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Calendar
The Decline Of The Industry Continued
After Nationalisation 1947

Chimneys
1993
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1993 - Page 10


Cotgrave Closed After 32 Years

- Continued -

In 1981 a major project to the East of the shafts with 2 drifts down 1in4 some 405m to exploit the Parkgate was abandoned due to bad roof conditions and thinning seam section.

40 panels in Deep Hard: developed by drifts down from Deep Soft roadways. The first face 57s starting in1965. The seam was riddled with faulting, resulting in most of the panels having to turn or shorten down or stop short.

  • H3s working South East July 1970 - Apr 1975
  • H5s North East July 1975 - Oct 1976
  • H7s South East May 1967 - Nov 1970
  • H9s South East May 1967 - Dec 1970
  • H11s South East Apr 1981 - Jan 1984
  • H14s North East Feb 1981 - Jan 1984
  • H31s North West Nov 1972 - May 1979
  • H32s North West Apr 1970 - Nov 1971
  • H33s North West Mar 1979 - turn North Sep 1981 - June 1983
  • H35s North West June 1978 - Sep 1980
  • H36s North West Nov 1971 - June 1978
  • H37s North West Sep 1980 - Oct 1983
  • H38s South East May 1983 - Oct 1987
  • H39s North West Mar 1984 - Nov1985
  • H50s South West Aug 1966 - Apr 1967
  • H50s rehead Mar 1970 - June 1972
  • H52s North West turn W Jan 1969 - Nov 1972
  • H53s North West Aug 1973 - Sep 1976
  • H54s North West Feb 1968 - July 1969
  • H55s North West Aug 1982 - Feb 1986
  • H55sA North West Feb 1988 - Oct 1990, passed beyond T and CP boundary
  • H56s North West Feb 1973 - Jan 1974
  • H56s North West rehead - June 1981
  • H57s South East May 1966 - Mar 1970
  • H58s North West Oct 1976 - Oct 1981 swung left 80 degrees
  • H59s South East Dec 1967 - July 1974
  • H60s South West short life Nov 1981 - Feb 1982
  • H61s South East Apr 1972 - Feb 1977
  • H62s North West swung 90 degrees Nov 1988 Sep 1989. The seam was abandoned Sep 1990 due to economics and bad geology
  • H63s South East swung SSE - Jan 1982   
  • H64s South East - Feb 1988
  • H65s South South East swung to SE - June 1987
  • H70s South - Sep 1978
  • H71s South - Sep 1980
  • H72s South - May 1982
  • H73s South - Nov 1988
  • H74s South - Apr 1984
  • H75s South East - Feb 1989
  • H55sA salvage completed by 30/10/1990.

6 panels in Blackshale accessed from Deep Hard roads starting with

  • K1 working SE 12th Dec 1985 - 8th Mar 1989
  • K2 dev NE June 1987 - June 1988, short life for retreat, face equipped but did not work.
  • BS71 SW 24th Oct 1987 - 15th Feb 1991
  • BS63 SE 7th Feb 1991 - 16th Oct 1992
  • BS72 SW 15th Apr 1991 - 1st May 1992
  • BS73 SW 10th Aug 1992 - 16th Oct 1992  production at the colliery ceased 

A vertical bunker 33m deep was constructed in the pit bottom in 1983.

Tonnage and Manpower NCB: No6 Area EMD:

