Pit Head Baths – Denaby and Cadeby Delegates Visit Manvers Main

July 1923

Mexborough & Swinton Times, July 28

Pit- Head Baths

Denaby and Cadeby Delegates Visit Manvers Main

The Movement Spreading

On Monday morning a visit was paid by nearly a score delegates from the Denaby and Cadeby branches of the Yorkshire Miners Association of the new installation of pit-head baths at Manvers Main. The delegation included the following:- Denaby: MessrsĀ“ A. Roberts, W. H. Johnson, G. Chadfield, B. Gethen, T. Gordon, E. Hanks, J. Headland and A. Bramley: Cadeby: Messrs. T. Hill, t. Gregory, W. Bell, E. Longbottom, G. Starr, E. Davis, W. Moore, G. Smith, and d. Walton.

The visitors were conducted over the baths by Mr. C. Robson, under-manager, and Mr. J. Vaughan, a representative of the men. They were very much interested and impressed by what they saw. At Manvers Main the installation is being put up by instalments, cubicles being added as the demand dictates. At present there is accommodation for about 350 men, spread over the three shifts, and there is a waiting list of about 350 more.

The pithead baths both at Manvers Main and at Barnborough Main, are eagerly welcomed and gladly used by the men. There is not a shadow of the prejudice which the last generation of miners entertained toward this idea, and the benefits, both in the refreshment and comfort of the men using them, and in the avoidance of dirt and disagreeable work in the home, are so manifest that the whole pitstead is converted to the system, especially as the baths are very generously provided by the Company at their own cost, the contribution of the men being limited to a payment of sixpence a week, for maintenance and materials, by those actually using the baths.

The Manvers Main company have preferred to provide the baths in this way, though under the Mines Act they could have required a capital contribution from the men, and under the Miners Welfare Fund they could have avoided the expense entirely. While the visitors from Denaby and Cadeby were present, a time-test was taken, and it was found that the average time occupied in washing and changing was eighteen minutes. There are at present 40 cubicles at Manvers main, each fitted with a shower bath, hot and cold. Discarded clothing is pulled up it on the roof, where it is dried by the heat from steam pipes. The working clothes of the miners are taken home for changing at the week-ens.

After their inspection, the delegates were hospitable entertained at the Lord Nelson Inn, where a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the Manvers Main Management and Mr Vaughan for their courtesy, on the proposition of Mr. T. Hill, seconded by Mr Arthur Roberts.

The delegates are to report to their branches on the question of the value and desirability of pithead baths, and if it is found that there is any considerable body of opinion in favour of installing baths at the Denaby and Cadeby Collieries, the matter will be discussed directly with the Company who, we understand, some time ago intimated their willingness to go into the question.

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