When the stones on the floor became too high, we were required to shovel them on to the same conveyor
belt that they had come off. We would load a special wagon which when full would be taken and dumped on the waste heap not far away.

During the time we were picking stones off the belt, the kids would throw quite a number of pieces of coal on the floor. When we loaded the wagon with the rocks, we would be adding coal. The reason for this, if we were short of coal at home for the kitchen fire, we would be required by our parents to go to the tip and pick for coal. By cheating a little at work, it made it a lot easier to get coal for home. As Dad worked at the pit, one of the perks, was, we received a load of coal every month. Usually the coal ran out before the month was up. That is when we would go and pick coal from the tip.

I really was looking hard to get away from my job on the belts, for it was a nightmare. Unfortunately, finding work away from the pit was not easy, and I tried and tried. There were a lot of us out there doing the same thing, looking for other work.

I knew my education skills were not the best, so I went to evening classes and took a course in bookkeeping. After I had taken a full year, I went to the pit offices and applied for a job in there. Unfortunately there was nothing available, however, someone must have seen something, for I got a job as token boy which eventually gave me the job of Assistant Master Weighman.

Now, another explanation. At the coal face, the man who hews the coal, places tokens in the bottom of the tub on a ring. These tokens are made of metal, attached to a strong piece of string. He places one of these for himself, this shows who loaded the tub, and one for the putter, which shows who got it started to the surface. The hewer of course, keeps a record of how many he loaded, and the putter does the same. These tokens are collected after the tub had passed through the tipper. If the token boy is short at the end of the day there was hell to play.

This was my job for a while, even though I was still amongst the dust; it certainly was not as bad as on the belts. Believe me, I appreciated being away from some of the dust. It did not take too long before I was asked to train as Weighman. The man who's job it was, didn't have the best of health. It was felt I should be ready to take his place if necessary. I still had to do the work of the token boy while being trained, but I didn't mind that in the least.