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Background
Information
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Jack
Blair, full name John George was a 75-year-old retired policeman
at the time of interview.
He kindly contacted Easington Community School upon hearing
about our research into the Pit Disaster.
He had been one of the first policemen on the scene and had
the grim task of identifying the bodies.
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Tell us
about your work as a policeman
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At
the time of interview I have been retired for some 24 years but
had been a policeman. I
live in a part of Chester-le-Street and have done so for 20 years.
After
I left the R.A.F. I spent 4 years as an ordinary policeman at
Washington. I then
went on to Hutton Henry and covered the Shotton and Blackhall
areas. I have worked
as a traffic policeman, then in C.I.D.
I ended up at the police Headquarters in a research
department. I became a lecturer for a while at the training
college and was involved in the introduction of the first police
helicopter. I also spent some time as the assistant to the Chief Constable in
Sunderland. I retired as my wife developed cancer and I wanted to look
after her in her final months.
I enjoyed my 4 years at Hutton Henry, it was a quiet area,
though I used to enjoy escorting the prisoners.
I also enjoyed the teaching part of the job.
I hated paperwork.
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How did you find out about
the disaster and what was your role?
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I
was born in January 1925 so I was 26 years old when the Pit
Disaster happened in 1951. I
was asleep in bed when I got a phone call telling me to get across
to Easington Colliery, as there had been an explosion.
I remember it was very early in the morning.
I felt quite emotional; I came from a mining family and
knew how dangerous pit explosions could be. I
didn’t know what to expect but knew it wasn’t going to be
nice.
I
got up and got on my motorbike and rushed across to Easington. There was already a crowd developing at the gates.
I must have arrived early because I was one of the first
policemen on the scene. It
was very confusing and disorientating.
No one knew exactly what was going on or how many men were
involved. Obviously I
couldn’t get involved in the rescue; there were specially
trained rescuers for that. My
job was to identify the bodies.
For ten days I worked at the colliery behind the scenes
trying to identify the bodies of the miners.
At the time it seemed never ending one body after another.
I saw some horrific sights, which I wouldn’t dream of
telling to people so young. No
doubt some of you might have relatives who were involved.
Needless to say it was a long job and a difficult one.
Those miners who had been suffocated could be identified
easily but others, well it was very distressing.
For
10 days I would get up and be at the Colliery for 6am.
I often wouldn’t get in till after midnight.
It seemed like I was always there.
I was almost on automatic pilot.
I didn’t really have a chance to stop and think about
what had happened. At
night when I got home I was so tired I would just fall asleep, it
was exhausting.
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Do you know
what caused the disaster?
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I
found out the causes later at the Inquest.
There had been a build up of gas and a spark had caused the
gas to explode. This
in turn ignited the coal dust causing a huge explosion, which
burnt very quickly and got worse, I believe, as it got closer to
the mouth of the pit. It
was a terrible time. The
worst part for me was having to get up in a morning, knowing that
I was going to have to do it all over again.
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Did the
press report the disaster sensitively?
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I
cannot really say how the press reported the disaster.
I was too busy at the time and the last thing I wanted to
do was read about it.
I am certain though that they would not have
sensationalised it like the modern press.
In those days the press were very proper and correct.
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How did the disaster
affect you?
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At
the time I didn’t think the disaster had had much effect on me.
I was young, had a busy job and I soon got involved in
other police matters.
When you spend 4 years as a traffic policeman you see some
horrible things and tend to try and block them out, in a way
become a hard person. In the short term then I think it had little
effect once my involvement was complete.
I was young enough to recover and bounce back.
Over the years, however, I have had a lot of time to think
about it and it saddens me.
It just seems such a waste of life and I realise it is one
of the things that has made me a hard person.
I tend to think a lot about how it could have and should
have been avoided.
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Did the
Coal Board do anything to improve safety after the disaster?
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I
think the disaster should have been avoided, I have heard that
there were some signs pointing to a build up of coal dust and gas.
I’m not sure what changes were brought in to improve
safety as a result of the disaster but I know that there were some
and rightly so. It is
very important to be safe at work and I know the Coal Board were
very keen to learn about the disaster and find ways of making
mining safer.
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What
affects did the disaster and the closure of the mine have on the
area?
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I
think the Disaster brought people closer together it created a
better community spirit. I
was not involved in the inquest but I know that there was one
held. I have mixed
feelings about the mines closing down.
I think it is better that people don’t have to go down
the mine to earn money but there are not many jobs nowadays which
causes all sorts of problems.
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Do you feel
that it is important for school children to be aware of what coal
mining was like?
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I
do think that it is vital pupils learn about coalmining because it
is their history and their heritage.
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Many thanks to Mr. Jack
Blair for his comments and assistance in this interview.
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