There is also a 30 minute DVD on the mine and ponies in

The 3 videos on Youtube add up to 24 minutes, can they be downloaded and joined?

No, I don't think so, but you can make three videos run together in sequence in YouTube somehow.

Download them then insert them into Windows movie maker ... eh voila!

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Download them then insert them into Windows movie maker ... eh voila!

🙂 🙂 🙂

Are you both signed up to YouTube? I'm not, and I can't see any download options as a visitor.

Are you both signed up to YouTube? I'm not, and I can't see any download options as a visitor.

No, not signed up yet but I understand there are programs available to save the vids to a PC.

Sorry, I'm a bit thick sometimes on technical matters - I only work in IT. 🙂

A bit of Pit pony related memorabilia-

In JE McCutcheons's book on Seaham Colliery, 'Troubled Seams', he mentions that in the disaster on 8th Sept 1880 which killed 164 miners - 'No fewer than 181 pit ponies also perished. The hooves of many of them (complete with shoes) were preserved as souvenirs, polished, inscribed and adapted to various uses, such as stands for ink-wells, snuff boxes and pin cushions.'

🔗Personal-Album-82-Image-46083[linkphoto]Personal-Album-82-Image-46083[/linkphoto][/link]

Ver interesting, thanks Heb.

Have just come across this photo from the Bains News Service.
The caption reads:
British strike - extra fodder for pit ponies, Pontypridd

🔗Personal-Album-272-Image-46148[linkphoto]Personal-Album-272-Image-46148[/linkphoto][/link]

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You need to download an AVI converter which allows you to take the clip onto your PC and watch it.

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I've been trying to get some background on the last photo I posted taken from the wagons. Quite interesting,

A snippet.
In the early twentieth century the Cambrian Combine was one of the most powerful entities in the coal industry in the Rhondda. The clash between this power wielded by the coal owners in the shape of the Combine and that of the workers in the form of the Cambrian Lodge of the South Wales Miners Federation led to one of the bitterest disputes in South Wales' industrial history. Ultimately this dispute led to the incident that has become known in popular history as 'The Tonypandy Riots'.
The dispute originated at the Combines' Ely Pit in Penygraig, owned by the Naval Colliery Company and centred on the management's decision to open up a new seam, the Upper Five Foot or Bute seam. Prior to opening a new seam a test period was mined at the seam to determine its output, and a price was set per ton for the miners who would work the seam. During the test period at this seam in 1909 management alleged workers had deliberately worked slower than they were able, in order to raise the price per ton of the seam when it was actually in production. The workers on their part alleged that it was a particularly difficult seam to work with many 'abnormal places'. Finally the management offered 1s.9.d per ton for workers mining the seam, whereas workers demanded 2s.9.d, arguing that at the price offered they would not be able to mine enough coal to make a reasonable wage.

So i'm assuming this is about 1910 but I realise there are members who know far more this about this than I do.

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Further to my previous post I’ve read the book recommended by Graigfaur (thanks) and it has some interesting comments.

Apparently in 1910 colliery horses became part of the propaganda war during the Cambrian Combine Dispute (the “Tonypandy Riots”). Three hundred horses had been left underground at the Glamorgan Colliery and it was claimed they hadn’t been fed or watered for several days. They were also in danger of drowning as the heavy picketing by strikers had severely disrupted the pumping system.

Mayhem ensued and even King George the V and Winston (who was Home Secretary at the time) became involved. The strikers claimed that the horses could have been brought up before the first week of the strike and so the argument went on.

Anyway whatever the truth of the matter after a few days members of the management descended the shaft and reported the horses in good condition. For this action F.D. Llewelyn, agent for the Naval Colliery, was awarded medals from both the RSPCA and Our Dumb Friends League. Soon after that all the horses had been brought to the surface.

Not so dumb actually. A miner from the Six Bells Colliery in the 60s remembers one horse who when he fancied a break, would lever his shoe off under a sleeper. Of course then he couldn’t work without a shoe and he had a rest while they sent up the pit for a replacement. I like it.

