We've got the coal, we've got the quality, we've got the customers - this video was produced by the British Coal Television Unit for screening to miners and features the local pit manager presenting the opportunities provided by working a new coal seam - his tone a mixture of pride and plain-speaking. He also temptingly dangles the prospect of a daily bonus of £10.50 (equivalent to around £25 in 2021), and in a carefully staged display of harmony with the trade union, these figures are endorsed by a shop steward.
The Miners' Strike of 1984 - in protest against colliery closures - occurred shortly after the release of this optimistic film, giving the opening line an unintended poignance: 'Just about everything that happens in this village - the shops, the pubs, the clubs - it all depends on a thriving and successful pit.' The mine survived the winding down of the coal industry longer than most pits - it briefly closed in 1993 before re-opening in 1994 as a private pit. It closed permanently in 2000.