South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 16 May 1942
Mines Secretary at Manvers Main
Distinguished Gathering at Opening Of Canteen And Solarium
Mr. D. R. Grenfell, Secretary for Mines, on Friday, opened a pithead canteen and solarium at Manvers Main Colliery.
The canteen cost approximately £5,000, which has been borne by the South Yorkshire Miners’ Welfare Commission. It consists of a large dining room, capable of accommodating 240 men, and a kitchen, which has modern, electrical apparatus. It has been built of steel and brick, and is situated immediately behind the pithead baths. The kitchen is capable of providing 1,000 meals a day. A full dinner costs 1s., and breakfast and tea is served. The whole lay-out was planned by Manvers Main Staff and the Miners’ Welfare Commission, and the canteen was erected by Mr. A. J. Pugh (Rawmarsh). Men coming off the morning shift received a first class meal, provided by the Company, before the opening ceremony
Mr. Max Woosnam, Deputy Chairman of Directors, presided, and others present were Lord Horder, Physician in Ordinary to the King; Mr. 0. G. Willey (Deputy Regional Commissioner); Mr. W. Paling, M.P. for the Wentworth Division; Mr. E. Dunn, M.P. for Rother Valley; Mr. F. Collindridge, M.P. for Barnsley: Mr. J. A. Hall, J.P., and Mr. E. Jones, President and General Secretary respectively of the Y.M.A..; Major H. J. Humphrys (Divisional Mines Inspector); Dr. T. N. V. Potts (County Medical Officer); Dr. W. Beaumont who has been consultant for the installation of the solarium; Mr. L. R. Honeywill (Secretary and Director. Manvers Main). Mr. J. Bell (Agent, Manvers Main Collieries, Ltd.). Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Spence Lyne (Chief Welfare Officer). Mr. E. J. Kimmins (Manager, Manvers Main), Mr. G. C. Payne (Manager, Barnburgh Main), Professor I. C. F. Statham (Professor of Mining, Sheffield University). Mr. L. Cook (Conciliation Officer, Mines Department), Mr. T. H. Barker and Mr. A. Williams (representing Barnburgh Main Y.M. Branch), Mr. O. E. Palmer and Mr. Goddard (representing Manvers Main Y.M.A. branch). Mr. M. F. Higgins (Managing Director, Mining Engineering Co.), Mr. W. F. Carr (Manager. Manvers Coke Ovens). Mr. H. Bamber (Manager, Allied Coal Sales), Mr. J. Milne (Food Officer, Wath), Mr. T. B. Daniel (Consulting Architect, Manvers Main), Mr. C. F. Dyer (Consulting Engineer, Manvers Main), Mr. W. P. Turner (“South Yorkshire Times”). Mr. R. Dayson, Coun. S. Silverwood (Chairman Mexborough Urban Council), Coun. A. Russell (Chairman. Swinton Council), the Rev. E. H. P. Rawlins (Vicar of Mexborough), the Rev. H. W. Quarrell (Vicar of Swinton), Dr. I. Campbell, Mr. T. C. Nicholson (Clerk, Wath Council), Mrs. H. S. Houldsworth, Dr. G, R. Bailey, Mr. M. Roman, and Mr. H. E. Partridge (Consultant for Engineering). Mr. Woosnam apologised for the absence of Lieut. 0, J. Phillipson, Chairman of the Company, who serving with the Navy, and Lt.-Col. P. H. Lloyd (General Manager), who is in the Army.
“Unpredictable Accident.”
Making reference to the “unpredictable accident at Barnburgh Main Colliery,” Mr. Woosnam said he was satisfied nothing which occurred could have possibly been foreseen by anyone, and nothing could have been done to prevent it. Nothing after the accident occurred, which could have been done was not done to save the lives of those people who were trapped. He extended the Company’s deepest and heartfelt sympathy to the relatives and dependents of the four gallant men who lost their lives, and as a mark of respect those present observed one minute’s silence .
