DEVELOPMENT
undertaken, in this instance, who could swing the highest and grab a bunch of leaves from the branches.
The location of the tree was on a steep bank at the bottom of which was a barbed wire fence and a boggy field.
When I took my turn that’s all I could remember was coming-to on my stomach in the bog facing the tree, with all the lads around me. Apparently I had swung out to a good height, grabbed a handful of leaves but with two hands.
Fortunately I was uninjured but my glasses were in pieces.
The catapult
During the 1950’s, Ogilvie Colliery tip, the base of which was located just below Penybanc, was the depository for all the colliery waste, and this was achieved but transporting it by a journey of drams via a rope haulage, which was called ‘The Bull’. ‘The Cow’ haulage operated on the level nearer the colliery.
A crane was located on the top edge of the tip, to which each dram in turn was attached by chains. It was then duly swung over the edge and its contents tipped out.
Often large items of rock were tipped and we used to play the game of chicken in trying to be the last one to get out of the way of the speeding items cascading down the tip’s slope.
One of the items salvaged was a long length of elasticated material and we had the idea of constructing a large catapult by selecting a suitable tree with a Y shaped fork in its trunk and pairing off its branches in order to afford a clear area.
This we did, and with a rope tied to the sling, pulled it as far as we could, loaded it with anything of suitable weight and let it go.
This was great fun until the fixings securing one leg of the sling gave way when the sling was extended to its maximum. The loose side of the sling came towards us at a great speed only to catch one of the lads leg and break it. That was the end of that.
Dens in the earth, ferns and trees.
Local gang rivalry was from the boys from Deri and we became skilful at constructing well camouflaged dens in the branches of trees, beech trees being the favourite, digging into the earth and in the vast acreage of very high ferns which grew in abundance on the side of the valley.
As always, the source of nearly all our materials was the colliery tip.
The location of the tree was on a steep bank at the bottom of which was a barbed wire fence and a boggy field.
When I took my turn that’s all I could remember was coming-
Fortunately I was uninjured but my glasses were in pieces.
During the 1950’s, Ogilvie Colliery tip, the base of which was located just below Penybanc, was the depository for all the colliery waste, and this was achieved but transporting it by a journey of drams via a rope haulage, which was called ‘The Bull’. ‘The Cow’ haulage operated on the level nearer the colliery.
A crane was located on the top edge of the tip, to which each dram in turn was attached by chains. It was then duly swung over the edge and its contents tipped out.
Often large items of rock were tipped and we used to play the game of chicken in trying to be the last one to get out of the way of the speeding items cascading down the tip’s slope.
One of the items salvaged was a long length of elasticated material and we had the idea of constructing a large catapult by selecting a suitable tree with a Y shaped fork in its trunk and pairing off its branches in order to afford a clear area.
This we did, and with a rope tied to the sling, pulled it as far as we could, loaded it with anything of suitable weight and let it go.
This was great fun until the fixings securing one leg of the sling gave way when the sling was extended to its maximum. The loose side of the sling came towards us at a great speed only to catch one of the lads leg and break it. That was the end of that.
Dens in the earth, ferns and trees.
Local gang rivalry was from the boys from Deri and we became skilful at constructing well camouflaged dens in the branches of trees, beech trees being the favourite, digging into the earth and in the vast acreage of very high ferns which grew in abundance on the side of the valley.
As always, the source of nearly all our materials was the colliery tip.