After He Witnessed A Few Bad Accidents My Father Advised Me Not To Go Down The Pit

Bentley Colliery

My father used to work down Armthorpe pit in Doncaster and after he witnessed a few bad accidents he always advised me not to go down the pit, unfortunately the building trade hit a bad patch in the mid seventies and I took a job down Bentley pit until the Paddy Train Crash in 1978, when seven men died.

I only suffered a minor head injury, but after being off work for a few weeks decided that I could not face going back down the pit, because of the memories of the lads who died and the way they died.

After a long search for work I was forced to face up to my fears and walk down the main road in Bentley to the pit. It is probably a walk of less than a mile but it seemed to take forever.

When I was in the office talking to the manager the sirens went off and I heard that a contractor had fallen down the shaft. At this point I turned around and went back home. Maybe god spoke to me that day in no uncertain terms, so I decided that enough was enough and never set foot down a pit again.

Until that is I went to the Speedwell Cavern with my family in 2003 and never thought about it until we got on the boat at the bottom. Then my heart did not stop pounding until I got back to the surface.

Yours sincerely
Mr I R Siddons

Those Who Died:-

Injured