Mr. Woosnam congratulated the 19 men who came out of the ordeal alive, most of them still fit and well. and congratulated them on their steadfast endurance and courage which sustained them during their trial. He thanked, on behalf of the Company, all those who worked so heroically to rescue the victims. He could not pick out any individual for special praise. All deserved the highest praise in the world, workers at the colliery and from neighbouring collieries, officials of the Company, and other companies the Mines Department, and the Y.M.A., and he thanked them wholeheartedly for their courage and heroic devotion.
Speaking of Mr. Grenfell’s visit, Mr. Woosnam said he was glad that the Secretary for Mines and other visitors had shown an interest in the well-being of workers in the mining industry. The Company had done its best over a number of years to provide new amenities, comforts and means which they could find and which would be to the benefit, health and happiness of the employees. The solarium over a period of time would bring great comfort and happiness to those who took the trouble to use it regularly.
Referring to the Boys’ Club, Mr. Woosnam said the coming generation needed all the help and encouragement it could get, and by opening a Boys’ Club eighteen months ago he felt they were on the right lines in bringing up the younger generation healthily and happily,
Mines Secretary’s Tribute.
Mr. Grenfell said he was happy to bear testimony to the wonderful interest displayed by both sides of the industry in the question of maintaining the health and fitness of the men engaged in the mines in this very difficult period of the war. As a pitman he paid homage to these men, first of all to the 13 men who were entombed and came out alive to rejoin their neighbours in the community in which they had lived all their lives and spent their labours, to join their families. He expressed his personal condolences with the friends and dependents of the four men who lost their lives.
“When I heard of this accident from the Mines Department on that Saturday morning I was very touched, as I myself have witnessed similar occurrences in my 23 years’ experience as a miner. I pictured from a spot 250 miles away the concern of the neighbourhood and the activities taking place that day, and I confess that for the whole of that day and ‘the following Sun.
day when I came into telephonic communication with the officials and directors of the colliery, I did not spend a moment’s peace. I was just as much concerned as if I was here on the spot, because I wish to say I am one of you. I began my life in the pit as a small boy of 12, and spent the following 23 years – the best years of my life—in the pit. I will never regain the enthusiasm, interest and seal of youth, which we all capture but once. I now occupy a position of public eminence, but I will never forget my connection, comradeship and service to the great mining service of this country. I have given many years of any my life to the study of the big problems of the mining industry, and I have qualified as a first-class colliery manager, and it has been of no disadvantage to me to-day. I understand the problems of the industry very much more clearly on that account.
Into Darkness to Seek Light
“We, to-day, have come to produce to you the very best scientific imitation of the sun. We have come to offer you the nearest approach to the Quality of sunshine that science has so far discovered. We men have spent our lives digging coal and working to release the sunshine and indomitable forces of sunshine of hundreds of million years ago. Coal is concentrated sunshine, and no one can deny that some time long ago before man ever thought of this wonderful treasure these seams of coal, were laid for the future profit of mean when mankind had developed sufficient Intelligence to employ them. In your seams you have not the black, dirty dusty material, you have the wonderful radiated substance of the sun. There are far more mysteries in coal than in any substance or material. We have spent our lives going down to the darkness to seek for light, and we have brought forth the light and heat of the sun for the service of the country.
Production Struggle
Mr. Grenfell said we were engaged in a great struggle to increase the production of coal. Three quarters of a million men in the mining industry were employed in nearly 2,000 mines, and were doing, and he hoped they would continue to do, their level best to produce over 200 million tons of coal. Coal was the greatest multiplier of manpower the world possessed. It was the one element which could make us stronger, build up heat and power and provide us with the means of building machines of all kinds, the machines which would give us security in the end and enable us to live in freedom in this country. We could not retain our freedom, build up heat and strength without coal. One day’s work in the mines was multiplied a thousand-fold when employed in the modern boiler and steam engines to turn the wheels of Industry, by which aeroplanes, tanks and guns could be fashioned, and It was only by coal we could build these, with which we hoped to command. In this country, with the help of our Allies—the U.S.A., the greatest industrialised country in the world; and Russia, whose progress In industry had been delayed but was now rapidly forging to the front—we were working in combination with large forces outside. Those arranged on our side were far stronger numerically than those against us. We were nearly four to one against them, but our strength did not lie in mere numbers. It lay in the capacity of our Industries, which depended upon coal.
