Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation

Extracts from the 1968 Annual Report

Activities

Brass Bands

In Scotland, 10 bands competed in the annual contest held at the Miners' Gala.

A large appreciative audience at the Hirst Welfare Hall, Ashton, heard 10 bands compete in the 5th Annual Northern Contest, whilst the Durham coalfield contest attracted a good entry of 23 bands, Craghead Colliery Band winning the Championship Section.

Grimethorpe Colliery Band took the Championship honours at the 19th Annual Yorkshire Brass Band Contest in Sheffield.

Success and large crowds were the feature of the contests at both Skegness and Nottingham, whilst in South Wales a new coalfield contest was instituted to form the basis for selection for the National Finals at Blackpool. The result, a successful contest with Cory Workmen's Band taking the premier honours.

The largest ever entry was matched by the greatest number of spectators at the Seventh Mineworkers' National Brass Band Contest at Blackpool. This capacity audience remained for the prize-giving ceremony conducted by Sir Sidney Ford, M.B.E., with winning honours going to:

The Championship Test Piece was 'Tam o Shanter's Ride' by Denis Wright.

Other Musical Activities

In Scotland, a new venture organised in conjunction with the Buckhaven Town Council, saw 100 soloists and 20 quartets, all under eighteen years, compete, and four young bandsmen were selected to attend the Residential Course organised by the Workers Music Association at Wortley Hall, Yorkshire.

A highlight of the Nottinghamshire Music Festival was the Vocal and Instrumental Competition with 320 competitors. The Festival Choir also thrilled the 1500 people assembled for the service and recital at Southwell Minster.

Twelve leading amateur opera companies again competed at their own centre in the SouthWestern coalfield contest, with the Rhondda A.O.S. winning with their production of 'The King and I'. Eisteddfodau were held at 14 centres with many operettas and pantomimes also being produced throughout the coalfield. The visit of two Belgium Socialist Party Mixed Choirs proved a highlight of the year in Kent and the Snowdown Colliery Welfare Male Voice Choir received much praise for their successful television broadcast.

Cricket

In the last over, with one wicket in hand, Bomarsund beat Bates Welfare to complete a hat-trick of wins in the Northumberland Knock-out Cricket Cup.

In Yorkshire, the single wicket knock-out competition was held again this year and team knock-out competitions were held in two areas. A coaching course for batsmen, spin and fast bowlers from the coalfield was held at Hickleton Miners' Welfare Scheme.

With the excellent facilities available cricket remains very popular in Staffordshire and South Midlands. Competitions are organised at inter-departmental, inter-colliery and inter-district levels. Birch Coppice won the Warwickshire Competition, whilst in Staffordshire Knypersley retained the trophy they won last season.

Football

Hartford Welfare had another successful season in the Northern coalfield, winning both league and cup competitions. Inter-county matches between Cumberland and Northumberland were held on a home and away basis with Northumberland emerging victorious both times.

The Yorkshire Seven-a-side Competition was held at Dearne Community & Miners' Welfare Scheme with Dodworth beating Fryston by 3 goals to 2 to win the competition.

Local competitions were organised in South Midlands and Staffordshire. A team representing the South Wales coalfield travelled to Scotland to meet a Scottish representative side at the Miners' Gala; victory going to the Scottish team by 3 goals to 1.

Golf

A feature of the year has been the increased interest throughout the country in this activity and in Scotland, the traditional home of the game, competition was keen, the individual winner being from South Area's 'A' Group, and the team competition was won by North Area's 'B' Group. The inter-county team competition at Brampton in Northern resulted in another win for the holders, North Northumberland.

Following area competitions, the finals of the Yorkshire Golf Competitions were held at Garforth, with Barnsley Area winning the team contest. An inter-area competition in South Midlands and Staffordshire was held for the first time at Tamworth Golf Club — South Midlands winning the team award and a member of Granville Colliery, Staffs., the individual trophy.

In South Wales the 1st Annual Mineworkers' Golf Championship was held at Glynneath Golf Club and proved a successful innovation, whilst in Kent a representative from Tilmanstone Colliery won the 5th Annual Golf Championship.

Horticulture

Following their success last year a number of floral and horticultural shows were held in the Northern coalfield including events at Ashington and Cowpen & Crofton.

Washington 'F' Miners' Welfare Hall was, for the first time, the venue for the 13th Annual Floral and Horticultural Show which attracted its usual high standard of entries, 420 entries being exhibited in 34 classes.

There was a record entry of 1029 exhibits in 89 classes at the 4th Annual Horticultural and Floral Exhibition in the Civic Hall, Barnsley.

Local shows were held in Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire, whilst in South Wales shows were held at seven centres. The Snowdown Colliery Welfare Gardening Association in Kent held three shows and organised seven lectures, all proving very successful.

Indoor Activities

In Scotland, in addition to the traditional indoor games which retain their popularity, an interesting development has been the success of ballroom dancing competitions. The Ladies bowls league is now well established in Northern, with Bedlington the main centre, whilst in Durham the pattern of indoor games continued to prove successful. Inter-county competitions were held against Northumberland, Washington 'F' Miners' Welfare and Bebside Miners' Welfare Schemes being the venues for the matches.

Another successful innovation was the inclusion of a Quiz competition in the Yorkshire Indoor Games Competitions.

Local leagues and cup competitions are organised throughout the coalfields in all the traditional club activities; darts, snooker, billiards, dominoes, cribbage, etc., and are often extended to coalfield level. Judo, basketball, tennis and badminton are also being carried out at various centres with great success.

Pigeon and Caged Birds

230 birds of the Northern coalfield fanciers competed in a race from Rheims, whilst in Durham two races were held, one organised in conjunction with West Durham Amalgamation/Mid-Durham South Federation from Ostend and the other with the Up North Combine from Lillers in France.

For the first time a Yorkshire Cage Bird Show was held at the Disabled Miners' Centre, Pontefract, and proved highly successful with 531 exhibits. A Cage Bird Show was also included in the Nottinghamshire Miners' Festival.

The Kent Collieries Racing Pigeon Association continued to encourage the sport and organised three major races during the year.

Additional Activities

Although changing conditions often affect communities, the pattern of participation remains as outlined and are fairly general throughout the country. Local enthusiasm is engendered with curling in Scotland, whippet racing in Northern, Durham and Kent, swimming in Scotland, Rugby Union in South Midlands and Kent, Rugby League in Cumberland and Lancashire.