MOUNTED MINORS

Series

Series Name
Mining Review 13th Year

Issue

Issue No.
4
Date Released
Dec 1959
Stories in this Issue:
  1. 1THE ART OF MINING
  2. 2MOUNTED MINORS
  3. 3Too Good to Burn or SPEAKING THROUGH COAL
  4. 4RECORD PIT

Story

Story No. within this Issue
2 / 4
Summary
BFI synopsis: The Banwen Pony Club, most of the members are children of miners, practice for the Horse of the Year Show
NCB Commentary - Manager John Williams of Callwyn Colliery in South Wales meets Colin Kemys, a maintenance fitter. They share a common interest with John Whitney (the farrier) and the interest is ponies and the children who ride them. Kemys, Williams and the Manager have helped to build up the Banwen and District Pony Club which provides a lot of fun for the children of the little mining village. The pit yard is their practice ground as Hubert Llewellyn - another maintenance fitter - instructs them in dressage.
Last year, for the first time, Banwen entered the Pony Club’s Mounted Games Championships - the winner of which receives the Prince Phillip Cup at the Horse of the Year Show in London. They were beaten in the Zone Final. This year they got to Wembley in spite of keen competition from the other 167 team entries. There are 36 members, almost all of them the children of miners from Onilwyn and Severn Sisters. Their six instrcutors are all mining men.
Each child has its won pony and is encouraged to care for it personally. Even though stabling in the Welsh Vallies is limited, the back-yard serves just as well.
When they went to London for the Horse of the Year Show, it was a great moment for everybody and there was plenty of preparing to do.
And there were plenty of well wishers to see them off. The Banwen children came third in the final against the best teams in the country - a great achievement for only the second time of entering.
Yes, the "mounted minors" of Banwen have certainly made a name for themselves in horsey society.
Researcher Comments
Commentary recorded 9th November 1959.
Keywords
Children; Horses; Mining
Written sources
British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.14 No.167 September 1960, p520.
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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