TURN ROUND

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 5th Year

Issue

Issue No.

11

Date Released

Jul 1952

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1TURN ROUND
2. 2HOLYROOD GATHERING
3. 3HOME RUN
4. 4ON THE AIR

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: co-operative stevedores at Grimsby docks unloading pit props for the mines.
NCB Commentary - It’s a gray dawn at Immingham as a 4,000 ton Swedish freighter docks at the end of her Atlantic crossing from Canada. Her cargo? Pitprops. About a third of all the timber used in Britain goes down the mines.
Now to get her unloaded. At the call stand on the dockside, men are waiting in the early morning sunlight for the chance of being signed on to work. Today the stevedoring company which hires them is something out of the ordinary. It’s a cooperative made up of dockers themselves - the first of its kind in Britain. Nearly all the pitprop stevedoring in British ports is handled by big concerns.
Alf Moran, who’s setting the men on, is a foreman docker and treasurer of the co-op.
Once on board, work starts in earnest. Off come the hatch covers, while some of the deck cargo is still being manhandled into slings. Handling tricky loads like this is a dangerous job and calls for great skill.
Every wagon load of timber leaving the ship is checked off. Frank Nickerson, the co-op’s secretary, is acting as tallyman.
Now the stevedores hand the loaded rail wagons over to the wharfingers, who have the big job of preparing the timber for the collieries. It all goes to yards outside the docks, where the props are seasoned and then out to size and split where necessary. Some of the timber may also be chemically treated against fungus. After all this it sets off on its journey to the collieries.

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed from the 17th to the 18th April 1952. The budget was £209 13s 8d.

Keywords

Ships and boats; Transport; Mining

Locations

Grimsby; England

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.6 No.74 December 1952, p651.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Director

John Spencer

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Camera

Phil Law

Camera

Wolfgang Suschitzky