I Do Not Want To Get Into An Argument But Would Like Some Info? ........in The Maggie

[lilacben]

Thatcher ruin! when all the coal pits where closed. I understood that the mies all flooded so therefor couldnt be opened again.? Would any of you know anything different to that.?

[New Judge]

Unless they are maintained mines tend to flood, or fill with noxious gases, or both.

[tonyav]

Yes, turn off the pumps and they soon flood.

[murraymints]

Yes...many did..a skeleton staff had to brave accusations of being scabs..for attempting to keep the pumps working..or every pit would have closed there and then....my dad was one...even though he did so unwaged..he was effectively on strike but struggled daily to keep the pit live so there would be jobs to go back to !

[tonyav]

He was a brave man, minty.

[murraymints]

Yes Tone..and wise..2000+ men would have had nothing left to return to had he and a very few not saved the pit ...

[tonyav]

Yes wise to help save the pit minty, and brave to cross the picket line.

[jim360]

It would have been ironic indeed if the picketers had managed to stop people from working only to find that the mines ended up unusable because of it. I wonder whom they would have blamed for that.

Thanks for the story though murraymints- learn something new every day and that's my fact for today!

[SIRandyraven]

Why can't they just pump the water out again ?
Get some big pumps and pump until the water has gone ?

[paddywak]

Unless they were "Mothballed" it would be impossible to reopen the closed mines, not because of the water but because the shafts were filled in. I was involved in the closure of the last pit I worked at and the shafts about 1000m deep and 8m diameter were filled with several layers of different grades of rock and aggregates engineered to compact into an impenetrable plug and the cost of clearing them would be huge. As to the water, it is a problem that would very from pit to pit ours was a fairly dry mine while another a few miles away made that much water that they had a shaft specially for the pipe work required to keep the pit dry.

[murraymints]

Pits here in Lothian very wet paddy..monktonhall notoriously so...a buy out consortium failed because of it...

[lilacben]

That is all so interesting and helps others, like myself to understand it all. My husbands cousin was going on about how marvelous you know who was ( getting into politics) and I said about the poor miners and all those people out of work, to which she replied they could have reopened the mines later. As not all where flooded...so in a way she is right but I am not going to tell her that. Because it has never been the same for those people. Even those as you said where working for nothing just to keep them open. Anything else you could tell me would be great. Thankyou Brenda x

[mickthemuppe]

Surely during the miners strike NACODS who were responsible for the maintai
nance of mines never went on strike. There was no problem of them crossing picket lines because it was not their dispute.

[jackthehat]

Oh, yes there was.

My cousin was in NACODS and had his car completely trashed at the pit-head because he had crossed the lines to ensure that the mine would be in working order for the men when the strike finished!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners'_strike_(1984%E2%80%931985)

[murraymints]

Dad NACODS too....but he gave all his earnings to the strike fund and took back same as the ordinary miners did....AS WELL as putting up with all manner of abuse for trying to keep the pit viable...which was successful although closed and gone now for a good few years now...

[murraymints]

Must add there were usually around 300 on the picket line at a time and dozens of police...this pit was the focal point for demonstration then...