I WAS a miner in the Yorkshire pits for 33 years and have now retired. For the past several years by way of a hobby I have been an avid collector of colliery checks, tallies or tokens.

These were brass discs and were embossed with the individual colliery or company name and stamped with the miner's number. They were used as a safety measure to record an accurate account of men underground at any one time.

Unfortunately though, I have very few from the old Forest of Dean coalfield. I am especially seeking tokens from Trafalgar, Norchard, Lightmoor or any others I don't know of.

I know your area, like my own, was littered with mines and although they are long gone these tokens still turn up often stuck in the bottom of a drawer or sewing box!

Are there any fellow ex-miners or indeed anyone out there who could please help me obtain any checks/tokens from the now long closed collieries of your area?

– W Bennett, Bolton-on-Dearne, Rotherham.