Kent - Sea Change
Series
- Series Name
- Mining Review 19th Year
Issue
Story
- Story No. within this Issue
- 1 / 3
- Summary
- NoS synopsis: Kent miners who go to sea to fish at Deal
NCB Commentary - The Straits of Dover - one of the world’s busiest seaways.
The town of Deal on Kent’s south east shore, looks out over the grey-green sea and the passing ships.
Three miles inland is Betteshanger colliery, whose workings reach out under the coast. After a shift underground some of the men of Betteshanger change their miners’ helmets and pit clothes for sea going gear. They’re members of the colliery sea angling club.
More than 50 men meet regularly for competitions. But today they’re just out for sport, and the crew’s as good a cross section of the club as you’d find.
Bill Young, a Scot, works as a ripper.
Albert Jenkins walked from Ebbw Vale to Kent 35 years ago in the bad times. He’s on dust suppression.
George Murdoch is from Durham - he works a fast plough.
George Tullis and George Nadin, from Fife and Derbyshire, make up the rest of the crew.
The straits of Dover have seen history in the making, from the front line of World War 2 back to when Roman galleys rode up onto the beaches.
Today fishing boats with familiar names are drawn up in their place.
And inland run streets and alleys built to hold off the sea winds, each with a more recent history of its own.
However the luck of the catch has run, the Betteshanger men make the most of their opportunity to get out on the sea and under the wide sky.
And there’s one thing a Welshman will always take from a Scot - his Scotch. - Keywords
- Mining; Fisheries
- Locations
- Kent; England; Deal
- Written sources
- British Film Institute Databases
Films on Coal Catalogue 1969, p.52
The National Archives COAL 32 /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963
- Credits:
-
- Sponsor
- National Coal Board
- Production Co.
- National Coal Board Film Unit
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