by Ronald Beal

I started at Dean & Chapter Pit when I was 15 years old. The first job I did was working on bank on the Screens sorting the coal and stone as it moved on a belt. I worked on the Screens for two years before I was about to go down the mine to work to produce the coal. I was sent down the Main Coal Shaft to work where I was given the job working with pit ponies at first I worked in a landing where I had to use a pony to pull tubs to make a set to send in bye for the miners to fill. Depending on the height of the landing you worked you were given a pony large enough to do the job. The ponies I worked with were small Shetland ponies to 15 Hands high. Some of the ponies were black, brown, light chestnut and grey in colour. Some ponies were good workers and some not so good. I had a grey pony to work with for a number of years but I had to use an another one because the one I used got old and had to be taken to the surface and was put down. I missed the ponies I worked with which had been like a good friend to me.