People   (Re-unions, trace old friends and relatives.)

I'm sure you know better than I do Colin.

Although my father was a miner who had worked in the Welsh coalfields as a young man, and in Lancashire after the war, he broke his neck in a mining accident in about 1960, and had to find alternative employment after a series of operations, I think at Leigh Infimary and about a year in a rehabilitation home, I believe it was Oakmere in Cheshire.

So at the time of the miners strike, my father was no longer in the pit.

I vividly remember my father borrowing my Maths books. He had to find employment other than the pits, and needed to update his skills.

He was unemployed for quite some time, but eventually clawed his way back. He was a regular in the RAF and was a trained Instrument Fitter, and that was how he got back into the workforce.

But it was a very difficult time for us, and I know how hard it can be when your job has been cut from beneath your feet.