JO HAre

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 8th Year

Issue

Issue No.

8

Date Released

Apr 1955

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1WIGAN SKIPS
2. 2WHUPPITY SCOORIE
3. 3CHASE FOR PRODUCTION
4. 4JO HAre

Story

Story No. within this Issue

4 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: blinded miner makes good.
NCB Commentary - One dark day 12 years ago, Joe Hare, a South Derbyshire miner, didn’t return his safety lamp to its usual place in the pit lamp-room. Joe, at the age of 43, that day in an accident lost the sight of both his eyes.
For Joe Hare, the small but important things in a man’s life grew suddenly increasingly important. The outlines of a flower, a child’s smile, the sunset on a winter’s evening - these pleasant things so well-remembered were now for Joe - sight unseen.
But in the hard slow years of convalescence which followed, Joe Hare never lost hold of his will to adapt himself to the world around him. In his private world of darkness Joe was never to feel alone. Among the many people, we well as his family, who helped and guided him is a friend of 40 years standing, Alderman Herbert Buck, now Deputy Divisional Labout Director in the East Midlands.
By 1947, Joe was ready to try his hand at some useful work, but nobody seemed to know how to give him a start. Joe is a big, deepchested man, a heritage from his days as a stoker in the navy and his 14 years underground at the pit. "Allright," said Joe, "if it can’t be coal, I’ll make it soil."
He started cultivating a piece of ground, his own allotment. His friend, Herbert Buck, got him a shed for his tools: things started growing and with them grew Joe’s own confidence and skill.
In 1948 Joe was back working in the baths at his old pit, but chest trouble forced him to switch over to mastering the intricacies of servicing hydraulic props. To-day, Joe’s son, Joe II, works at his father’s pit as a welder.
Also back at the old pit is Joe himself. His job now is in the enginewright’s office and the routine keeps him busy on the telephone.
In many industries to-day, Joe and others with courage like his have made themselves useful places for their special aptitudes, which lack of sight has spurred them to develop and apply, often with more success than people who can see the world around them.
In the evenings Joe, with his wife Emily, likes to foregather at the Geary Miner’s Institute in Bretby. When it’s Joe’s deal his sensitive fingers purposely avoid the delicate braille markings on each card. He’s taught himself to tell the time to the minute on his special watch. Most evenings friends drop on at the Club to enjoy the company of a man they have grown to respect. Here’s W. C. Statham who used to be Joe’s manager in the old days and now manages nearby Rawdon pit. Sometimes it’s dominoes, a special set with raised spots. When the luck is with him, Joe often sweeps the board.
To splice the mainbrace in memory of their Royal Navy days in sister ships is a two-man job. A. D. Butterley, Area Production Manager in the district gives the toast, to the old days - and to Joe Hare himself.
Joe Hare’s case is a story of success and achievement - one instance of a man who out of a private world of darkness became a man reborn.

Researcher Comments

Commentary recorded 7 March 1955.

Keywords

Horticulture; Mining; Disabled persons

Locations

Derbyshire; England

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Sponsor

National Coal Board