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1995

Evening Sentinel 6th Jan 1995 Page 19 Cheshire
Full page story by Fred Leigh on the Diglake flooding on January 14th 1895. Also on Page 11 “News in Focus” .

Evening Sentinel 19th Jan 1995 Page 1 Moorlands
Families fear that plans for opencast coal in their village could cause traffic chaos and danger on country lanes. They are set to fight the proposals at Rookery.

Evening Sentinel 23rd Jan 1995 Page 8 Cheshire
A medallion which goes back to the beginnings of the Stafford Federation was found on waste ground at Adderley Green near an old pit shaft. It was to commemorate the death of Enoch Edward’s death in 1912.

Evening Sentinel 6th Feb 1995 Page 9 Newcastle
An ambitious scheme to transform the derelict site of Chatterley Whitfield into a major tourist complex is under threat because of a lack of cash.

Evening Sentinel 8th Feb 1995 Page 7 CF
Back on the rails, as the first railroad of coal chugs out of Silverdale colliery, to start a new era in the life of the revitalised mine.

Evening Sentinel 8th Feb 1995 Page 1 C
Families fighting for compensation from the newly formed coal authority after their houses were blighted by disused mine shafts today vowed to battle on with their claims.

Evening Sentinel 27th Feb 1995 Page 3 CF
Shooting is to begin in the next few days, on new celluloid spectacular, staring photogenic ex-miners of Silverdale.

Evening Sentinel 27th Feb 1995 Page 8 Cheshire
Joseph Cook was a Silverdale pit boy who became Prime Minister of Australia , he was also the only coal miner from North Staffs to be depicted on a postage stamp.

Evening Sentinel 4th March 1995 Page 27 Relay
Among the Italian ice cream sellers who became familiar in the Potteries was Peter Giannasi who also worked at Hanley Deep pit and sold ice scream at the week ends.

Evening Sentinel 7th March 1995 Page 1 Newcastle
A deal has been clinched that will clear the way for a new £6.5 m business park on land being bought for just £1. At the site of former Holditch colliery.

Evening Sentinel 16th March 1995 Page 17 Cheshire
Mining mogul Malcolm Edwards has vowed to back a memorial to celebrate the history and re-birth of Silverdale colliery, with a donation estimated at about £15.000

Evening Sentinel 17th March 1995 Page 5 CF
Silverdale colliery has secured a lucrative deal with British Steel to supply 3.000 tonnes of coal a week for the next 18 months.

Evening Sentinel 22nd March 1995 Page 22 Ind. Review
Hem Heath and Silverdale collieries were the first of 5 which now comprise the production capacity of “Coal Investments”

Evening Sentinel 27th March 1995 Page 8 Moorlands
William Clay who was awarded the BEM for his 64 years service down the pit has been immortalised in a coal statuette

Evening Sentinel 29th March 1995 Page 1 Newcastle
An investigation was going on today to discover whether the collapse of a pensioner’s home was linked to the caving in of an old mine-shaft nearby, at Kidsgrove

Evening Sentinel 31st March 1995 Page 67 Grey-power
A concert was held in Audley for the benefit of the North Staffs Pensions’ Convention. A special feature of the metting was a talk by John Lumsdon, Sec. of the Convention, on the Diglake flooding of 1895.

Evening Sentinel 4th March 1995 Page 9 Newcastle
Ambitious plans to re-launch the crashed Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum have been mothballed for at leased 5 years.

Evening Sentinel 11th March 1995 Page 4 CF
Three youngsters studying applied maths at Blythe Bridge High School were on a trip down Hem Heath colliery to investigate how the maths they were learning in nice clean class rooms could be applied in real engineering situations.

Evening Sentinel 13th April 1995 Page 7 Cheshire
A consortium fears its battle to re-launch the crashed Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum is set to end in defeat, as a result of a feasibility study on the site.

Evening Sentinel 17th April 1995 Page 9 Extra
Newcastle Mayor Betty Caddy received a set of rare stamps for the Borough’s museum depicting Sir Joseph Cook, a Silverdale miner who rose to become the Prime Minister of Australia.

Evening Sentinel 19th April 1995 Page 1 City
The giant Trentham gardens complex, owned by British Coal will go under the hammer within the next 12 moths.

Evening Sentinel 24th April 1995 Page 5 Moorlands
Talks are to be held over a businessman’s bid to open a drift mine at the former Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum.

Evening Sentinel 25th April 1995 Page 7 Cheshire
The company that owns Hem Heath and Silverdale collieries has taken over its final pit from British Coal. It now operates 6 former British Coal pits and a share in 1 in Scotland.

Evening Sentinel 12th May 1995 Page 5 C
The fate of hundreds of families living in homes blighted by mine shafts, could hang on three test claims put to the Coal Authority.

Evening Sentinel 17th May 1995 Page 7
A businessman’s bid to open a drift mine at the former Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum was today set to be decided by the High Court.

