South Yorkshire Times, April 5, 1969

Now He Uses Brushes and Easels Instead of Pit Tools

After 50 years down the pit Mr. Harry Robinson has taken to painting. When 64-years-old Mr. Robinson, from 5a, Maple Road, Mexborough, left Highgate Colliery after 21 years two years ago, he found he had a lot of time on his hands; now all he has on his hands are brushes and easels.

Pitman’s champion and rated one of the best eight light weight boxers in the country back in 1926 he did not find it all that easy when he started, but he has now completed over 50 paintings.

“When I finished work I needed something to do to fill in the time,” he told a “South Yorkshire Times” reporter this week. “I thought about poetry and mathematics, but now I have only time for painting,” he said.

“I wanted to know how to draw, but after classes at the Rockingham Institute I was a little discouraged, but the art master told me to soldier on,” he went on.

Now his home is filled with paintings. “I would not say that I am the best of painters, but I certainly enjoy myself,” he added.