Any Other Business

[tatsblisters 10,383]

12 hours ago, Pez79 said:

Some people just can't get that grey matter to work mate, one thing is sure, your employer doesn't care about your personal wellbeing, you've got to look after yourself.

Once worked for a big hitter from Hoyland way on the demolition cash in hand who's arse was twitching as he heard health and safety officials might be visiting the site he told lads to pick old paper dust masks up left by other contractors who got looked after a bit better off the floor and put them on if they saw any official's come on the job.

[greg64 2,868]

12 hours ago, king said:

I'm in a limestone quarry with a high silica content..its not a good thing to breathe in as you say mate..

i was a sand / grit blaster for about 5 years blasting everything from car and truck chassis to timber and stonework the amount of shit i breathed in is unreal 

[NEWKID 27,661]

1 hour ago, jukel123 said:

Is corrugated asbestos roofing dangerous if breathed in? I remember sawing lengths by hand when I was roofing50 years back. I was completely green about the danger then. Isn't there  various categories of asbestos , some more dangerous than others?

There's about 12% asbestos in the roof sheeting mate, it is white asbestos (the "least" dangerous" you should wear the correct mask and suit when handling, cutting it.

Only takes 1 fibre to stick in your lungs and there's a strong chance of cancer forming... lost a mate to asbestosis from working with roofing sheets, I think he was 50 when he died...

We've stripped tons of it over the years, gung ho in the early days, shorts and t shirt no mask and covered in dust...f***ing idiots looking back... 

[socks 32,253]

2 hours ago, baker boy said:

What pit did you work in mate

It was a private mine called the gleishon which was above pontardawe mate. 

[tatsblisters 10,383]

51 minutes ago, Pez79 said:

A lad at our place nearly got killed on Wed night on a bridge job, apparently he was on ladders directing a 30 odd tonne bridge beam on to some wooden chocks, trapped him and knocked him off the 7 metre ladder, though he'd broken his back but has escaped with a fractured ankle.

I have a feeling the firm is going to be up shit creek once the investigation is finished.

Just hope the other lads will back him up mate if it turns out the company is at fault. I work in a warehouse where the manager turns a blind eye to a creepy arse licker who fecks about on his phone wile driving the fork truck near us i have managed to get a few sneaky pictures of him in case he happened to hit me with the truck as i know the shift manager would cover up for him even though their's cameras everywhere.

[socks 32,253]

15 minutes ago, baker boy said:

Ive heard of it, I know a few who hunt with the Banwen Miners and lads with terriers down that way

Nigel James, rocky, decker. 

[king 11,984]

1 hour ago, greg64 said:

i was a sand / grit blaster for about 5 years blasting everything from car and truck chassis to timber and stonework the amount of shit i breathed in is unreal 

I can imagine the dust and other stuff you breathed in rust dust etc horrible stuff..

Has it effected you do you think mate.

[greg64 2,868]

27 minutes ago, king said:

I can imagine the dust and other stuff you breathed in rust dust etc horrible stuff..

Has it effected you do you think mate.

well i do have COPD but  i don't know if it's down to that as i have been a smoker most of my life, just gone my first ten days without a fag though 

[socks 32,253]

47 minutes ago, baker boy said:

Aye and a few others, do you know Neil Bevan

Yep  

[socks 32,253]

7 minutes ago, baker boy said:

Some good lads down that way

Proper terrier lads

[twobob 1,497]

5 hours ago, NEWKID said:

There's about 12% asbestos in the roof sheeting mate, it is white asbestos (the "least" dangerous" you should wear the correct mask and suit when handling, cutting it.

Only takes 1 fibre to stick in your lungs and there's a strong chance of cancer forming... lost a mate to asbestosis from working with roofing sheets, I think he was 50 when he died...

We've stripped tons of it over the years, gung ho in the early days, shorts and t shirt no mask and covered in dust...f***ing idiots looking back... 