Evening Sentinel 18th May 1995 Page 1 City
North Staffs 2 remaining pits, Hem Heath and Silverdale have landed a multi million pound order to supply the cement industry. The two year contract is worth around £12 m a year.

Evening Sentinel 24th May 1995 Page 34 Business
Hem Heath and Silverdale pits are successfully digging to markets which British Coal failed to exploit. Coal Investment’s success stems from seeking possible markets and the producing the coal that is required.

Evening Sentinel 21st June 1995 Page 1 Business
New developments at Hem Heath colliery will boost production up to the million tonne mark. A new face set to start in September will produce 15.000 tonnes a week. The face will operate with machinery that has been sealed up since a fire there in October 1992.

Evening Sentinel 22nd June 1995 Page 8 Cheshire
Fred Leigh is asking anyone for help with stories or pictures concerning the Minnie pit disaster, for his new book. Page 11 Contractors working on the Hem Heath pit site are to blow up disused buildings at 5 am Sunday July 9th.

Evening Sentinel 23rd June 1995 Page 5 City
Most of the miners thrown out of work at Hem Heath colliery by it’s closure last year have been resettled it was said today.

Evening Sentinel 27th June 1995 Page 8 Cheshire
With the production to sore at the privatised “uneconomic” Hem Heath, NUM boss Joe Wills looks back on the painful struggle of 1994/85 and feels entitled to say “we told you so”.

Evening Sentinel 5th July 1995 City
The coal authority is being flooded with demands for compensation from hundreds of people whose homes have been damaged by subsidence.

Evening Sentinel 6th July 1995 Page 19 Cheshire
A statue to the men, who worked at Silverdale colliery, is to be enlarged after fears it would go unnoticed by passes by.

Evening Sentinel 8th July 1995 Page 4 Extra
Protesters from North Staffs have joined forces with other groups fighting the spread of opencast mining, at a meeting at the House of Commons.

Evening Sentinel 10th July 1995 Page 4 City
It was third time lucky for demolishing contractors battling against the clock to bring down the disused buildings at Hem Heath colliery yesterday.

Evening Sentinel 17th July 1995 Page 1 Staffs
The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Christopher Walford put on his hard hat on for a whistle stop underground tour of Hem Heath colliery. His wife Lady Anne is the grand daughter of Silverdale miner John Viggars, visited Silverdale colliery today

Evening Sentinel 19th July 1995 Page 4 Moorlands
“Coal Investments” which operates Hem Heath and Silverdale collieries has struck a deal to supply National Power with 2.8 million tonnes of coal a year until the turn of the century.

Evening Sentinel 19th July 1995 Page 1 Newcastle
Pitmen at Silverdale colliery, dubbed unprofitable by the government two years ago, have produced 500.000 tonnes of coal since it reopened.

Evening Sentinel 26th July 1995 Page 34+35 Business
Why are pits, that were once condemn, Hem Heath and Silverdale, now going from strength to strength>.

Evening Sentinel 28th July 1995 Page 8 Cheshire
It’s marvellous news that plans are afoot to open a new mining museum to replace Chatterley Whitfield which was shamefully allowed to die. All the people who tried to save Chatterley Whitfield are involved.

Evening Sentinel 1st Aug 1995 Page 16 Cheshire
A consortium of businessmen, historians and ex-miners have teamed up with Steam railway enthusiasts to spearhead the project to replace the museum at old Foxfield pit at Dihorne.

Evening Sentinel 2nd Aug 1995 Page 1 City
Joe Wills North Staffs NUM said, miners at Hem Heath and Silverdale are working “long shifts for low pay” and Malcolm Edwards should give them a decent living wage.

Evening Sentinel 4th Aug 1995 Page 4 Cheshire
A TUC survey says nine out of ten claims for chronic bronchitis and emphysema are refused because guidelines are too strict. Joe Wills NUM North Staffs said “these rules are a con”. Miners need this cash but 90% of claims are falling by the way side.

Evening Sentinel 21st Aug 1995 Page 8 City
When Pinewood studios made a feature film about a Welch mining village in 1939, many of the extras were miners’ from Silverdale.

Evening Sentinel 24th Aug 1995 Page 9 Moorlands
Ambitious plans to launch a new mining museum in Staffordshire Moorlands have won the backing of district councillors.

Evening Sentinel 24th Aug 1995 Page 11 CF
Dozens more families could find their homes blighted by the threat of unseen mine shafts it was revealed today. Maps of 1878 show underground workings across South Stoke.

Evening Sentinel 25th Aug 1995 Page 1 City
Scores of families whose homes have been blighted by mine shafts have missed out of compensation. They had failed to lodge a claim within a 15 year time limit.

Evening Sentinel 28th Aug 1995 Page 3 Extra
An historic time piece is to become a new monument in Whieldon Rd. Stoke-on-Trent. The Pye Hill clock was last in public, as an attraction at the ill fated Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum.

