Wigan Album

Don't those lads look young ? No more than schoolboys.

Probably 14 year olds, can you imagine the reactions if 14yo's were sent off to work in factories these days? These days kids seem so immature at 18 to work responsibly.

Brilliant photo. Days when lads accepted that they had to get a job when they left school, be it in a pit, a factory, a mill or elsewhere.

It’s a true saying they really were the “salt of the earth”….I wonder if any of them became
“teddy boys’’after a good scrub when they‘d finished their shift… I can't see any sideburns though and the ‘teds’ abounded in the fifties in their crepe soled shoes and shocking pink socks! ;~]

From just looking at this photo I sense a feeling of comradery amongst the group, that "we’re all in this together”.

Dead right Josh , when those who went down talk they all mention their very special bond , which they had to have to cover each others backs .
I worked in a factory and those you worked with became like a family , but for me the pits were different because it was just so dangerous .
I agree with Irene a 100% !
I heard a story of a young guy who had fathered five children with five different women and was supporting none of them as he had been living off benefits for years.
He wouldn’t work but because he was part of these women’s lives the benefits system had to support him. Spot the difference!

Not how I remember them: They all seemed to have extremely black faces due to the caked on coal dust.

Looking behind the lads there is brown outlines on the brick work and was wondering what was hung there?

Apprentices? I believe Wigan Junction did alot of training maybe this is the place.

I don’t think this is of a ‘Wigan Area pit’. It’s a training school somewhere, but what would EMG stand for on their helmets?

Could it be Old Boston where a lot of young lads did their training?

None of them have cap lamps on their helmets, so could be on the surface somewhere. Notice the scotch in the tub wheel.

Peter the brown outlines are the cables going into some form of electrical switch hear they must be just outside some form of sub station