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Not so dumb actually. A miner from the Six Bells Colliery in the 60s remembers one horse who when he fancied a break, would lever his shoe off under a sleeper. Of course then he couldn’t work without a shoe and he had a rest while they sent up the pit for a replacement. I like it.

Ponies certainly aren't daft - I discovered last night that ours have used the big snowdrifts in our top field to get over the wall and go for a wander round the next field..... :glare:

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Yes,did`nt Churchil send the Army into the Rhondda to quell the Miners,
Or should i say,force them back to work for less money.

No I think that’s incorrect. In fact the opposite is true. It was the Chief Constable of Glamorgan, with 1,400 county policemen at his disposal, who appealed directly to the army, asking the General Officer commanding Southern Command to send 400 soldiers, both cavalry and infantry, by train to South Wales.

When Churchill heard this he at once telephoned the Chief Constable and told him to use police instead of military to deal with the disorder. The troops were stopped at Swindon and Cardiff. Churchill did order reinforcements of London policemen to be sent to South Wales.

Churchill offered the strikers talks with the arbitrator which they accepted but ten days after this riots again broke out. But again Churchill refused to use troops stating the police were quite strong enough.

In the commons Churchill stated, “It must be an object of public policy to avoid collisions between troops and people engaged in industrial disputes”.

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Yes ,what you say is correct,for the 7th of November,but on the 8th of November Troops were sent in,Churchill had kept these Troops on standby,under the command of Macready,incase events excallated,as they did the following day,when mounted Police failed to disperse the Miners.
These Troops were there until the following year when the strike was over.

That's correct if you are are referring to the fact that after a further appeal from the Chief Constable, Churchill allowed one squadron of cavalry to be moved to the junction of the two disturbed valleys, but no further, telling the king that he was still confident that the policeman already in the valleys would be able 'not merely to prevent attacks upon the collieries but to control the whole district and to deal with any sign of a disorderly gathering large or small'.
It was on the 8th. that Churchill, in a conciliatory message, offered the strikers an interview with the senior government arbitrator. He was actually violently attacked from many sides, (mainly Conservative newspapers), not only for the message but for not allowing troops to be sent to Tonypandy.

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I`m interested where your info comes from,
As being a 3rd generation Collier,this History,part of ones Heritage has been handed down through the family,
But as an open minded person,after seeing your first reply,i googled up Tonypandy Riots,and clicked on the 2nd down,1910 Cambrian Combine strike,
And this corresponded to what my family have handed down

13 Miners were arrested in the riots,and while thier trial was going on,10,000 marched in support of thier fellow workers,although the streets were full of Police and Soldiers.
The town and area had been turned into a Military camp.

23rd November 1910,Miners were forced up on to the mountain at Penygraig at the point of Bayonets.

They were there for sure.

The Info. came from Churchill-a life by Martin Gilbert an emminent historian. The quote from Churchill I made earlier when Churchill defended his actions in withholding his troops in the Commons was made on the 25th. I haven't checked Roy Jenkin's biography. Don't get me wrong. I'm not pretending to be an expert on the riots, nor making Churchill out to be a saint, but he was opposed to troop intervention in the industrial dispute.
If as you say they there for sure, and I'm not doubting you, I doubt very much whether it had anything to do with Churchill.

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Just had a quick look at Roy Jenkin's biography of Churchill. He more or less agrees with Gilbert and concludes that on any objective analysis it is difficult to fault Churchill in the Rhonda for any sin of aggression or vindictivness towards labour. He also mentions that Nevil Macready was a very sensible man, who was anxious to co-operate with the more cautious view of the Home Office.

He did make one interesting point. That by some sort of symbiotic relationship regarding the miners the Glamorgan County Constabulary came to assume some of the characteristics of the crack battalion of the counterveiling forces. He says "as I recall from my childhood they had, like members of the Prussian Guard, siilver spikes on their helmets, a form of aggressive decoration eschewed by the lesser Monmouthshire force".

He also mentions that the Lancashire Fusiliers that were detached to the valley never engaged with the strikers.

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