Nostalgia and Sadness

My Miners exhibition at Rotherham runs for 2 months ending on 28th November, so another trip up on that day is called for,we did not see much of the town but like most towns and cities the centres are becoming full of empty shops,and strangely enough there was programme on TV last night which featured Rotherham and it seems that like Sheffield the shops have suffered from the building of meadowhall ,and to a lesser extent a smaller retail complex at parkgate,one of the problems is parking charges in town centres but free to park at the malls.
I looked at Brinsworth on google, my home village and it was a very small community until the Rotherham Main Colliery opened and boosted the population with an influx of people from all parts of Britain, google Rotherham Main Colliery and you will see a photo in the background behind the smoke and pithead gear you can just make out the houses where I was born and spent my early life.
The sight of any pit headgear has the effect of reminding me of my childhood and is in itself a stark but strangely beautiful and nostalgic sight to me, as kids we spent much time in summer on the water meadows at Whiston the next village , the pit ponies were given a two week escape from underground at that that time,and put out to grass on Whiston meadows, and we would try to ride on them in the fields without success as they were a bit wild and frisky I think as a result of their new found freedom.
Sadly on a more serious note following on from the four Welsh miners who recently lost their lives, another miner 49 year old Gerry Gibson was killed two days ago in Kellingley Colliery Yorkshire, once more emphasising the dangers of the job and the courage of brave men who risk their lives every shift.
It seems there is some concern about safety at Kellingley as Mr Gibson is the third fatality in the mine over the last four years.