A Reluctant Conscript 1944-48 Part 9

Monckton Colliery and it's flaming coke and chemical plant sat on a hill a overlooking Royston, a beacon for all to see. In no way could Royston be described as being beautiful, functional yes, but dreary. Most of the population owed their livelyhood to the pit. The blackened red brick terraced cottages along Midland Road, interspersed with small shops were built for the miners in the nineteenth century with newer NCB estates added later. The roadside outside many cottages was littered with heaps of miners concessionary coal, dumped and waiting to be taken in. Dodging these heaps was a constant hazard for me and the second hand bicycle I had purchased. Royston had very few attractions for a lad of eighteen. There were pubs and working mens clubs, two cinemas, a library and the parish church.
The Palace Cinema was very popular and the news reels were useful in tracking the progress of the war. I still remember the old films that take me back to those nights spent at the Palace sixty four years ago. Sadly it is now no longer a cinema, snooker has taken over.
The library on Midland Road was a favourite place --- the attractive young librarian was an object of silent adoration for this callow young man, who lacked the courage to ask her name. Oh! the missed opportunites. Sixty four years later I have since learned that I am still remembered and was regarded by the girls with some curiosity as I cycled around Royston.
It was a lonely time for me and Sunday evenings were spent at church, I had become good friends with Harry Wilkinson and Jack Green, meeting with them after church at The Railway Pub was a pleasure. Before this I had been a complete stranger to pubs and my introduction to Barnsley Brewery's Old Beer drunk on a Sunday evening in the company of miners became a regular fixture. Never drunk, but pleasantly happy I walked home up the steep Lund hill through the everpresent chemical fumes from the coke ovens. On past the pit to my lodgings.
Ready for the early morning shift and the winding man's elastic revenge. Ohooooooo.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.