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 Taken by Caters Photographic of Birmingham, Loftus Sword Dancers at Birmingham TV Studios in 1970. They are: musicians: John Waite, Maurice Brignall. Old woman: Stephen Galilee. Sword Dancers: Keith Galilee, Harry Cuthbert, Sid Robson, Colin Galilee, John Hill, Eric Lancaster.  An unknown date; but believed to be about 1984/1985 and they took a Gold too! Posing proudly with their trophy: Image courtesy of John Hill.  A classic view taken by the Arlington Studio of William E. Grier in Loftus; a striking profile pose of Arthur Marshall, musician with The Loftus Sword Dancers, taken either during a practice or at a performance at the School. A request from John Grier Thompson: “I am Bill Grier’s grandson – my mother was a photographer in the Arlington Studio too. Are there any more photographs by my Granddad, or any paperwork with his studio logo on it?”
 How it all started! At the back: Mr. H Norminton and Mr. W Heseltine. At the front: Arthur Marshall (musician), Ronnie Knight, Ken Johnson, Harry Joplin, John Hill, Hilton George, Eric Tyreman. Image courtesy of John Hill (photograph originally copyright Northern Echo).  A series of photographs showing Lumpsey Mine, in this one we can see the man bending at the front has put the ’sprag’ (a heavy rod) into the wheel of the tub to stop it moving, the sprags were very heavy. Many of the horse leaders had serious accidents throwing the sprag into the wheel of the moving tub, if they didn’t get it right then it often came back onto their legs. We have to remember that the mines were not level they had to follow the seam of ironstone up hill and down dale.  How much ironstone can one filler get into a tub? By the look of that tub quite a lot if you know how to load it. Simon Chapman updated the Archive with: “Note that the guy in the background appears to be using a hand-operated rotary drill, a so-called ratchet. The props are deliberately cut to a bit of a point at the base so that if weight started to come on the working place this weaker part of the prop would start to ‘bunch-up’ and therefore give a visual warning.” Update courtesy of Simon Chapman.  Geoff Harland says that he thinks the following list of names is right – but as he’s just recovering from a house move! Back row: Alan Tebble, Ian Matthews, Freddie Simpson, Garry Simpson, Colin Myers, Terry Rawlings, Michael Moore, Mike Norris, Geoff Harland. Centre row (L to R): Dave Preston, Brian Young, David Maskell, Alan Lancaster, Geoff Tilburn, Tom Cockburn, Gordon Atkinson, Dave Willis, Ray Furness, Alan Pierson, Dave Berry. Front row: Jennifer Smith, Maxine Foster, Kathleen Welford, Judy Roe?, Colin Grainger, Teresa Johnson, Judith Evans, Pam Collinson, ? Pearson. Image courtesy of Geoff Harland; thanks to Brian Young for additional names and corrections, also Bob Doe, Judith Evans and Derick Pearson for the updates.  After being puzzled by this image – it’s obviously posed – so was it for a training manual? The ladder on the right looks like a metal ladder, when were they introduced? The loader is wearing a tin hat (safety helmet, bump hat), so it was after the introduction of the safety helmet, but his colleagues don’t appear to be wearing theirs, so it must have been before they became compulsory. Derick Pearson said: “What they appear to be doing or have just done is set the roof support timber. They would under these circumstances chop out a ledge to fit it at either side of the working. They would then add props with wedges as is shown with the prop in the centre. They normally chopped out a seat/ledge for the roof support timber before fitting it into place. This has already been done so it is certainly a pose after the job.” Simon Chapman advised: ”This picture appears in an article on Cleveland Ironstone Mining in the Iron and Coal Trades Review of September 1939 and the photos. are credited to The Yorkshire Post, so the newspaper must have had a recent article about the mines. I was told years ago that the picture was taken at Lumpsey.” Image courtesy of several sources, thanks to Derick Pearson for the insight and to Simon Chapman for the update.  A photograph I have never seen before; visible are the arch legs of the Loftus to Carlin How viaduct in the background; and the culvert looks finished. This all prior to the infilling which took place 1907 to 1914. Image courtesy of The Pem Holliday Collection.  Miners at Park Pit Skelton, but are these men coming off shift or going on? No safety helmets, so we can surmise it’s before the mid 1930’s. Jean Cunion asked of the Archive: “I first saw the picture of Park Pit Skelton at Kirkleatham Hall Museum and was struck by the likeness of the lad in the middle on the front row to my father Alphonso Cunion, as a child. I have obtained a copy of the picture but unfortunately no names of the individuals were recorded. I have written to Teesside Archives who are searching the records held on miners in the area. I know from census records that my great great grandfather was an ironstone miner as were his sons. I also hold copies of Peter Tuff’s “Directories of ironstone miners and their associates” which refers to John, Jacob and Robert Cunion (John could refer to junior and/or senior). Does any one know of any other books or sources of information?” Thanks to Jean Cunion for the update, can anybody assist? |
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