Ushaw Moor Memories (Backup)

Memories of Ushaw Moor and Deerness Valley

Monday, 11 November 2013

Thomas Stephenson Oxley Puzzled Me [But Not For Long] Plus Your School Days

During a browsing of the brilliant Durham Mining Museum I seemed to stumble across details of a double Ushaw Moor pit tragedy on January the fourteenth 1936, but after a brief pondering I became positive that only one death occurred at the pit that day. The unlucky miner was Thomas Stephenson Collinson not a Thomas Stephenson Oxley. 

The museum records that that Mr Collinson [39] was a coal hewer travelling outbye on a level putting road. He had almost reached a wooden separation door when the door swung back and struck him, fracturing his skull. The door had swung open due to a putter pushing a full tub against it.

It is reasonable to suppose that the recording of the death of Thomas Stephenson Oxley on the same day, also aged 39, is simply an honest mistake. A rare muddle. Same age and same forenames make it too much of a co-incidence.

There was a Bill Oxley working at the pit at the beginning of the 20th century. I know that because the Durham Record Office has him suffering a pit accident on the 12th of May 1902 , but as for Thomas Stephenson Oxley he remains a bit of a mystery.  

Moving on how were your school days? I ask that question because of a recent thoughtful article by Hilary Wilce published in the  I newspaper. She pointed out that:

'Love and security feed a host of qualities great learners need, including the ability to be open and receptive, to be willing, and to feel connected''.

She also pointed out that that children need resilience, self- discipline, honesty and courage. Were you supplied with sufficient love, support and parental perception to enable you to develop such qualities?    

WB

 

 

 

 

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