British Universities Film & Video Council

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SKY’S THE LIMIT

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 10th Year

Issue

Issue No.
12
Date Released
Aug 1957
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1FUTURE DEFINITE
  2. 2GUESS WHAT?
  3. 3SONGS OF THE COAL FIELDS: "The Blantyre Explosion"
  4. 4SKY’S THE LIMIT

Story

Story No. within this Issue
4 / 4
Summary
BFI synopsis: stock piling for future needs poses no threat to employment
NCB Commentary - The mild winter and spring has resulted in a surplus of vertain grades of coal. Reduced demand, along with increased production has brought about this happy state of affairs. And it is happy, whatever some people may say.
Large sites have been acquired by the Coal Board. Here at Digby, lorries are arriving one after another. It’s a turmoil of dust at Digby as a thousand tons a day go to join the fifty thousand already laid down.
Unloading from Railway wagons at Dainton is done in a new way with new equipment.
Stacked coal needs watching. Fire is the chief risk and at frequent intervals temperature readings must be taken. Two minutes under the tongue and this patient is O.K.
Many collieries have their own stacking sites. At Denby Hall, for instance, conveyors bring it from the preparation plant. Then the bulldozers take over, spreading and rolling to keep it packed tight.
Between now and 1965 it is estimated that Britain’s energy requirements will increase by the equivalent of 50 million tons of coal.
Oil and nuclear energy can supply only a small percentage. So every ton stacked is a sign of health in the coal fields.
The situation is only temporary.
At some pits, the reserves are already being shipped away.
But, in spite, of this, many miners are worried - particularly the older men, for they remember the last time the stockpiles grew and the great depression that followed.
Short time and closed pits was the story then - today, it’s very different.
More reserves and greater production are needed if that 50 million tons of energy is to be provided.
As Sir James Bowman, Chairman of the National Coal Board, said: "Take no notice of heaps of coal to be seen at collieries; they are a beautiful sight, and the sky’s the limit".
Researcher Comments
Commentary recorded 8th July 1957.
Keywords
Mining; Energy resources
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.12 No.137 March 1958, p118.
The National Archives COAL 32   /12 Scripts for Mining Review, 1956-1960
Credits:
Production Co.
Documentary Technicians Alliance
Sponsor
National Coal Board

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