I was on this work for quite a few months until a new district was opened up. It was called the 5 feet mine, it was poor quality coal with a layer of dirt running in the middle of it and when it was cut and blown down it got mixed with the coal. I was put in charge of this district. The coal was mainly cut by colliers with the pick because it gave him a chance to pick his dirt from the coal before filling his truck. This seam never did much because of the poor quality and was closed down. I was then moved to what we call a Day Eye, this is a drift mine and this was situated in a wood about a mile from Glenburn Colliery. It was 6ft clear coal and the drift was about 200 yards down and we had to haul the coal up the incline which was one yard in five of an incline. This was done by a stationary engine fixed at the top and worked by an electric motor and could pull four 7cwt trucks filled with coal to a siding at the top of the incline. These were then coupled up to make a train of 8 trucks which would then be taken by pony and his driver to the main pit head at Glenburn and put in wagons.
My chief trouble here was water from the surface which I had to keep under control. A Tangye pump was fitted up with three rams and worked by an endless rope from the surface, and worked with the same electric power as our haulage engine. I thoroughly enjoyed working here because the coal was easily got and of good quality and I had a contented number of men with me. My chief trouble, as I have said previously was water and I have had to go at the weekend to examine the water level which sometimes would have stopped the colliers working if it got too high but I always managed to keep it under control. We all did quite well here and got many a pat on the back by the management. I used to think to myself when I have gone down that drift to examine the workings before the men arrive to see if everything was safe, "what a wonderful place to work at, especially on a spring morning when everything was bursting into life". Just imagine a coal mine in a wood surrounded by all the beauty of nature. We extracted quite a lot of coal from this mine and in about nine months finished this seam of coal. It was called the Dalton Colliery.

Anyhow, we were all moved to Glenburn again and this time I was put in charge of Yard Mine with twenty colliers and seven haulage men who looked after the needs of the colliers such as bringing to them timber to keep them safe and seeing to the loaded trucks being replaced by empties. My biggest trouble in this mine was the roof which was always breaking up and causing pockets of gas which had to be cleared. The ventilation, or airways as we called them, had always needed attention because of bad roof conditions. I have gone through the return airway many times on my belly crawling along. I had always to take a person with me in case anything happened. The collieries at this period were all privately owned and the owners always wanted the maximum output at the minimum cost. I have known this many times because of management saying to me, such and such a man is not sending his quota of coal out, see this man or men and tell them they will have to improve their output or else someone else will have to take over. This was something I hated to do as I knew the conditions were not always right for the miner as he sweated away with pick and spade.

At home our family was beginning to dwindle because two of my elder brothers had got married, this left Mother with Father and five of us to look after but she managed to cope with it with a little assistance from my eldest sister who was married and living nearby. Also at this time myself and my mates started to put on our Sunday Best with clean collar and tie and went walking up and down Sandy Lane which was our main run to get in contact with the girls of our age. This went on every Sunday night 'till we finally sorted ourselves out and picked the girl we fancied. I had been courting about seven months when old Kaiser Bill declared war on Britain. I was staying with my mates in Blackpool for a week's holiday when the news came. We were all on the prom listening to a group of Welsh lads singing that old favourite "It's nice to be besides the seaside." Little did we think how it would change some of our lives. We were told to make to our railway stations to inquire into departure times as all rolling stock would be altered for army requirements.

