Frank Aulton 
Beneath Pastures Green 

The Staffordshire coalfield area covers many coal mines. This story is about one area in particular. Coal mining is a dangerous occupation and many lives have been lost in producing coal. Men who work below ground form a close comradeship and are there to help each other, but still, there are accidents and many men have lost their lives. Also above ground, incidents occur that affect the local community such as the drug pushers who infiltrated our town. This had to be dealt with. And so the B.A.D. Boys were formed: Boys Against Drugs.Prostitution also raised its ugly head and one man decided to cash in on this. One must remember that money was scarce, especially during the strike. The government was determined to close the industry down and so the National Union of Miners decided to take action. This began with police brutality against the striking miners which caused turmoil throughout the coalfields. Violence was unavoidable. However, after a long period of no money coming in the miners had to give way to the government and accepted defeat. The closure of many coal mines decimated the industry. We do not now have a coal industry. The talk of redundancies began and so the miners did, after much negotiation, receive some sort of compensation. However, it came after many miners had died from the dreaded dust disease.