At this point, All I can add is a song by Max Boyce, on the closure of Welsh coal mines.

DUW IT'S HARD

( Max Boyce)

In our little valley they've closed the colliery down,
And the pithead baths is a supermarket now.
Empty journeys red with rust rolled to rest amidst the dust
And the pithead baths is a supermarket now.

CHORUS:
'Cos it's hard, Duw it's hard.
It's harder than they will ever know.
And it's they must take the blame:
The price of coal's the same,
But the pithead baths is a supermarket now.

They came down here from England because our output's low —
Brief-cases full of bank clerks that have never been below.
And they'll close the valley's oldest mine, pretending that they're sad.
But don't you worry, Butty bach, we're really very glad.

My clean-clothes-locker's empty now, I've thrown away the key.
And I've sold my boots and muffler and my lamp-check one-five-three.
But I can't forget the times we had, the laughing midst the fear,
'Cos every time I cough I get a mining souvenir.

I took my old helmet home with me, filled it full of earth.
And I planted little flowers there, they grew for all they're worth.
And it's hanging in the glass-house now — a living memory,
Reminding me they could have grown in vases over me.

But I know the local magistrate, she's got a job for me
Though it's only counting buttons in the local factory.
We get coffee breaks and coffee breaks, coffee breaks and tea,
And now I know those dusty mines have seen the last of me.

'Cos it's hard, Duw it's hard.
it's harder than they will ever know.
And if ham was underground would it be twelve bob a pound,
The pithead baths is a supermarket now.
Aye, the pithead baths is a supermarket now.


Taken from Max Boyce: his songs and poems (pub.:Panther 1976)
NP