| Many of the
relatives of the Wigan Pit Brow lasses included in the programme came forward
after an appeal published in the Wigan press.
The last pit brow lasses - whose
job involved picking stones and shale from the coal on the screen before washing
- worked in Wigan as late as the early 1960's.
Ian,
whose web site, Coalmining
History Resource Centre, is now a standard point of reference for teachers
and historians, added "I've been lucky enough to be sent a copy of the programme
and Wiganers will be delighted with the finished result, which is very impressive.
"At least three quarters
of the hour long programme concentrates on the Wigan coalfield and a number of
named Wigan pits.
"It
combines a lot of archive material with interviews recorded just weeks ago."
Ian added that, after consideration,
the producers had decided to stick solely to the story of the gruelling lifestyle
of Pit Brow Lasses and not to include the role of the "pit camp women"
in steadfastly opposing closures during the 1985 national pit strike. |
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