SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

In Tesco at Seacroft they are selling 10 kilo bagsof house coal - At £6 a bag !.That works out at over £600 a ton or £30 a cwt bag.Before the Smokeless Zone legislation everyone hadcoal as the main source of energy.I think we used to get 4 bags at a time which probably lastedabout 3 weeks,imagine paying £120 out.I know it is cheaper in larger quantities but it stillseems expensive.

Going back to the 70's and early 80's we got the Coal allowance as my grandad was a retired miner. I remember the big waggon pulling up, the old delivery men filthy black humping sacks of coal on their back to 'coal ol' Them were days lol I never looked into the coal allowance, how much we got, if it's still going. But there is this bit of info on the net....The average recipient receives four tonnes of coal a year, worth £1,375. The scheme has its roots in the 1950s under employment deals struck between the unions and the bosses of the nationalised coal industry. Coal is delivered approximately every five weeks to former British Coal employees in Yorkshire, or their widows.        

dogduke wrote: In Tesco at Seacroft they are selling 10 kilo bagsof house coal - At £6 a bag !.That works out at over £600 a ton or £30 a cwt bag.Before the Smokeless Zone legislation everyone hadcoal as the main source of energy.I think we used to get 4 bags at a time which probably lastedabout 3 weeks,imagine paying £120 out.I know it is cheaper in larger quantities but it stillseems expensive. Price I can't remember dogduke but certainly memories of Gran asking usually for either 10 or 20 bags when delivered and sent crashing into the 'coal place' by the chaps from Escrit, with the empty sacks placed in a pile to be dutifully counted-back in front of the customer before taking payment!

Sorry I also can't remember the price. Living in the top floor of a two story council flat I do though recall the coal bags being brought upstairs and the coal then put into a small room at the top of the stairs. There was always lots of coal dust to sweep up on the stairs after the coalman came. Being houseproud, like other women of her time, my mum used to sometimes whitewash the coal room!

If my memory serves, in the fifties we used to pay 8/- a bag for coal. We'd have about 6 bags (cwt) at a t time, but I'm not usre how long it lasted. We also used to get a few bags from my uncle who was a miner.

Leodian - they are coming up quoting the original message. This could simly be becaue your mouse pointer is drifting to 'quote' from 'edit' before you take your finger of the button! That would be translated as you wanting the last command the mouse saw. ...and by the way, yes, a summer shore for Dad would be to empty everything out for Gran to make a cracking job of turning the place white before the first delivery of winter - actually with no light in there, there probably was some sense to this

chameleon wrote: Leodian - they are coming up quoting the original message. This could simly be becaue your mouse pointer is drifting to 'quote' from 'edit' before you take your finger of the button! That would be translated as you wanting the last command the mouse saw. ...and by the way, yes, a summer shore for Dad would be to empty everything out for Gran to make a cracking job of turning the place white before the first delivery of winter - actually with no light in there, there probably was some sense to this To stop the coal falling out and then down the steps a plank or two of wood were jammed in place. Mum also used to paint (red I think) the edges of a short flight of outside steps that led to the door to the inside stairs. Different times than now.