Same as you kev

[twobob 1,497]

Hse had different ideas of how to strip it one was happy for the 360 shake the building while spraying it  and another would allow you to take the sheets off whole 

[big sid 1,127]

5 hours ago, socks said:

Nigel James, rocky, decker. 

nigel is indeed a good guy, didnt his family have a mine where he worked before he decided the council was easier

[saluki bouy 748]

7 hours ago, Nicepix said:

Most of the beaters on the shoot I was part of were redundant miners. Despite the hardships of the job they would have returned to the lits in a heartbeat. One of them used to say that he'd go back to the pit tomorrow, if only to catch up on his sleep. 

My Dad was a ripper dahn't pit and virtually everyone we knew hsd some colliery connection. Most of them over 50 were knackered through dust or injuries. My Dad succumbed to a kidney condition brought on by a rock fall. So why would the miners go back to working in such hostile conditions? Because the pits held the communities together. Those lads schooled, worked, drank, fished, ran dogs, kept chickens and tended their gardens together. It doesn't happen now. Where 3,000 men found employment and provided employment for hundreds of shop keepers there are now a collection of factories staffed by Poles or employing 5 or 6 people, none of whom live in the area. The fishing boats going out of Whitby and Scarborough on a weekend were full of miners. Coaches full of miners went down to the Lincolnshire drains or the Trent, or up to the Yorkshire rivers wherd they fished. More coaches took the football and rugby teams and their supporters to matches against other collieries. That has all gone. Where there was work and pride there is now no social cohesion. Nothing has been put in place to replace that.

I used the music in the clip below to accompany a little video I made about the dereliction of the steel industry. It came from the film Brassed Off. I lived in the village they called Grimley, really Grimethorpe, or Grimey as everyone calls it. It is very appropriate. Like the funeral music to an industry's death.

 

What would your opinion be on don’t want to say demise but the dropping in popularity of greyhounds whippets and pigeon racing being directly connected to the closing of the mines? 
Wasn’t mining here in borders was woolen mills but my fathers from over the hill midlothian and although never went down flew pigeons since he was ten in the local club walked greyhounds out for my uncle etc and that’s what he contributes it to be interesting to here other’s opinions who lived it 

hunting ban and going forward probably the van on all field sports leaves a massive hole historically but also as a pursuit of working class I grew up racing whippets chasing rabbits everywhere skiving school for beating pulling the fish out the water 

the youth teams for football are dying out that will come to fruition in ten years time and we’ll see it then rugby players all want paid for playing and jump teams each season and anyone self employed taking a risk and choose not to have to work a Saturday to pay bills 

so what’s the escape after big week at work cocaine and alcohol and I’m no hypocrite so I can admit to being there as-well but I’m doing so I can see what it’s coming to 

I’m thirty and know one lad younger than me that’s mad keen on ferreting and few young grouse keepers who probably know the writings on the wall and that’s it anyone beating goes for the cash no the love of the countryside or the enjoyment of being out and most likely stoned 

the futures not bright I don’t think sadly 

[Nicepix 5,650]

Where I am from all the big industries; coal, steel, paper, all had very active social sections. Collieries like Maltby and Grimethorpe had their own football pitches with terraces, proper dug outs and changing rooms. Same in Sheffield with the steel works. Every weekend special trains were laid on to take the fishing club members off for matches on the Trent, Witham and Welland. Pigeon racing was also a top sport along with greyhound and whippet racing. A lot of the lads would do rabbitting and run long dogs. They had the money and the company of like minded mates.

Once these massive employers closed many of the working men never worked again in their own communities. That lead to a reduction of interest in the traditional sports and whilst some of the football teams still remain in name only, the youth sides were lost or reduced in numbers in many places. Keeping working dogs wasn't an option for some given the reduction in income and the fishing side would also be curtailed given that the subsidies from sports and social clubs ended when the industry closed.