THIS poem was written by Mabel Beech to commemorate the closure of Northern United. It was read by Maurice Bent at the hooter sounding ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of deep mining in the Forest.

•For full story see this week’s Review.

----------------

There had been many pits in the Forest before

With names like Cannop, Trafalgar, Lightmoor

Down which men of the Forest would toil

In the dirt and dark ‘neath the woodland soil

The pit was sunk in 1933

Was a different pit, the last there would be

Northern United was the name they chose

A name that a chapter of Dean’s history would close.

Forest men had mined, been colliers for sure

Worked in the pits for 2,000 years and more

So the men of Northern, that special place

Were to see a great change in the Forest face.

Christmas Eve ‘65 Northern closed.

The last

The great era of Forest mining now over and past

In the reckoning, the counting the cost

The colliers knew it was

Not just a way of life

It was the comradeship they had lost.

– Mabel Beech.