大象传媒

I was one of the last group of Bevin Boys to be conscripted to the coal mines in April 1945. My instructions were to report to the Prince of Wales Colliery in Pontefract West Yorkshire, with lodging accomodation at Hightown miners' hostel at Castleford, three miles away. After the usual four weeks training was completed I was told to stay at "The Prince' (as it was known) and I worked, first, pony driving at the loader end of the coalface and was then transferred to haulage road inspection and finally on pit bottom (nearest point to the cage) working as a "catch-striker" who releases the "catch" so that empty tubs come out one end and full tubs of coal can go in at the other end. After two years I was transferred to Ackton Hall Colliery at Featherstone, the other side of Castleford. There I became a "catch-striker" again and, with another Bevin Boy, was trained to become an "on-setter" (the person who works the cages from pit-bottom). I was "demobbed" in March 1948 and returned to Winchester in Hampshire to resume my career in the legal profession. During my time as a Bevin Boy I was never known by my Christian name of Phil - I was called "Win" from Winchester at "The Prince" and "Sid" at Acton Hall. I still correspond with Bevin Boys who knew me by those nick-names. I am now a prominent member of the Bevin Boy's Association, attending reunions and I am joint area representative of the Southern Counties Branch (with Warwick Taylor) We are in the process of writing a book about the Association which should be published next Spring (2006), I wrote a booklet in 1993 called "The Bevin Boys Story" (re-printed in 2004).

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