  • 1955: prep sinking 30 men
  • 1956: 128 men
  • 1957: 179 tons, 198 men
  • 1958: 120 tons, 215 men
  • 1959: Deep Soft dev 421 tons, 238 men
  • 1960: nil tons, 200 men
  • 1961: nil tons, 182 men
  • 1962: 93 tons, 278 men
  • 1963: nil tons, 496 men
  • 1963/64: Deep Soft start Jan 1964, 18,475 tons, 596 men
  • 1964/65: DS, 276,397 tons, 850 men
  • 1965/66: DS 566,739 tons, Deep Hard entry, 1,080 men
  • 1966/67: DH, DS, 614,752 tons, 1,112 men
South Nottinghamshire Area:
  • 1967/68: DH, DS, 693,957 tons, 1,279 men
  • 1968/69: DH, Deep Soft abandoned, 1,037,552 tons, 1,316 men
  • 1969/70: DH, 1,042,417 tons, 1,515 men
  • 1970/71: DH, 968,434 tons, 1,486 men
  • 1971/72: DH, 876,560 tons, 1,438 men
  • 1972/73: DH, 955,186 tons, 1,500 men
  • 1973/74: DH, 745,796 tons, Parkgate entry then abandoned, 1,505 men
  • 1974/75: DH, 915,622 tons, 1,534 men
  • 1975/76: DH, 994,495 tons, 1,677 men
  • 1976/77: DH, 1,012,280 tons, 1,714 men
  • 1977/78: DH, 1,073,749 tonnes, (1,056,788 tons), 1,808 men
  • 1978/79: DH, 1,154,570 tonnes, 1,778 men
  • 1979/80: 1,114,380 tonnes, 1,782 men
  • 1980/81: DH, 1,186,369 tonnes, 1,822 men (max)
  • 1981/82: DH, 1,204,776 tonnes, 1,809 men (profit £4.096m)
  • 1982/83: Deep Hard, 1,238,506 tonnes (max), 1,808 men (profit £6.465m)
  • 1983/84: DH, 1,062,842 tonnes, 1,734 men (profit £715,000)
  • 1984/85: DH, 778,435 tonnes, Blackshale entered, 1,668 men (loss £7,852m)
  • 1985/86: DH, Blackshale start 1,180,134 tonnes, 1,647 men
British Coal
  • 1986/87: DH, BS, 1,152,704 tonnes, 1,592 men (loss £1.560m)
  • 1987/88: DH, BS, 1,000,252 tonnes, 1,417 men (loss £9.941m)
  • 1988/89: DH, BS, 889,520 tonnes, 591 men (loss £9.480m)
  • 1989/90: DH, BS, 611,226 tonnes, ? men
  • 1990/91: Deep Hard finished, BS, 589,319 tonnes, ? men
  • 1991/92: BS, 902,441 tonnes, 646 men down to 496 u/g, 75 s/f plus 52 under officials and 27 WPIS staff
  • 1992/93: Blackshale 301,350 tonnes. Coal face workers 156, Development 4, Roads 9, Salvage 0, Others 314, Surface 100.
Colliery closed 13th October 1992 but not abandoned until March 1993. Shaft filling commenced 30/9/1993 and was completed 3/11/1993. Cotgrave lost money overall in it's life.

Managers for Cotgrave:

  • W Alan Jones (Agent Manager) 1957-1963
  • Ken Butt ** (4675) 1964-1971 (Agent Manager, General Manager, promoted to Production Manager)
  • Ken J Simmons (6132) 1971-1975 (General Manager, promoted to Production Manager South Nottinghamshire 1975-1982)
  • Arthur Townsend (6400) 1976-1986 (General Manager transferred from Brookhill)
  • David S Crisp (9601) 1986-1987 (General Manager transferred from Manager Bentinck, promoted to Production Manager)
  • Howard G Awbery (10648) 1987-1988 (transferred from Bentinck, promoted to Production Manager South Midlands Area, later Senior Directing staff at the Vache, appointed Head of Management Centre Bretby)
  • David M Betts (10958) 1988 (transferred from Manager Creswell, transferred to Asfordby)
  • Reg J Fitzpatrick (10961) (promoted from Deputy Manager Rufford) 1988- Apr 1989 (whilst I was there on the third day of the colliery valuation Tuesday 9th April 1989 he was called from the meeting and arrested by the Police over personal matters and locked up and later sacked)
  • Colin Stocks (11030) 1989-1992 (transferred from Blidworth after closure, transferred to Sherwood and Creswell)
  • Steve Wright (9981) (transferred from Creswell for closed colliery). Derek R Bell (10149) signed Blackshale abandonment plan Nov 1993.

Deputy Managers:

  • Ken J Simmons (6132) (promoted to Manager) 1966-1972
  • Tom A Rainford (8679) 1969-1984 (promoted from Bestwood, transferred to Area HQ -1987)
  • John Gospel (11031) 1984-1988
  • Mike W Stephenson (9999) 1988-1989, retired.

Assistant Managers:

  • Mike Stevenson (8343) 1976-
  • Dave A Marriott ** (9489) 1986- Colin E Dennis 1986-1988 and A Rodgers, R Hopps was Assistant to the Manager in 1977.

