大象传媒

My call-up papers arrived early in December 1944, a fortnight after my eighteenth birthday, but not what I expected. As I had donew three years training in my Grammar School Cadet Force, I had opted for the Army on conscription and naturally expected to be directed to an Army training unit, but no, I had been 'balloted into the coal mining industry and to report for training at Cresswell Colliery Miners Training Centre in Derbyshire. On making enquiries as to appealing against this directive, I was told in no uncertain terms that non-compliance of this order could mean imprisonment. I found out in later years that this did happen to around 150 young men.
After four weeks training at Cresswell I was sent to Clipstone Colliery in Nottinghamshire where I spent the next three years working underground, the latter two years being spent on the coal face. All this time I was billeted in a Miners' hostel near Mansfield along with 300 other Bevin Boys, the accommodation being in Nissen huts with 12 of us to a hut. The amenities at the hostel though far from luxurious, were adequate and more or less based on Army style barracks with communal wash rooms, a games room, reading room and dining hall. The accommodation plus meals etc. cost us around 35 shillings a week; we also had to buy our own working clothes, pay bus fares to work and pay our own fares if we needed to visit our homes for any reason whatsoever - no travel warrants were ever issued. All these expenses had to be found out of the weekly wage of around 65 shillings a week after stoppages, which was the standard wage for an eighteen year old underground worker at that time. As one can see this did not leave a great deal for entertainment or other extras.
Eventually I was 'demobbed' and allowed to return to civilian life, with no gratuities or recognition whatsoever for three years hard, dirty and hazardous labour. I felt I had done my bit for the war effort , and like many other Bevin Boys returned home deflated and aggrieved by the way we had been treated.
The inception of the Bevin Boy scheme was brought about by a shortfall of some 50,000 coal miners due to men leaving the industry, either to join the armed forces or to work in other industries with better pay or more congenial working conditions. From December 1943 to May 1945 some 48,000 Bevin Boys were conscripted into the mining industry with around 26,000 being volunteers or men who had opted out of certain branches of the armed forces to return to the mining industry; the remaining 22,000 shortfall being made up of ballotees like myself. During the aforementioned dates 1 in 10 men who became eligible for national service were directed to the mining industry.
All in all the Bevin Boys were not given any credit at all for helping in the war effort, even though quite a number were either killed or injured during this time. Unfortunately very few records remain of those who served under this scheme as most of the information was destroyed during the 1950's. Also it is only in recent years that they have been allowed to participate in the Rememberance Parade on November 11th in London.
I hope that this short remeniscence throws a light on to a little known section of civilians who served their country during the second world war.

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