Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 22 August 1942

Barnburgh Main Broadcast

Underground Show Goes Through Without a Hitch

Sunday afternoon’s broadcast from the Barnburgh Main Colliery must have been in many ways one of the most novel the B.B.C. have undertaken. In transmitting to South Africa and to home listeners a portion of a concert arranged at the pit bottom in support of the Manvers Main Fighting Forces Fund the B.B.C. were doing what is understood to have been their “deepest” broadcast yet. The Deep Seam at Barnburgh is some 800 yard from the surface and it is safe to say that programmes (least of all musical programmes) are rarely beard from half a mile below ground. Altogether nearly a thousand people were down the pit for the show, most of these comprising the audience whose ticket money was for the Fighting Force. Fund.

Listeners in the district all appeared highly satisfied with the broadcast and thought that singers musicians and others reached a high level of achievement by normal standards quite apart from the unusual conditions in which the programme was given. But those who imagined the artists performing in the cramped and somewhat stuffy conditions popularly associated with underground workings had quite a wrong conception of the show.

Stretching in a straight line from the shaft bottom was a 160 yards long gallery, 25 feet wide and about 10 feet high, brightly lighted by rows of electric lights. The door despite its regulation carpet of stone dust was firm and level and parallel lines of haulage rails In no way interfered with walking. At the far end on an improvised platform of planks the band and choir were busy perfecting their items as cage-load after cage-load of visitors strolled along this airy roadway. Most of the bandsmen and several members of the choir had discarded their coats and collars and the warm atmosphere made the steady draught of the ventilation system doubly welcome.

As the audience accumulated the atmosphere seemed to get hotter but there always plenty of air and of course smoking was out of the question with the result that there was none of the stuffiness of the average cinema, thoug the temperature was probably higher.

During the necessary wait before the audience could be assembled, early arrivals took the opportunity , of inspecting the spacious new engine room, clean and lofty as a surface power house.

Women, escorted by their menfolk explored some of the branching roadways, one or two returning with nieces of coal clutched proudly in their hands. There was much laughing and exclaiming as miners’ wives many of whom had never been down a pit before, saw for the first time places and things which for years had been the subject of household discussion. Many of the younger women wore flimsy brightly patterned dresses and all left the pit looking as smart as when they went down, for apart from the stone dust, which left its temporary mark on shoes, there was surprisingly little evidence of dirt and grime. The white-washed walls brightly reflected the light which was brightly entirely adequate for the musicians to follow their scores despite the many changes of position needed before the proper adjustment to the position of the microphones had been secured. There was a brief interval just before the broadcast was due to start. The red light which gave the signal that the show was on the air was a lantern swung by hand at the bottom of the shaft. This signal was picked up by a watcher standing on the platform and he gave Mr. Albert Yates, conductor of the Manvers and Barnburgh Band, a nudge which started the audible part of the broadcast.

There followed some lively music admirably played by the band, some equally good singing by the West Melton Victoria Male Voice Choir conducted with vest and feeling by Miss Annie Tingle, with Miss Ivy Xing of Hoyland as accompanist and a solo by Mr. Harry Salkeld, a well-known local tenor who is employed at Manvers Main.

In matter of fact tones Coun. Tom Barker, one of the Barnburgh Main Y.M.A. officials, told the story of the rescue work after the recent Barnburgh Main disaster in which he himself took part. Like the musk,  the singing, and the crisp introductions of the compere, Mr. James Bell, agent of the Manvers Main Collieries, this recital came through excellently. There was evidently, no need for the nervousness which Colin. Barker afterwards confessed to saying he preferred doing the job rather than talking about it.

It was a most interesting experience for those who had the privilege of going down the pit and seeing a well as hearing the show. The setting and arrangements were a credit to the Company, staff, and employees and it is certain the broadcast with its fine Yorkshire singing and playing, and the honest and unadorned story of the rescue work after the disaster would be appreciated not only in South Africa bid also in the many British homes where it was listened to.