Arthur Hodgson part two
I had another interesting telephone conversation today with Arthur Hodgson. Please bear in mind that I have hearing problems and that occasionally Arthur was [inevitably] using mining vocabulary that I found difficult to understand. The result is as follows:
After going into the Royal Navy a couple of days before Christmas in 1944 Arthur came out again when the war ended in the following year. He started work at Ushaw Moor pit in 1947, for the newly nationalized National Coal Board. He felt that nationalization made little difference – Pease and Partners to NCB meant much the same thing for the workers.
Arthur recalls the Durham Miner’s Gala of 1949. He had been selected from a union hat to be one of twelve workers at Ushaw Moor pit that would carry its banner during the Big Meeting; it was an honour and also carried a reward of ‘a few bob’. They met at the colliery canteen early in the morning and had an uncooked breakfast. It was a case of six particular men carrying the banner on the way to Durham, via the railway from Ushaw Moor, and the other six carrying it back via the railway from Durham. Two men held the banner poles, two held fancy ropes to prevent the banner falling backwards and two held fancy ropes to prevent it falling forwards. They paraded around various parts of Ushaw Moor but made a point of briefly stopping in front of the Aged Miners’ Homes. They then marched down to The Albion at the bottom of Station Road; the bars were open and they stayed there for about half an hour prior to getting on the train to Durham. At that stage there were about twenty six of them in The Albion: mostly bandsmen, banner carriers, and six union officials. Thousands of spectators greeted the many bands and banners that poured into Durham City. It was often slow going as they progressed through the city.
Several people of the late 40s were recalled by Arthur, one being Joseph Stowells the union secretary; Arthur guessed that Joe was about forty years old at the time, but he was not really sure about that. He also recalled Joe Johnson [there are several spellings of that surname so my apologies if the one used is wrong]. Arthur explained that Joe Johnson’s father got fourteen year old Joe a job at the mine and Arthur recalled that Joe had lovely handwriting [not copperplate]. One manager of the pit was named Gregg and he only liked one particular brand of whisky; nobody could fool him by offering him a different brand. Another manager, H O Matthews, was a local preacher and he had two young daughters that attended a school at Esh Winning.
Arthur recalled the joiners that worked at Ushaw Moor pit: Norman Hope [his brother in law], Jack Lister [who lived in Deerness View or Joicey Terrace - located a little to the west of the colliery, on the way to Esh Winning], Joe Johnson’s brother [Arthur could not remember his first name] and Jack Wright, who made the desk that was used by the manager, and also worked as a shaftsman.
Arthur remembered another pleasant man by the name of John. He could not remember his surname. He lived opposite the Ushaw Moor Working Men’s Club. This man had many children but only one daughter, called Lorna. All of his lads were employed at the pit. He regularly went to the manager to tell him that ‘I have another one for you’.
Workers were employed in various roles at differing wage levels but Arthur felt that there was no particular sense of snobbery, people just got on with working together and getting the job done.
Wilf Bell
