Having done this sort of work before, it would be a very expensive job to support the Sir Francis wheels. It would also be difficult to do without being very visible afterwards. Some years ago we were asked to install something to prevent the Laxey man engine from disappearing downwards. That...

That purple stuff is very weird. It completely ignores the beds above and below, even though they look like the same stuff!

The texture, size and shape of them does look like some kind of firebrick. If they have just been used as rubble infill, it is a good bet that they have come from some demolition site somewhere close by.

As I have said before on AN, I have worked with some of the folk on this project. They some of the last of a nearly extinct breed. I hope they really do get a permanent green light to do what they were trained to do and can do well.

Looks like they still sell modernised versions of the caving lamp :- https://www.njuskalo.hr/alpinizam-planinarenje/petzl-explorer-ariane-oglas-31320608

That looks like the sort of thing they used to generate acetylene for cutting or welding. Unless it powered some sort of static lighting you would need a big helmet for the burner!!

For big foreign expeditions they tended to use the type of lamp with a belt worn generator feeding the burner by a hose in a similar way to an Oldhams lamp. This was to enable long trips with underground camping in the days when dry batteries were short lived. Part of the kit was a small...

Careful Tom, don't wet 'em. We all drove Land Rovers in those days before it became a cult thing!

No, we didn't do that one. After the main works I believe the forestry paid for a few extras to a local contractor to do the bits they wanted gating.

In the 90's there were three big schemes to rectify problems and make stuff safe. We had the contract for the first two, which were mainly mining type work. The final phase went to Jones Bros. of Ruthin and was mainly earthworks, including the Parc reservoir. As well as the surge dam we capped a...

In the early 90's when we installed the surge dam in No.3, we used a small winze from a short adit just above Kneebone. We put in plastic pipes to shoot the concrete down for the dam. The pipe was fed by a klondyke style wriggly tin chute that the concrete lorries, parked on the track could...

I would say so. I knew several of the Nottingham Pegasus of that era and none were in that clip that I recognised. Also, they all seem to have Lancashire accents!

There are not many mines rescue teams left now and those that are left are strictly commercial operations. Previously the MRS was paid for by the coal industry and was more generous in it's responses. Now, all remaining mines, and there are hardly any coal mines, all have to pay an agreed fee...

Yesterday I was discussing Parc number 3 adit and wondered if access was still possible without going via number 2 and abseiling down? Can you get in via Kneebone's Cutting instead? Les

Well that's it. I did my last inspection visit yesterday and have now completely retired. Doing these inspections now passes to Steve Pope who has agreed to take the job on. This year is my fiftieth year in the mining industry so it's time to pack up. However, I don't intend to stop exploring...