Wind Farms And History

[oakridge]

This could sound like the old, much lampooned, Hovis advert, but I am (fairly) thick skinned....

There is much NIMBY fuss about having one of these terrible wind turbines visible from one's house.

Now when I were a lad I was brought up in Mexborough in South Yorkshire. In the town was a coal-fired power station and a steam locomotive depot. Immediately surrounding us were nine pits and Manvers coke ovens. Just to the West of us was Park Gate Iron and Steel and Yorkshire Tar Distillers. Miners, like my Dad, got 10 tons of coal a year to burn. The air, the river and the canal were filthy. My first job was at Park Gate Iron and Steel where Fife Robertson did a piece about the dirtiest place in England outside my office window.

I know which environment I would rather have.

Malcolm

[Raistlin]

Coal every time...

[bothwell_buyer]

Thats why I live in Scotland lol

[bothwell_buyer]

Thats why I live in Scotland lol

This could sound like the old, much lampooned, Hovis advert, but I am (fairly) thick skinned....

There is much NIMBY fuss about having one of these terrible wind turbines visible from one's house.

Now when I were a lad I was brought up in Mexborough in South Yorkshire. In the town was a coal-fired power station and a steam locomotive depot. Immediately surrounding us were nine pits and Manvers coke ovens. Just to the West of us was Park Gate Iron and Steel and Yorkshire Tar Distillers. Miners, like my Dad, got 10 tons of coal a year to burn. The air, the river and the canal were filthy. My first job was at Park Gate Iron and Steel where Fife Robertson did a piece about the dirtiest place in England outside my office window.

I know which environment I would rather have.

Malcolm

Don't visit Motherwell then as you may be disappointed.

[oakridge]

Coal-getting is a dangerous game Raistlin, my father was killed at Manvers Main in 1966.

It is a pity that there is no safe way to get it because there are still vast quantities uderground in Britain, much of it unavailable to opencast.

I have not been to Motherwell for 30 years when I worked for British Steel Corporation, but I remember it being as attractive as Teeside, Subikhorpe, Corby, Port Talbot and Sheffield.

Malcolm

[crofter]

Too true,mining and steel producing is a dirty and dangerous way to earn a living but at the time you mention it was the only way of life for those men who lived in those areas. They did not have much choice in the matter and they were proud,independent,charitable people in the main.Life expectancy was short,if the work did not get you the after effects did,and still doing so.

In no way can the turbines be said to be an improvement on the sites they are placed,plus no-one has yet satisfied the opponents of the things that they are all they are cracked (?) up to be.

I tend to regard the term NIMBY to be a snidy remark made by those who do not,or will not,consider the impact on those who live In those "back yards" and will never,they think,be affected by them.

I seem to remember there have been planning applications is some towns/cities rejected for small turbines on houses as they are not in keeping with "this area" and would create a noise problem.

Totally agree with the OP's opinion that nobody wants the return of those old days but surely some credit should be due to past "NIMBYs" who stood up and helped bring about some of these changes.

Just the way I see it.

Del

[Raistlin]

What happened to wave power, does anyone remember the ducks?

[oakridge]

I know what life was like there, Crofter, I grew up there and still live nearby. After WWII it was very much better than the period between 1926 and 1935. In 1926. After the General Strike my father walked from Willington in County Durham to South Yorkshire looking for work and if that had failed he had promise of a job in Birmingham. People made the best of their lot, there were WMCs, Church, Chapel all with lots of activities. Mexborough Grammar school regularly sent pupils to Oxford or Cambridge.

It irritates me enormousely when people, who are not badly off, continually moan about their lot - the Church bells ring, the cows make a noise, I can see a wind-generator. And then 'my pension is being eroded - let's go on strike'. I have been almost blind and self-employed for nearly 30 years because I felt my sight prevented me from doing my job properly at British Steel. My wife had to retire early from teaching because her hearing was failing, but we have found other things to do and have bought four new cars in succession.

People do not know how well off they are these days, they should stop whinging and make an effort. My grandfather had a 2.5 acre 'garden' where he had chickens, meat rabbits, fruit and vegetables. If people came to the gate asking for a handout he would ask what their garden was like. Usually they would admit they did nothing with it so he would give them 6d and tell them to go and buy some seeds.

Climbs down off soapbox.

Malcolm

P. S. The 'ducks' failed because they were under-engineered.

[Red diesel]

I know what life was like there, Crofter, I grew up there and still live nearby. After WWII it was very much better than the period between 1926 and 1935. In 1926. After the General Strike my father walked from Willington in County Durham to South Yorkshire looking for work and if that had failed he had promise of a job in Birmingham. People made the best of their lot, there were WMCs, Church, Chapel all with lots of activities. Mexborough Grammar school regularly sent pupils to Oxford or Cambridge.

It irritates me enormousely when people, who are not badly off, continually moan about their lot - the Church bells ring, the cows make a noise, I can see a wind-generator. And then 'my pension is being eroded - let's go on strike'. I have been almost blind and self-employed for nearly 30 years because I felt my sight prevented me from doing my job properly at British Steel. My wife had to retire early from teaching because her hearing was failing, but we have found other things to do and have bought four new cars in succession.

People do not know how well off they are these days, they should stop whinging and make an effort. My grandfather had a 2.5 acre 'garden' where he had chickens, meat rabbits, fruit and vegetables. If people came to the gate asking for a handout he would ask what their garden was like. Usually they would admit they did nothing with it so he would give them 6d and tell them to go and buy some seeds.

Climbs down off soapbox.

Malcolm

P. S. The 'ducks' failed because they were under-engineered.

Well done on your hard work, much respect to you and your wife - and best wishes for the future.

Red diesel