THE Looking Back photographs published in recent weeks showing pit workers has prompted a response from Journal reader Barry Allred.
He explained how his dad Leslie Allred, born in Tyldesley, started down the mines at the age of 14 in around 1937.
Among the picture is one from Cleworth Hall Colliery, Tyldesley, where Leslie worked for a spell.
Barry writes: "He said conditions where shocking as the pits were still private as the nationalisation only came in the 1950's. He decided after a few years to ask for a apprenticeship in the Electrical and Engineering fields.
"He started his studies at Sheffield mining college, he also worked at Cleworth Hall Colliery in the electrical department and various other collieries in the area.
"He later left the mining industry and went into electrical engineering working for subsidiaries of British Steel.
"He sadly passed away in 2001 aged 78."
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