Wilfred Watkins, Miner

[doubtingmichael]

Last month I posted my grandfather's reminiscences about World War I: see http://doubtingmichael.livejournal.com/15079.html. Here's the rest of that interview, about his life down the mines.

Thanks again to history_monk for assistance getting this material ready, and of course to my parents (WINOLJ) for doing the original interview and transcription.

Comments

[doubtingmichael]

Oh: If I may ask it, please nobody give them a hard time about the blackface. That would be crass today, but I think in those days it was uninformed, not mean-spirited. I think it's clear from the above who the miners saw as the enemy in those days, and it wasn't anyone as far away as Africa.

[athenais]

It is amazing. Hard times.

[la_marquise_de_]

That's fascinating. Thank you.

[dorispossum]

Wilfred's account of the strike made me think of some of the crap dished out by the police etc in 1984. But what follows with the injuries is beyond words. And he seems amazingly stoical in the face of it all. It's an amazing story - many thanks for letting us read it.