Skelmersdale people were excited about the War and wondered what would happen with their lads, volunteers were asked for at first and quite a few of them volunteered. They were put under canvas tents at the top of Sandy Lane to do for a few weeks training on the old Skem United Football Ground. This was quite a change for these lads. Instead of going down the pit they were enjoying open air and training to be a soldier in their home town but in a few weeks everything changed, the lads were moved to different camps in the country and this is where their lives began to change. They could only come home occasionally to see their parents. The War went on and soon there was a call for more men, conscription came in and miners who had been exempt 'till now were called up to enlist through man shortage in the Army. Each colliery had to send a quota of young men from age 18 to 26 years old, this caused a little concern for the management to sort this quota out and they decided to put all who were eligible to be drawn out of a cap and supervised by neutral persons and strange as it was I was the first name to be drawn out. The next move was we all had to be medically examined by Army doctors. This was done at the Town Hall, Skelmersdale and all the quotas from different collieries had to attend there. I remember that day well, we were taken in groups of twenty in one big room and told to strip off, it was quite amusing to see twenty of us in our birthday suits waiting to be examined by the doctor. Anyway we got this over and then were taken to another room to get our Grade Number and given the King's shilling, we were then in the Army waiting for the call. A month went by then there was a change of plans from the Government and no more miners had to be taken from the pits as coal was badily needed for the industries and ships, so my Army life had a short career and back to the pit I went with mixed feelings of "Am I missing something?" but I had no alternative but to accept.

Everything in the mines then was going full belt to get as much coal out of the pits as possible for the War effort. The War dragged on causing a lot of sadness and shortages of essential commodities. People in Skelmersdale got together and made parcels of food and clothing for the lads that were away. One incident remains in my mind during the War, that was the when the German Zeppelin bombed Wigan Iron Works, which we went on our bikes to look at the damage. It was quite sensational at that time to be bombed from above, and the people of Wigan were a bit shaken by it but time went on and it made people more determined to help and carry on with the War effort. At home Mother was worrying a lot because my younger brother who had volunteered at the beginning of the War had been drafted over to France, causing her to have some sleepless nights. It was the same with every Mother who had someone in France dreading that message from the War Office, "We regret to say such and such a thing occured".

The time came when the War finished and there was great joy for many and sorrow for others. The ending of the War caused great problems; men came home and found work was bad to get, the industries that had found work for many had to be re-organised. The pits that had gone full out suddenly found out that coal was not in big demand, this meant short working in the mines and many men were laid off and not required. Many collieries closed down the poor seams of coal and only worked the best seams they had, this in itself caused much trouble as the buyer of coal stocks would only buy the best coal at his price causing the collieries with poor quality coal to have difficulty selling. This meant a lot of coal was sold at a very cheap rate - one colliery in Skelmersdale (Blaguegate Colliery) was even selling its coal at tuppence a cwt, hence its name of Tuppeny Pit. Glenburn Colliery where I worked was the same, we had only one good seam which was called the four feet. This was good quality steam coal and it was often mixed with poor coal to use it up and so we could get the best price for it as possible.

I had been courting my girl from the beginning of the War and when the War finished we decided on marriage and finally picked the date, December 19th, 1919. I can always remember this because of the same number repeating itself, three ones and three nines. Anyway the time came and eventually the knot was tied at St Paul's Parish Church by the Reverent Mr Hulley, present at the Church was the Vicar, myself, wife, brother Jim and wife's sister Mary Alice. The reception was at the Tawd Vale Pub's club room. When we came out of the Church we went in Jim Tootle's taxi and he took us round Stanley Gate and Ormskirk to get the time over 'till the reception time and it rained. We made merry and the time passed quickly. We were the same as any other couple at the time because you could not get a house so we lived with Mother-in-Law for a fortnight and then I dropped lucky by being offered a house that had been an old barn one time and had been made into three small houses. I got the chance of one which was the smallest, one up and one down, this to me was a Godsend as I did not like the thoughts of lodging. I soon got to work and made that little house into a very comfortable home and it only cost me 3/9 a week for rent. Myself and wife loved that little house and they were always known as the Barn Houses. I had saved a little and gradually got everything except a sideboard so we decided to go to Wigan and see if there was anything in that line we could buy. We looked around and finally we managed to find one that suited our requirements. I had just twenty six pounds and four shillings and our return tram tickets to Abbey Lakes because we had walked it to Abbey Lakes to save a little. I paid for the sideboard twenty four pounds and nine of these were gold sovereigns, leaving me with the capital sum of two pounds and four shillings. We came home quite contented because our cottage was now fully furnished to our satisfaction.