Next Six Months
The Secretary for Mines went on, “We can produce more than three times as much coal as Germany, Japan and Italy put together, but that is no reason for slackness on our part. The next six months will mean hard fighting and working. We have to build for Russia as well as ourselves, and we have to supply her with the surplus of our production to make her industries strong.
The U.S.A. is building the things by which we can move the things we produce. The clouds may appear to come very low in parts of the world, but there is every reason for encouragement to go on, working harder and avoiding internal quarrels. There should be, and must be, sufficient goodwill on both sides to stop local disputes. I do not speak in a censorous way. I want to speak as man to man to both sides.
To the miners of Yorkshire I would say upon you has been placed a unique responsibility. You have lived your lives, and performed your labours in the richest coalfield in this country. No coalfield can make a larger contribution to coal production than Yorkshire. May you go forward and prepare your plans for extension of freedom when the battle has been fought and won, but for the moment may you sacrifice whatever appears to be to your temporary advantage. May you exercise the utmost patience and forbearance and demand freedom for your country by working for the next six or twelve months as regularly as man can work and maintain bodily fitness. Put all you have into the service of this country for the next six or twelve months and I promise you that things will look better at the end of that time.”
Mr. Grenfell said the meal which they had just consumed was good, and he could not get a meal like that in the House of Commons for 4s. He was sure the men would connect all these things with their service and give to the nation, and themselves, all they had to give for the next twelve months. He promised that for whatever period he was called upon to serve he would try to make available every possible facility for the mining industry. He hoped the miners would play their part in the struggle.
Lord Woolton’s Message.
Lord Horder conveyed the congratulations of Lord Wootton, Minister for Food, and himself gave the solarium his blessing. He said not only the Army marched on its stomach. This was an all-In war, and the contribution of the working civilians was very vital.
Lord Horwer said the miner In South Yorkshire took dripping for his “snap,” the South Wales miner jam, and the Durham miner either of them. These were the foods the miners themselves chose to take down the pit, and which provided them with energy in the ten or fifteen minutes in which they had to eat them. Though not so dramatic as the taking of hot meals to the coal face, canteens had helped to provide the kind of food the miner required. The Minister of Food had allowed nursing mothers and children extra foods, and now had made an allowance for the heavy industries. Lord Wootton wanted to do the same for the miners.
Dr. Beaumont said the problem of providing the so-called tonic sunbaths for factory and other worker was one which for some time had been exercising the minds of those responsible for the health of the workers, and also those whose main concern was production. Other countries, our enemies and our allies, had faced the situation long before the war. In this country the collieries were the pioneers and the experiment at Sherwood Colliery was well known. Nothing was attempted in pre-war days on a big scale but since the war many firms, both large and small, had taken up the matter, and while some of these were excellent, others left much to be desired.
Dr. Beaumont said the solarium was of a revolutionary character, and was certainly unique in this country, and he gave a description of the solarium and said it could be constructed by almost any engineering works at small cost, and in many cases from material at hand. It could he expanded to deal with more or diminished to take less.
The idea of using a conveyor came to him while travelling up an escalator and noticing the advertisements on the sides, and he merely adapted it, using lamps instead of advertisements, and travelling horizontally instead of vertically. It had been in use some time now, end he believed it provided a solution to the many problems associated with tonic sunbathe in works.
The Solarium.
The solarium, which has been built into the pithead bathe, will enable every mineworker to have small concentrated doses of ultraviolet ray and radiant heat treatment daily. It has been designed to form part of the workers’ normal bathing facilities, and after having their shower baths the men walk on to a rubber conveyor 50 feet long which carries them through the solarium providing an exposure of 1 ½ minutes for each man.
Twenty-five men can be accommodated on the belt at once, and if through any reason it stops the lights are automatically extinguished. More than 650 men can be given treatment in an hour and the number treated daily will be about 1,200. It is so arranged at present that no attendant is required.
Manvers Main Colliery have themselves carried out the whole lay-out with Dr. William as consultant.