Web Page No 2662

21st February 2020

1st Picture. Coal Delivery

2nd Picture. Coal Lorry

 3rd Picture. Coal Scales

4th Picture. Coal Bunker

The Coalman

One of the regular events at home that was eagerly watched when I was a child at home was the arrival of the coalman. At that time most of us had open fires supplemented by the odd electric heater or paraffin stove which were mainly found ‘taking the chill off’ the bathroom, but the main form of heating for the house was open fires run on coal, anthracite or coke.

Strangely, it seemed to me, coal was delivered during both the summer and winter months because we did not burn coal in the summer. My father explained that because those households that had coal bunkers or other storage facilities the householders would buy their winters coal when the sacks were sold at the lower summer prices.

Before the arrival of the coalman my father would sweep out all the loose coal dust from the coal bunker (which doubled as a pirate ship or some other pretend base for our games in the summer) making room for the newly delivered coal. As far as I remember were either used Smiths or the Coop as coal suppliers or coal factors and we would always recognise the delivery men who came year after year.

The day they delivered the coal I was kept well out of the way but I can vividly remember the men walking past the kitchen window with the sacks of coal on their backs on the way to our bunker. Once they were emptied the sacks would then be folded up and placed on the back door step so my parents could count and check the number of bags. This was common practice however one neighbour of ours took checking really literally.

By law every coal lorry had to carry a set of scales and this neighbour of ours insisted that the scales be taken off the lorry and brought to her back door and every bag of coal weighed and if needs be adjusted before she would let the delivery men empty it into her coal bunker. As you may gather, she as far from popular with the coal delivery crews especially as she never even offered them a cup of tea or a tip.

Very few people today have deliveries in this manner although when Pam and I moved to Gosport our central heating was run from a coal fired back boiler in the sitting room and so we had coal deliveries right up until the mid-1970’s. In fact, with the growing popularity of gas central heating our coal merchant, Mr. Barnes, found it increasingly difficult to make a living and decided to retire early. He was so concerned about letting his regular customers down that he wrote to everyone of them (us included) and apologised for the end of the service and explaining that financially he just could not.

Soon after that we, like many other households went over to gas heating.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a coal delivery lorry around the streets, in fact, I think the only regular customers for coal these days are preserved railways and that has to be specialist coal.

The coal trade is a business that has almost tailed off completely, now mostly relying on imports, there are very few working mines in Northumberland and Durham and I never thought I would see the day when there would not be a single working coal mine in the Rhonda Valley.

I suppose it is all good to reduce the carbon foot print!

Stay in touch

Peter

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On this day 21st February 1960-1965

On 21/02/2160 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

The big news story of the day was Prince Andrew born.

On 21/02/2161 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 21/02/2162 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 21/02/2163 the number one single was Diamonds - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Liz Taylor films Cleopatra.

On 21/02/2164 the number one single was Needles & Pins - Searchers and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 21/02/2165 the number one single was Tired of Waiting For You - The Kinks and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.