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Selena Gee (Miner's Wife) Interview |
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| This raw, unedited audio recording is of an interview with Selena Gee (born 1910), describing her life and experiences of a mining community. She recalls her early childhood with her grandmother and parents in Nottingham before moving to Leicestershire. She describes her father’s work as a trader, buying and selling a variety of goods. We hear how people often pawned belongings during the week, retrieving them at the end of the week when paid. Speaking of how she would sell mended clothes from a cart to make extra money, she talks about the friendly community atmosphere between mining families amidst hard financial times. She describes pit buildings, tally system, pit ponies, domestic coal delivery, mining accidents and pit lamps. One strong memory is of the striking miners reclaiming coal from disused pits in 1926. She affectionately describes the pits were lit up at night, with singing and whistling noises coming from the working miners. Miners’ clothing is detailed, and the interviewee reads from written memoirs to explain ‘Moleskin’ trousers. She recalls the social life, and remembers how Friday market day was often the only outing some women had when pub-going by females was frowned upon. Despite the pub culture, she recalls the lack of violence in the community; none related to drinking or football. She reads a poem from her schooldays celebrating ‘Empire Day’ and the Union Jack flag. We hear about the death of a relative in the Whitwick pit disaster and the singing of miner’s songs about the event. She also recalls her aunt ‘laying out’ dead bodies, the funeral parlour and collections for bereaved miners’ families. The original recording is held by the East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA ref.: 96, MA200/105/105). Further information can be found at http://www.le.ac.uk/emoha. This audio recording lasts 1 hour 9 minutes and 52 seconds. |
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| Creators: |
Interviewee - Gee, Selena
Interviewer - Roberts, T.
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Subject: |
Oral History
History
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| Contributors: |
East Midlands Oral History Archive - Copyright Holder
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Date created:
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07 / 08 / 1991
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Language:
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English
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Country:
Region:
City:
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United Kingdom
Leicestershire
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Rights:
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Community Media Association has non exclusive rights for the use of the work in The Showcase, but the overall copyright rests with East Midlands Oral History Archive. Copyright East Midlands Oral History Archive.
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If your browser can’t display the graphical link above to the translator, you may translate this page by going to the Babelfish website and pasting the address for this page into the box marked “Translate a web page”. |
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