Lives in Cricket No 49 - Enid Bakewell

8 Newstead A mining website tells us this: The Notts coalfield has a history of conservatism and right wing domination — the first to return to work in the 1926 strike; the home of the breakaway, “Spencer” company union; the champions of the 1977 bonus incentive scheme. In the 1983 national ballot only 19pc of Notts miners voted to support the South Wales strike over pit closures. At the beginning of 1984 there was strong resistance from both leaders and rank and file miners to supporting the strike that had started in South Yorkshire. Newstead today is trying to recover from its history. The village website says: “There are a range of facilities which include a community centre, a primary school, Surestart, a general store and sub post office, a Miners Welfare, a public house, bowling green and allotments. Additionally there are a number of organisations within the village providing various activities. Alas, the pub, the Station Hotel, closed in 2014 and in August 2015 was threatened with demolition. The population of Newstead today is about 1200. If you look at Newstead on Google Earth you can pull back from the village and see that it is still surrounded by woods and fields, with what is called Annesley Forest a short walk from Livingstone Street. Far from being ‘grim up north’ there is a rural setting which would be hard to find in much of the south. But 70 years ago this was a very different landscape (though escape into the woods was still easy enough). There were two coal mines, at Newstead and at Annesley, and a substantial railway junction, marshalling yard and engine sheds. Annesley Shed (which was actually at Newstead) was part of the LNER and then of British Railway’s Eastern Region, and at the point of nationalisation it was home to a substantial number of freight locomotives 2 , hauling the coal from the two pits. Before Beeching there were railways everywhere and Annesley was an important junction with the Great Central and Great Northern (both subsequently part of the LNER) converging there. And the original Midland Railway line – subsequently part of the LMS – was there as well. Enid explained (in May 2015) that ‘traditionally the miner’s wives if they wanted to go into Nottingham they’d catch a train in the morning then get a train back in time to get the men’s teas ready. Well, they stopped the train back and then they didn’t use the morning train either and they decided it was uneconomic to run: they filled in the tunnel but they’ve since had to open that up and there’s a railway line there again. It could have been very helpful for my dad in later years because he had to walk half a mile (all uphill) to a bus stop (his left leg had been badly injured in a shotfiring accident)… there was not just the LMS, there was an LNER line as well and engine sheds. So it was all quite industrial then – all cleared away now. There’s a country park which is going through a difficult time – they did have a café there but lottery money or something ran out and it’s all boarded up now – they’ve got two huge lakes and a place where you can spot birds, though they’ve 2 http://www.railuk.info