Coal Miners

Taffy's Dream

By Peter Woodgate

It was 10 pm on New Year’s Eve 1959 and Taffy Edwards was seated in the Miners Social Club in Minnie, Staffordshire. He was with his wife Ann and some old workmates with whom he had intended to see in the New Year. However, Taffy had not felt too good all day and, disappointed as he was, felt he should be in the comfort of his home. Pneumoconiosis, that was the problem, he wasn’t alone however as many miners in those days, and of course, previously, had and were, suffering from the deadly coal dust disease

    Placing his now empty glass on the table Taffy looked at his wife and, speaking in a soft hesitant voice said, “Sorry Darling I don’t want to ruin the evening for you but I think I ought to go home.”

Ann looked into his eyes, she had seen the distressed look on his face many times before and knew

what to do.

    “Of course Darling, it won’t spoil the evening, we will see the old year out from the comfort of our home.”

    They wished their friends a Happy New Year then Ann drove Taffy home. She made sure he changed into his dressing gown and slippers ushering him into his comfy armchair by the fire. Taffy was fortunate that the fire was still alight as Tina, their daughter, had decided to stay in rather than attend a New Year’s party to which she had been invited.

    As he sank back into the comfort of his armchair Taffy noticed that the fire was getting rather low and leaned forward to retrieve the poker from its stand. Following a good agitation of the receding embers, Taffy shovelled a few extra coals onto the glowing clinkers and immediately soft flames began to lick the sides of the fresh fuel. Now satisfied with his actions he sank once more into the armchair.

    Ann entered the room with a mug of hot milk together with taffy’s inhaler, “Now Taffy I want you to have a couple of puffs of this then drink your milk, I am going to bed and don’t want you to stay up too long.”

Taffy gave Ann a nod before taking a couple of deep breaths from his inhaler, then, after thanking Ann for the hot milk, he lay back once more into the chair.

    After a short while, all had become quiet, Tina had already gone to bed before they got home and now Ann was in bed also. Taffy had begun to drift off, when; he heard whispering from the hearth.

He thought the coals were speaking to him reminding him, it seemed, of his time down the mines.

The whispering, of course, was merely the sound of gases being forced through tiny fissures in the burning fuel and caused by chemical reactions at the base of the fire. To Taffy, however, it was voices, voices of the 156 men and boys who died in the Minnie pit disaster of the 12th January 1918.

    Taffy had been lucky that day and was scheduled on a later shift. This disaster, however, and others were to haunt him for the rest of his life. The greatest loss of life was at Senghenydd on the 14th October 1913 when 439 men and boys lost their lives and, although occurring before Taffy started work, was always a fact he remembered. He was now in a dreamlike state, which resembled a nightmare, as other facts were flashing into his mind. Despite many terrible disasters children worked down the mines until 1938 when they were replaced by pit ponies. Other visions swam before his eyes as he remembered workmates from long ago, some, unfortunately, were now dead and Taffy began to sweat profusely as the visions caused panic and his breathing stuttered.

    Taffy woke up gasping for breath and immediately looked for his inhaler. To his relief, it was there, on the side table, and he quickly administered a couple of hefty puffs. He looked at the fire, it was glowing and the heat was just right. He was comfortable and his thought was to make sure the fire was reduced to a safe level before he went to bed. Taffy settled as his breathing calmed and once again he began to lapse into a dreamland. He regressed, this time into an era millions of years into the past.

    Since his retirement some ten years previously, Taffy had become obsessed with the history of coal mining. In particular, he was fascinated by the process which turned the ancient forests into the coal we know today. It was during the Carboniferous era that the vast global forests of giant fern-like trees sank, over thousands of years, into the swamps that were present all over the planet. The gradual pressure from both above and below forced chemical changes to the wood of the giant trees resulting in the carbon-based coal that exists all over the world.

    It was in this land of giant trees and swamps that Taffy now found himself. The air seemed fresher and he could swear that his breathing became easier. Had it not been a dream and by some miracle Taffy had been transported into that era then he would have been able to breathe a lot easier. Oxygen levels during this period were the highest that have ever existed, 36% against 27% today.

    Taffy was now walking through the forest making sure he stayed on relatively firm soil.

A movement just in front of him caused him to jump and he nearly ended up in the swamp. He managed to regain his balance as a large lizard-like creature hauled itself out of the swamp area and scuttled off into the undergrowth. The creature was a Tetrapod belonging to a group that were the ancestors of all amphibians alive today. Most animals during that era lived in the sea although there were plenty of insects about and one such creature, a dragonfly the size of a gyrocopter, buzzed overhead.

    Taffy’s dream began to fade and flashing lights replaced the futuristic scene. He was aware of people standing over him and his wife’s worried face.

“Welcome back,” the voice came from a man standing next to Ann, “we lost you there for a moment, it was a good job your wife phoned us straight away.”

    Ann had woken up during the night and, finding Taffy was not in bed, went downstairs to find out why. Taffy was still in his chair and she had tried to wake him, his breathing was faltering and, unable to bring him out of his unconscious state, had called the ambulance. He was taken to hospital where he made a full recovery and following stronger medication lived a further 15 years.

    It was after this episode that Taffy, whenever meeting up with his friends, would insist on telling everybody about the two dreams he had on the night he nearly died.

    It is ironic that coal mining from the start of the Industrial Revolution and up to the middle of the twentieth century brought much wealth to industry and comfort to all those who were lucky enough to be able to stretch their chilled hands towards glowing coals. However, it could be said that no man woman or child responsible for supplying this fuel was ever fairly recompensed and even up to the mid-1980’s, miners were treated badly by both the owners of the mines and the government. They were also let down by their union.

   It is ironic too, that this, once precious commodity is now seen as one of the reasons for global warming and a cause for potential catastrophe.

I knew Taffy, he was a gentleman, and, despite his hard-working life and illness caused by the conditions, he never moaned. I have great respect for all miners and wrote this in memory of Taffy; my friend.  

© Copyright Peter Woodgate

Rob Kingston suggested this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=H5QeTGcCeug