I didn’t realise that there was a No 583 Quarry Company, Royal Engineers, formed on the first of July 1940. Apparently a letter was circulated, via The Institute of Quarrying, asking for volunteers. The Commercial Manager of Delabole at the time, Joseph Setchell, toured Devon and Cornwall recruiting workers, including men from the slate, granite and clay industries. Presumably this happened elsewhere as well. Together with other quarrying companies, No 583 was formed in Halifax.
Initially the company saw service in Northern Ireland and then came a spell operating as a bomb disposal unit in Oxfordshire, London Plymouth and Bristol. The company was reformed as a quarrying company before D-day and embarked to France to restart Quarries closed at the outbreak of the war. This would enable roads to be repaired and supplies to be pushed up to the front line. They travelled through Northern France, the Netherlands and Germany.
When I think about it its common sense to recruit men with some expertise in the field. Similar to miners and tunnelling.

---