Evening Sentinel 28th Aug 1995 Page 8 Extra
There is a project to create a mining museum at the old Foxfield colliery. A deal has been made for the sale of land and buildings to a 16 strong consortium of businessmen and ex-miners’.

Evening Sentinel 30th Aug 1995 Page 9 Cheshire
A memorial honouring the victims of the Minnie pit disaster in 1918 is in line for a face lift after being damaged by vandals.

Evening Sentinel 5th Sep 1995 Page 1 City
A miner has died after suffering leg injuries in an accident at Silverdale colliery. Robert Harley age 31 died yesterday after being hurt while operating an underground bunker.

Evening Sentinel 21st Sep Page 9 Moorlands
British Coal is being asked to donate Trentham Gardens to the public as compensation for years of mining in North Staffordshire.

Evening Sentinel 26th Sep 1995 Page 15 Cheshire
An ambitious bid has been launched to set up a new mining museum at the abandoned Bassy drift mine at Apedale. (Same page) A plan has been put forward for a pit memorial dedicated to the miners’ killed in the Holditch colliery disaster in 1937.

Evening Sentinel 2nd Oct 1995 Page 8 Moorlands
It’s more than 75 years since the Minnie pit disaster and now a book has been written about the tragedy by Christine Lamb.

Evening Sentinel 4th Oct 1995 Page 28 Business
Company chairman Malcolm Edwards told the firms first annual meeting that sales levels had been higher than expected, leading to a need for increased investment. A second long wall face is expected to start in the future at Hem Heath.

Evening Sentinel 5th Oct 1995 Page 7 Cheshire
Thousands of miners’ will be eagerly waiting the result of a legal test case involving the condition “vibration white finger”.

Evening Sentinel 6th Oct 1995 Page 1 City
Hem Heath colliery, now employing 400 workers has taken on 120 miners’ in in the last week to dig a new seam and take production to a record high.

Evening Sentinel 11th Oct 1995 Page 3 Cheshire
Former miner Dave Nullis, is fighting a legal battle over a painful condition, he has lost the feeling in his fingers due to “vibration white finger”.

Evening Sentinel 22nd Oct 1995 Page 3 Cheshire
Evening Sentinel An ex-miner from Holditch colliery took a piece of rock home from work for his daughter’s science project, had a shock to discover it’s more than 3 million years old.

Evening Sentinel 27th Oct 1995 Page 9 City
Stoke-on-Trent MPs are to demand action to remove the blight affected houses, built near mine shafts.

Evening Sentinel 21st Nov 1995 Page 4 City
Families are set to win a battle against a proposed opencast mine close to Bentilee. Staffordshire County Council are recommending refusal of plans to opencast.

Evening Sentinel 24th Nov 1995 Page 4
“Coal Investments” who took over Hem Heath colliery warned that up to 130 jobs will be at risk unless it is allowed to resume mining under subsidence hit Barlaston village.

Evening Sentinel 24th Nov 1995 Page 5 City
Plans to dig 60.000 tonnes of coal from green belt land at Rookery farm, Bentilee have been thrown out.

Evening Sentinel 4th Dec 1995 Page 4 Moorlands
Shares in “Coal Investments” who own Hem Heath, plunged 38% on the stock market after the company revealed it needed raise additional cash to hit production targets.

Evening Sentinel 6th Dec 1995 Page 1 Staffs
Mining under subsidence hit Barlston could start in January if Coal Investments get planning permission by December 19th.

Evening Sentinel 7th Dec 1995 Page 7 News
a council is demanding plans to resume mining under Barlaston are thrown out. They claim working the Rowhurst seam would blight the village.

Evening Sentinel 11th Dec 1995 Page 5 Cheshire
“Coal Investments” could lose millions of pounds if plans to mine coal under Barlaston are thown out. Same page, the former Florence colliery site is expected to fetch millions after being put on the market by British coal.

Evening Sentinel 13th Dec 1995 Page 4 Newcastle
More than a 100 people packed a public meeting at Barlaston village hall last night to launch a new campaign against mining under their homes.

Evening Sentinel 19th Dec 1995 Page 1 Newcastle
Plans for mining under Barlaston were thrown out today by County councillors. This means 130 Hem Heath miners’ who prepared the profit making Rowhurst face ready for mining will lose their jobs by Christmas.

Evening Sentinel 20th Dec 1995 Page 5 News
Coal Investments, which owns Hem Heath and Silverdale collieries, has suspended dealings on its shares pending refinancing talks. ( page 4) Hem Heath pitfalls victim to village subsidence fears.

Evening Sentinel 21st Dec 1995 Page 5 News
Staffordshire county councillors were branded hypercrites and turn coats by City labour colleagues for banning mining work, putting Hem Heath colliery under threat.

Evening Sentinel 27th Dec 1995 Page 1 Extra
Silverdale colliery has battled against production problems; only 8.000 tonnes of coal per week is being produced since the exhaustion of their main seam last week.

Evening Sentinel 27th Dec 1995 Page 22 Business
Full page spread on “Could King Coal finally be deposed”.

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