Not day… week?

I bet Hoover has gone bust, all gone abroad, all that skill lost forever

Who could ever Vote Tory !