Undermanagers for Cotgrave:

  • William Crompton (8149) -1965
  • Geoff Franklin Mee (7699) 1965-1967
  • Mike Stevenson (8343) promoted to Assistant Manager) 1967-1976
  • Ged Morgan (8335) 1970-1972
  • Des A Marriott (9489) (promoted to Assistant Manager) 1972-
  • Colin Kenny (8894) 1976-(transferred to Gedling)
  • MW Randle (10948) 1982-1985 (transferred to Undermanager Gedling)
  • K Swinscoe (9985) 1982-1984
  • Keith Tait (8947) 1985-1987
  • John C Nicholson (10370) (transferred from Gedling) 1986-1988
  • Paul G Shorthouse (11369) (transferred to Rufford) 1988-1989
  • Chris J Daniels (12111) 1988 (promoted from Assistant Undermanager Ollerton, promoted to Assistant Manager Bilsthorpe, later Manager Clipstone, and Hatfield (RJ Budge and Russian Consortium)
  • Tim J Fifoot (11815) (transferred from Gedling, transferred to Harworth, later Manager) 1988-1990
  • Martin P Hopkinson (11...) (promoted from Ollerton) 1989-1992 (left industry, later Safety Engineer Staythorpe Power Station)
  • Trevor Haywood (11133) (demoted from Thoresby) 1989-1993
  • Russ J Nevin (11878) (promoted from Ollerton) 1993.

Surveyors:

  • Stan J French (3622) 1957-1985?
  • John Stapleton (5...) 1985?-1992 (promoted from Mansfield, transferred to Ollerton)
  • Steve T Barnes (6278) 1992-1993 (promoted from Bevercotes, transferred back toBevercotes as Surveyor on closure)
  • John Potts (5611) Deputy, appointed temporarily at finish in 1993.

Nursing Sisters: included

  • Mary Shipman (transferred from Wollaton)
  • Joan Cowlishaw.

Fatal Accidents Cotgrave:

  • Aston Knight (37) fell from winding tower 9/7/1959, died 11/7/1959
  • David Walter Brown (28) electrocuted on the surface 5/12/1961
  • William Patrick Padden (46) fell down the shaft whilst carrying out repairs, when the platform tilted suddenly 7/4/1962. Possible brake or failure on the sinking engine.
  • Harry (Toby) Adin Taylor (42) Area Shaft Engineer, fell down the shaft, found at the bottom of the sump 13/7/1965, nobody knows how or why.
  • Charles Edward Woodward (48) fell into machinery, 16/10/1965
  • Alex Massie (?) head crushed by machine whilst leaning over the Ranging Drum Shearer to see why the cowel had staked, when reversing the machine it was released suddenly, 8/12/1977
  • William Robert Cummings (45) 1982
  • Steven Henrye Wieczorek (26) face trainee, caught by cutting machine whilst illegally riding on the armoured face conveyor 9/4/1983
  • J Wildeman (?) ...1984
  • Stuart Martin (28) Chargeman electrician electrocuted underground 2/9/1989. He carried out all the necessary checks and locked off the equipment with 2 locks. He isolated a set of main feeder panels at 3.3kv rating and removed the front of one to change a part but did not realise it was a ring main and the other side of the panel was still live. The investigation into the unfortunate incident revealed several failings in the operation of such and following on from this various safety devices and new equipment was installed and the old design panels were phased out so that a similar incident could not happen in future.

Incidents at Cotgrave: One heating in 1986/1987.


Number of Faces Reduced

During the year 1992-1993 in Nottinghamshire the number of advancing coal faces at the 12 pits was reduced from 23 to 13 and the number of retreat faces, decreased from 8 to 7, and 7,600 men were employed. A couple of years previously there were 12,300 men in 13 pits.


Theft at Rufford

Thieves stole a trailer, 50 gallon drum of red Derv and a JCB bucket from Rufford colliery, w.e. 31/3/1993. So much for the security system.


Appointed Director

William (Bill) Rowell former Group Director for Midlands and Wales appointed as Director of Mining for RJ Budge Mining Group.


National Standards Competition

Ollerton (Nottinghamshire) 41s panel in the Parkgate seam was named joint winner with Silverwood colliery (South Yorks) in the National Standards Competition. A committee was formed at the pits to include members from each shift to meet and discuss safety aspects for such as changing a face machine or motor etc. The idea was to put the responsibility for safety in the hands of the men at risk and safety circles were formed and were hung up in 14 separate places including each of the 3 faces, workshops, conveyor belts, haulages and canteen. Since forming the idea the accident rate for the number of over 3 day accidents had been halved.
Fibreglass Rock Bolt

Also at Ollerton a more robust ‘rope thread’ in the bolt end of a new fibreglass rock bolt, devised at Tuxford based MAI, was tested on a retreat face and proved successful in solving the recurring problem of rib side collapse causing hold ups in production.


Thousands Not Claimed Their Pension

It was noted that thousands of former mineworkers in the region had not claimed their Mineworkers Pension to which they were entitled upon reaching 60 years of age. Many who had since moved house were unable to be contacted so notices were posted in an effort to locate these people and for them to write in with their details and claim their dues.



Pit check Cotgrave

Loco Cotgrave

Map


Loco

Click Photo To Enlarge - Click Again To Reduce


Shane Shane

 

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