Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Christmas Deliveries: If you placed an order on or before midday on Friday 19th December for Christmas delivery it was despatched before the Royal Mail or Parcel Force deadline and therefore should be received in time for Christmas. Orders placed after midday on Friday 19th December will be delivered in the New Year.
Please Note: Our offices and factory are now closed until Monday 5th January when we will be pleased to deal with any queries that have arisen during the holiday period.
During the holiday our Gift Cards may still be ordered for any last minute orders and will be sent automatically by email direct to your recipient - see here: Gift Cards
Blackhall, The Good Old Days
A Memory of Blackhall Colliery.
I was born in Blackhall in 1940 and lived in 11th Street and went to school at Henry Smiths - hated it, so I borrowed a fiver off my granda, signed my parents name on the form, and left when I was 15 (in those days when you went to Grammer School you had to sign to say you would stay till at least 16, or pay a fiver to leave at 15). By the time my mam and dad found out it was too late to stop it, I was in very big trouble - but I was free. When I look back now I am so thankful that I didn't have to go down the pit. What a terrible job, I think the best thing Thatcher did when she was PM was to close the mines. I know all the arguments against this, but remember the disaster at Easington - 93 men and boys killed in one explosion. My father was a shaft man at the pit working under a 10 inch diameter flowing water pipe every night, and this weakened him so eventually he had no inner strength to fight illness. While I will always be a colliery lad like I said. thanks to my family for keeping me out of the pit. Passed through the old place about 2 weeks ago, first time for 38 years, so sad it's all changed. Better or worse, can you remember?
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